Unfettered at last

Maneesha, these small anecdotes belong to a world which has disappeared, the world of the seeker, the world of knowing oneself, which we have lost long ago. The world in which these anecdotes happened is no more. Now nobody goes on a pilgrimage like a cloud, now nobody is capable of being so light and free like a cloud. Everybody is burdened with prejudices, with all kinds of nonsense, and nobody seems to be interested at all in one thing, that is himself.

Man's mind has become objective and it has forgotten the language of subjectivity. It looks out, and it has looked deeply into the outer world in the form of the different sciences, which have penetrated matter to its innermost being. It has reached to the farthest star, but it has forgotten one basic thing:

"Who is within me?"

Now all this knowledge of the objective world is of no value in comparison to having a little glimpse of the inner sky and its beauty - its sunrises and sunsets, its days and nights, its blue sky and its stars. The outer then looks only a pale reflection of the inner. The inner becomes more real and the outer becomes just a shadow.

In the past it was also difficult in many ways, but on one single point, the search for consciousness, we are now much lower on the scale.

These dialogues have to be understood - they don't belong to the world in which you live, they don't belong to the mind that you have now. But intelligence has the capacity to enter into different realms of consciousness, and it is a tremendous experience to see that people have lived differently, loved differently, heard differently a music, a dance, a beatitude. If you can even get little glimpses of the world that is lost you will be able to find the track of your own buddhahood.

The intelligent people of the past were dedicated to finding their inner kingdom - that which cannot be taken away. Nothing can destroy it, fire cannot burn it. Death does not happen in that dimension, only roses of bliss, lotuses of ecstasy and a freedom that has no limits. A joy comes to every fiber of your being; every cell of your being starts to dance without any reason. Just being, you feel at the very highest peak of existence. You cannot ask for more, it has already been given to you; we have just lost the way to our own home.

These anecdotes relate to those seekers of the past; they have become very foreign to us, and that is why, even though we can understand the language, we cannot understand what is happening inside, behind the curtain. The anecdotes look very ordinary, but they are not ordinary; there cannot be anything more extraordinary than these Zen seekers and their ways of inquiry.

Tokusan is a great master. Before he became a master he came to Isan's temple. Every master had his own temple, his own monastery, and disciples moved from one monastery to another in search of a man with whom they could fall in love, with whom they could risk all. And the moment someone finds a master who is more precious than his own life, that day is the most fortunate day for the disciple. Now there is no more need to go anywhere, he has arrived home. Now the disciple can settle deep in silence, deep in his truth. He has found the significance of existence.

TOKUSAN CAME TO ISAN'S TEMPLE. CARRYING HIS PILGRIM'S BUNDLE UNDER HIS ARM, HE CROSSED THE LECTURE HALL, FROM EAST TO WEST AND WEST TO EAST; THEN, STARING AROUND, HE SAID, "MEW, MEW," AND WENT OUT.

TOKUSAN REACHED THE GATE, BUT THEN SAID TO HIMSELF, "I SHOULD NOT BE IN A HURRY."

What transpired is very simple. Tokusan is saying to Isan, "I am just like a cat, MEW, MEW. Are you capable of teaching an innocent animal? I am utterly ignorant, as ignorant as an animal - are you capable? And I have been searching from east to west, from west to east, and I have not yet come across the man who can be my master."

Because Isan did not say anything TOKUSAN REACHED THE GATE, BUT THEN SAID TO HIMSELF, "I SHOULD NOT BE IN A HURRY. This has been too quick, this inquiry, I did not give enough chance to Isan.

I SHOULD NOT BE IN A HURRY," SO HE DRESSED AND ENTERED A SECOND TIME TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW. ISAN WAS SITTING IN HIS PLACE.

TOKUSAN, HOLDING UP HIS KNEELING CLOTH, SAID, "OSHO!"

'Osho' is a word signifying great respect, love and gratitude. It also sounds beautiful.

"OSHO!" ISAN MADE AS IF TO TAKE UP HIS STAFF. THEN TOKUSAN GAVE A "KWATZ!" SHOUT, SWUNG HIS SLEEVES, AND WENT OUT. WITH HIS BACK TURNED TO THE LECTURE HALL, TOKUSAN PUT ON HIS STRAW SANDALS AND WENT OFF.

IN THE EVENING, ISAN ASKED THE CHIEF MONK, "THE NEW ARRIVAL - WHERE IS HE?"

THE CHIEF MONK SAID, "WHEN HE WENT OUT HE TURNED HIS BACK ON THE LECTURE HALL."

These words are not to be understood directly, but in a very indirect way. By turning his back on the lecture hall he is saying, "I am not interested in lectures, in words, in scriptures."

He put on his sandals and went away.

ISAN SAID, "SOME DAY THAT FELLOW WILL GO TO AN ISOLATED MOUNTAINTOP, ESTABLISH A HERMITAGE AND SCOLD THE BUDDHAS AND ABUSE THE PATRIARCHS."

Anyone who does not know the tradition of Zen will think that Isan is condemning him, but he is praising. He is saying, "That fellow is really made of the stuff a seeker needs to be made of. First he came and without asking a word simply said, 'Mew, Mew,' and without waiting for an answer went out. I was simply watching him. He crossed the hall from east to west, from west to east, just to show me that he had been to many, many masters. 'You are not new. Do you recognize me as a seeker? Are you ready to be a master to a man who is as innocent as an animal?'

"Before I could say anything he went out, but then he thought that it was too quick a departure, 'I should give a little chance to the old man.' Then he came in and with great respect, simply said, 'Osho!' But I could not accept him, because he is made of a different stuff."

There are two kinds of disciples, those who will insist on finding the truth alone and those who like to accompany a master, becoming his shadow, peacefully, silently dissolving themselves into the master.

Isan, seeing the fellow, remained silent without saying anything, but later on when the head monk of the monastery asked him, "What happened?"

ISAN SAID, "SOME DAY THAT FELLOW WILL GO TO AN ISOLATED MOUNTAINTOP" - the crowd is not his place, and he cannot be a disciple either. He is born to be a master. One day he will go to a mountain top far away and establish a hermitage, and he will blossom with such beauty that even the buddhas will be ashamed and the patriarchs will feel jealous.

It is a very strange way of appreciation, but Isan seems to be a man of tremendous insight. Not a single word has been passed but he has looked into the very depths of Tokusan and his potentiality.

And he is not a man to waste time with someone whose potentiality leads him somewhere else.

In ancient Egyptian mysticism there is a proverb, that it is not the disciple who chooses the master, it is the master who chooses the disciple. How can a poor disciple decide? On what grounds can he choose a master? Only a master can choose a disciple. From his height he can see the potential.

Isan could see that Tokusan was not a bodhisattva, but an arhat. He would find the truth alone, and would become a great master, but a master of very few people. And certainly he would not become a disciple, that was not his destiny.

Isan showed tremendous insight. Just by watching ordinary gestures, he could see the very inner depth of Tokusan. And what he said really happened. Tokusan finally became a great master on his own. He went to many more masters after Isan, but everywhere he behaved in such a way that nobody could accept him. Every master he visited could see the great potential in him, but he had to find it himself, he would not take anybody's help, it was simply not in his nature.

And when Tokusan himself became a master he was really on a mountaintop, all alone, but his name, his glory, spread like wildfire - another man has blossomed into the totality of buddhahood - and hundreds of people came to him.

Isan is saying that a man of clarity and enlightenment can see through you; he can see through what you are and what you can become. And a man like Isan will not interfere, out of compassion; he will not say a single word to a man who can become a master on his own sooner or later. He will let him find it. Any help to such a man will be a distraction.

ON ANOTHER OCCASION, MAYAOKU, NANSEN AND ANOTHER MONK WERE ON WHAT IN THOSE TIMES WAS CALLED A "NATURE PILGRIMAGE," OR "CLOUD ENJOYING," MEANING GOING LIKE A CLOUD, FLOWING LIKE WATER, ENJOYING THE MOUNTAINS, PLAYING IN THE STREAMS AND LAKES. AT THE SAME TIME, THEY INTENDED TO INTERVIEW KINZAN, who was an old and famous master. ON THE WAY THEY MET AN OLD WOMAN, AND THEY ASKED HER, "WHERE DO YOU LIVE?"

"HERE," SHE SAID, AND THE THREE WENT INTO HER TEA-SHOP.

On the mountaintop is Kinzan's temple and just at the foothills, this old woman ... but she is no ordinary woman. When she said "here" she was not using the word in the dictionary sense; she was using the word in the existential sense. "WHERE DO YOU LIVE?" and she said, "HERE." Where else can one live?

AND THE THREE WENT INTO HER TEA-SHOP. THE OLD WOMAN MADE A POT OF TEA, BROUGHT THREE CUPS AND PUT THEM ON THE TABLE AND SAID, "LET THE ONE WHO HAS GOD-LIKE POWER DRINK THE TEA!"

THE THREE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER BUT NOBODY SAID ANYTHING, AND NOBODY DRANK THE TEA.

God-power?

THE OLD WOMAN SAID, "THIS SILLY OLD WOMAN WILL SHOW YOU HER FULL POWER. JUST WATCH!" AND SHE TOOK THE TEA, DRANK IT UP, AND DEPARTED.

Zen does not make any distinction between men and women. And this old woman was a master herself. She used to live near the monastery of her master, just to help people, to show them the way. But she herself was a master, and once in a while she will play the game - and she played it perfectly.

First she said, "HERE" and the three misunderstood. They entered her hut. They thought simply that she was running this small tea-shop. They ordered tea, the woman prepared the tea. But bringing the teapot and three cups, she also proposed a condition: that whosoever can show god-like power can drink the tea. "This is no ordinary tea and I don't serve just anybody ... show god-like power!"

All three looked at each other. Nobody was courageous enough even to show himself, although everybody is a god. Seeing the situation, the old woman said, "THIS SILLY OLD WOMAN WILL SHOW YOU HER FULL POWER. JUST WATCH!" - each of these words is significant - AND SHE TOOK THE TEA, DRANK IT UP, AND DEPARTED.

God-like power does not mean anything other than acting spontaneously, without any thought - just naturally. All three were capable of doing that, but they started thinking about god-like power: "My God! I don't have god-like power. Certainly I cannot drink the tea. This woman seems to be very dangerous. What is this condition? She has not asked money for the tea, she is offering it free - 'just show your god-like power.'"

And because none of the three could manage to be spontaneous, she said, "THIS SILLY OLD WOMAN WILL SHOW YOU HER FULL POWER. JUST WATCH!" - perhaps in watching you may arrive to your own god-like power - AND SHE TOOK THE TEA, DRANK IT UP, AND DEPARTED.

Nowhere in the world have such strange stories happened. And they are not stories, but historical incidents.

ONE DAY, JOSHU VISITED HIS BROTHER MONK'S LECTURE HALL. HE STEPPED UP TO THE PLATFORM, STILL CARRYING HIS WALKING STICK, AND LOOKED FROM EAST TO WEST AND FROM WEST TO EAST.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?" ASKED THE BROTHER MONK.

"I AM MEASURING THE WATER," ANSWERED JOSHU.

"THERE IS NO WATER," SAID THE MONK, "NOT EVEN A DROP OF IT. HOW CAN YOU MEASURE IT?"

JOSHU LEANED HIS STICK AGAINST THE WALL AND WENT AWAY.

A very strange anecdote ... but Joshu is using the word 'water' in the same way as you would say the 'water' of a diamond. There is not a single drop of water in a diamond. But its shining nature, its very diamond-ness ...

Joshu said, "I have looked from east to west, from west to east. I am trying to measure the water of your temple, of your people, of you." But the brother monk could not understand the language, that 'water' is used for something other than water - your eyes are of a certain water, your individuality is of a certain water, just as diamonds are of a certain water. Their value is judged by their water:

how clean they are, without any dirt, without any flaw. If you can see that the diamond has no flaw, its value is higher. The value depends on the water.

And I can understand Joshu, because when I see people I also see: how much water, how much value is this diamond? Is there purity, is there love, is there trust, is there a possibility of blossoming into a flower? Is there life in abundance? Is there any possibility to take the quantum leap?

JOSHU, in desperation, LEANED HIS STICK AGAINST THE WALL AND WENT AWAY. That too is significant. His dropping of the walking stick means, "It is enough. I have searched from east to west, from west to east. Now, no more searching. It seems that people of water, those with potentiality, are no more available. I'm not going to search any more."

Joshu is a master and he is in search of disciples - this is a totally different thing. A disciple searching for a master is one dimension - stumbling, groping in darkness, not knowing exactly for what he is seeking, what the attributes of a master are. But there is another kind of seeking too. The master seeking the disciple - he knows exactly what he is looking for: the potentiality, the power, how much you can grow, are you able to be free from all bondage?

Those were different days - golden days - when disciples were roaming and searching for masters; masters were roaming and searching for disciples. Once in a while there was a meeting on some crossroads.

The master meets the disciple, and there is instant recognition. The master can see through the disciple and the disciple can see, in the fragrance of the master, in the presence of the master, a tremendous energy field in which he becomes drowned, drunk. You know it, it doesn't have to be explained to you. After your every meditation, you go from this Buddha Hall almost drunk - drunk with the divine, drunk with the unknown exploration, drunk with the courage that you showed in going inwards to touch your very center. A tremendous victory - there is no greater victory. You have found the source of your water. You can quench your thirst.

The Zen poet, Manan, has written:

UNFETTERED AT LAST, A TRAVELING MONK, I PASS THE OLD ZEN BARRIER.

MINE IS A TRACELESS STREAM-AND-CLOUD LIFE.

OF THOSE MOUNTAINS, WHICH SHALL BE MY HOME?

This series is dedicated to the clouds, because they represent freedom of movement. They don't bother about the boundaries of nations, they don't carry passports, and they don't have to ask anybody - the whole sky is theirs! Man also should be as free as a cloud. Why should there be any boundaries? Why should there be any divisions between humanity? Why should a nation become a prison?

Rather than giving freedom, the nation makes you a slave. You don't feel it because the prison is big; you will feel it only when you want to cross the boundaries. Immediately you will be stopped:

"Where is your permission? Where are you going?"

The cloud does not believe in any boundaries; it is a pure symbol of freedom.

UNFETTERED AT LAST, A TRAVELING MONK, I PASS THE OLD ZEN BARRIER.

Even Zen finally has to be transcended. Finally you have to become so meditative that you don't need to meditate any more - meditation becomes your very being. That is what is called "the old Zen barrier." The day your very existence becomes meditative, when you don't have to sit down at a certain hour to meditate in a certain way; the day when whatever you do, you do it meditatively - you sleep in meditation and you wake up in meditation - you have passed the old Zen barrier.

MINE IS A TRACELESS STREAM-AND-CLOUD LIFE.

OF THOSE MOUNTAINS, WHICH SHALL BE MY HOME?

The cloud is going towards the mountains, towards the unknown, untraveled heights. Far away - farther than the reach of ordinary mortal human beings.

Saisho, another poet:

EARTH, MOUNTAINS RIVERS - HIDDEN IN THIS NOTHINGNESS.

IN THIS NOTHINGNESS - EARTH, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS REVEALED.

SPRING FLOWERS, WINTER SNOWS:

THERE'S NO BEING NOR NOT-BEING, NOR DENIAL ITSELF.

In this silence you can understand this purity of transcendence - neither life nor death, but pure eternity.

Kukoku has written:

RIDING BACKWARDS THIS WOODEN HORSE, I'M ABOUT TO GALLOP THROUGH THE VOID.

WOULD YOU SEEK TO TRACE ME?

HA! TRY CATCHING THE TEMPEST IN A NET.

A man of meditation certainly becomes so free that trying to catch him is like trying to catch a tempest in a net. All organizations are nets, and all nationalities and races are nothing but nets.

They are all trying to catch you in different boundaries, in different chains. And our unconsciousness is such that we even glorify our chains, because our chains are made of gold, they are very ancient, they are all that we have.

Man can become a cloud, passing through all barriers. He can attain to total freedom, where he is not a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Christian, where he is not even his body or his mind - where he is pure consciousness, just being.

This moment you can enter into this being. It is available - you just have to stretch your hand a little.

Maneesha has asked:

Maneesha, all rebels are not enlightened, but all enlightened men are rebels. One can be rebellious without being enlightened. Lenin is a rebel, Marx is a rebel, Tolstoy is a rebel, Kropotkin is a rebel, but none of them is enlightened. And their rebellion will remain concerned with very ordinary social, economic and political situations.

The enlightened man is also a rebel, but his rebellion is not concerned with ordinary things, such as whether harijans should enter into a temple or not. His rebellion is of a very high nature. His rebellion is that all that is written is false, because the truth cannot be put into words. His rebellion is:

"Don't look backwards, don't look forwards - just close your eyes and look in, and this very moment your wings open and the whole sky becomes available to you."

When I say that the enlightened man is always a rebel, I don't mean socially, politically, economically; I mean only existentially. He is a transformed man. He knows his own being and he knows his being's splendor. He is no more on any power trip, because he could not have more power than is blossoming within his own self. He is not afraid of death because he knows that death is a fiction.

So there are rebels who are trying to change social forms, societies; communists, socialists, anarchists - these are ordinary rebellious people. And there are buddhas who have transmuted their own being, who have found their own life source. Finding it, they have transcended all that seems to be so important to other people; all this nonsense of being Hindu or Mohammedan or Christian becomes so childish.

A buddha can simply laugh at human stupidities. His laughter makes him far more rebellious than your so-called great rebels.

Before we enter into our buddhahood - just to relax ...

Old man Finklestein and Grandma Faginbaum are sitting together on the porch of the old peoples' home. They are talking about the good old days, when Fink asks Grandma, "Did you ever blush?"

"I sure did," replies Grandma. "I blushed four times in my life. The first time, when I undressed in front of my husband. The second time, when I undressed in front of my lover. The third time when I took money for it, and the fourth time when I paid money for it. How about you?"

The Fink is silent for a moment and then says, "I blushed twice. The first time when I couldn't do it the second time. And the second time, when I couldn't do it the first time!"

Paddy wants to emigrate from England to America. He has an interview at the American Embassy in London. The Consul asks him, "Mr. Murphy, why do you want to leave England and come to America?"

"Simple," replies Paddy. "America has Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, and Stevie Wonder.

England has Margaret Thatcher, no cash, no hope - and no wonder!"

Hamish Mactavish comes home unexpectedly to find his wife making wild love to a strange man.

"What the hell is going on here?" shouts Mactavish. "Who is this guy?"

His wife stops and looks for a moment and replies, "I suppose that is a fair question." And turning to the stranger she says, "What is your name, anyway?"

Miss Prisspuss, the school math teacher, is trying to teach little Albert how to subtract.

"Now, Albert," says Miss Prisspuss. "If your father earns one thousand dollars per week, and if they deduct one hundred dollars for insurance, and fifty-seven dollars for social security, and ninety-five dollars for taxes, and then if he gives your mother half, what would she have?"

Albert looks at Miss Prisspuss and says, "A heart attack!"

Nancy Reagan is worried abut Ronald. He seems to be gaining more and more weight, but refuses to take any exercise. Finally, in desperation, Nancy takes him to the new fitness clinic downtown.

Later, when she comes to pick up Ronnie, she finds the unfortunate president in agony. He is hooked up to a monitoring machine, with wires coming out of all parts of his body. He is shaking and moaning, and sweat is dripping from his body like a waterfall.

"Great news, Mrs. Reagan!" cries Bruno Truckteeth, the attendant. "He has lost five pounds today."

"Wonderful," says Nancy. "How did you manage it?"

"Simple," says Bruno, and he goes and whispers something in Ronnie's ear. The president's body starts shaking and sweating as if he is running a marathon.

"Jesus Christ!" cries Nancy. "What did you say to him?"

Bruno winks and says, "Osho for president. Yaa-Hoo!"

Now, Nivedano ... this is good moment, give a beat!

(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Be silent.

Close your eyes.

No movement of the body.

Go in.

Deeper and deeper.

It is your own home.

Nivedano ...

(Drumbeat) Relax.

Let go, just die.

This immense silence, this is your eternity.

This is the only holy place, and the only holy scripture.

Freed from body, freed from mind, you are just a cloud - a pure freedom, an absolute consciousness.

Nivedano ...

(Drumbeat) Come back, but come back as a buddha.

Sit down with the grace and the silence and the joy which are eternally yours.

You have just been busy in meaningless things and have forgotten yourself.

Remember it, remember it, in your twenty-four hours - day in, day out.

Let it become a silent stream of remembering, that you are a buddha.

Don't fall down; keep your dignity.

And suddenly you find that the whole world has changed.

Everything is the same, and yet nothing is the same, because your vision is new.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho Can we celebrate all the buddhas?

Yes, Osho.