The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 6. THE MAD PROJECTIONIST
have attained the supreme knowledge. It has also happened that the sannyasin who flees from the
world nothing.
This sutra has an intrinsic meaning: BECAUSE OF THIS FREEDOM, HE FREELY MOVES WITHIN
AND WITHOUT. He is now free. He is beyond all definitions. If you try to define him you will never
know him. Now he is beyond all explanations, he has no goals. It is difficult to tell where you will find
him; he can be anywhere.
Once it happened that one of Buddha’s monks was passing through a village. The village courtesan
happened to see him and immediately fell in love with him. The monk was young and handsome;
besides he had the unique beauty which only a monk can have, which cannot belong to the ordinary
man. He who gives up all is filled with a certain light within. He who has dropped all that is
meaningless, finds flowers of meaningfulness blooming within him. him life is filled with a grandeur,
a dignity, which is not seen in ordinary life.
It was only natural for the courtesan to fall in love with such a blissful dancing monk. The woman
was very beautiful and many had tried to win her favours; even the kings knocked at her door. She
was not available to everyone. She came running to the monk and said, ”Please, sir, I beg you to be
my guest during this rainy season.”
The monk said,” I shall ask my guru and do as he orders.” Note that he said neither yes nor no,
but promised to ask his guru. The next morning the monk went to Buddha and said, ”I received an
invitation to stay with a prostitute. What shall I do?”
Buddha replied, ”If the prostitute was not afraid of you why should you be afraid of her? Is my
sannyasin so weak that a prostitute can frighten him? Go! Accept the invitation. Stay with her
during the rainy season.”
There was great commotion among the rest of the monks. Many of them had notice the beautiful
courtesan. Many of them were filled with desire for her. How they wished that she had invited them
instead!
One monk stood up and said, ”This is not proper. A sannyasin staying in a harlot’s house? This is
not right. There is every possibility of his falling.”
Buddha replied, ”Had you received the invitation you would not have got my permission, for there is
the possibility of your being defiled; you still differentiate between within and without. The one I am
sending out, I know him well. Whether he stays within or without makes no difference to him.”
The monks were not convinced. They told Buddha, ”You are making a mistake. You are setting a
wrong precedent. All the rules of propriety are at stake.”
Every day the monks brought some alarming news of his activities.
Some said that they saw him watching her dance. Some said that he sat on velvet cushions. Some
others said he was all dressed up in beautiful clothes. Others swore that they saw him embracing
the prostitute.
The Great Path 120 Osho