When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

14 October 1974 am in Buddha Hall
CHAPTER 4
Fighting Cock
CHI HSING TZU WAS A TRAINER OF FIGHTING COCKS FOR KING HSUAN. HE WAS TRAINING
A FINE BIRD. THE KING KEPT ASKING IF THE BIRD WERE READY FOR COMBAT.
’NOT YET’, SAID THE TRAINER. ’HE IS FULL OF FIRE. HE IS READY TO PICK A FIGHT WITH
EVERY OTHER BIRD. HE IS VAIN AND CONFIDENT OF HIS OWN STRENGTH’.
AFTER TEN DAYS HE ANSWERED AGAIN: ’NOT YET. HE FLARES UP WHEN HE HEARS
ANOTHER BIRD CROW’.
AFTER TEN MORE DAYS: ’NOT YET. HE STILL GETS THAT ANGRY LOOK AND RUFFLES HIS
FEATHERS’.
AGAIN TEN DAYS. THE TRAINER SAID: ’NOW HE IS NEARLY READY. WHEN ANOTHER BIRD
CROWS, HIS EYE DOES NOT EVEN FLICKER. HE STANDS IMMOBILE LIKE A COCK OF WOOD.
HE IS A MATURE FIGHTER. OTHER BIRDS WILL TAKE ONE LOOK AT HIM AND RUN’.
The human mind always ends with the ego – that is its final growth. So first try to understand how
the human mind becomes the ego.
The ego is the barrier. The more you are, the less the Divine can be; the less you are, the more
available you are for the Divine. If you are totally empty the Divine becomes the guest, and he can
become the guest only when you are totally empty, when not even a fragment of you is left. Then
you become the host and he becomes the guest. When you are not, you are the host; when you
are, all your prayers are in vain, all your invitations false. When you are, you have not called him yet
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