When the Shoe Fits - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 4. FIGHTING COCK
So this is the training of a Samurai, of a Zen warrior – to fight without the ego just like this cock.
Now he is nearly ready. But remember the words, ’nearly ready’. Why not perfect? Because the Tao
says the perfect cannot exist in this world, only the nearly perfect. The moment you are perfect you
disappear. Perfection cannot exist in matter, in the material. Matter itself gives a little imperfection
of its own. You cannot be in the body and be perfect, a little will always be missing – and that
little which is missing is the link. That is why you can be in the body. Once you are perfect you
disappear. You die, but a perfect man never dies, he simply disappears. You depart, but a perfect
man disappears. Departure means that arrival will happen immediately, because departure is just
a part, the beginning of arrival. Arrival is the beginning of departure. You depart from this world to
arrive again. A perfect man simply disappears because he is so perfect that matter cannot hold him;
he is so perfect that the body cannot contain him; he is so perfect that in this imperfect world he
cannot have any form. He becomes formless. That is why the trainer said: How he is nearly ready.
And you cannot imagine how he can be any more ready. This seems to be the last thing.
WHEN ANOTHER BIRD CROWS, HIS EYE DOES NOT EVEN FLICKER. – What more perfection?
HE STANDS IMMOBILE LIKE A COCK OF WOOD. – What further perfection is possible? HE IS A
MATURE FIGHTER. OTHER BIRDS WILL TAKE ONE LOOK AT HIM AND RUN.
What further perfection is possible? It is possible. Because he may be standing immobile, just like
a cock of wood; his eyes may be static, with not even a flicker; the other birds may run and he may
win the combat; but he still is. That is why he is not perfect. He still is.
And everything that he is doing is being done through effort. That is why he is imperfect. He has
been trained to do this and now he is ready. He will perform, but deep inside he is the old cock.
A slight tremor will be there. It cannot be detected, nobody can detect it, from the outside he is a
perfect saint, but inside he is still the old cock, deep down at the centre he is still the same. And this
is the problem. You can practise religion and you can practise it so much that you become almost
perfect. But almost perfect is still imperfect and you have to be absolutely perfect. What is absolute
perfection? When the training, the effort, is dropped. EASY IS RIGHT, and this cock is still with
effort. He is doing it. He is immobile, but deep down it is not a non doing. He is doing it. He has
been trained, disciplined.
Religion is not a discipline, it is not something to practise. It is something to flow into, to let go in. It
is something not to be forced. You are not to begin from the outside and force it, you have to help it
from the inside and let it flow, overflow, to the outside. It should be spontaneous.
So what is to be done? If you wait for the spontaneous it doesn’t seem to come. If you practise you
may become just like this cock; good for the combat, good for the other, but for yourself you remain
the old. That is what has happened to many so-called saints. You go to them – their saintliness is
still with effort. They are maintaining it. And whenever you maintain something it is not authentic,
because the against, the opposite, is still lying there somewhere in the unconscious. It can uncoil at
any moment – and if you relax it will uncoil.
Once it happened that a Sufi was brought to me. For thirty years he had been practising and he
had really practised, there was no doubt about it. He was almost perfect, just like this cock. He had
many disciples and they told me that wherever he looks, in the trees, in the rocks, in the stars, he
sees Allah – the Divine everywhere.
When the Shoe Fits 58 Osho