Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho's Haikus - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 9. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR EMPTY HEARTHe had four disciples who were very intimate to him. And all the other disciples thought it was almostcertain that out of these four, one was going to become the successor.At the time of departure, Bodhidharma was not dying, he was coming back to the Himalayas. Hehad gone to China because his master, a woman, had told him to take the message to China. So hetraveled for three years to reach China. He remained there for fourteen years until he saw that, ”Nowa few people are ripe and ready, and I can choose a successor and move back to the Himalayas.”The Himalayas have attracted for centuries and centuries the mystical people. There is some qualityof mystic atmosphere in the Himalayas. No other mountains in the world have that quality – theheight, the eternal snow that has never melted, the silence that has never been broken, paths thathave never been trodden. There are some similarities between the Himalayan peaks and the innerconsciousness.Bodhidharma said, ”Now I am old enough and sooner or later I will have to die. I don’t want toleave my footprints behind me. I want to disappear into the Himalayan snows without leaving a tracebehind. And it is time that I should move, because it will take years to reach again to the deepestpart of the Himalayas.” So he collected his disciples and the four disciples he called forth. Everybodyknew that these four were the probable candidates.He asked the first one, ”What is the essence of my teaching?”The first man said, and very rightly, ”The essence of your teaching is meditation.” It is not a questionof right and wrong, it is a question of depth and height. The answer is very flat. ”Your teaching ismeditation.” Any idiot could have said that.Bodhidharma said to him, ”Your answer to my question is right but not right enough. You have myskin, at the most. Just sit down.”He asked the second, and he said, ”Your essence is to achieve buddhahood.”The master said, ”You are right. Meditation finally leads to buddhahood. But that can be said evenby a schoolchild. Those who have heard me for fourteen years, can easily say it. You have at themost my bones. Just sit down. You have gone a little deeper than the first. So you have my bones.”He asked the third one and he said, ”Your essential teaching is to be silent.”Bodhidharma said, ”It is better than the other two answers, but if my teaching is to be silent, whyhave you spoken? You are breaking my teaching yourself. You have my marrow” – the marrow isthe inner side of the bones – ”but sit down.”The fourth came forward with tears in his eyes, bowed down to the master, touched his feet, did notsay a single word. Bodhidharma said, ”You have my very soul. You are my successor. Your tearshave said what the others have missed. Your gratitude has said what the others have missed. Yoursilence has said what the others have missed.”This man was chosen by the master as a successor. This is not an election. This is just finding outhow deep the person has gone and whether he has realized truth or not. Only that way in Zen is theHyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus 126 Osho