Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho's Haikus - Oshorajneesh.com
Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho's Haikus - Oshorajneesh.com 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
CHAPTER 9. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR EMPTY HEARTsuccessor chosen. Just in some instances where the master has found that nobody is ripe enough– then too it shows such a devotion to truth that he will not choose anybody – will he then leave it tothe assembly. ”It is better that all together you find out who is going to be the successor. I am notgoing to commit the mistake of choosing an unenlightened person. You are at least free. You areunenlightened. What else can you do? You can choose an unenlightened person, very scholarly,learned, clever, a good speaker, a convincing logician. You can do that. But I cannot do somethingin my last moments of life for which I will be forever condemned by the buddhas.”All these popes are elected people.Just by the way, today Prarthana phoned from California. She goes on finding things for me. Shewas visiting a company which specializes in making bedcovers and pillowcovers. The managerasked her, ”For whom are you ordering these?”And she said, ”For Osho.”The man said, ”It is a strange coincidence that Osho and the pope will not agree on anything, butthey both are my customers.”He has the best customers around the world, Princess Diana... and he himself enjoyed the idea....I have to tell Prarthana to find somebody else. I cannot sleep on those sheets on which this idiotpope.... There is no agreement between me and him on anything, not even on bedsheets.Basho wrote the haiku:ONLY THE SHELLOF THE CICADA LEFT?DID IT SING ITSELF OUT OF EXISTENCE?An old cicada tree, almost dead, no foliage left – and Basho is saying, ”Only the shell...” The innerlife has left the tree....”Only the shell of the cicada left? Did it sing itself out of existence?”Did it go out of existence singing, dancing? He is indicating to every disciple who is in search ofthe eternal sources of life that you should go dancing in your death. Only then can you find it.Dancing transforms death into eternal life. Dancing is a very transforming force. It contains your joy,your blissfulness, your peace, your gratitude; your thankfulness to existence that it gave you time toblossom, it gave you great foliage, great flowers. And now that it wants you to return to the source,you should not be sad. That is ungratefulness.You should be in a celebrating mood, in a thankful mood for all that the existence has done for you.Go dancing and in that dancing death becomes a fiction. That dancing transforms even death intoa new life, or into eternal life.Question 1Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus 127 Osho
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CHAPTER 9. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR EMPTY HEARTsuccessor chosen. Just in some instances where the master has found that nobody is ripe enough– then too it shows such a devotion to truth that he will not choose anybody – will he then leave it tothe assembly. ”It is better that all together you find out who is going to be the successor. I am notgoing to <strong>com</strong>mit the mistake <strong>of</strong> choosing an unenlightened person. You are at least free. You areunenlightened. What else can you do? You can choose an unenlightened person, very scholarly,learned, clever, a good speaker, a convincing logician. You can do that. But I cannot do somethingin my last moments <strong>of</strong> life for which I will be forever condemned by the buddhas.”All these popes are elected people.Just by the way, today Prarthana phoned from California. She goes on finding things for me. Shewas visiting a <strong>com</strong>pany which specializes in making bedcovers and pillowcovers. <strong>The</strong> managerasked her, ”For whom are you ordering these?”And she said, ”For Osho.”<strong>The</strong> man said, ”It is a strange coincidence that Osho and the pope will not agree on anything, butthey both are my customers.”He has the best customers around the world, Princess Diana... and he himself enjoyed the idea....I have to tell Prarthana to find somebody else. I cannot sleep on those sheets on which this idiotpope.... <strong>The</strong>re is no agreement between me and him on anything, not even on bedsheets.Basho wrote the haiku:ONLY THE SHELLOF THE CICADA LEFT?DID IT SING ITSELF OUT OF EXISTENCE?An old cicada tree, almost dead, no foliage left – and Basho is saying, ”Only the shell...” <strong>The</strong> innerlife has left the tree....”Only the shell <strong>of</strong> the cicada left? Did it sing itself out <strong>of</strong> existence?”Did it go out <strong>of</strong> existence singing, dancing? He is indicating to every disciple who is in search <strong>of</strong>the eternal sources <strong>of</strong> life that you should go dancing in your death. Only then can you find it.Dancing transforms death into eternal life. Dancing is a very transforming force. It contains your joy,your blissfulness, your peace, your gratitude; your thankfulness to existence that it gave you time toblossom, it gave you great foliage, great flowers. And now that it wants you to return to the source,you should not be sad. That is ungratefulness.You should be in a celebrating mood, in a thankful mood for all that the existence has done for you.Go dancing and in that dancing death be<strong>com</strong>es a fiction. That dancing transforms even death intoa new life, or into eternal life.Question 1<strong>Hyakujo</strong>: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Everest</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Zen</strong>, <strong>with</strong> Basho’s <strong>Haikus</strong> 127 Osho
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