Ancient Music in the Pines: In Zen, Mind Suddenly Stops The Way of Effortless Effort

It is through silence that one comes to hear the ancient music in the pines.

The Zen way of life, the way of the spontaneous, effortless effort, the way of intuition is pictured in this book. To the question what the zen way of life is like; lies the answer in the story of Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch, took Zen from India to China in the sixth century. He came with one shoe on his foot and one shoe on his head. He planted the seed of Zen in China. He is considered as the father of Zen in China. For nine years while he was in China, Bodhidharma sat facing a wall, gazing at a wall. .After nine years he came back to India.

.it is said that his legs withered away sitting and just looking at the wall. People would come and they would try to persuade him, “Look at us. Why are you looking at the wall? And he would say, “Because you are also like a wall. When somebody comes who is really not like a wall, I will look.”
Then one day his successor came. And the successor cut off his hand and gave it to Bodhidharma and said,”Look this way, otherwise I am going to cut off my head.”
He turned, immediately about turned and said, “wait! So you have come. I have been waiting for nine years for you.”

Zen people talk through stories. They have to talk through stories because they cannot create theories and doctrines, they can only tell stories. This book ‘Ancient Music in the Pines’ is the transcript of a series of Osho’s talks to a live audience based on 5 selected Zen stories .Osho also discusses various topics such as : Trust and belief; Boredom and restlessness; Consciousness and concentration; Maturity and immaturity; Scientific truth and religious truth during the course of his talks. Parables, anecdotes, stories and jokes are aplenty in this book. Osho always chooses the right one at the right moment.

Osho always is against the majority. He teaches us a new way of thinking. Given below are some of his views:

Belief is not trust, and the more strongly you say that you believe totally the more you are afraid of the doubt within you.

If you are still fighting with your wife or your husband, your boyfriend or girlfriend, that simply shows that life is still running in it.

If you sit in this world silently, if you live silently, as an alive nothingness, the world will become a paradise.

The ancient music one hears in this book is the eternal music. the soundless sound, the Omkar , the sound of the one hand clapping.