Right meditation brings you to emptiness and aloneness.
The ‘Diamond Sutra’ is one of the greatest sermons of Buddha. After Buddha’s death, these sutras have been remembered by Buddha’s great disciple Ananda, who was the only disciple who had lived continuously for 45 years with Buddha. . ‘The Diamond Sutra’ which starts with the very minute details about Buddha - how he walks, how he sits, how he looks, what he does and the like. is in the form of a dialogue between Buddha and Subhuti. While delivering what has happened between Buddha and Subhuti, Ananda . never says that ‘Buddha said this’; he simply says, ‘Thus have I heard. That this is what I have heard. What Buddha said, only he knows, what he meant, only he knows.
But Buddha has not said anything, neither has Subhuti heard anything. In that non-talking and non-hearing, something has happened - something which is beyond words. Ananda has tried to capture that in words,that great silence, that communion between two emptiness. This whole diamond Sutra points towards silence. According to Osho, .’it contains no philosophy, no system, no theory., no words, it is an empty book.’
Buddha’s whole message is condensed in this one word - Right meditation.The word prayer has not been heard in Buddhism and Jainism. They only know of meditation. The word ‘suchness’ is as important in Buddhism as ‘God’ is in other religions. Buddha says: a tathagata is synonymous with suchness. He speaks in accordance with reality. Whatsoever is spoken by a tathagata is truth.
‘Tathagata’ is called
one who has not gone anywhere, nor
come from anywhere. Therefore is he
called ‘the tathagata’, the arhat, the
fully enlightened one.
Osho says that he would like to interpret the word ‘tathagata’ as’ thus came, thus gone... Like the wind. The wind comes for no reason of its own, for no motivation of its own. Buddha is like that wind. Thus came, thus gone. No clinging. His coming and going is mysterious.’
Buddha says,Things happen on their own, they are very mysterious.There is no person, no self, no individuality, no soul. . Nothingness is the taste of Buddha’s message. When all is absent there is great presence.
The Diamond sutra will appear to most of us as absurd, as mad. It appears as irrational. They are strange because the way they are put, the way they are expressed, is not logical. It does not make any sense, not at least on the surface. Zen monks say Buddha never uttered a single word, and Buddha spoke for 45 years continuously.
.
The ‘Diamond Sutra’ starts with Buddha’s body - how he walks, how he sits, how he looks, what he does and now it ends on this strange sentence:
Whosoever says that rhe Tathagata
goes or comes, stands, sits or lies
down, he does not understand the
meaning of my teaching.
Osho’s commentary on ‘The Diamond Sutra” gives us a great understanding of Buddha’s life and his teachings. Osho answers a number of questions raised by the audience and his disciples. All his responses as well as the jokes, parables and anecdotes used during the course of his discourse are interesting, inspiring and thought provoking. Here is an anecdote:
A man was doing the traditional shradth ceremony to honour his just departed father. During the ceremony the family dog wandered into the prayer room. Afraid of defiling the occasion the man hastily got up and tied his dog to a post outside on the varandah.
Years later, when he died, his son performed the shraddh ceremony in his turn. Anxious to follow it in every detail he had to catch hold of a dog from the neighborhood, because he remembered that it must be very important. By this time it happened that the family had no dog so he had to run in the neighborhood to find a stray dog. He caught hold of one, tied it carefully to a post on the varandah, then finished the ceremony with a satisfied conscience. In that family, down the centuries, the rule is still followed. In fact, the sacred dog ritual has become the most important item in the ceremony.
‘The Diamond Sutra’ sheds light on the life and teachings of Buddha on which . Osho's commentary is unparallel and beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment