Living and dying in a relaxed way is what Zen is.
A monk came to a master for help on working on one of the classic questions in Zen dialectic: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the west?” The master suggested that before proceeding with the problem the monk should make him a low salaam. As he was dutifully prostrating himself, the master gave him a good swift kick. When he felt the master’s foot he attained immediate enlightenment.
Zen says that meaning is man-created and so there is no meaning and no purpose and no need to look for it. Commenting on this typical Zen story, Osho says: “ You don’t ask a cloud, why it has come to China or you don’t ask a star,why it is there. Men like Bodhidharma are so pure, they don’t exist through meaning; they simply exist without any meaning. They don’t exist for any purpose.”
This book is the transcript of Osho’s talks on Zen, which is considered as the only religion in the world that teaches sudden enlightenment. A method adopted by the Zen masters for this is to ask their disciples to solve a koan. A koan is a riddle that is impossible to solve by its very formation. ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ is a famous Zen koan. Osho says that when one is looking at the riddle and no thought arises one can see into the riddle that it is absurd. In the gap, thinking is not there but knowing happens. In Osho’s words: “ When thinking stops and knowing happens, when thoughts disappear and clarity comes and you can see that truth is not something to be thought about, truth has to be seen.” An unexpected kick or whack from a master can also lead the disciple to sudden enlightenment.
Zen doesn’t have a concept of church, priest or God .To them God is not something above humanity, it is something hidden within humanity. Zen says that with God, man will remain always a slave and a worshiper and he will remain always in fear of God. Zen says everything is divine, each leaf of every tree and each pebble on every shore is special, unique and holy. so how can anything be special, divine and good or anything be evil, bad and ugly.
Zen says that the mind is the world and unless one drops the mind one can never be in tune with existence and one cannot pulsate with the pulse of the universe. According to Osho the whole teaching of Zen consists of only one thing: “how to take a jump into nothingness, how to come to the very end of your mind, which is the end of the world.” Zen says : “When you are silent, it speaks; when you speak, it is silent.” This is the Zen paradox.
Some of Osho’s observations:
Meditation is not concentration-- If you look with concentration you will find an ant, not God.
The man who is articulate in language is the dominant man.
Even when you say something about somebody else, you are saying it only about yourself.
Those who go on telling you to amend your nature and improve upon yourself are very dangerous people.
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