Not knowing is the most intimate.
The more one knows, the less one feels the great experience of awe and wonder; one cannot be ecstatic and shout out of joy and say “Ah, this!”. Osho’s discourses on Zen in the backdrop of four selected Zen stories are transcribed in this book.
Zen, the Japanese method of yoga, is neither Buddhist nor Taoist and yet it is both. It is neither a way nor a path and hence it is called the gate-less gate, the pathless path, the effortless effort, the action-less action. In Zen, people who have attained no-mind alone are worthy enough to ascend to the high seat and speak to people. Zen says, “If you want to see, see right at once. When you begin to think, you miss the point.”
There are no lessons in Zen. It is not a teaching but a device to awaken the self. Zen believes in the ordinary world but it wants to transform the mundane into the sacred. “When you bring me a cup of tea in the morning, I take it, when you serve me a meal, I accept it, when you bow to me, I return it with a nod.”
The essential core of Zen is watching, observing and being aware. The only sin in Zen is unawareness and is the only virtue awareness. Everything is divine and extraordinary in the eyes of Zen. Osho says: “ Not to follow Christ, not to follow Buddha, but to follow life is to be religious.”
The book consists of 8 chapters of which 4 are devoted to answering questions from disciples and seekers. Also included in this book are jokes, parables and anecdotes.
Given below is an interesting joke:
An elephant escaped from the local zoo and made his way into the vegetable garden of one of the town’s most prominent matrons. Unfortunately this lady had only returned from a cocktail party where she had had just a little too much to drink. She was not too drunk, however, to see the beast in her garden. And she had the presence of mind to call the police.
“Quick,” she said, “there is some kind of huge, strange looking animal in my garden.”
“What is he doing?” asked the desk sergeant
“He seems to be picking lettuce with his tail!”
“Oh, really?” replied the wary policeman. “And what is he doing with it?”
The lady peered out into her garden once more and then said; “Sergeant, even if I told you, you would never believe it!”
Some of Osho’s observations:
Not knowing is not ignorance, not knowing is a state of innocence.
And you will get only that which you deserve, which you are worthy of.
Disbelief is also a kind of belief, a negative kind of belief.
The people who stop desiring worldly things start desiring heaven and heavenly pleasures.
Don’t try to dominate and don’t allow anybody to dominate you either.
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