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Chapter 27 - Harmony is your reality
Rinzai said, "I was sitting silent. That is the essential part of my teaching. I thought that rather than talking about it, it would be better to show it to you. In words, things get distorted; in words, you start interpreting according to your own prejudices."
The man said, "It is beyond me. Please give some words that I can remember."
Rinzai said, "If you insist I will commit the crime of forcing something into words which is not ready, which is absolutely unwilling to be put into words."
He wrote with his finger in the sand where he was sitting: meditation.
The man said, "I have come from very far away and you are making me more puzzled.
First you remained silent; now you simply write 'meditation.' That does not make any sense to me. What is meditation?"
Rinzai said, "What is meditation... what is a roseflower? A roseflower is a roseflower. You can see it dancing in the wind and in the rain and in the sun. You can enjoy its dance, you can enjoy its fragrance, its beauty, but what is a roseflower? Don't ask such stupid questions."
He said, "But I have come from so far, with great expectations... just a little more, so that I can understand what meditation is."
So Rinzai wrote with capital letters: MEDITATION.
The man said, "Does it make any difference whether you write in small letters or you write in capital letters?"
Rinzai said, "You are only concerned with your difficulty. You are not concerned with my difficulty. Even writing it as meditation, I am committing a crime against meditation itself, because it is an experience, not an explanation.
"It is the flower of silence. It cannot be contained in words. Even the word meditation is just utilitarian. People ask and feel annoyed if they are not
answered, so we answer, but all our answers are wrong.
"The moment we transform the experience into an explanation, something goes wrong. It is a wordless state of being. If you really want to know it, you sit with me; you be with me for a few days. Perhaps my silence may affect you, because it is contagious."
Don't ask what treasure you have discovered. You have discovered only the door; you have not even entered into the temple yet. But you are on the right path and you are going in the right direction.
If you don't allow greed, if you don't start expecting it to happen every day, according to your desires, you will discover the treasure too. It is inside you.
"Is this what You call meditation?"
Just the beginning... Meditation is when mind is no more at all.
Meditation is a state of no-mind. Your mind has not dissolved; it was watching, standing by the corner. And it is your mind which is enquiring about what has happened. It is not the business of the mind.
Mind is meant for outward things, for objective reality. In science it is perfectly in its right place, but in religion, in your interiority, in your subjectivity it has no place at all.
"And will it be easy to find it again?" Osho - The Hidden Splendor
270
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