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Chapter 10 - Enlightenment is not an experience
The gaps between valleys are not your creation. The valleys that you create are so painful that you cannot tolerate them continuously. Once in awhile you want to be alone, and when you are alone you again feel fresh.
But just look at your logic: You are consoling yourself that these deep valleys of darkness are cleansing you. Those few moments between two valleys, you think are cleansing, refreshing, because of the valleys. You are indebted to all the nonsense that you are creating yourself.
What is the need of greed in life? Greed arises only because your present moment is empty, and to live in an empty moment hurts very much. To forget it you project greed into the future, thinking that tomorrow things are going to be better, a lottery is going to open in your name. But of course you have to wait for tomorrow, it cannot be just now -- and tomorrow never comes. All that comes is always the present moment, which is empty.
Greed is because we don't know how to live the present moment in its total richness.
Just the other night I saw a small anecdote about a great Zen master, Ryokan. He used to live in the mountains in a small hut. Another Zen master was staying with him. The whole day passed, talking about poetry, painting, sculpture, music, and they both forgot about food.
He had to go to beg for his food in the town. By the evening, he became aware. He said, "I am sorry -- to me it is not much, it is my usual habit. Sometimes I forget. But I am keeping you hungry, so I will go immediately and find something before the sun sets." So he rushed down the mountain and his friend waited and waited and waited for three hours. No sign... and he was feeling so hungry that he came out of the house -- what has happened? Has there been some accident?
And he could not believe his eyes: Ryokan was sitting outside the house under a tree with closed eyes, a great grace on his face, murmuring -- almost in a
whisper -- new haikus, new poetries. The guest went there, shook him and asked him, "What happened about the food?"
Ryokan said, "My god! When I saw the sun setting, it was so beautiful that I could not move away from this tree. From this tree, the sunset is a golden experience. I had stopped only for a moment but the sunset and its beauty impressed me so much that I forgot all about food and all about you! But here are a few beautiful haikus..."
The guest said, "But haikus won't help. I cannot sleep with such hunger."
Ryokan said, "Wait -- I will go. Although it is late, I may find something." And he rushed down from the hill towards the town. The whole night, the guest was tossing and turning, and coming out again and again to see what had happened to Ryokan.
In the early morning, when the sun was rising, the guest went out again -- he had not slept a single wink. Ryokan was still sitting under the same tree -- smiling and swaying and murmuring.
The guest said, "Ryokan, what about food?"
Ryokan said, "My god! When I reached the bottom of the hill, people were asleep and it was a fullmoon night. It was so beautiful, you would not believe. I have seen fullmoon nights before, but never anything comparable to this. So just to enjoy it a little, I sat under a tree --
and I don't know when the night passed, but I have found some beautiful haikus...
Osho - The Hidden Splendor 106
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