The Language of Existence

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Osho

The Language of Existence Talks on Zen

Talks given from 29/08/88 pm to 07/09/88 pm English Discourse series

9 Chapters

Year published: 1989

1

Remember, remember! 2

2

Go like an arrow 15

3

Seek nothing outside 26

4

Beyond life-and-death 38

5

The gateway of the buddhas

50

6

Be a rare person 63

7

Now you have it 77

8

Please, settle for no-self 91

9

Lovers of tao 105

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember! 1

Remember, remember!

29 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium OUR BELOVED MASTER,

DAIO ONCE SAID TO A MONK: THE PEAK EXPERIENCE, THE FINAL ACT -- AS

SOON AS YOU TRY TO PURSUE IT IN THOUGHT, THERE ARE WHITE CLOUDS

FOR A THOUSAND MILES. BUT EVEN IF YOU GO BACK UPON SEEING THE

MONASTERY FLAGPOLE AT A DISTANCE, OR HEAD OFF FREELY UPON SEEING

A BECKONING HAND, THIS IS STILL ONLY HALF THE ISSUE; IT IS NOT YET THE

STRATEGIC ACTION OF THE WHOLE CAPABILITY.

YOU HAVE TRAVELED AND STUDIED VARIOUS PLACES AND SPENT A LONG

TIME IN MONASTERIES. DON'T STICK TO THE RUTS IN THE ROAD OF THE

ANCIENTS -- YOU MUST TRAVEL A LIVING ROAD ON YOUR OWN.

EAST, WEST, FOOT UP, FOOT DOWN, USING IT DIRECTLY -- ONLY THEN WILL

YOU KNOW THAT THE PEAK EXPERIENCE ILLUMINES THE HEAVENS AND

COVERS THE EARTH, ILLUMINES THE PAST AND FLASHES THROUGH THE

PRESENT. THIS IS YOUR OWN PLACE TO SETTLE AND LIVE. WHEN I SAY THIS, I AM ONLY USING WATER TO OFFER FLOWERS, NEVER ADDING ANYTHING

EXTRA.

ON ANOTHER OCCASION DAIO SAID TO A ZEN NUN, "AT THE TOP OF THE

HUNDRED-FOOT POLE, GO FORWARD."

THE NUN REPLIED, "AT THE TOP OF THE HUNDRED-FOOT POLE,

THERE IS NO PLACE TO GO."

DAIO SAID, "WHERE THERE IS NO PLACE TO STEP, GO A HUNDRED

THOUSAND STEPS FARTHER -- ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO WALK

ALONE IN THE RED SKIES, PERVADING THE UNIVERSE AS YOUR WHOLE

BODY."

THE NUN AGREED AND DAIO CONTINUED: "THAT'S ALL. NOW YOU WANT

TO RETURN TO YOUR OLD CAPITAL AND HAVE COME WITH INCENSE IN YOUR

SLEEVE TO ASK FOR A SAYING. I ONCE MADE A VERSE OF PRAISE ON THE

MASTER OF IKUSAN, SO I WILL WRITE THAT:

"'ATOP THE POLE, WALK ON BY THE ORDINARY ROUTE. IT IS MOST

PAINFUL, WHEN TAKING A TUMBLE IN A VALLEY. EARTH, MOUNTAINS, AND

RIVERS CANNOT HOLD YOU UP, AND SPACE SUPPRESSES LAUGHTER, FILLING

A DONKEY'S CHEEKS.'

"I ASK YOU, ZEN NUN," CONTINUED DAIO, "TO BRING THIS UP AND LOOK AT

IT TIME AND AGAIN: HOW TO GO FORWARD FROM ATOP THE POLE? SUDDENLY, WHEN THE TIME COMES, YOU CAN GO FORWARD A

STEP, AND

SPACE WILL SURELY SWALLOW A LAUGH. REMEMBER, REMEMBER."

Osho - The Language of Existence 2

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

Maneesha, before I discuss these very significant statements, I have to inaugurate Avirbhava's Museum of Gods. She has brought a few great gods, but before she brings her gods before you I have to say something about them.

"Octopus: On the island of Corfu in the Greek archipelago, the octopus was worshipped as an incarnation of one of the Greek gods.

Known as the most evil of the sea animals, the innocent octopus acquired the name

'devil-fish' by fearful ancient fishermen."

The second is, "Crocodile: Among the southern Bantus of Africa, the crocodile is considered sacrosanct.

The Egyptian god Sebek was believed to take the shape of a crocodile; sometimes he was represented as wholly animal, sometimes only with a crocodile head. Offerings of cake, meat, and honey wine were made to the sacred crocodiles, some of which were tamed by priests.

Oracles were drawn from the crocodiles' behavior, and they were embalmed at death."

And the third is, "Lobster: The lobster was generally considered sacred among the ancient Greeks.

In New Caledonia, the crab goddess, or demon, is known to have a sacred grove. On the trees in her grove are hung little packets of food for her. She is the enemy of married people, and is known to cause elephantiasis.

Even today, the lobster is worshipped in the Isa district fishing villages of Japan. Huge replicas are paraded through the towns during their festivals."

Before I ask Avirbhava to bring her newly acquired gods, I have heard a joke about an octopus:

Klopski is overjoyed with his new pet octopus, Clyde. The magnificent creature drinks vodka like a fish, but also can play any musical instrument in the world.

One evening, after polishing off a few bottles of vodka together, Clyde and Klopski go out to the Jumpin' Jellyfish Jazz Club.

Klopski shouts, "Hey, everybody! I will bet anyone here that my octopus can play anything anyone gives him."

Laughter fills the bar. Then Benny the banjo player says, "Okay, I bet you fifty dollars he can't play my banjo."

Klopski nods enthusiastically, swallows back a shot of vodka and gives one to Clyde. The octopus swallows his drink and crawls onto the stage, grabbing not one but two banjos on the way.

As he plays "God Save The Queen," he sneaks out a free tentacle and snatches another glass of vodka.

"Hey, man," yells Pete the piano player, "that is cool. But I will bet you a hundred bucks he can't play my grand piano."

Osho - The Language of Existence 3

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

"Right!" yells Klopski, swallowing his vodka, and pouring one for the octopus. Clyde knocks back the vodka and jumps on the piano. Waving all his arms about wildly, Clyde plays the Polish national anthem stylishly.

"That is fine," comes a shout from the corner, "but I will bet you five hundred dollars he will never be able to play this!" It is Hamish MacTavish, and be brings

a big, old Scottish bagpipe up to Klopski.

"Okay," says Klopski. But before Klopski can touch it, Clyde leaps on the bagpipe, squeezing and tangling his arms all over it. Then the octopus and the bagpipe fall onto the floor in a knotted heap, making only a pitiful gasping sound.

Losing the bet, an enraged Klopski grabs the octopus, holds him up in the air and cries,

"What the hell went wrong with you?"

"Well," grins the octopus, drunkenly, "she looked so beautiful, but I just couldn't get her cotton panties off!"

Now, Avirbhava, come on.

(A GREY VELVETY OCTOPUS APPEARS IN FRONT OF THE PODIUM, HOLDING

BETWEEN HIS TENTACLES A FLUTE, PLAYING THE BEATLES TUNE "IN AN

OCTOPUS' GARDEN", AND DANCING UP AND DOWN IN FRONT OF

THE MASTER.) So let him settle on the Stonehead, now ...

(BUT THE OCTOPUS LANDS ON NIRVANO'S HEAD INSTEAD. MEANWHILE, A LARGE CROCODILE IS INCHING ALONG THE PODIUM, WHILE A RED, CUDDLY

LOBSTER IS DANCING IN THE AIR. FINALLY, THE OCTOPUS GETS TO HIS

DESTINATION -- STONEHEAD'S HEAD. THE MASTER IS CHUCKLING AND

ENJOYING THE SHOW TREMENDOUSLY, AS WELL AS THE ASSEMBLY, WHICH IS

SIMPLY DROWNING IN AN OCEAN OF LAUGHTER.)

Great, Avirbhava! Take your gods away. DAIO ONCE SAID TO A MONK:

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE, THE FINAL ACT -- AS SOON AS YOU TRY TO PURSUE

IT IN THOUGHT, THERE ARE WHITE CLOUDS FOR A THOUSAND MILES. BUT

EVEN IF YOU GO BACK UPON SEEING THE MONASTERY FLAGPOLE AT A DISTANCE, OR HEAD OFF FREELY UPON SEEING A BECKONING HAND, THIS IS

STILL ONLY HALF THE ISSUE; IT IS NOT YET THE STRATEGIC ACTION OF THE

WHOLE CAPABILITY.

YOU HAVE TRAVELED AND STUDIED VARIOUS PLACES AND SPENT A LONG

TIME IN MONASTERIES. DON'T STICK TO THE RUTS IN THE ROAD OF THE

ANCIENTS -- YOU MUST TRAVEL A LIVING ROAD ON YOUR OWN.

Osho - The Language of Existence 4

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

THIS CAN BE CALLED ONE OF THE VERY FUNDAMENTALS OF ZEN: DON'T

STICK TO THE RUTS IN THE ROADS OF THE ANCIENTS -- YOU MUST TRAVEL A LIVING ROAD ON YOUR OWN.

The fact is, you cannot travel on anybody's road because that road will never lead you to yourself. It will lead you to somebody else, whose road it is. Never

be a follower; always be a path finder. And the path in the unknown reality of your inner world is made by walking into the unknown, without any road prepared by others for you.

All the religions are doing that: they are preparing roads for millions of people --

highways, super highways. There are six hundred million Catholics walking on one road.

They are not going to reach anywhere; not a single one of them has reached even to the state of Jesus Christ. And nobody even thinks about it. Six hundred million Catholics for eighteen hundred years following a certain road persistently, and they have not produced a single Jesus worth the name. It is not their fault, it is our whole mental makeup. We have been told that we have to walk on paths which are prepared. But this is a different path.

All paths that go outwards are prepared beforehand. You can go to the north, you can go to the south; you can go anywhere, the road is ready. But to go inside, no road is ready, you will have to create it by walking. It will remain always an individual pathway. Nobody else will ever walk on it and nobody else should ever walk on it, because that will lead him into a hypocrisy. He will become someone else that he is not. It is a very important message: DON'T STICK TO THE RUTS IN THE ROAD OF THE ANCIENTS.

All the religions emphasize the opposite; all the religions try to prove that they are the most ancient -- to be an ancient religion is a great value. The reality is, the more ancient a religion is, the more rotten it is bound to be. The more ancient, the farther away from you.

There is no question of following any ancient way. You should not follow even a modern way, because all ways that are created by others may only be suitable for them.

This is a great challenge of existence, that you have to create your own path to your own temple. No help is possible, and it is the grandeur of humanity, a tremendous dignity, that you can follow only your own path.

All religions are leading people wrongly; they are destroying people, making them into sheep. An authentic religion will make a man into a lion who walks alone, who never walks in a crowd. The crowd never suits him, because with the

crowd you have always to compromise.

With the crowd you have always to listen to others: their criticism, their appraisal, their conceptions of right and wrong, their values of good and bad.

In the crowd you cannot remain natural. The crowd is a very unnatural environment.

Unless you are very aware, the crowd is going to crush you into dust. It is because of this that you don't find many buddhas in the world. A buddha has to fight inch by inch for his individuality. He has not to give way to the crowd, whatever the cost. Unless such an uncompromising attitude remains constantly in you, you cannot remain unaffected by the crowd in which you live.

And unfortunately everybody is born in a crowd -- the parents, the teachers, the neighbors.

Nobody is fortunate enough to be born alone, so that is out of the question. You are born in the society, in the crowd. Unless you can keep your intelligence clean of the pollution that will Osho - The Language of Existence

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Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

be surrounding you from every side, sooner or later you will become somebody else, somebody who nature had never intended you to be.

Remember constantly that you have your own destiny, just as everybody else has his own destiny. Unless you become the flower, the seeds of which you have been carrying within you, you will not feel blissfulness, fulfillment, contentment, you will not be able to dance in the wind, in the rain, in the sun. You can be in paradise only as an individual, if you have followed the path that you create by walking in. There are no ready-made pathways.

When you enter in, you enter into pure space -- not a road; there are not even footprints.

Buddha used to say that the inner world is just like the sky. The birds fly but they don't leave their footprints. Nobody can follow their footprints because in the

sky their footprints are not; as they have flown away, their footprints have dissolved.

The inner sky remains always pure, just waiting for you, because nobody can get inside you. He is saying:

YOU MUST TRAVEL A LIVING ROAD ON YOUR OWN. EAST, WEST, FOOT UP, FOOT DOWN, USING IT DIRECTLY -- ONLY THEN WILL YOU KNOW THAT THE

PEAK EXPERIENCE ILLUMINES THE HEAVENS AND COVERS THE EARTH, ILLUMINES THE PAST AND FLASHES THROUGH THE PRESENT. THIS IS YOUR

OWN PLACE TO SETTLE AND LIVE.

Following your own path, not imitating anybody, you are bound to reach the space where you will feel you have arrived at the home, where you can settle for eternity.

WHEN I SAY THIS I AM ONLY USING WATER TO OFFER FLOWERS, NEVER

ADDING ANYTHING EXTRA.

He is perfectly aware that people may start following him. Such is the stupidity of humanity. To the man who is saying, "Never follow anybody," they say, "Okay." But their okay means, "Now we are going to follow you." When the person is saying, "Never follow anybody," he is included in that "anybody." Then why is he speaking, what is he doing? He says:

I AM ONLY USING WATER TO OFFER FLOWERS, NEVER ADDING ANYTHING

EXTRA.

I am saying the very essential, not adding anything extra, just like watering flowers.

Such a simple thing ... following yourself is such a simple thing. The flowers

will start blossoming, you just go on watering them, nourishing them with your attention, with your love, with your silence, with your celebration, with your laughter. Just don't add anything extra from other sources, from scriptures, from great teachers, from buddhas. Nobody is to be included on your path. Your path has to be absolutely pure and virgin.

ON ANOTHER OCCASION DAIO SAID TO A ZEN NUN, "AT THE TOP OF THE

HUNDRED-FOOT POLE, GO FORWARD."

It will look a very absurd statement.

AT THE TOP OF THE HUNDRED-FOOT POLE, GO FORWARD.

You will think that man is mad. There is no way to go anywhere, you will cling to the pole. But going inside is just like this, as if you are standing on a hundred- foot-long pole. And Osho - The Language of Existence

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Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

when you go in there is no road, just pure inner sky. It is a jump into the unknown, but a jump of tremendous beauty.

You may have heard, or you may not have heard ... On the China Wall that surrounds the whole of China -- it is the biggest wall in the world ... It took one thousand years to build; it is almost a mountain. And it is so wide that you can drive a car on it, and as high as sixty feet, seventy feet, eighty feet -- as the terrain allows. It was built against the Mongol attackers, to prevent them from entering China. And of course they were absolutely unable -- a hundred-foot wall standing between Mongolia and China.

China had suffered so much from the Mongols that it took on this tremendous task --

almost inhuman. It took one thousand years to make the wall, and millions of people were engaged in the work. But it had to be done because great Mongols like Genghis Khan ... he alone killed forty million people. Killing was their joy.

His son killed thirty million people; another Mongol, Tamerlane, again killed forty million people. The successor of Tamerlane, Nadir Shah, is thought to have killed more than any of his forefathers, but there are no records available. The whole of China must have become so threatened by these monsters --

murderers for no reason, just for the simple joy they would burn a whole city alive -- that they made this China Wall.

A fictitious story is connected with the China Wall. There is a place in the China Wall where it is said that if you stand there and look at the other side, you simply give a good laughter and jump, you never return. Many people tried but they simply laughed and jumped.

And it is one hundred feet high, a mountainous terrain. The fiction became so much of a reality that the government had to put soldiers there to prevent people from looking from that place. Nobody could explain it. What happens? Why do they simply laugh? What do they see?

And then without saying anything to anybody, they simply jump.

I don't think it is a historical fact but I understand it as mythological, and a very beautiful phenomenon. When you look in, you are looking into a tremendous nothingness. And all that the mystics have done is, they have given a laugh and jumped. They have simply said goodbye and jumped.

It is so enchanting, so magnetically pulling; the gravitation is so much that once you look in, you cannot resist taking the jump. It is risky, it is dangerous, you may be lost. But on the contrary, you find yourself for the first time. You were lost before; hence the laughter. And now you have come home, which was just looking inwards, and everything that you ever wanted is fulfilled. You have entered the lotus paradise.

This statement -- AT THE TOP OF THE HUNDRED-FOOT POLE, GO

FORWARD -- is not concerned with an actual pole. It is concerned with your hundred-foot-long ego. That is your pole, where you are standing.

Look within and take a jump! Then go forward.

THE NUN REPLIED, "AT THE TOP OF THE HUNDRED-FOOT POLE, THERE IS NO

PLACE TO GO."

DAIO SAID, "WHERE THERE IS NO PLACE TO STEP, GO A HUNDRED

THOUSAND STEPS FARTHER -- ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO WALK

ALONE IN THE RED SKIES, PERVADING THE UNIVERSE AS YOUR WHOLE

BODY."

Osho - The Language of Existence 7

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

Zen has a language of its own. It is simple, but because we are complicated we cannot understand the simple language. A hundred-foot-long pole ... you would never have thought that it could be representative of the ego.

Once you see the metaphor, it becomes very clear that everybody is standing on a very long pole. And people are trying to get on longer poles. When Henry Ford was dying, before his death he was asked, "What have you learned in your whole life? Because you became the world's greatest rich man -- from poverty to riches."

Henry Ford said, "Don't remind me. I have learned only one thing: climbing poles. And when you have climbed the pole, you look so awkward, so stupid. Fortunately you are alone there sitting on your pole. I have learned the art of climbing poles, that has been my whole life. I have not learned anything. I am dying without having learned anything from life."

But Daio's interpretation:

WHERE THERE IS NO PLACE TO STEP ...

'Place' is always outside. Inside there is no place, there is only space. And you should understand the difference between place and space.

You are sitting here. The place you are sitting in is one thing and the space that you are within is another. It is nothing material, so there is no question of falling. There is no fear of falling into a ditch. There is no place of any kind, just pure silence and spaciousness. Where there is no place to step, that is the real place from where to begin the journey.

Howsoever absurd, he has said a great truth.

GO A HUNDRED THOUSAND STEPS FURTHER -- ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO WALK ALONE IN THE RED SKIES, PERVADING THE UNIVERSE AS YOUR WHOLE BODY.

THE NUN AGREED AND DAIO CONTINUED: "THAT'S ALL. NOW YOU WANT

TO RETURN TO YOUR OLD CAPITAL AND HAVE COME WITH INCENSE IN YOUR

SLEEVE TO ASK FOR A SAYING. I ONCE MADE A VERSE OF PRAISE ON THE

MASTER OF IKUSAN, SO I WILL WRITE THAT:

'ATOP THE POLE, WALK ON BY THE ORDINARY ROUTE. IT IS MOST PAINFUL, WHEN TAKING A TUMBLE IN A VALLEY. EARTH, MOUNTAINS, AND RIVERS

CANNOT HOLD YOU UP, AND SPACE SUPPRESSES LAUGHTER, FILLING A DONKEY'S CHEEKS.'"

Once you have taken the jump into the inner space, everything is easy. Before taking the jump everything is difficult. You have never thought that you have any interiority, you have never thought that there is any space inside.

When I say "your interiority" I don't mean your bones and your heart and your brain. These are all outside coverings of your inside nothingness. When you detach yourself from your body and mind and heart, you find that place from where the journey begins. That is the true pilgrimage, the only pilgrimage that is of any worth. All others are unnecessarily running here and there, not knowing where they are going.

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Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

I have heard ... Once George Bernard Shaw was caught in a railway train without a ticket.

He had purchased a ticket, but where had he put it? He had much luggage. He must have been like Avirbhava -- she travels with twelve suitcases! So he looked into this suitcase, into that suitcase. The whole compartment was filled with his clothes and things and books, and the ticket collector finally said in desperation, "I know you, everybody knows you. I cannot conceive that you are traveling without a ticket. It must have got lost -- you have so much luggage. Don't be worried, I will not come again, and I will give the message to the other ticket collectors on the train not to bother you."

George Bernard Shaw shouted at him, "You idiot! You think I am taking all this trouble for you? The problem is not the ticket, the problem is that without the ticket I don't know where I am going. The train is going so fast and I don't know which station I am to get out at.

And why are you standing here like an idiot? Just do your work and let me find my ticket!" He was a world famous man, but he was a man with a very bad memory.

A similar story is told about Mulla Nasruddin, but juicier. The ticket collector comes, and Mulla Nasruddin looks into everything -- his bags, his pockets. The ticket collector is standing there and he says, "You have looked in every pocket, but you don't look in the left-side pocket of your coat."

Mulla Nasruddin said, "Don't interfere in my work. Never mention that pocket!"

He said, "You are strange. I am simply helping you because you cannot find the ticket.

Perhaps ... why are you leaving out that pocket?"

Mulla Nasruddin said, "That is my only hope. If the ticket is not in the left pocket, I am finished. So first I will look into everything else. Only as the last resort may I touch that pocket. That is my last hope, don't destroy it."

"I ASK YOU, ZEN NUN," CONTINUED DAIO, "TO BRING THIS UP AND LOOK AT

IT TIME AND AGAIN: HOW TO GO FORWARD FROM ATOP THE POLE?"

I give you this poem. Remember, that this is my message: that you have to leave the place and enter into space.

"SUDDENLY, WHEN THE TIME COMES, YOU CAN GO FORWARD A STEP, AND

SPACE WILL SURELY SWALLOW A LAUGH. REMEMBER, REMEMBER."

Don't be afraid of laughing. Just take a step from place into space, have a good laugh and just go on. We are doing that every day -- not one laugh but many laughs.

(A LOUD LAUGH IS HEARD FROM SARDAR GURUDAYAL SINGH.)

Sardar Gurudayal Singh, wherever this caravan is going you will be needed. Without you life will not be so juicy.

Osho - The Language of Existence 9

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember! A haiku by Sodo:

AFTER THE MOON-VIEWING, MY SHADOW WALKING HOME

ALONG WITH ME.

AFTER THE MOON-VIEWING ... A full moon -- that has become traditional in Zen. On the full-moon night the Zen seekers don't sleep, they walk into the mountains where the moon has made waterfalls look as if silver is falling, where the moon has made the whole surroundings a dream.

Sodo says, AFTER THE MOON-VIEWING ... This is called moon-viewing; it is a tremendously aesthetic experience.

MY SHADOW WALKING HOME ALONG WITH ME.

Such silence. Nobody is with me, just my shadow walking along with me. After seeing this whole beautiful world, when you enter into your home nobody will be with you, not even your shadow. Your aloneness will be total.

Every meditation is a preparation for enjoying the aloneness which is our nature. Issa wrote:

NOT YET HAVING BECOME A BUDDHA, THIS ANCIENT PINE TREE,

IDLY DREAMING.

According to those who have awakened, everything is full of buddhahood. Buddhahood is just the nature of existence. Issa's haiku is saying: NOT YET HAVING BECOME A BUDDHA,

THIS ANCIENT PINE TREE,

Although it is ancient, it has not yet become a buddha. IDLY DREAMING.

It is still dreaming. Someday it may wake up. This can be said about everybody. We are all unconscious of our ultimate reality, and we go on dreaming, we go on sleeping, we go on desiring, we go on longing for this and that, not knowing that

the greatest treasure is within our awakening.

There is no more than becoming a buddha. You have come to the highest peak of consciousness.

Consciousness is the only wealth. Osho - The Language of Existence 10

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember! Question 1

Maneesha has asked:

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE ONE, MOST SIGNIFICANT ATTRIBUTE A SANNYASIN OF YOURS NEEDS?

My sannyasins don't need, Maneesha, any attribute. My perception of sannyas is to be just yourself. If I say any attribute, I am imposing that attribute on my sannyasins. My sannyas is absolute freedom. With freedom of course a great responsibility comes, but that is not my business.

There is a special event happening in the streets of Jerusalem, and there is great excitement throughout the city. Pontius and Mrs. Pilate are standing on the balcony of the palace, waving to the crowds below. They are watching as Jesus and the procession following him slowly make their way through the streets towards Crucifix Hill.

Suddenly, Jesus stumbles and he and his cross crash to the ground. The procession grinds to a standstill. Slowly, Jesus gets back on his feet, picks up the cross, and carries on.

"Pontius, did you see that?" remarks Mrs. Pilate, out of the corner of her mouth, as she continues waving with a smile plastered on her face.

"Yes, dear," replies Pontius, "I'm afraid he did it again."

"Well, I really don't care who he is," remarks Mrs. Pilate. "If he drops his cross one more time, he is out of the parade!"

In the small hours of the morning, Paddy is crawling along the street on his hands and knees. Suddenly, he notices a large pair of boots in front of him, and looking up, he sees the outline of Police Officer O'Leary.

"What is going on here?" asks the cop.

"I'm just looking for a ten-dollar bill," mumbles Paddy. "Oh!" says O'Leary, "are you sure you lost it here?"

"Well," slobbers Paddy, "I didn't say I had lost one. I'm just looking."

Luigi gets home to Italy from his holiday in California. He is very depressed, and his friend Alfonso asks him, "What's the matter? You no like-a California?"

"Mama mia!" replies Luigi. "What a nightmare! I go-a to California and stay at the Pope and Pasta Hotel in Palm Springs. In the morning, I go-a to breakfast. I tell-a the waiter, 'I want two pissis of toast.' He bring-a me only one piss.

"I say, 'I want-a two piss.' He say, 'Go to the bathroom.' I say, 'You no understand. I wanna piss on the plate.' He say, 'You no piss on the plate, you son- of-a-bitch!'

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Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

"Later, I have-a lunch. The waitress brings me a knife and a spoon, but no fock. I tell her, 'I wanna fock.' She tell me, 'Everyone wanna fock.' I say, 'You no understand, I wanna fock on the table.' She say, 'You no gonna fock on the table, you son-of-a-bitch!'

"So I go-a back to my hotel room, and there are no shits on my bed. I call-a the

manager and tell him, 'I wanna shit.' He say, 'Go to the bathroom.' I say, 'You no understand, I wanna shit on my bed.' He say, 'You no gonna shit on the bed, you son-of-a-bitch!'

"So, I'm-a finished. I go-a to check out, and the man at the desk say, 'Happy holidays, and peace on you.'

"I say, 'Piss on you too, you son-of-a-bitch, I go-a home!'"

Now is the time. The air is clean, you have laughed and you are ready. Nivedano ...

(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)

Be silent, close your eyes.

Feel your body to be completely frozen. No movement.

Gather yourself in.

Just like an arrow, move deeper and deeper within yourself.

Soon you will reach the one-hundred-foot pole from where begins the journey into space.

Take a jump without looking back. It is our space, it is our origin.

You are blessed.

This evening is blessed by your being a buddha, just a pure awareness.

Osho - The Language of Existence 12

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember! This awareness is your very nature; you can forget it but you cannot lose it.

It cannot be stolen. It is your very center. To make it clear, Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)

Relax, but go on entering deeper and deeper into yourself.

The body remains far away, miles away, the mind remains miles away.

You are just a silent watchfulness, a peace that passeth understanding, a bliss that no word can express.

An experience of eternity and immortality which will bring you a great feeling

of dance, rejoicings, songs.

Even your silence will become a song

and your no-movement will become a dance.

Those who have known this source

have become pure love, compassion, consciousness, purity. This is your ultimate nature.

Life is only a school to bring you to this ultimate nature. Those who remain unfortunately unaware of this grandeur of your being, this Everest of your consciousness, are really pitiable.

Feel this moment and the silence of it because you have to carry it with you twenty-four hours.

On this path there is no specific period for meditation. The whole life has to become meditation. Sitting, standing, walking; waking, sleeping, meditation continues just like a thread in a garland of flowers. It does not show up but it is there, the connecting link of each flower.

All your actions, gestures, are just like flowers, but a consciousness should run through all of them. Only then the garland is a garland; otherwise it is just a heap of flowers.

Let your life be a garland with a consciousness connecting every action, every movement, every mood, and it will bring a total transformation. You will be a new man.

Osho - The Language of Existence 13

Chapter 1 - Remember, remember!

Each meditation will take away something false from you and will bring some new, fresh quality.

Slowly slowly a day comes when your whole life becomes the life of a buddha.

It is not far away,

it is always within your reach. Nivedano ...

(Drumbeat)

Come back. But bring with you the silence, the experience.

Sit down for a few minutes like a buddha. This is your nature.

As Daio said, REMEMBER, REMEMBER!

He was referring to this experience of meditation: REMEMBER, REMEMBER! In twenty-four hours,

whatever you are doing it does not matter, your remembrance should remain a continuity. Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Beloved Master.

Can we celebrate the gathering of the buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master.

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Chapter 2 - Go like an arrow 2

Go like an arrow

30 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium OUR BELOVED MASTER,

HAKUIN SAID:

THE STUDY OF ZEN IS LIKE DRILLING WOOD TO GET FIRE. THE WISEST

COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT STOPPING. IF YOU REST AT

THE FIRST SIGN OF HEAT, AND THEN AGAIN AS SOON AS THE FIRST WISP OF

SMOKE ARISES, EVEN THOUGH YOU DRILL FOR THREE ASAMKHYEYE KALPAS, YOU WILL NEVER SEE A SPARK OF FIRE.

MY NATIVE PLACE IS CLOSE TO THE SEASHORE, BARELY A FEW HUNDRED

PACES FROM THE BEACH. SUPPOSE A MAN OF MY VILLAGE IS CONCERNED

BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW THE FLAVOR OF SEA WATER, AND WANTS TO

GO AND TASTE IT FOR HIMSELF. IF HE TURNS BACK AFTER HAVING TAKEN

ONLY A FEW STEPS, OR EVEN IF HE RETURNS AFTER HAVING TAKEN A HUNDRED STEPS, IN EITHER CASE WHEN WILL HE EVER KNOW THE OCEAN'S

BITTER, SALTY TASTE?

BUT, THOUGH A MAN COMES FROM AS FAR AS THE MOUNTAINS OF KOSHU

OR SHINSHU, HIDA OR MINO, IF HE GOES STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT

STOPPING, WITHIN A FEW DAYS HE WILL REACH THE SHORE, AND, THE

MOMENT HE DIPS THE TIP OF ONE FINGER INTO THE SEA AND LICKS IT, HE

WILL INSTANTLY KNOW THE TASTE OF THE WATERS OF THE DISTANT OCEANS

AND THE NEARBY SEAS, OF THE SOUTHERN BEACHES AND THE NORTHERN

SHORES, IN FACT OF ALL THE SEA WATER IN THE WORLD.

Maneesha, Hakuin is one of the most respected Zen masters. His respect is because of his ability to express the inexpressible, to create devices that somehow can manage to give you a glimpse of the unknown. He is basically concerned with the method. If a right method is used in the right time and ripe time, it is not going to fail. If you are on the right way, it may take some time to reach, but you will reach. The whole question before Hakuin is: the right way, the right method, the right beginning.

It was Gautam Buddha's habitual way of expression. All the great qualities that he has called for in an experienced, self-realized man, all begin with the word 'right'. For example, he will not say simply samadhi. He will say samma samadhi. Samadhi can go wrong, people can mistake similar experiences for samadhi and get lost.

That's what happened to Aldous Huxley when he took LSD. He was a man of tremendous knowledge, particularly of the East, and most of the saints of the East he knew well. He immediately said that, "The experience of LSD is samadhi, the same experience that Patanjali has described, the ultimate phenomenon."

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This gives a clear illustration that Buddha was right not to use simply the word samadhi. It is dangerous. You can find something else and think it is samadhi; there are similar phenomena. There are people who have become addicted to opium, or hashish, or marijuana.

And these drugs have been used for centuries, from the very beginning of man. It is nothing new.

The reason why they became addicted is because the drugs gave them a glimpse of something ... how things should be. They are temporary glimpses, and they are produced by chemicals so they don't go beyond the mind. But mind gets a glimpse, just as the lake reflects the faraway moon. And the experience is so beautiful that not to repeat it again and again becomes impossible.

All the societies have been fighting against drugs but the fight has not been successful. It will never succeed the way the society is. It can succeed only if you give people the right experience of samma samadhi -- 'samma samadhi' means right samadhi -- so that they can make a differentiation, a discrimination between what is right and what is wrong. Those who have known their buddha- nature are not addicted to drugs, do not need drugs for their experience. Their experience is not caused by any chemicals; their experience is caused by turning their whole energy in towards the center of their being. That has nothing to do with chemicals. But chemicals can give you an illusion, something very similar.

Hakuin has adopted Buddha's habit. Buddha never spoke about anything without adding the word 'right' first, because his understanding was -- and he is correct -- that everything can go wrong if you get caught up with something similar which is illusory. And you cannot make the distinction because you don't know the real. Unless you know the real, how can you expect to make a discrimination between the unreal and the real?

It was a great contribution of Gautam Buddha that he would talk about all the qualities using the word 'right' first. Samma means right. Because everything can be taken for granted as right if you don't have any experience of it. Then any illusion, any hallucination ... and these hallucinations will drag you through life after life.

A man like Aldous Huxley, one of the most intelligent men of this century, got

caught into it. He became addicted to LSD and he preached that what he was experiencing was the same as what Buddha experienced and Kabir experienced. This is definitely going beyond the limitations. Aldous Huxley has no way to know what Kabir experienced, he has no way to know what Buddha experienced. Buddha's experience was not dependent on any LSD, it was an inner experience dependent only on his own consciousness.

LSD gives you unconsciousness, not consciousness. If you are in a good mood LSD can give you paradise; LSD is simply a magnifying glass. If you are in a good mood, a loving mood, and you take LSD, you feel the whole world is filled with love. You will even touch your chair with a loving hand. All around everything will be beautiful, nothing will be wrong.

But it lasts only for a few hours and when you wake up, you wake up in a far worse world than the one you had been in before you took the LSD, because you have seen something beautiful and now you see an ordinary world which has lost its luster. You have seen in LSD

rainbows all around; suddenly they have all disappeared. You have seen people having auras and now they are just so ordinary. But even to imagine that they had an aura looks stupid.

But Buddha or Kabir, once they become enlightened ... this enlightenment is not something that has to be renewed every year like a license. Once it has happened, it has happened. It may become bigger and more mature, but there is no way of going back. That is Osho - The Language of Existence

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the criterion of whether you are hallucinating through drugs or you are authentically meditating.

The word 'right' has to be understood. Many people have been worried about why Buddha continually uses the word right about every quality. They are not aware that for every real quality there is a phony quality available -- "made in U.S.A." That phony quality is cheap, but it serves only for a few hours, and then you are caught in it because it is so beautiful -- again and again ... And every time you take it, you have to take it in a bigger dose because your body becomes

immune. A moment comes when no LSD can make any difference; your body has become completely immune.

India is far more experienced with drugs because for ten thousand years at least it has been trying to use all kinds of drugs and poisons to create a cheap imitation of the ultimate experience. They have gone even to the point ... even today there are monasteries in Ladakh where they keep cobra snakes.

When a person becomes so accustomed to all the drugs that no drug helps anymore, then the last thing is a cobra bite. The cobra bites on his tongue, then he feels a little samadhi.

Otherwise a cobra bite usually means the end. And you will be surprised: there are cases of the cobra dying, because the man is so full of poison.

It has been used in India for centuries. Each great king used to raise a beautiful girl, and from her very childhood she was given poison -- from smaller doses to bigger doses. It made her so immune that she was able to absorb any dose of poison without falling unconscious.

And the final stage was, when she became a young girl, blossomed in her youth, she could be sent to the enemy king. There was no difficulty in it, she had just to move to the other capital and the king himself would become interested in her. Those girls were chosen from thousands of beautiful girls; they were unique specimens. Immediately the king would become aware that there was a beautiful girl he had never seen before, and just a kiss from that girl was enough to kill the man.

It is good that nowadays you don't find such trained and disciplined girls. They were available at the time of Gautam Buddha. And it was not something that you use one time and then throw away, in the American way. They would kill the king and they would come home ready to be sent somewhere else, because nobody could think that the kiss of the girl had killed the king.

Aldous Huxley and his colleagues are not aware of the whole history of drugs. And why was the girl ready to take it? It gave such a good feeling, such a joyful feeling. She was not thinking about what she was being prepared for, but she was floating in a euphoria.

Buddha is right when he says samma samadhi. He will not accept Aldous

Huxley's samadhi as a right samadhi. It is an illusion.

But I wonder that nobody has criticized Aldous Huxley. All the governments are against drugs; obviously they should criticize Aldous Huxley first. But they don't have either the intelligence or the experience. That man at least had the experience of the illusory -- the governments don't have the experience even of the illusory. But down the ages, although every government has been against drugs, this has not made any change. No prohibition ever makes any change; on the contrary it increases your interest in the things prohibited.

I am against all prohibition. My own understanding is that if LSD can give some glimpse of samadhi, then all its bad aftereffects should be removed, because it is a chemical and it is in Osho - The Language of Existence

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our hands. Those bad aftereffects are the problem. They should be removed and an LSD

number two should be made -- clean, taken in complete awareness that it is going to give you only a glimpse. Its addictiveness can be taken out, and when you know it is going to give you only a glimpse there is no harm. It may lead you to the search for the real.

Rather than prohibiting the drugs, what is needed is to produce drugs which lead people to samadhi, which give an indication: if a chemical drug can be such a blessing, what will the real thing be? It is just a dewdrop in comparison with the real oceanic feeling, the oceanic ecstasy.

But nobody listens to any right approach. Thousands of people are unnecessarily in the jails. The number may be millions, not thousands, and most of them are underage; even six-year-olds have been found taking drugs. Nobody has suggested any solution for it.

And once a boy or girl, whatever their age, takes the drug, they cannot forget the experience. Everything else becomes just rotten; the mind continuously hankers for the drug.

It is the duty of the governments of the whole world, through their chemical drug research, to produce drugs which are not harmful, which are not addictive. Any bad aftereffects have been removed, and only that part which gives a joyous feeling, a desire to dance and a desire to find something real is left, because that feeling will disappear within hours.

These drugs can be used in a right way. Everything can be used in a right way and everything can be used in a wrong way, but it is still the same thing.

Hakuin said to his disciples:

THE STUDY OF ZEN IS LIKE DRILLING WOOD TO GET FIRE.

An old, ancient method.

THE WISEST COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT STOPPING. IF

YOU REST AT THE FIRST SIGN OF HEAT AND THEN AGAIN AS SOON AS THE

FIRST WISP OF SMOKE ARISES, EVEN THOUGH YOU DRILL FOR THREE

ASAMKHYEYE KALPAS ...

Asamk means innumerable, and kalpas means yugas, or ages. If you drill for asamk, for innumerable ages, you will never find a spark of fire.

What he is saying is that there are things which have to be done fast. If you do them slowly, at the most you may create smoke but not fire. To create fire you have to drill hard and without resting. If, seeing that the wood is becoming hot, you say, "Let us rest a little," the wood will become cool again. If, seeing that the wood is smoking, you say, "Now the fire is not far away we can rest a little," the smoke will disappear, the wood will become cool again.

The fire is hidden in the wood but you have to be very continuous until you find the spark, the flame jumping up from the wood.

This is a very good example for meditators. You go a little while and then you

say, "I have to go tomorrow again, what is the hurry? It is enough, now rest -- and if finally everybody has to become a buddha, what does it matter whether it is Sunday or Saturday? There are only seven days; some day I will become a buddha." But if you think in terms of going slowly, in a lousy way, taking rests, you will never reach.

Although the path is very short, it is short only for those who go like an arrow. The arrow does not stop on the way, there are no stations for the arrow. It does not rest a little while in Osho - The Language of Existence

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the air and then go again, it simply goes straight without halting on the way. And that should be remembered by every meditator.

I have been using the word 'arrow' purposely so that you can understand that going into yourself is not a morning walk -- that you can return from anywhere. It is not something that you can do in parts; you have to do it one day in a single quantum leap. Whenever you decide, then don't look back, just go ahead.

Certainly it needs guts and courage because you are moving in a dark and unknown space.

You don't have with you even a lamp -- no companion, you don't have any map. And meditation demands that you go with the speed of light, so fast that the journey of thousands of lives is completed in a single moment.

Hakuin says:

MY NATIVE PLACE IS CLOSE TO THE SEASHORE, BARELY A FEW HUNDRED

PACES FROM THE BEACH. SUPPOSE A MAN OF MY VILLAGE IS CONCERNED

BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW THE FLAVOR OF SEA, AND WANTS TO GO AND

TASTE IT FOR HIMSELF. IF HE TURNS BACK AFTER HAVING TAKEN ONLY A FEW STEPS, OR EVEN IF HE RETURNS AFTER HAVING TAKEN A HUNDRED

STEPS, IN EITHER CASE WHEN WILL HE EVER KNOW THE OCEAN'S BITTER, SALTY TASTE?

You have to go to the ocean; one hundred feet or two hundred feet, that is not the question.

You have to go all the way.

BUT, THOUGH A MAN COMES FROM AS FAR AS THE MOUNTAINS OF KOSHU

OR SHINSHU, HIDA OR MINO, IF HE GOES STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT

STOPPING, WITHIN A FEW DAYS HE WILL REACH THE SHORE, AND, THE

MOMENT HE DIPS THE TIP OF ONE FINGER INTO THE SEA AND LICKS IT, HE

WILL INSTANTLY KNOW THE TASTE OF THE WATERS OF THE DISTANT OCEANS

AND THE NEARBY SEAS, AND OF THE SOUTHERN BEACHES AND THE

NORTHERN SHORES, IN FACT OF ALL THE SEA WATER IN THE WORLD.

But the question is of going to the sea, not just going in a lukewarm way: "Today a few steps and then we will see tomorrow." But tomorrow you will have to take these few steps again. And if this becomes your habit -- "A few steps today and then we will see tomorrow" --

if this becomes your pattern then you will never reach. Always you will be going on those few steps, and then the decision that, "It is enough, now we will see

tomorrow."

For the meditator there is no tomorrow.

Future is not the concern of meditation. Future is the concern of the mind; mind cannot live without future. If suddenly all future disappears, mind will be at a loss what to do. Future is the space in which mind goes on weaving imaginations, projects, ideas: what one is going to become, what one is going to achieve. All ambitions are laid out in the future. But if the future completely disappears -- suddenly you come to the point where you see that there is no future -- either your heart will stop or you will run away backwards, thinking that at least the past will be there. But the past is not there.

The past and the future both are in your mind. Existentially there is only this moment.

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Chapter 2 - Go like an arrow

So when you meditate today, do it as if this is the last day. You may not have any chance to meditate again, so go all the way to the seashore. And once you have got the taste of your being -- the rejoicing, the dancing, the blessing, the ecstasy -

- then there is no problem, you know the way. It is not far, it is just within you, just a few inches away from your mind. But once you have to know it. Just once you have to know it, then there is no problem. Then you cannot forget it, then you cannot go away against it; then it becomes your very life. And when meditation becomes one's very life, there is nothing more in this existence to make you richer, to make you more of a splendor. The secret is hidden within you.

A Zen poet wrote:

WITH A PIERCED NET -- a net with holes. WITH A PIERCED NET

I'VE CAUGHT

ALL THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE UNIVERSE.

He is not talking about butterflies; neither is he talking about a pierced net. He is talking about your mind, which is certainly pierced -- so many holes, so many loopholes, so many stitches here and there, so many cracks. But the poet is saying, don't be worried: WITH A PIERCED NET

I'VE CAUGHT

ALL THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE UNIVERSE.

Just know the secret. And the secret is to go beyond the pierced net. Be a master of your mind, then even a pierced net is capable of catching all the butterflies of the world. Right now your mind catches nothing. From all the holes and loopholes everything goes on leaking out.

Have you seen that you are leaking continuously? I don't think ... but now you will see.

Basho says, sitting silently ... It is right, but he does not know that when you sit silently it is not necessarily true that the grass grows by itself. What seems to be more likely is that the mind leaks by itself. Basho's experience is a great experience, but this is a very simple experiment that you can do. Just sitting in your room with closed eyes, see: thoughts are rushing this way and that way, everything is leaking.

When I say go beyond the mind, I mean go beyond all this leaking so that you can find something solid to stand upon. Before you take the jump, you need to find a spot at least to stand on, from which to jump into the darkness, into the unknown territory of your own being.

Buddha is reported to have said that everything that is great is bitter in the beginning and very sweet in the end -- and vice versa. That which is very sweet in the beginning, for example a honeymoon, is very bitter in the end. Meditation

may be entering into darkness, unknown territory, but it ends up in self- illumination, in a great explosion of light. And once the explosion has happened, you remain the buddha forever; you cannot go back. The mind has Osho - The Language of Existence

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gone, just as a shadow disappears. You function now from no-mind, and any action from no-mind is good, is a blessing to the world.

Question 1 Maneesha has asked:

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

HAKUIN SAID, "THE WISEST COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD

WITHOUT STOPPING." BUT IF WE KNEW WHERE STRAIGHT AHEAD WAS, WOULD WE NEED TO WALK IT?

It is just a way of saying it. There is no problem in it when Hakuin says, THE WISEST

COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD. He is talking to the disciples, not to the students; he is talking to the meditators.

When I say to you, go straight in, you don't ask me, "Where is this 'in'?" You don't consult an encyclopedia or a map of the world -- where is this 'in'? You understand, you know perfectly well where it is, just you have not gone that way before.

So, Maneesha, you know perfectly well where you have to go. Just go straight ahead.

Walking will not do, not even running. That's why I have used the word 'arrow' -

- with the speed of light. I have used the words 'quantum leap'. One moment you

were not a buddha and another moment you are a buddha -- so fast.

There is no distance between you and your buddhahood, only a misunderstanding. It is something like, two plus two is four but by some mistake you have been calculating that two plus two is five, and I tell you that this is a mistake: two plus two is not five, it is four. Do you think you will have to do something? Immediately you see the point.

It is said that psychotics are ones who think two plus two is certainly five. They are very fundamentalist. All fundamentalists are psychotics. They know everything -- where God is ...

They know that the Holy Ghost committed a crime, and rather than hanging God on the cross, the Jews hung the poor boy Jesus -- it was not his fault.

The Holy Ghost and God are not separate. The Holy Ghost seems to be God's personality, his mask. Not to say directly that God committed adultery, and with a poor virgin, Mary, they say that the Holy Ghost did it. And the poor boy who was born out of this criminal act, they crucified. They should have crucified God, but the difficulty is ... In fact everybody would like to crucify God, but where to find him? They found the only begotten son, so they said, "It is near enough. Crucify this fellow at least."

The psychotics cannot be convinced that two plus two is not five; the neurotics are those who think that perhaps two plus two is four, but they are very uncertain of it, very worried: why is it four? Why is it not five? With five they were perfectly at ease. This is the way psychologists find out who is a psychotic and who is a neurotic.

You cannot remove the psychotic from his position, whatever position he has taken. The neurotic you can remove, but he will remain always worried: "This seems to be right, but who knows? Perhaps I was right before, because then I was at ease. Here, with two plus two making four it creates such an anxiety."

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There is no distance between you and your ultimate reality. Just an about turn ... just, rather than looking outwards, close your eyes and look in. In a single instance, when you have forgotten the outside world completely -- the past, the future, everything -- and you remain only in this moment, looking inwards, the happening, the transformation, the arrival of the buddha ...

Question 2

Maneesha is also asking:

IS NOT OUR UNCERTAINTY, OUR GROPING, BECAUSE WE HAVE TO

DISCOVER FOR OURSELVES WHAT IS STRAIGHT AHEAD AND WHAT IS GOING

OFF TRACK?

If you look in you cannot go off track, because there are no tracks. There are not two ways even. It is the outside world where if you don't know, naturally you will have to grope around.

In the inside world you don't even have hands with which to grope. The inside world is a pure seeing.

In this country we have called this seeing darshan. Darshan means just seeing. And that does everything, you don't have to do anything else.

Before you do the seeing, a little laughing. That's why you have not done it before.

Pope the Polack is visiting the optician.

"I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes," complains the Polack pope.

"Really?" replies the optician, putting a new pair of glasses on the pope's nose. "There!

How's that?"

"Wow! That's great," replies Pope the Polack. "Now I can see the spots much

clearer."

Luigi is sitting with his teenage son, Spagnoli.

"What-a do you want-a for your birthday, my son?" Luigi proudly asks his son. "I wanna watch," says the son.

"Okay," shrugs Luigi. "It is-a okay with me if it is okay with-a your mother." Get it? Otherwise in the middle of the night you will get it!

(WAVES OF INCREASING LAUGHTER ARE ROLLING THROUGH BUDDHA HALL AS MORE AND MORE DISCIPLES ARE GETTING IT.)

Do you see? Somebody got it! Osho - The Language of Existence 22

Chapter 2 - Go like an arrow

One morning, Miss Goodbody, the fifth grade teacher, asks the class what the best kind of business is.

"Real estate," says little Ernie, "because everybody needs somewhere to live, and houses always increase in value."

"Oil!" exclaims little Albert, "because cars always need petrol."

"No," says little Peggy Sue, from the back of the room. "The best business in the world is prostitution."

"What!" cries Miss Goodbody, shocked. "Peggy Sue, how can you say such a thing?"

"Easy," replies Peggy Sue, "because it is the only business where you have it, you sell it, and you still have it."

Three women arrive at the Pearly Gates. Betty and Margaret are English girls, and Lolita is Italian. Saint Peter looks the women over very carefully. Then he

turns to Betty and says,

"Have you been a pure and honest woman?"

"My good man," replies Betty, "I am English. I have been honest and clean my whole life."

"Okay, okay," says Peter, checking his list. "Follow that angel to the pink room." Then Peter turns to Margaret. "And have you been a pure, forthright woman?" "Oh Peter," replies Margaret, "I have been as pure as the driven snow."

"Okay," says Peter, checking his list, "follow that angel to the pink room." Then he turns to Lolita. "And have you been honest and pure?"

"I never did-a no harm to anyone," replies Lolita. "I could-a say I was honest. I loved love.

And I was-a pure. I loved loving purely for love, and only for love." "Okay," says Peter, dropping his list, "follow me to my room!" Nivedano ...

(Drumbeat) (Gibberish) Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)

Be silent, close your eyes.

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Feel your body to be completely frozen. Now look inwards.

Collect all your life energy just like an arrow and without stopping anywhere go straight forward to the center of your being.

This moment you are the buddha.

This moment you are the glory of being.

This moment all that is yours will be revealed to you,

all the secrets, all the miracles.

The greatest miracle is that as you go deeper darkness disappears and a totally different kind of light, a light without source, illuminates your being. And you have an absolute feeling of immortality, of eternity.

To make it clear, Nivedano ... (Drumbeat)

Forget your bodies -- you are not your body. And forget your mind -- you are not your mind. You are the watcher of both.

The body is lying there, the mind may be chattering -- you are watching. You have always been a watcher, unscratched by any thought, any desire, any action. Your purity is eternal.

Nivedano ... (Drumbeat) Come back.

But come back with your experience,

come back with the light that you have seen. Come back with the joy, with the blissfulness, the pure space in which you have moved.

Sit down for a few seconds, just as a buddha. Utterly silent, immensely contented, knowing nothing but full of wonder,

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Chapter 2 - Go like an arrow desiring nothing but full of love. This is your truth.

Okay, Maneesha? Yes, Beloved Master.

Can we celebrate the buddhas? Yes, Beloved Master.

Osho - The Language of Existence 25

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