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Chapter 9 - Lovers of tao
because of his old training. For an ordinary human being who has not been trained in philosophy it is far easier to understand Zen. Rinzai was unfortunate in the sense that he was professionally a philosopher. So what can be said in a single sentence, he goes on elaborating about, around and around; you have to find that single sentence almost in a forest of words.
He cannot forget his old habit of conceptualization -- he tries his best.
This was not the case with Mahakashyapa who created Zen. He was not a philosopher, he was a very simple, innocent man. And Zen was born out of a laughter -- that you should never forget -- because Mahakashyapa laughed at the very stupidity of a philosopher asking a question about the ultimate reality. You can ask questions about relative reality, about the outside world, and you can get answers, too. All the encyclopedias are full of those answers.
But you cannot raise a question about your inner reality. There is no question and no answer.
There is absolute silence; no dust is raised, just a pure, clean sky. What question can you make out of it?
Philosophy in a way avoids the inner world because in the inner world there is no place for philosophy. It talks about God and it talks about paradise and it talks about a thousand and one things, just avoiding one thing -- yourself. In other words, philosophy is an avoidance of reality, not an inquiry into reality.
Rinzai tried his hardest to forget the old training of his mind, and once in a while he succeeded. There was no difficulty for Bodhidharma. He never knew any scripture, he never knew any philosophy. He was a pure, original man -- uncultured, uncultivated, absolutely raw.
Zen fits with the original, uncultured, unsophisticated very well, because Zen is a gesture. All philosophies are linguistic.
Zen has a totally different language of the presence of the master, of allowing his experience to filter into your being, of receiving with joy his song of silence, of
being blessed when the master is showering all his blessings ... like flowers falling on you with invisible mysteries. Zen has to create a totally existential language. Our ordinary language is good enough for theology, for religion, for philosophy, but not for Zen.
I will tell you when he goes into his old habits, and when he remembers to come back to directly pointing to the truth.
RINZAI SAID:
FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO ...
Now, this is ... from the very beginning he commits a mistake. Not intentionally -
- he is a great lover of Buddha and Lao Tzu, of Tao and Dhamma. Dhamma is Buddha's finger pointing to the moon, and Tao is Lao Tzu's finger pointing to the same moon. Only the fingers differ. That's why Buddhism never came to clash with Taoism when it reached China.
This is a rare incident in history. Whenever one religion travels there is immediately conflict with the existing religion -- naturally, because their concepts differ. This is the only instance in the whole of history where this did not happen, when Buddhism reached China and was welcomed by the Taoists. It is a phenomenal thing, it is absolutely unique and rare.
Do you think Christianity will welcome Hinduism in the same way, or Hinduism will welcome Mohammedanism in the same way, or Mohammedanism will welcome Judaism in the same way? They have all been in conflict, arguing, fighting, killing, burning for fictitious Osho - The Language of Existence
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