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Chapter 9 - Lovers of tao
philosophers tend to make much fuss about. Philosophy is so much garbage that it is very easy to forget whether the philosopher has found it or not.
Rinzai is counted as a great philosopher in the Japanese history of philosophy. He should not be, but his words give the impression that he is a philosopher. I want to say that he is a mystic who does not know the language of the mystics. He is a mystic who knows the language of philosophy, and then everything becomes unnecessarily pompous.
Again he says:
FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO, MEN OF ABILITY KNOW ONLY NOW THAT FUNDAMENTALLY THERE IS NO CAUSE WHATEVER FOR CONCERN.
He is saying a great truth, but again using wrong words. Followers don't exist in the world of the buddhas -- only lovers, only those who are ready to expose themselves to their very core. Otherwise what he is saying is significant. Just change 'followers' into 'lovers of Tao'.
MEN OF ABILITY KNOW ONLY NOW THAT FUNDAMENTALLY THERE IS NO
CAUSE WHATEVER FOR CONCERN.
But it has still to be reduced to a more Zen way, to a more Zen language. He is saying that when you become a buddha, you know that there was no cause for concern. Even if you are not a buddha there is no cause for concern. Your not being a buddha is only a small sleep, just a little dream. In the eternity of time it does not matter that you dreamed for few a seconds.
Our whole lives are so small in comparison to eternity that nothing matters, but this is known only to people who have come to suchness, who have come to realization of their center of being.
Suddenly, for them nothing matters. All judgments drop -- nobody is good, nobody is bad; nobody is a sinner and nobody is a saint. All these are different
dreams people are having. One person is dreaming that he is a thief, another person is dreaming that he is a saint. When they wake up, both will be the same. And the difference in dreams is not much of a difference; hence his statement is absolutely correct, that men of understanding know perfectly well that there is no reason for concern.
IT IS JUST BECAUSE YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS, THAT EVERY
THOUGHT OF YOURS IS DIRECTED TO THE PURSUIT OF EXTERNALS, LIKE ONE
WHO REJECTS HIS OWN HEAD TO LOOK FOR ANOTHER; HENCE YOUR
INABILITY TO APPLY THE BRAKE TO YOUR THOUGHTS.
WHAT THIS MOUNTAIN MONK IS TALKING ABOUT IS JUST AN APPROPRIATE
MEDICINE TO CURE A PARTICULAR AILMENT OF THE MOMENT, BECAUSE
THERE IS NO FIXED DHARMA.
Now, this is something very original that he is saying. THERE IS NO FIXED DHARMA, so there is no question of following somebody. It may be right for him to do something; it may not be right for you to do the same thing because you are a different individual, in a different context, in a different time. You have to find your own truth and act accordingly -- not according to anybody else's truth. There is no certainty, stability, permanence in the world of existence. But one thing he forgets, or perhaps is not aware of.
He is saying:
WHAT THIS MOUNTAIN MONK IS TALKING ABOUT IS JUST AN APPROPRIATE
MEDICINE TO CURE A PARTICULAR AILMENT OF THE MOMENT.
Osho - The Language of Existence
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