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Chapter 6 - Cages of gold
Seigen is saying that you have to be free from ignorance and you have to be free from enlightenment. This is called the lion's roar. Even enlightenment is not going to be his imprisonment. He wants the whole universe without any limits.
An enlightened person has a tiny flame. But if that tiny flame makes him feel special, greater and better than others, it has already become a fetter. This is not the great enlightenment. It is simply changing dark-colored chains for light- colored chains. The great enlightenment is to not have any chains.
So ultimately the enlightened, the awakened, the buddha, drops his buddhahood too. He becomes absolutely ordinary and simple. In his simplicity radiates the whole cosmos. In his silence is contained all the music and all the rainbows and all the flowers possible. He is himself the universe, there is no more division.
Now he cannot distinguish between the ignorant and the enlightened. To him now the whole universe is nothing but an immense enlightenment in which everything is drowned. A greater dance is not possible.
Seigen said:
IF NOW YOU COMPREHEND IT, WHERE IS THAT WHICH YOU DID NOT
COMPREHEND BEFORE? WHAT YOU WERE DELUDED ABOUT BEFORE IS WHAT
YOU ARE NOW ENLIGHTENED ABOUT, AND WHAT YOU ARE NOW
ENLIGHTENED ABOUT, IS WHAT YOU WERE DELUDED ABOUT BEFORE.
The object of your delusion and the object of your enlightenment remain the same. It is not a great transformation as far as your subjectivity is concerned.
THERE ARE ONLY TWO DISEASES ... Nobody in the whole history has brought the issue to such clarity.
THERE ARE ONLY TWO DISEASES: ONE IS RIDING AN ASS TO SEARCH FOR
THE ASS; THE OTHER IS RIDING AN ASS AND BEING UNWILLING TO DISMOUNT.
One is searching for enlightenment, the other is finding it and not relaxing.
As you bragged about your so-called ignorant knowledge, now you brag about your enlightenment. But your ego remains the same. Get down from the ass! Get down from your enlightenment and mix with the simple existence that is eternal and immortal. Don't keep yourself apart.
The second disease is more difficult. The first disease you yourself wanted to drop. The second disease is difficult, because now the chains are made of gold. To drop chains of gold feels as if you are dropping your beautiful ornaments, and nobody wants to drop their ornaments. It becomes more difficult to get out of a cage made of gold because even the cage seems to be so valuable. And what is there beyond the cage? Just an empty sky as far as you can see. The cage not only makes you special, it also gives you security.
Seigen is saying:
YOU SAY THAT RIDING AN ASS TO SEARCH FOR THE ASS IS SILLY -- that is obvious -- AND THAT HE WHO DOES IT SHOULD BE PUNISHED. THIS IS A VERY
SERIOUS DISEASE. BUT I TELL YOU, DO NOT SEARCH FOR THE ASS AT ALL. THE
INTELLIGENT MAN, UNDERSTANDING MY MEANING, STOPS HIS ERROR OF
SEARCHING FOR THE ASS, AND THUS THE DELUDED STATE OF HIS MIND
CEASES TO EXIST.
Osho - The Miracle
83
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