‌Preface

Mind is not a thing, but an event. A thing has substance in it; an event is just a process. A thing is like a rock; an event is like a wave: it exists, but is not substantial. It is just the event between the wind and the ocean – a process, a phenomenon.

This is the first thing to be understood: that mind is a process, like a wave or like a river, but it has no substance in it. If it has substance, then it cannot be dissolved. If it has no substance, it can disappear without leaving a single trace behind. When a wave disappears into the ocean what is left behind? – nothing, not even a trace. So those who have known say mind is like a bird flying into the sky – no footprints are left behind, not even a trace. The bird flies but leaves no path, no footprints.

The mind is just a process. In fact, mind doesn’t exist, only thoughts – thoughts moving so fast that you think and feel that something exists there in continuity. One thought comes, another thought comes, another, and they go on. The gap between one thought and another is so small you cannot see it. So two thoughts become joined, they become a continuity, and because of that continuity you think there is a mind. There are thoughts – no mind; just as there are electrons – no matter. Thoughts are the electrons of the mind. Just like a crowd… A crowd exists in a sense, doesn’t exist in another. Only individuals exist, but many individuals together give the feeling as if they are one. A nation exists and exists not; there are only individuals. Individuals are the electrons of a nation, of a community, of a crowd.

Thoughts exist, mind doesn’t exist. Mind is just the appearance. And when you look deeper into the mind, it disappears. Then there are thoughts, but when the mind has disappeared and individual thoughts exist, many things are immediately solved. First thing: immediately you come to know that thoughts are like clouds. They come and go – and you are the sky. When there is no mind, immediately the perception comes that you are no longer involved in the thoughts. Thoughts are there, passing through you like clouds passing through the sky, or the wind passing through the trees. Thoughts are passing through you, and they can pass through because you are a vast emptiness. There is no hindrance, no obstacle. No wall exists to prevent them.

You are not a walled phenomenon. Your sky is infinitely open; thoughts come and go. And once you start feeling that thoughts come and go and you are the watcher, the witness, the mind is in control…

Osho

Yoga: The Mystery beyond Mind

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