26 To be effortless is just to be spontaneous

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‌CHAPTER 26

To be effortless is just to be spontaneous

15 April 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

Question 1 BELOVED OSHO,

I HAVE BEEN STUDYING AIKIDO FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS, BUT I DIDN’T GET THE BASIC TRUTH.

BUT WHEN I SAW THE MOVEMENT OF YOUR BODY IN DISCOURSE, I UNDERSTOOD THE POINT OF THE BASIC TRUTH:

I UNDERSTOOD THAT THE MOVEMENT WHICH IS ONE WITH EXISTENCE IS COMING FROM TOTAL RELAXATION AND DEEP AWARENESS. IT IS UTTERLY DIFFERENT FROM THE MOVEMENT WHICH ONE GETS FROM TRAINING.

I FEEL VERY MUCH, “ACTION THROUGH INACTION” BY WATCHING HOW YOU MOVE. PLEASE COMMENT ON “ACTION THROUGH INACTION.”

BELOVED MASTER, I AM GRATEFUL TO YOU.

Prem Vijaya, action can be without any effort; then it is called actionless. If it comes out as a spontaneity, then it is called action without action. It is a very simple truth but has become very complicated, since we are trained for everything. We have all become actors. We are even told to smile; there are great philosophers like Dale Carnegie, who says, “You have to say to your wife at

least three times a day ‘I love you, sweetheart.’ ” Whatever you are feeling is not the question. The emphasis is on the mask that you are wearing. Then everything, even smiling, becomes an effort.

Millions of people have forgotten how to laugh. In the Soviet Union, psychologists are preparing manuals for people to be taught in schools, colleges, hospitals, how to laugh, because they have discovered what I have been saying to you continually: that love and laughter go together, and laughter is one of the greatest medicines.

At the same time, it is also a great meditation. Only in the Soviet Union are they working very deeply to find out what happens when people laugh. Their blood flow changes, their brain cells become more active, their heartbeat becomes more rhythmic. Something like laughter has been found by the scientists to be of tremendous importance – but they are being immensely stupid about it. They think it has to be a training; every school child has to be trained how to laugh.

And if in the Soviet Union everybody is trained how to laugh, no laughter will exist at all. Now they are saying that in every hospital there should be a special ward, a humor ward where all the patients should tell jokes and laugh. It is very calculated: what their medicines cannot do, laughter can do.

But to me, if laughter comes as a training it may do something, but it cannot be a total transformation where in a single moment your whole being is thrilled, vast, rejuvenated, and there are no side- effects.

Just today, I came to know that one third of the diseases in the world are created by the doctors. Not knowingly – just because of their medicines, which are going to have after-effects. For the moment they may be useful, but they may create something in your chemistry, in your hormones, in your biology. And you may never connect them. You had taken the aspirin only for your headache – to be exactly true, only for your wife! But that aspirin is going to have its own effects, and you are a complex phenomenon.

It is a poor humanity who needs training to laugh. The day would be very ugly when birds ask, “First train us, then we will sing the song.” And the peacocks will say, “We don’t care about the clouds. First train us; then we will open our wings.” But the peacocks dance as the first clouds of rain start coming; there is no training for it, no training school for peacocks. No training for the birds, no training for the flowers – why should man be trained for everything? Why should he not be allowed to be spontaneous?

There is some fear in spontaneousness, because the spontaneous behavior is unpredictable. You may laugh at somebody and he may simply look at you as if you are an idiot. There is no need for him to laugh in response – he is being spontaneous, he is feeling like looking at you as an idiot. Nothing is wrong in it; it is his problem. You were laughing; that was your problem. Why get mixed up?

To avoid such situations, people have been trained for everything: how to walk, how to talk, what to say, when to say it. Naturally, by and by they become very phony. Just actors in a drama, repeating dialogues.

Otherwise, the question of actionless action will not arise at all.

I was visiting a theological college which is the biggest in Asia, which trains missionaries to go all over the poor East to convert people to Christianity. The principal was a friend, and he took me around their campus.

In one class, I could not believe my eyes. What I saw being done was such an absurdity that I was almost stunned. The professor was teaching nearabout sixty students who were ready, almost ready to go for their missionary work. He was telling them, when you repeat a certain statement of Jesus, what kind of gesture, what kind of facial expression to use. When is the time to hit hard on the table, and when is the time to whisper silently that God is love. “And when you describe paradise, don’t just describe it in prose. Let your face be radiant; let each of your words be pure honey, just poetry.”

And at that time one student asked, “And when we are describing hell, what are we supposed to do?”

The professor said, “As far as hell is concerned... as you are, it is perfectly okay.” There is no training for hell because you already look like you are in hell!

I asked the principal, “Can’t you see this nonsense? These people don’t have any feeling, and you are imposing on them that when they say something a certain expression on the face, in the eyes, in the hands, is needed.”

I have never been in any training, but when it is needed the hands know what to do. The words know when to stop and when to let silence take over. The eyes flash by themselves when you are describing your own experience. Then there is no effort.

Aikido, or any other training which asks you to be effortless, is simply asking you to be spontaneous. Just don’t get lost into philosophical words, because they look absurd. When somebody says “effortless effort – actionless action” you say, “My god, this fellow is going to give me a migraine!”

All that is needed is to tell people: Be spontaneous. When laughter comes, don’t stop it. And when it does not come, there is no need to be Jimmy Carter.

I have seen only one picture of Jimmy Carter after he descended from the throne of the president, and now he looks exactly the picture of hell. Now that old smile which stretched from one side to another side is no longer there. It was a training, a political necessity: “Whatever happens, you go on smiling as if everything is under control and nobody has to be worried. When Jimmy Carter is smiling, there is no point to feel any depression or despair. He knows.”

Those were the days, I have heard, that his wife used to put his lips together in the night. Because he would go on smiling, and can you sleep with a man who goes on smiling the whole night? And there have been stories about it...

One day, she phoned the doctor: “Quick, come! A rat has entered into the president’s mouth.”

The doctor said, “I am coming as fast as I can. But meanwhile, do something: hang a piece of cheese just so that the rat can be attracted out.”

By the time the doctor reached he could not believe his eyes, because Jimmy Carter’s wife, rather than hanging a piece of cheese, was hanging a rat!

He said, “What happened?”

She said, “What happened? You took so long to come that because of the rat, the cat also entered. Now I am trying to take the cat out! The rat is far away, almost secondary. The primary thing is that the cat has to be taken out.”

But that smile has simply disappeared. It was a training. When Nixon was defeated, the reason according to the experts was that his dress was not as it should be for a presidential candidate. It was not well pressed... he walked hesitantly. And it is decisive, because people are watching on their televisions; now there is no question of coming in contact directly with the candidates. They are watching on the television, and Nixon looked lousy. He was defeated.

Then he learned all the tricks and the next election, he was totally a new man – well-trained. He walked with certainty, talked with certainty, looked directly into the eyes of people watching the television... now here was a man you could rely upon!

In America, it is not the man who wins the election or loses the election. It is his tailor, his make-up man. It is the training that he gets: he speaks as if he is God himself and you have to believe in him. The question is, of the two persons, who can create a deeply authoritative image in you? It does not matter whether the man is an idiot, a criminal, or a wise man. What matters is what image he creates on the television screen.

In this world, everything has become fake, because you believe in the fake.

These sciences of Aikido or other dimensions of Zen are simply saying to you: Be simple, be just yourself. There is no need to act. Whatever action comes spontaneously, let it come; enjoy its spontaneity. Then you will see a beauty, a centeredness, a simplicity. Something authentic – not fake, not pseudo.

All this is so simple.

A farmer once had on his farm a rooster that was one of the laziest creatures that ever lived. Instead of crowing as it was supposed to do, when the sun came up in the morning, it merely waited until some other rooster crowed – and then it nodded its head in agreement.

... But if it is spontaneous, it has its own beauty. Why bother? Somebody else is going to do it. I am in absolute agreement with that rooster; I have never done anything in my life. If somebody happens to do it...

Just on the way, Shunyo was telling me – she must have met Jayesh, and I have told Shunyo that without Jayesh I don’t know how things would have been settled. He has been doing too much. The poor fellow had come to Rajneeshpuram to meditate, renouncing the world to sit silently, and he met me in the plane and got arrested with me! Since then, he is running continuously all around the world. He has completely forgotten for what he has come; he has no time.

And I simply go on watching him doing everything, just nodding – “Well done! Good boy!” So Shunyo must have told him, and he started crying.

I know those tears are of great joy, of deep love.

To celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, Saul and Sylvia Shulman decide to repeat the same things they did on their honeymoon.

They go to the same hotel and book into the same room. Sylvia puts on the same perfume and the same nightgown.

Just as he did on the honeymoon night, Saul goes into the bathroom and Sylvia hears him laughing – just as he had done fifty years before.

So when he comes back Sylvia says, “Honey, it is really beautiful – everything is the same. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. Fifty years ago, you went to the bathroom and laughed in the same way. At the time I did not have enough courage to ask you, but now, tell me. Why did you laugh?”

“Well, it is like this, darling,” says Paul. “That night fifty years ago, when I went to piss, I wet the ceiling. And tonight I wet my feet!”

Just be innocently simple. This man must have been a very spontaneous man. He told the truth – there is nothing to hide about it. But most of you would not have dared to tell the truth.

Truth is very simple; it needs no training, no preparation, no homework. You simply are what you are. Just accept it and expose it to the world.

From my very childhood, my parents, my neighbors, my teachers, my professors... everybody has repeated again and again: “Listen, if you don’t change your ways you are going to end up into nothing.” I have ended into nothing! They were all right, but I am enjoying this nothing so much. Gautam Buddha had to try for it. I have not tried, I have just not listened to anybody – and ended up into nothing. I have never listened to anybody’s advice, howsoever great. I simply remained my lazy self, bone-lazy.

Anando was worried that I used to sit cross-legged always, but just for a few days... “Why are you not sitting cross-legged?”

I said, “This is strange, but it does not happen to me. It used to happen... but what can I do?” Should I cross my legs because Anando will be in trouble?

I am not going to listen to anybody; I am going to sit this way.

... Even Niskriya is laughing. When he laughs I know everything is all right. Otherwise, he is a serious person.

Mandelwitz is due to be released from the mental asylum.

He goes for an interview with Professor Potts, the chief psychiatrist, who tells him that he has to answer a simple question, sanely, before he can be released.

“What would be your first action,” asks Potts, “when you get released from this asylum?”

“I would start a rock collection,” says Mandelwitz, “and throw one through each window of this building!”

Mandelwitz is taken back to his room and another six months pass before he is interviewed again. “What will you do first when you are released from here?” asks the head shrink.

“Well,” replies Mandelwitz, “I will buy myself a new suit.” “Good,” says Potts, “and then what will you do?”

“I will call up a gorgeous blonde girlfriend,” says Mandelwitz. “And then?” asks Potts.

“I will take her to a motel,” replies Mandelwitz. “That’s fine,” says Potts, “and then?”

“Then,” replies Mandelwitz, “I will lock the door, sit her on the bed, run my hand up her stockings, rip off her garter, make a catapult, and break every window in this building!”

One has to be oneself.

And Milarepa has asked a question:

Question 2

WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF CELEBRATION?

That’s what we are doing here, and you are asking about the essence. Why not have a taste of it yourself? But mind is such, it makes questions out of everything:

“What is celebration?”

Rather than dancing, rather than laughing, rather than loving, rather than enjoying this silence, the mind asks: “What is celebration?”

Mind is something like a tree on which questions grow, and you answer one question and out of that one question, another question will come up.

Everybody knows what celebration is. I have never come across a person who does not know what celebration is. Just rejoicing in your being, just rejoicing in this moment, this tremendous universe.

You had not asked for it, you have simply been given a universe which is infinite and eternal. You have not asked and you have been given a consciousness which is eternal, which can become festive. If you allow it, it can make you the sanest, the most graceful, the most loving...

A man of many seasons and many rainbows. There are so many dimensions of celebration.

Rather than answering your question, I will say something else. Perhaps you can get the answer.

Hymie Goldberg takes up fishing, and much to Becky’s annoyance, spends all his spare time down at the river.

One day, a man calls at the Goldberg house and Becky answers the door. “Good afternoon,” says the man, “I am looking for Mr. Goldberg.”

“I am Mrs. Goldberg,” says Becky, “can I help you?”

“I am afraid not,” replies the man. “It is Fishing Club business. Can you tell me where I can find him?”

“Certainly,” snaps Becky, “just go down to the river and look for a stick with a worm at both ends.”

Fergus and O’Reilly have been drinking partners at the same pub for years. Fergus has a humped back, and O’Reilly has a club foot.

One night, leaving the pub after a late session, Fergus takes a shortcut through the haunted cemetery. He is stumbling along, when a ghost pops out from behind one of the gravestones.

“What’s that on your back?” asks the ghost. “It is a hump!” stammers Fergus.

“Well,” giggles the ghost, “I will take that!” All of a sudden, Fergus finds himself tall and straight – and running for his house as fast as he can.

The next night, Fergus tells O’Reilly all about his meeting with the ghost, and O’Reilly decides to try the shortcut through the graveyard himself. He is wandering around, when up pops the ghost, and asks O’Reilly, “What is that on your back?”

O’Reilly is confused and stammers, “Nothing!” “Well,” chuckles the ghost, “have a hump!”

Ronald Reagan orders the American post office to have his portrait printed on a special edition of postage stamps.

When he hears that the stamps are not selling very well, he summons the Postmaster General to his office in the White House and demands to know the reason why.

“Well,” explains the postmaster, “it is because the stamps would not stick to the envelopes.” Reagan is furious and asks why the post office does not use the right glue for the stamps. “It is not the glue,” says the postmaster, “it is because everybody spits on the wrong side!” Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.

Now two minutes for absolute silence, no movements of the body... as if no one is here.

... Now, let go.

... Come back to life. Okay, Maneesha?

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