oshobob  The Living Workshop                                
Osho Books—Darshan Diaries
The Old Pond...Plop
Darshan Diary
by Osho
individual talks with seekers   Jan. 1981
Pune, India
this volume has yet to be
published in print book form.

    One of the old Zen haikus is,

    The old pond...
    plop!

    visualise it -- an ancient pond, very old...

    You can see by the rocks, by the moss that has
    gathered on the rocks, you can see by the trees
    that are standing on the bank. Everything shows
    its very ancient-ness. The old pond...plop! -- a frog
    jumps in... Plop!'  And you can go on sitting on the
    bank of the pond, but the sound of the frog
    jumping in is not going to disturb you. In fact, it will
    enhance.

    You will see that, from before the frog jumped in, to
    after the frog has disappeared into the pond, the
    silence has deepened. And the same can be done
    with everything in the world -- the traffic noise, the
    train passing by or the airplane in the clouds, the
    thunder, the lightning -- everything can become
    just a background. You have to be alert, watchful,
    relaxed, resting in your being. Just simply being,
    not doing anything...

                                                 – Osho
                                The Old Pond...Plop, ch. 1