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Osho,
When Tenjiku was asked about the incident of Tanka burning the
statue, he replied, “When it is cold we gather around the hearth by
the fire.”
“Was he wrong or not?” persisted the monk.
“When it is hot we sit in a bamboo forest in the valley,” said Tenjiku.
The day after the burning of the statue, Tanka Tennen went to see
Nan-yo, who had once been a disciple of Eno and was the emperor’s
Zen master. When Tanka unrolled his zazen rug, Nan-yo said,
“There’s no need.”
Tanka took a few steps backward.
Nan-yo said, “That’s right.”
At this, Tanka took a few steps forward.
Nan-yo said, “That’s not right.”
Tanka walked around Nan-yo one time and left.
Nan-yo commented, “The old, golden days are far away, and people
are now so lazy. Thirty years from now, it will be difficult to get hold of
this fellow.”
Friends,
It is time, ripe time for a Zen manifesto.
The Western intelligentsia have become acquainted with Zen, have
also fallen in love with Zen, but they are still trying to approach Zen
from the mind. They have not yet come to the understanding that
Zen has nothing to do with mind.
Its tremendous job is to get you out of the prison of mind. It is not an
intellectual philosophy; it is not a philosophy at all. Nor is it a religion,
because it has no fictions and no lies, no consolations. It is a lion’s
roar. And the greatest thing that Zen has brought into the world is
freedom from oneself.
All the religions have been talking about dropping your ego – but it is
a very weird phenomenon: they want you to drop your ego, and the
ego is just a shadow of God. God is the ego of the universe, and the
ego is your personality. Just as God is the very center of existence
according to religions, your ego is the center of your mind, of your
personality. They have all been talking about dropping the ego, but it
cannot be dropped unless God is dropped. You cannot drop a
shadow or a reflection unless the source of its manifestation is
destroyed.
So, religions have been saying continuously, for centuries, that you
should get rid of the ego – but for wrong reasons. They have been
asking you to drop your ego so you can surrender to God, so you
can surrender to the priests, so you can surrender to any kind of
nonsense, any kind of theology, superstition, belief system.
But you cannot drop the ego if it is a reflection of God. God is a lie,
out there in the universe, and ego is a lie within your mind. Your mind
is simply reflecting a bigger lie according to its size....
When Tenjiku was asked about the incident of Tanka burning the
statue, he replied, “When it is cold we gather around the hearth by
the fire.”
“Was he wrong or not?” persisted the monk.
“When it is hot we sit in a bamboo forest in the valley,” said Tenjiku.
The day after the burning of the statue, Tanka Tennen went to see
Nan-yo, who had once been a disciple of Eno and was the emperor’s
Zen master. When Tanka unrolled his zazen rug, Nan-yo said,
“There’s no need.”
Tanka took a few steps backward.
Nan-yo said, “That’s right.”
At this, Tanka took a few steps forward.
Nan-yo said, “That’s not right.”
Tanka walked around Nan-yo one time and left.
Nan-yo commented, “The old, golden days are far away, and people
are now so lazy. Thirty years from now, it will be difficult to get hold of
this fellow.”
Friends,
It is time, ripe time for a Zen manifesto.
The Western intelligentsia have become acquainted with Zen, have
also fallen in love with Zen, but they are still trying to approach Zen
from the mind. They have not yet come to the understanding that
Zen has nothing to do with mind.
Its tremendous job is to get you out of the prison of mind. It is not an
intellectual philosophy; it is not a philosophy at all. Nor is it a religion,
because it has no fictions and no lies, no consolations. It is a lion’s
roar. And the greatest thing that Zen has brought into the world is
freedom from oneself.
All the religions have been talking about dropping your ego – but it is
a very weird phenomenon: they want you to drop your ego, and the
ego is just a shadow of God. God is the ego of the universe, and the
ego is your personality. Just as God is the very center of existence
according to religions, your ego is the center of your mind, of your
personality. They have all been talking about dropping the ego, but it
cannot be dropped unless God is dropped. You cannot drop a
shadow or a reflection unless the source of its manifestation is
destroyed.
So, religions have been saying continuously, for centuries, that you
should get rid of the ego – but for wrong reasons. They have been
asking you to drop your ego so you can surrender to God, so you
can surrender to the priests, so you can surrender to any kind of
nonsense, any kind of theology, superstition, belief system.
But you cannot drop the ego if it is a reflection of God. God is a lie,
out there in the universe, and ego is a lie within your mind. Your mind
is simply reflecting a bigger lie according to its size....
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| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Osho Discourses – mp3 audio |
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Discourse 1
This Disappearance Is Anatta
This Disappearance Is Anatta