162 - Gudo and the emperor

The emperor Goyozei was studying Zen under Gudo. He inquired, "In Zen this very mind is Buddha. Is this correct?"

Gudo answered, "If I say yes, you will think that you understand without understanding. If I say no, I would be contradicting a fact which many understand quite well."

On another day the emperor asked Gudo,"Where does the enlightened man go when he dies?"

Gudo answered, "I know not."
"Why don't you know?", asked the emperor.
"Because I have not died yet," replied Gudo.

The emperor hesitated to inquire further about those things his mind could not grasp. So Gudo beat the floor with his hand as if to awaken him, and the emperor was enlightened!

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

Osho - Empty your Cup

The Japanese Master Nan-In gave audience to a professor of philosophy.

Serving Tea, Nan-in filled his visitors cup, and kept pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer.

"Stop! The cup is overfull, no more will go in."

Nan-in said, "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Source: Osho - A Bird on the wing.

127 - It means what it means

The great Zen master once invited a court official to tea. After the customary greetings the official said, "I do not wish to squander this opportunity of spending in the presence of so great a Master. Tell me, what does it mean when they say that in spite of our having it in our daily life we do not see it ?"

The Zen master offered the man a piece of cake. Then he served him his tea. After eating and drinking, the official, thinking that the Master had not heard his first sentence, repeated the question.

"Yes, of course." said the Master. "This is what it means. That we do not see it even though we have it in our daily life."


Those who know, do not say
Those who say, do not know.
The wise are therefore silent.
The clever speak, the stupid argue.


source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html

Osho - Drop the Trinity

When you are not, the whole existence feels ecstatic and celebrates; flowers shower on you. They have not showered yet because you ARE, and they will not shower until you dissolve. When you are empty, no more, when you are a nothingness, SHUNYATA, suddenly they start showering. They have showered on Buddha, on Subhuti, on Nansen;
they can shower on YOU -- they are waiting. They are knocking at the door. They are ready. Just the moment you become empty, they start falling on you. So remember it: the final liberation is not YOUR liberation, the final liberation is FROM YOU. Enlightenment is not yours, cannot be. When you are not, it is there. Drop yourself
in your totalness: the world of things, the world of thoughts, the world of the self; all three layers, drop. Drop this trinity; drop this TRIMURTI, drop these three faces, because if you are there then the one cannot be. If you are three, how can the one be?

Let all three disappear -- God, the Holy Ghost and the Son; Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh -- all the three, let them drop! Let them disappear. Nobody remains -- and then everything is there. When nothing happens, the all happens. You are nothing... the all starts showering on you.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Not mind, not buddha, not things

A monk asked Nansen: "Is there a teaching no master ever preached before?"

Nansen said: "Yes there is."

"What is that?" asked the monk.

Nansen replied: "It is not mind, it is not buddha, it is not things."

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Seeing double

A master was asked by a curious monk: "What is the way?"

"It is right before your eyes," said the master.

"Why do I not see it for myself?" asked the monk.

"Because you are thinking of yourself,"  said the master.

"What about you," said the monk, "Do you see it?"

The master said: "So long as you see double, saying I don't, and you do, and so on, your eyes are clouded."

"When there is neither I nor you, can one see it?" said the monk.

"When there i neither I not you, who is the one who wants to see it?" replied the master.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Deaf Dumb and Blind

Gensha complained to his followers one day: 'Other Masters are always carrying on about the necessity of saving everyone -- But suppose you meet up with someone who is deaf, dumb and blind: He couldn't see your gestures, hear your preaching, or, for that matter, ask questions. Unable to save him, you'd prove yourself a worthless buddhist.'
Troubled by these words, one of Gensha's disciples went to consult the Master Ummon who, like Gensha, was a disciple of Seppo.

"Bow Please," said Ummon.

The monk, though taken by surprise, obeyed the master's command -- then straightened up in expectation of having his query answered.

But instead of an answer, he got a staff thrust at him. He Leapt back.

"Well," said Ummon, "You're not blind. Now approach."

The monk did as he was bidden. "Good," said Ummon, "You are not deaf either. Well, Understand?"

"Understand what Sir?" said the monk.  "Ah, you are not dumb either," said Ummon.

On hearing these words the monk awoke as from a deep sleep.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen - Paradox - Osho

And remember, and always keep it in your heart: truth, love, life, meditation, ecstacy, bliss, all that is true and beautiful and good, always exists as a paradox:

• in the world, and not of it;
•  with people, yet alone;
• doing everything, and being inactive;
• moving and not moving;
• living an ordinary life. and yet not being identified with it;
• working as everybody else is working, yet remaining aloof deep down.

Being in the world and not of the world, that is the paradox. And when you attain this paradox, the greatest peak happens to you: the peak of experience.

If you start living this paradox your life will become a symphony; it will become a higher and higher synthesis of all the opposites. In YOU, then, all opposites will dissolve.

In this moment you can awake. You can look, you can shake the mind a little, create a discontinuity, and suddenly you understand... what Arthur Koestler misses. If you are also too intelligent, you will miss. Don't be too intelligent, don't try to be too clever, because there is a wisdom which is attained by those who become fools; there is a wisdom which is attained by those who become like madmen; there is a wisdom which is attained only when you lose your mind.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Tozan's five pounds

The master Tozan was weighing some flax in the storeroom.
A monk came up to him and asked: "What is Buddha?"

Tozan said: "This flax weighs five pounds."



Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Let go and Relax - Osho

Nobody asked you about being born, nobody is going to ask you when the time comes for you to be taken away. Then why be worried? Birth happened to you; death will happen to you; who are you to come in between?

Things are happening. You feel hunger, you feel love, you feel anger -- everything happens to you, you are not a doer. Nature takes care. You eat and nature digests it; you need not bother about it, about how the stomach is functioning, how the food is going to become blood. If you become too tense about it you will have ulcers -- and king-size ulcers, not ordinary ones. No need to worry.

The whole is moving. The vast ocean, the infinite is moving. You are just a wave in it. Relax, and let things be. Once you know how to let go, you have known all that is worth knowing. If you don't know how to let go, whatsoever you know is worthless, it is rubbish.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Find Attention - Osho

Sometimes you become attentive. If somebody comes to hit you, the attention comes. If you are in danger, if you are passing through a forest at night and it is dark, you walk with a different quality of attention. You are awake; thinking is not there. You are fully in rapport with the situation, with whatsoever is happening. Even if a leaf creates a sound you are fully alert. You are just like a hare, or a deer -- they are always awake. Your ears are bigger, your eyes are wide open, you are feeling what is happening all around because danger is there. In danger your sleep is less, your awareness is more, the gestalt changes. If somebody puts a dagger to your heart and is just going to push it in, in that moment there is no thinking. Past disappears, future disappears: you are here and now. The possibility is there. If you make the effort you will catch the one ray that exists in you, and once you catch the one ray, the sun is not very far; then through the ray you can reach the sun -- the ray becomes the path.

So remember: find attention, let it become a continuity in you twenty-four hours a day, whatsoever you do. Eat, but try to be attentive: eat with awareness. Walk, but walk with awareness. Love, but love fully aware. Try!

It cannot become total just in one day, but even if one ray is caught, you will feel a deep fulfillment -- because the quality is the same whether you attain to one ray or the whole sun. Whether you taste a drop of water from the ocean or the whole ocean, the salty taste is the same -- and the taste becomes your satori, the glimpse.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Temple Fire

While Tokai was a visitor at a certain temple, a fire started under the kitchen floor.

A monk rushed into Tokai's bedroom, shouting: "A fire, Master, A fire!"

"Oh?" said Tokai, sitting up "Where?".

 "Where?" exclaimed the monk. "Why, under the Kitchen Floor -- Get up at once."

"The Kitchen, Eh?" said the Master drowsily. "Well. tell you what, when it reaches the passageway, come back and let me know."

Tokai was snoring again in no time.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - The art of archery

Lieh-Tzu exhibited his skill in archery to Po-Hun Wu-Jen. When the bow was drawn to its full length, a cup of water was placed on his elbow and he began to shoot. As soon as the first arrow was let fly. A second was already on the string, and then a third one followed. In the meantime he stood unmoved like a statue.

Po-Hun Wu-Jen said: "The technique of shooting is fine, but it is not the technique of non-shooting. Let us go up to a high mountain and stand on a projecting rock, and then you try and shoot."
They climbed up a mountain. Standing on a rock that projected over a precipice ten thousand feet high, Po-Hun Wu-Jen moved backwards until one third of his feet were overhanging the edge. He then motioned Lieh-Tzu to come forward.

Leih-Tzu fell down on the ground with perspiration flowing down to his heels.

Said Po-Hun Wu-Jen: "The perfect man soars up above the blue sky, or dives down to the yellow springs, or wanders all over the eight limits of the world, yet shows no sign of change in his spirit. But you betray a sign of trepidation, and your eyes are dazed. How can you expect to hit the target?"

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Is he dead?

At the death of a parishioner, master Dogo, accompanied by his disciple Zengen, visited the bereaved family.

Without taking time to express a word of sympathy, Zengen went up to the coffin, rapped on it, and asked Dogo: "Is he really dead?"

"I won't say," said Dogo. "Well?" insisted Zengen.

"I'm not saying, and that's final," said Dogo.

On their way back to the temple the furious Zengen turned on Dogo and threatened: "By god, if you don't answer my question, Why I'll beat you."

"All Right," said Dogo, "Beat away."

A man of his word, Zengen slapped his master a good one.

Some time Later Dogo died, and Zengen, still anxious to have his question answered, went to the master Sekiso, and, after relating what had happened, asked the same question of him.

Sekiso, as if conspiring with the dead Dogo, would not answer.

"By God!" cried Zengen. "You too?"

"I'm not saying," said Sekiso, "and that's final."

At that very instant Zengen experienced an awakening.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Law of Completion - Osho

"Remember one basic law: anything that is complete drops, because then there is no meaning in carrying it; anything that is incomplete clings, it waits for its completion. And this existence is really always after completion. The whole existence has a basic tendency to complete everything. It does not like incomplete things -- they hang, they wait; and there is no hurry for existence -- they can wait for millions of years.

Move backwards. Every night for one hour before you go to sleep, move into the past, relive. Many memories by and by will be unearthed. With many you will be surprised that you were not aware that these things are there -- and with such vitality and freshness, as if they had just happened! You will be again a child, again a young man, a lover, many things will come. Move slowly, so everything is completed. Your mountain will become smaller and smaller -- the LOAD is the mountain. And the smaller it becomes, the freer you will feel. A certain quality of freedom will come to you, and a freshness, and inside you will feel you have touched a source of life.

You will always be vital -- even others will feel that when you walk your step has changed, it has a quality of dance; when you touch, your touch has changed -- it is not a dead hand, it has become alive again. Now life is flowing because the blocks have disappeared; now there is no anger in the hand, love can flow easily, unpoisoned, in its purity. You will become more sensitve, vulnerable, open."

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - the way and the mountain

A master who lived as a hermit on a mountain was asked by a monk: "What is the way?"

"What a fine mountain this is," the master said in reply.

"I am not asking you about the mountain," said the monk, "but the way."

The master replied: " so long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, my son, you cannot reach the way."

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Buddha and the Temper - Osho

Buddha was passing near a village; a few people came and they abused him very badly, said nasty things, used vulgar words -- and he just stood there. They got a little puzzled, because he was not reacting. Then somebody from the crowd said, "Why are you silent? Answer what we are saying!"

Buddha said, "You came a little late. You should have come ten years ago, because then I would have reacted. But now I am not there where you are doing these things to me; a distance has arisen. Now I have moved to the center where you cannot touch me. You came a little late. I am sorry for you, but I enjoy it. Now I am in a hurry, because in the other village where I am going, people will be waiting for me. If you are not yet finished, then I will pass back by the same route. You can come again. IT SOUNDS FASCINATING."

They were puzzled. What to do with such a man? Another from the crowd asked, "Really, are you not going to say anything?"

Buddha said, "In the village I have come from just now, people came with many sweets to present to me, but I take things only when I am hungry, and I was not hungry, so I gave them back their sweets. I ask you, what will they do?"

So the man said, "Of course, they will go in the village and give those sweets as PRASAD to people."
So Buddha started laughing and he said, "You are really in trouble, you are in mess -- what will you do? You brought these vulgar words to me, and I say I am not hungry -- so now take them back! And I feel very sorry for your village, because people will get such vulgar things, vulgar words in their prasad."

When you are at the center, IT SOUNDS FASCINATING -- you can enjoy it. When you are cool you can enjoy the whole world. When you are hot you cannot enjoy it, because you get so much into it; you are lost, you are identified. You become so messed up in it, how can you enjoy it?

This may sound paradoxical, but I tell you: only a Buddha enjoys this world. Then everything sounds fascinating.

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - An Ungovernable Temper

A Zen student came to Bankei and said: "Master, I have an ungovernable temper - How can I cure it?"
"Show me this temper", said Bankei, "It sounds fascinating."
"I haven't got it right now", said the student. "so I cannot show it to you."
"Well then", said Bankei, "Bring it to me when you have it."
"But I can't bring it just when I happen to have it", protested the student. "It arises unexpectedly, and I would surely loose it before I got it to you."

"In that case", said Bankei, "it cannot be part of your true nature. If it were, you could show it to me anytime."

"When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you - so it must come into you from the outside. I suggest that whenever it gets into you, you beat yourself with a stick until the temper can't stand it, and runs away."

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

Zen Koans - Nothing Exists

When Yamaoka Tesshu was a brash student he visited the master Dokuon. Wanting to impress the master he said,
"There is no buddha,
 there is no better,
 there is no worse.
 There is no Master,
 there is no student,
 there is no giving,
 there is no receiving.
What we think we see and feel is not real. None of these seeming things really exists."

Dokuon had been sitting quietly smoking his pipe and saying nothing. Suddenly, he picked up his staff and gave Yamaoka a terrible whack.

Yamaoka jumped up in anger.

Dokuon said, "Since none of these things really exists. And all is emptiness, where does your anger come from? Think about it."

Source: Osho - And the Flowers Showered...

105 - Get yourself out of the way

A woodcarver had just finished work on a statue of Saraswati. Everyone who saw it marvelled, for it seemed to be the work of spirits. When the King saw it, he asked, "What sort of genius is yours that you could make such a thing?"

The woodcarver replied, "Sit, I am only a simple workman. I am no genius. But there is one thing. When I am going to make a statue I meditate for three days to calm my mind. When I have meditated for three days I think no more about rewards or emoluments. When I have meditated for five days I  no longer think of praise or blame, skillfulness or awkwardness. When I have meditated for seven days I suddenly forget my limbs, my body. I forget my very self. I lose consciousness of the court and my surroundings. Only my skill remains. In that state I walk into the forest and examine each tree until I find one in which I see the statue in all its perfection. Then my hands go to the task. Having set my self aside, nature meets nature in the work that is performed through me. This, no doubt is the reason why everyone says that the finished product is the work of the spirit. "

Said a world famous violinist about his success in playing, Beethoven's Violin Converto, "I have splendid music, a splendid violin and a splendid bow. All I need to do is bring them together and get out of the way.'

source: Stories from Here and There, Ekalavya Education Foundation - By: Sunil Handa - http://www.eklavya.org/storyhere.html