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SPEAKS ON ALL THE MYSTICS |
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“Osho
does not teach any religion and does not belong to any particular
religion. What he really teaches is religiousness - the real fragrance
of all the flowers of existence, the Buddhas, the mystics and sages
that this world has known. Osho has given thousands of discourses
on all the well-known and not so known mystics of the world—from
Ashtavakra to Zarathusthra .
Osho
is a modern day mystic whose wisdom, clarity and humor have touched
the lives of millions of people around the world. His insights are
creating the conducive atmosphere or ‘ Atma-Sphere ” for
the emergence of what he calls the ‘New Man’ or Zorba
, the Buddha – the combination of celebration, dance and song
of Zorba and the silence, stillness and meditation of the Buddha,
the meditation of the East and the materialism of the West. Zorba
the Buddha is a totally new human being who is an awakened one, and
he is life-affirmative and free. When someone asked Osho the definition
of religion, Osho replied: To be in romance with life is religion.
Amongst
all the Enlightened Ones, Gautama the Buddha is very special to Osho.
He says: “I love Gautama the Buddha because he represents to
me the essential core of religion. He is the beginner of a totally
different kind of religion in the world. He has propounded not religion
but religiousness. And this is a great radical change in the history
of human consciousness.”
“When
a Buddha moves the wheel of dharma , it takes two thousand five hundred
years for it to stop completely….” says Osho. “The
wheel that Buddha moved has stopped. The wheel has to be moved again.
And that is going to be my and your life’s work – that
wheel has to be moved again. Once it starts revolving it will again
have twenty-five centuries’ life.”
Osho
teaches meditation for our inner transformation. Love and compassion
are the natural expression of this transformation. We can meditate
with Buddha, dance with Krishna and celebrate our love with Sufis
.”
- Swami Chaitanya Keerti , Osho World Foundation, New Delhi
Osho
has spoken on hundreds of mystics and traditions including Buddhism,
Christianity, Communism, Hassidism., Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism,
Sufism, Tantra, Taoism, Yoga, Zen and many more
Some of the mystics
HE speaks on
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| Adi
Shankaracharya |
Books
on Adi Shankaracharya:
The Song of Ecstasy (in English)
The Great Transcendence (in English)
Bhaj Govindam Moodh Mate (in Hindi)
“Adi
Shankaracharya was an unbounded flow of revolutionary energy,
a Ganges rushing towards the ocean. He cannot be channeled
like a canal.”
- Nowhere To Go But In, Chapter
#3
Adi
Shankaracharya, the first shankaracharya, who established four
temples -- the four seats of shankaracharyas for all the four
directions. Perhaps in the whole world, he is the most famous
of those philosophers who are trying to establish that everything
is illusory. Without doubt he was a great logician, because
he went on conquering other philosophers; he moved all over
the country and defeated all other schools of philosophy. He
established his philosophy as the only right vision, the only
right perspective: that all is maya, illusion.
- The Great Zen Master Ta Hui,
Chapter #9
This
is the book I have always wanted to talk about; it is even
scheduled for my morning talks in English. I have already spoken
on it in Hindi and it can also be translated. The book is by
Shankaracharya -- not the present fool, but Adi Shankaracharya,
the original one.
The book is one thousand years old, and is nothing but a small
song: "BHAJ GOVINDAM MOODH MATE -- O Idiot...." Now,
Devageet, listen carefully: I'm not talking to you, that is the
title of the book. BHAJ GOVINDAM -- sing the song of the Lord --
MOODH MATE, O Idiot. O Idiot, sing the song of the Lord.
But idiots don't listen. They never listen to anybody, they are
deaf. Even if they listen they don't understand. They are imbeciles.
Even if they can understand, they don't follow; and unless you
follow, understanding is meaningless. Understanding is understanding
only when it is proved by your following.
Shankaracharya has written many books but none of them is so beautiful
as this song: BHAJ GOVINDAM MOODH MATE. I have spoken much on these
three or four words, almost three hundred pages. But you know how
I love to sing songs; if I have the opportunity I will go on endlessly.
But here I wanted to at least mention the book.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #15
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| Ashtavakra |
Books
on Ashtavakra:
Enlightenment : The Only Revolution (in English)
Ashtavakra Mahageeta (6 volumes in Hindi)
Ashtavakra
is not for synthesis -- he is a man of truth. He speaks the
truth just as it is, without any artifice or coloring. He
is not concerned about the listener, he does not care whether
his listener will understand or not. Such a pure expression
of truth has never happened anywhere before, nor has it ever
happened again.
No one is concerned with Ashtavakra, because to accept Ashtavakra
you are going to have to drop yourself -- unconditionally. You
cannot bring yourself along. Only if you stay behind can you come
near him.
If you really want to understand Ashtavakra you will have to descend
into the depths of meditation. No commentary, no interpretation
will be of any help.
And for meditation Ashtavakra does not ask us to sit and chant "Ram,
Ram." He says that anything you do will not be meditation.
How can there be meditation when there is a doer? As long as there
is doing, there is illusion. As long as the doer is present, the
ego is present. Ashtavakra says becoming a witness is meditation.
Then the doer disappears; you remain only as watcher, nothing but
the observer. When you are nothing but the observer then only is
there darshan, seeing; then only is there meditation, then only
is there wisdom.
- The Mahageeta, Vol 1, Chapter
#1
Ashtavakra,
one of the greatest seers of this country, says: The sannyasin
is one who is dead even while he is alive. But the person
who is dead while he is alive will be alive when he is dead.
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha,
Vol 5, Chapter #4
Ashtavakra
says, "Rest in yourself, and you will attain all." Because
resting in yourself you will know who you are.
- The First Principle, Chapter #9
“One
very great mystic of India -- I have spoken on him for almost
half a year continuously. His name was Ashtavakra. And what
he has written is tremendously important; each sentence has
so many dimensions to be explored, but the man himself was
in a very difficult situation.
Ashtavakra -- the name was given to him, because he was almost
like a camel. In eight places he was distorted in the body -- one
leg was longer, one arm was shorter, his back was bent -- in eight
places he was distorted. That's how he was born, with a crippled,
distorted body. But even in a crippled and distorted body the soul
is as beautiful as in the most beautiful body.
He became enlightened, but his body was too rigid to change with
his inner change. His eyes started showing something of the beauty,
but the whole body was in such a mess.”
“It is one of the strangest things in this country that on every book written
by any prominent mystic there have been hundreds of commentaries, but nobody
has commented before me on Ashtavakra. And he must be at least five thousand
years old. For five thousand years nobody has bothered to look into his statements,
which are so significant.
But his inner enlightenment, his inner understanding could not
change his outer appearance. And yet for those who are going deeper
into themselves, the outer does not matter. They would have seen
even in Ashtavakra tremendous beauty, but it would not have been
of the outer circumference, but of the center.
Most often the inner change changes the outer, if the outer is
not too rigid. But the outer never changes the inner.
You need to have eyes, going deep into people's beings, which is
possible only if you are going inwards yourself. The deeper you
go into yourself the deeper you can look into other people's beings.
And then a totally new world opens its doors.”
- Sat Chit Anand, Chapter #27
Just
a few days ago I was talking about Ashtavakra. Yes, he is
exactly like Lao Tzu; he also praises the quality of sublime
laziness. He calls it ALASI SHIROMANI. the emperor of laziness,
a great king of laziness, the highest peak of laziness. But
remember, inactivity plus energy, plus vitality. And not
a single effort has to be made, because in the effort so
much energy will be wasted that you will be less radiant.
And God comes to you only when you are so vital -- optimumly
vital, optimum... at the peak -- that you cannot be any more
vital. At that peak you meet the divine. Your highest energy
comes closest to God's feet; God's lowest energy is closest
to man's highest energy, and there is the communion.
- Tao: The Pathless Path, Vol 1, Chapter
#2
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| Atisha |
Book
on Atisha:
The Book of Wisdom (in English)
Atisha
is one of the rare masters, rare in the sense that he was
taught by three enlightened masters. It has never happened
before, and never since. To be a disciple of three enlightened
masters is simply unbelievable -- because one enlightened
master is enough. But this story, that he was taught by three
enlightened masters, has a metaphorical significance also.
And it is true, it is historical too.
The three masters that Atisha remained with for many years were:
first, Dharmakirti, a great Buddhist mystic. He taught him no-mind,
he taught him emptiness, he taught him how to be thoughtless, he
taught him how to drop all content from the mind and be contentless.
The second master was Dharmarakshita, another Buddhist mystic.
He taught him love, compassion. And the third master was Yogin
Maitreya, another Buddhist mystic. He taught him the art of taking
the suffering of others and absorbing it into your own heart: love
in action.
This could happen because all these three masters were great friends.
They had started their search together; while they were on the
way they had remained together, and when they attained they were
still together.
Atisha became a disciple of Dharmakirti. Dharmakirti said to him, "I
will teach you the first principle. And for the second you go to
Dharmarakshita, and for the third to Yogin Maitreya. This way you
will know all the three faces of the ultimate reality, the three
faces of God -- the trinity, the TRIMURTI. And this way you will
learn each face from the person who is the most perfect in it."
- The Book of Wisdom, Chapter #1
Because
Atisha learned under three enlightened masters, he is called
Atisha the Thrice Great. Nothing more is known about his
ordinary life, when and where exactly he was born. He existed
somewhere in the eleventh century. He was born in India,
but the moment his love became active he started moving towards
Tibet, as if a great magnet were pulling him there. In the
Himalayas he attained; then he never came back to India.
He moved towards Tibet, his love showered on Tibet. He transformed
the whole quality of Tibetan consciousness. He was a miracle-worker;
whatsoever he touched was transformed into gold. He was one of
the greatest alchemists the world has ever known.
These "Seven Points of Mind Training" are the fundamental
teaching that he gave to Tibet -- a gift from India to Tibet. India
has given great gifts to the world. Atisha is one of those great
gifts. Just as India gave Bodhidharma to China, India gave Atisha
to Tibet. Tibet is infinitely indebted to this man.
- The Book of Wisdom, Chapter #1
Atisha
is really very very scientific. First he says: Take the whole
responsibility on yourself. Secondly he says: Be grateful
to everyone. Now that nobody is responsible for your misery
except you, if it is all your own doing, then what is left?
BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.
- The Book of Wisdom, Chapter #5
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| Bahaudin |
Bahaudin
is one of the greatest Sufi Masters ever. He is of the
same status as Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Christ. "Naqshband" means "a
designer"; and he was a designer, and this story is
a design. He used to create situations because people can
only be taught through real situations. And he was one
of the greatest designers.
Gurdjieff learned his devices from the Order of Naqshbandis, the
followers of Bahaudin Naqshband. They are called Naqshbandis, "The
Designers", still. No other school of human transformation
has created so many devices. Bahaudin used to say that people are
so asleep that if you simply talk with them, they will listen and
yet they will not listen. They will only hear, and they will not
listen. And even if they hear, the meaning that they will give
to you and your words will be their own. They have to be brought
to actual situations. People are so asleep, they have to be hit
by actual realities; only then can something penetrate into their
thick, dense, insensitive, unintelligent heads.
- The Secret, Chapter #1
When
you go to a man like Bahaudin you are coming close to danger,
you are coming close to fire, you are coming close to death.
- Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol
1, Chapter #5
Sufis
don't believe in teachings and teachers. This man, Bahaudin,
is one of the greatest masters. The master does not teach:
he demonstrates; his whole being is a demonstration. He opens
new dimensions and he invites you to look through these new
dimensions, new vistas, new windows. He demonstrates, he
does not teach. And even if he teaches, it is just to persuade
your intellect to come to his window from where things have
a totally different look.
And a master has to be skilled in the greatest art: the art of
the human heart -- because subtle are the problems, very complicated
and complex.
- Until You Die, Chapter #5
The
book I am going to talk about is a Sufi one, THE BOOK OF
BAHAUDDIN. The original Sufi mystic, Bahauddin created the
tradition of Sufism. In his small book everything is contained.
It is like a seed. Love, meditation, life, death... he has
not left anything out whatsoever. Meditate over it.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #11
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| Basho |
Book
on Zen with Basho’s Haikus:
Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho's Haikus (in English)
Basho
has tremendous respect in my heart. He is not only a mystic,
a master, he is also a poet, a painter, a sculptor; he
is a creative phenomenon. Nobody can compare with him as
far as his multidimensional personality is concerned.
He has the fragrance which only a flower can have. That fragrance
is manifested in his poetry, in his small statements, in his every
gesture. Even in his ordinary talks with people he cannot be other
than Basho.
Basho is far more refined, perhaps the most refined Zen master
up to now. His refinement is in his cultured, meditative spaciousness.
Out of that spaciousness many flowers have showered on the world.
It does not matter wherever he is and whatever is going on, Basho
is going to make it a Zen state of affairs. That uniqueness will
not be found again.
- Live Zen, Chapter #4
Basho
is one of the greatest poets of the world, but he has written
only haikus -- very symbolic but very miraculous, very
simple but very mysterious. They are all to be understood
through visualization, because Zen does not believe in
words. Visualize and perhaps you may have some understanding.
- Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with
Basho's Haikus, Chapter #1
A
meditator, according to Basho, will go on searching deep
within himself, but that does not mean that he should lose
contact with the outside world. Once in a while he should
open his eyes. With all his emptiness he should mirror
the outside world. Those reflections are collected in these
haikus. They don't mean anything, they simply depict a
picture.
- Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with
Basho's Haikus, Chapter #1
Basho
is the greatest haiku poet of Japan, the Master haiku poet.
But he was not just a poet. Before becoming a poet he was
a mystic; before he starting pouring out with beautiful
poetry, he poured deep into his own center. He was a meditator.
- The Beloved, Vol 2, Chapter #8
It
happened when Basho's master died -- Basho is a buddha,
a buddha who writes poetry, a buddha who paints beautiful
pictures, a very aesthetic buddha. His master died, thousands
of people gathered. His master was very famous; more famous
because of Basho, because Basho was a famous poet and painter
and he was Basho's master. Thousands of people gathered
and they were very much surprised when they saw Basho crying,
big tears rolling down his cheeks.
A few close disciples of his master came to Basho and said, "It
does not look right. Thousands of people are coming and they are
getting confused. They don't think a buddha should be crying and
weeping, and you are the man who has been saying to them again
and again: There is no death and the innermost core lives forever.
Then why are you weeping? Your master is not dead, he has only
moved from the small body to the universal body of God. So why
are you weeping?"
Basho wiped his tears and he said, "Listen! This is nobody's
business. I live according to my inner feelings, I cannot pretend.
When my innermost core
has disappeared into the universal. don't care whether people think
it right or not. If they don't think that I am enlightened it's
okay, but I cannot pretend. I cannot do something which is not
really there. And yes, I have said that the soul is immortal and
my master has not died, he has disappeared into the universal.
That's why I am crying, not crying that he is dead but crying that
now I will never be able to see his form. Now he has become formless
-- and his body was beautiful. I will never be able to look again
into those deep eyes, I will never be able to hold his hand and
touch his feet. I have lost his form -- I am crying for his body,
for his form; I am not crying for the formless soul. And I am not
concerned whether people think me enlightened or unenlightened,
that is their business. Who cares?"
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha,
Vol 6, Chapter #8
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| Baul
Mystics |
Book
on Baul Mystics:
The Beloved (2 volumes in English)
The
Bauls are called Bauls because they are mad people. The
word 'Baul' comes from the Sanskrit root VATUL. It means:
mad, affected by wind. The Baul belongs to no religion.
He is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Christian nor Buddhist.
He is a simple human being. His rebellion is total. He
does not belong to anybody; he only belongs to himself.
He lives in a no man's land: no country is his, no religion
is his, no scripture is his.
Bauls have nothing -- no scripture, not even to burn; no church,
no temple, no mosque -- nothing whatsoever. A Baul is a man always
on the road. He has no house, no abode. God is his only abode,
and the whole sky is his shelter. He possesses nothing except a
poor man's quilt, a small, hand-made one-stringed instrument called
AEKTARA, and a small drum, a kettle-drum. That's all that he possesses.
He possesses only a musical instrument and a drum. He plays with
one hand on the instrument and he goes on beating the drum with
the other. The drum hangs by the side of his body, and he dances.
That is all of his religion.
Dance is his religion; singing is his worship.
- The Beloved, Vol 1, Chapter #1
The
Bauls say that life is not a creation of something new,
it is just unfoldment. You already have it; it just has
to be unfolded, barriers just have to be removed. Obstacles
just have to be put aside and your life starts unfolding.
You are like a bud: when obstacles are no more there, you
start flowering, your lotus opens.
- The Beloved, Vol 2, Chapter #1
The
methods of the Bauls are very simple. They say that if
you can dance, many blocks will disappear from your being
-- because when a person dances and really moves into dance,
and becomes movement, then he becomes liquid. Have you
not seen it? If you have seen somebody lost in dancing,
can't you see it? that he is no longer solid? He is flowing.
The solidity is gone; he has become liquid. This liquidity
melts the blocks. So dancing is the Yoga of the Baul; he
dances for hours together. When the moon is in the sky
in the night, the Bauls will dance the whole night -- because
for them the moon is a symbol of their Beloved, Krishna.
They call Krishna 'the moon'. When the moon is there they
will dance, and they will dance madly. And this dance is
not a performance. It is not for somebody else to see.
If somebody sees it and watches, that's another thing.
The Baul dances for himself, for his own pleasure.
- The Beloved, Vol 2, Chapter #1
Bauls
have been very extraordinary people. The word BAUL means
MAD. Bauls were mad mystics. They have talked in all sorts
of paradoxes; but very beautiful. They are not philosophers,
they are mad poets. They are not proposing any logical
thing, rather on the contrary 'they are trying to show
you something through paradox.
- Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 4,
Chapter #2
Bauls
were great mystics of such beauty and depth that people
started thinking that they were mad. So the literal meaning
of the word "baul" is mad; it means: the mad
mystic. Their whole life was so utterly different, so radically
different from the ordinary life, that naturally they looked
mad. They danced, they sang, they moved like madmen, traveling
up and down the country singing songs of joy, of celebration.
Naturally they looked mad, because in a world of suffering
how do you conceive of celebration? In a world where everybody
is miserable, the man who is dancing and has laughter in
his soul looks simply out of place, outlandish, mad, stoned,
not in his senses. Hence the word "baul" -- it
means the mad mystic.
Slowly slowly they have disappeared; very few Bauls are still alive.
But the glory is gone because this country no more welcomes the
real mystic. It still talks about mysticism, in fact talks much
about mysticism, but its heart has become materialistic.
- God's Got a Thing About you, Chapter
#13
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| Bayazid |
Books
on Sufis:
Just Like That (in English)
The Wisdom of the Sands (2 volumes in English)
The Secret (in English)
Sufis: The People of the Path (2 volumes in English)
The Perfect master (2 volumes in English)
Until You Die (in English)
When
a Sufi mystic, Bayazid, was dying, people who had gathered
around him -- his disciples -- were suddenly surprised,
because when the last moment came his face became radiant,
powerfully radiant. It had a beautiful aura.
Bayazid was a beautiful man, and his disciples had always felt
ar aura around him, but they had not known anything like this;
so radiant.
They asked, 'Bayazid, tell us what has happened to you. What is
happening to you? Before you leave us, give us your last message.'
He opened his eyes and he said, 'God is welcoming me. I am going
into his embrace. Goodbye.'
He closed his eyes, his breathing stopped. But at the moment his
breathing stopped there was an explosion of light, the room became
full of light, and then it disappeared.
When a person has known the transcendental in himself, death is
nothing but another face of God. Then death has a dance to it.
And unless you become capable of celebrating death itself, remember,
you have missed life. The whole life is a preparation for this
ultimate.
- The Art of Dying, Chapter #1
Bayazid
of Bistam, one of the greatest names amongst the Sufis.
- Just Like That, Chapter #8
Sufism
is the path of intense love, passionate love. As Bayazid
has said, "The duration of Bayazid's life of asceticism
was only three days. On the first day he renounced the
world, on the second day he renounced the other world,
and on the last day he renounced himself. "
- The Secret, Chapter #17
Bayazid
says that it is the nature of the master to change others;
it is not an effort. Nothing is being done by the master,
simply his presence.... And if he appears to do something,
that appearance is just a trick because you cannot understand
the language of nondoing. You can only understand the language
of effort. So he creates a language for you. Even if you
cannot understand his language, he can understand your
language very well. Even if you cannot understand him,
he can understand you very well.
- The Supreme Doctrine, Chapter #3
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| Bodhidharma |
Books
on Bodhidharma:
The White Lotus (in English)
Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master (in English)
I
have a very soft corner in my heart for Bodhidharma. That
makes it a very special occasion to speak about him. Perhaps
he is the only man whom I have loved so deeply that speaking
on him I will be almost speaking on myself.
- Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master,
Chapter #1
I
AM ECSTATIC because just the name of Bodhidharma is psychedelic
to me. In the long evolution of human consciousness there
has never been such an outlandish Buddha as Bodhidharma
-- very rare, very unique, exotic.
There have been many buddhas in the world, but Bodhidharma stands
out like Everest. His way of being, living, and expressing the
truth is simply his; it is incomparable.
- The White Lotus, Chapter #1
Bodhidharma
reached China. He was one of the greatest buddhas of all
the ages. After Gautam Buddha, Bodhidharma seems to be
the most precious person in the Buddhist heritage.
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha,
Vol 12, Chapter #10
Bodhidharma
is one of the greatest enlightened men who has ever existed,
and one of the most unique amongst all the enlightened
men. In many ways he surpasses his own master, Gautam Buddha.
- From Bondage to Freedom, Chapter
#7
I
also forgot THE NOTES OF THE DISCIPLES OF BODHIDHARMA.
When I talk of Gautam Buddha I always forget Bodhidharma,
perhaps because I feel as if I have included him in his
master, Buddha. But no, that is not right; Bodhidharma
stands on his own. He was a great disciple, so great that
even the master could be jealous of him. He himself did
not write a word, but a few of his disciples, unknown because
they did not mention their names, wrote some notes of Bodhidharma's
words. These notes, though few, are as precious as the
Kohinoor. The word Kohinoor, do you know, means the light
of the world. Noor means the light, kohi means of the world.
If I had to describe anything as Kohinoor, yes, I would
indicate towards those few notes by the anonymous disciples
of Bodhidharma.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #2
But
who are they to decide how an enlightened or illuminated
person should speak? Have they known Bodhidharma? Have
they seen his picture? They will immediately conclude that
an enlightened or illuminated person cannot look like that.
He looks ferocious! His eyes are those of a lion in the
forest, and the way he looks at you is such that it seems
he will jump from the picture and kill you instantly. That's
how he was! But forget Bodhidharma, because now fourteen
centuries have passed.
I knew Bodhidharma personally. I traveled with the man for at least
three months. He loved me just as I loved him. You will be curious
to know why he loved me. He loved me because I never asked him
any question. He said to me, "You are the first person I have
met who does not ask a question -- and I only get bored with all
the questions. You are the only person who does not bore me."
I said, "There is a reason."
He said, "What is that?"
I said, "I only answer. I never question. If you have any
question you can ask me. If you don't have a question then keep
your mouth shut."
We both laughed, because we both belonged to the same category
of insanity. He asked me to continue the journey with him, but
I said, "Excuse me, I have to go my own way, and from this
point it separates from yours."
He could not believe it. He had never invited anyone before. This
was the man who had even refused Emperor Wu -- the greatest emperor
of those days, with the greatest empire -- as if he was a beggar.
Bodhidharma could not believe his eyes, that I could refuse him.
I said, "Now you know how it feels to be refused. I wanted
to give you a taste of it. Goodbye." But that was fourteen
centuries ago.
- Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, Chapter
#6
|
| Buddha
(Gautama, the Buddha) |
Books
on Buddha:
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha (12 volumes in English)
The Diamond Sutra (in English)
The Discipline of Transcendence (4 volumes in English)
The Heart Sutra (in English)
Ais Dhammo Sanantano (12 volumes in Hindi)
I
love Gautama the Buddha because he represents to me the
essential core of religion. He is not the founder of Buddhism
-- Buddhism is a byproduct -- but he is the beginner of
a totally different kind of religion in the world. He's
the founder of a religionless religion. He has propounded
not religion but religiousness. And this is a great radical
change in the history of human consciousness.
Before Buddha there were religions but never a pure religiousness.
Man was not yet mature. With Buddha, humanity enters into a mature
age. All human beings have not yet entered into that, that's true,
but Buddha has heralded the path; Buddha has opened the gateless
gate. It takes time for human beings to understand such a deep
message. Buddha's message is the deepest ever. Nobody has done
the work that Buddha has done, the way he has done. Nobody else
represents pure fragrance.
Other founders of religions, other enlightened people, have compromised
with their audience. Buddha remains uncompromised, hence his purity.
He does not care what you can understand, he cares only what the
truth is. And he says it without being worried whether you understand
it or not. In a way this looks hard; in another way this is great
compassion.
- The Diamond Sutra, Chapter #1
Buddha
is one of the most important masters who has ever existed
on the earth -- incomparable, unique. And if you can have
a taste of his being, you will be infinitely benefited,
blessed.
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha,
Vol 1, Chapter #1
GAUTAM
BUDDHA is like the highest peak of the Himalayas, like
Gourishanker... one of the purest beings, one of the most
virgin souls, one of the very rare phenomena on this earth.
The rarity is that Buddha is the scientist of the inner
world -- scientist of religion. That is a rare combination.
To be religious is simple, to be a scientist is simple
-- but to combine, synthesize these two polarities is incredible.
It is unbelievable, but it has happened.
- The Discipline of Transcendence,
Vol 1, Chapter #1
But
as far as Gautam the Buddha is concerned, I welcome him
in my very heart. I will give him my words, my silences,
my meditations, my being, my wings. From today onwards
you can look at me as Gautama the Buddha.
- No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity,
Chapter #1
Buddha
says: Meditation is enough to solve your problems, but
something is missing in it -- compassion. If compassion
is also there, then you can help others solve their problems.
He says: Meditation is pure gold; it has a perfection of
its own. But if there is compassion then the gold has a
fragrance too -- then a higher perfection, then a new kind
of perfection, gold with fragrance. Gold is enough unto
itself -- very valuable -- but with compassion, meditation
has a fragrance.
- The Heart Sutra, Chapter #1
Even
I myself could not believe that I had not included Gautama
the Buddha's DHAMMAPADA. Gautam Buddha was sitting there
silently in the last row. I love the man as I have loved
nobody else. I have been speaking on him throughout my
whole life. Even speaking on others I have been speaking
on him. Take note of it, it is a confession. I cannot speak
on Jesus without bringing Buddha in; I cannot speak on
Mohammed without bringing Buddha in. Whether I mention
him directly or not that's another matter. It is really
impossible for me to speak without bringing Buddha in.
He is my very blood, my bones, my very marrow. He is my
silence, also my song. When I saw him sitting there I remembered.
I cannot even apologize, it is beyond apologizing.
DHAMMAPADA literally means 'the path of truth', or even more accurately
'the footprints of truth'. Do you see the contradiction?
Coming in
going out
the waterfowl
leaves no trace behind,
nor it needs a guide.
Truth is unspeakable. There are no footprints. Birds flying in
the sky don't leave any footprints... and buddhas are birds of
the sky.
But buddhas always speak in contradictions, and it is beautiful
that at least they speak. They cannot speak without contradicting
themselves, they cannot help it. To speak of truth is to contradict
yourself. Not to speak is again to contradict, because even when
you are trying not to speak, you know that your silence is nothing
but an expression, without words maybe, but an expression all the
same.
Buddha gave the name DHAMMAPADA to his greatest book, and there
are contradictions upon contradictions. He is so full of contradictions
that believe me, except me nobody can defeat him. Of course he
would enjoy being defeated by me, just as a father once in a while
enjoys being defeated by his own child. The child sitting on his
father's chest victorious, and the father has simply allowed him
to win. All the buddhas allow themselves to be defeated by those
who love them. I allow my disciples to defeat me, to go beyond
me. There cannot be anything more joyous than seeing a disciple
transcend me.
Buddha begins with the very name DHAMMAPADA -- that's what he is
going to do: he is going to say the unsayable, to utter the unutterable.
But he uttered the unutterable so beautifully that DHAMMAPADA is
like an Everest. There are mountains and mountains, but not one
rises to the height of Everest.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #6
|
| Chuang
Tzu |
Books
on Chuang Tzu:
The Empty Boat (in English)
When the Shoe Fits (in English)
Chuang
Tzu is a rare flowering, because to become nobody is the
most difficult, almost impossible, most extraordinary thing
in the world.
Chuang Tzu says: To be ordinary is to be the sage. Nobody recognizes
you, nobody feels that you are somebody extraordinary. Chuang Tzu
says: You go in the crowd and you mix, but no one knows that a
buddha has entered the crowd. No one comes to feel that somebody
is different, because if someone feels it then there is bound to
be anger and calamity. Whenever someone feels that you are somebody,
his own anger, his own ego is hurt. He starts reacting, he starts
attacking you.
- The Empty Boat, Chapter #1
Chuang
Tzu says that the real, the divine, the existential, is
to be attained by losing yourself completely in it. Even
the effort to attain it becomes a barrier -- then you cannot
lose yourself. Even the effort to lose yourself becomes
a barrier.
- When the Shoe Fits, Chapter #1
Chuang
Tzu says: Even the distance of a hair is enough, and heaven
and earth fall apart. Just the distance of a hair -- not
much at all, almost negligible -- but it is enough to separate
earth from heaven. When even that much difference is not
there, one is enlightened.
- Theologia Mystica, Chapter #15
Chuang
Tzu is very rare -- in a way the most unique mystic in
the whole history of man. His uniqueness is that he talks
in absurdities. All his poems and stories are just absurd.
And his reason to choose absurdity as his expression is
very significant: the mind has to be silenced. With anything
rational, it cannot stop; it goes on and on. Anything logical
and the mind finds nourishment through it. It is only the
absurd that suddenly shocks the mind -- it is beyond mind's
grasp.
His stories, his poems and his other statements are so absurd that
either people simply left him, thinking that he is mad.... Those
who were courageous enough to remain with him found that no other
meditation is needed. Just listening to his absurd statements,
the mind stops functioning. And that is the meaning of meditation.
Meditation is not of the mind.
- The Razor's Edge, Chapter #14
Chuang Tzu is one of my love affairs, and when you talk about someone
you love you are bound to use extremes, exaggerations, but to me
they don't sound like that. I could give the whole kingdom of the
world to Chuang Tzu for any single parable that he wrote -- and
he wrote hundreds. Each is a SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN, a SONG OF
SOLOMON, a BHAGAVADGITA. Each parable represents so much, and so
richly, that it is immeasurable.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #14
|
| Dadu |
Book
on Dadu:
Sabe Sayaane Ek Mat (in Hindi)
He
was called Dadu, which means the brother. He was so loving
that people forgot his real name and simply remembered
him as Dadu, the brother. There are thousands of songs
that Dadu sang, but they were not written down by him,
they were collected by others, just like a gardener collects
flowers long fallen.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #7
“Dadu
was the most beautiful flower”
“And the day Dadu died Rajjab simply closed his eyes. It was closing eyes
to the world. He was saying, Now there is nothing more to see. I have seen that
which is really worth seeing. Now why waste your eyes and why collect dust? Once
you have mirrored God then there is nothing else -- you have seen the ultimate."
“And what happened to Sundero, another disciple? When Dadu died he laid
himself down on the same bed and remained on the same bed; he never left the
bed again. The Master had slept on it his whole life: it was full of his vibe,
it was full of his presence, it was soaked with him. He would not leave the bed. "Why?" people
would ask him.
And Sundero would say, "There is nowhere to go. I have arrived
-- this is my home. This is my MOKSHA, this is my heaven. And I
would like to LIVE in this beautiful space that the Master has
created in this bed, and I would like to die here."
It is becoming so attuned with the Master that you don't feel your
life and your death as separate from him; that is the meaning of
it.
Sundero was so attuned with the Master's life that it used to happen
sometimes that he would speak in Dadu's name. And he was told by
people, "You are not Dadu!"
Then he would say, "Yes, forgive me. I forget! But if you
ask in reality, then I am Dadu -- I have become one with my Master."
That is the ultimate state of disciplehood: when the disciple becomes
one with the Master. He used to say that he was Dadu. He has written
songs in which his name is not given but Dadu's name -- and people
think that is not good. And the scholars go on discarding all that
has been written by Sundero; they think that is not from Dadu.
But I say to you: it IS from Dadu! Sundero has become just a hollow
bamboo on the lips of Dadu. Sundero exists no more as a separate
entity. That is the ultimate goal of a disciple: when the disciple
and Master meet and merge and become one. Sundero has become one
with the Master, hence he has every right to sign 'Dadu'. He signs
his poems as Dadu, not as Sundero -- and I TOTALLY agree with him!
And I would like the scholars to be a little more sensitive.”
- Be Still and Know, Chapter #9
|
| Daya |
Books
on Daya:
The Last Morning Star (in English)
Jagat Taraiya Bhor Ki (in Hindi)
THE
SONGS OF DAYA. She was a contemporary of Meera and Sahajo,
but she is far more profound than either of them. She is
really beyond numbers. Daya is a little cuckoo -- but don't
be worried.... In fact in India the cuckoo is called koyal,
and it does not have the meaning of being nuts. Daya is
really a cuckoo -- not nuts, but a sweet singer like the
Indian koyal. On an Indian summer night, the distant call
of the cuckoo; that's what Daya is... a distant call in
the hot summer of this world.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #12
Translated
from BIN GHAN PARAT PHUHAR
Daya has trodden the path and is acquainted with it. She has left
no stone unturned on that path. She has died in the dust of the
path. Treading on the path, traveling on the path she has become
empty in every way. Now just the fragrance of the path is there.
That very fragrance has appeared in her small verses.
Daya belongs to those devotees who have left no information about
themselves. They drowned so much in singing songs of the divine
that no time was left for leaving information. Just the name is
known.
- Early Talks, Chapter #9
|
| Diogenes |
Diogenes
is one of the most loved human beings, as far as I am
concerned. As far as the world is concerned, he is one
of those who are destined to be condemned for their behavior,
for their ideas. And Diogenes particularly, because he
is so unique.
- Beyond Psychology, Chapter #14
It
is said of Diogenes, a man of the same caliber as Bodhidharma
.... If they had met, it would have been a great meeting.
Diogenes was in Greece. He lived naked; he had such a beautiful
body that to hide it behind clothes would have been a crime.
It is perfectly good to hide an ugly body behind clothes
but a beautiful body needs to be available for anybody
who wants to see the beauty, the proportion. Diogenes was
one of the most beautiful men. Even when Alexander the
Great met him, he felt a little embarrassed -- although
he was a world conqueror, compared to Diogenes he was utterly
poor.
- Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master,
Chapter #14
I
am reminded of Diogenes, a beautiful Greek philosopher,
mystic -- and a mystic of a rare quality. He was a contemporary
of Aristotle, and he was as much against Aristotle as I
am, so I have a certain friendship with Diogenes.
Aristotle defined man as an animal who walks on two legs. What
did Diogenes do? He caught one animal -- and there are many animals
who walk on two legs, but they have feathers also, they can fly
also -- a peacock. He took out all the feathers -- because men
have no feathers. Take out all the feathers of the peacock... the
peacock walks on two legs. And he sent the peacock to Aristotle
with the message: "Please receive the gift of a human being."
- From the False to the Truth, Chapter
#30
I
am reminded of Diogenes. I love this fellow Diogenes for
the simple reason that he does not claim any authority
from God. He does not give any orders and commandments
and disciplines to others. He used to live naked -- not
for any religious reasons, not to get to heaven; he was
not concerned about heaven and hell at all. He lived naked,
because, he said, "That's how I was born. Nature wants
me to be this way. Why should I be otherwise? I am going
to be just natural."
- From Unconciousness to Consciousness,
Chapter #28
|
| Dionysius |
Book
on Dionysius:
Theologia Mystica (in English)
Dionysius
is one of the greatest Buddhas ever. And whenever the Eastern
scholar by any chance, if at all, comes across a person
like Dionysius, he starts thinking that he must have borrowed
from the East. That seems to be a tacit assumption: that
the East has some monopoly over spiritualism. Nobody has
any monopoly. East or West cannot make any difference in
man s spiritual growth. Jesus could become a Buddha in
Jerusalem, Lao Tzu could become a Buddha in China, Dionysius
could become a Buddha in Athens. There is no need to borrow
from anybody.
Dionysius is a rare man: living with stupid Christianity and its
rigid organization, being a bishop and still being able to reach
to the ultimate peaks of consciousness is something worthy of praise.
- Theologia Mystica, Chapter #1
The
fourth name is Dionysius.I have spoken about his statements,
which are only fragments noted down by his disciples, but
I have spoken on him only to make it known to the world
that people like Dionysius should not be forgotten. They
are the real people.
The real people can be counted on your fingers. The real person
is one who has encountered the real, not only from the outside
as an object, but as his own subjectivity. Dionysius belongs to
the great world of the buddhas.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #8
And
the problem with Dionysius is that professionally he is
a theologian and spiritually, existentially, he is a mystic
-- which very rarely happens. I have never come across
another case like Dionysius, not at least in the Western
history of thought. In the East it has happened a few times
that the same person was a mystic and a theologian, and
whenever it happens in the East the same problem arises.
The language is of the theologian, and in the language,
in the thick forest of words, the truth is lost.
But the truth is valuable and has to be saved. That's why I decided
to speak on Dionysius. I was aware that I cannot like the way he
speaks, his expression -- I hate it! But I love the truth that
he wants to express.
- Theologia Mystica, Chapter #13
DIONYSIUS
has to go through all this unnecessarily. I feel sorry
for the man. I have a deep love for the man, and many times
reading his statements I have wondered... It must have
been an accident that he was born in the West; he belonged
to the East. In the East he would have flowered fully.
- Theologia Mystica, Chapter #4
My
approach is Dionysian, I am a disciple of Dionysius: Live
and love life. Enjoy this occasion as deeply as possible,
as totally as possible, and out of this living experience
you will grow. A maturity will come to you; you will ripen
and you will carry the fragrance with you. That fragrance
is heaven. Nobody goes to heaven -- those who go to heaven,
they have to carry their heaven in their heart. Nobody
goes to hell -- those who go to hell, they have to carry
their hell in their heart.
- The Revolution, Chapter #6
|
| Dogen |
Book
on Dogen:
Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment (in English)
Before
I explain Dogen to you, let this be the introduction, because
this is what he is trying to say: that everything passes
and yet there is something that never passes; that everything
is born and dies and yet there is something that is never
born and never dies. And unless you get centered into that
eternal source you will not find peace, you will not find
serenity, you will not find blissfulness, you will not
find contentment. You will not feel at home, at ease in
the universe. You will remain just an accident, you will
never become essential.
Dogen is a very unique genius. He is saying, "You may be aware
of your buddhahood or not aware of your buddhahood -- don't be
worried. When the right time and the right season come you will
blossom into a buddha." Just wait ... wait intelligently,
wait without desire; enjoy waiting, make waiting itself a blissful
silence, and whatever is your birthright is bound to flower. Nobody
can prevent a bird from flying, nobody can prevent a cuckoo from
singing, nobody can prevent a rose from blossoming. Who is preventing
you from becoming buddhas? Except you, nobody is responsible for
it.
- Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and
a Fulfillment, Chapter #3
Dogen,
a Zen master, used to say, when he felt hungry he would
say, "It seems the universal feels hungry through
me." When he would feel thirsty he would say, "The
existence is thirsty within me." This is what this
meditation will lead you to. Then everything disperses
from your ego and becomes part of the universe. Then whatsoever
happens, happens to existence itself; you are no more here.
Then there is no sin, then there is no responsibility.
- Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol 1, Chapter
#39
|
| Goerge
Gurdjieff |
Gurdjieff
perhaps was the first man from the East who penetrated
into the Western consciousness. He was a very strange
man, and he passed through strange experiences and learned
on his own, without any master. He moved in many monasteries,
in many groups, and never belonged to any one, but collected
fragments of forgotten teachings. And he was of tremendous
intelligence, to join all those fragments and make a
system out of them which can certainly transform man.
- Hari Om Tat Sat, Chapter #25
George
Gurdjieff is one of the most significant masters of this
age.
He is unique in many ways -- nobody has said things in the contemporary
world the way Gurdjieff has said them. He is almost like another
Bodhidharma or Chuang Tzu, apparently absurd but in reality giving
great indications towards the liberation of human consciousness.
- The Invitation, Chapter #4
According
to George Gurdjieff, only a few people live eternally,
most people are just experimental. They are born, they
do all kinds of stupid things, and the final stupidity
-- they die. But they don't leave even a trace in the world
of eternity. Only very few people, like Gautam Buddha,
achieve to the eternal. And because of these few people,
the fallacy has come into being that everybody has an eternal
being: Buddha achieved it, Mahavira achieved it, Bukko
achieved it. Gurdjieff's logic was, because these few have
achieved it, people think everybody else has it -- just
he has not discovered it.
Gurdjieff was not ready to agree on only discovering, because discovery
means it already exists -- you have just to pull back the curtains.
Gurdjieff used a word never before used in spiritual experience,
and that was `crystallization'. You have this small life and this
small consciousness. You can make it so concentrated, so hard,
like a diamond, that it can pass through fire without being burned.
But unless you do it, don't hope.
- The Language of Existence, Chapter
#4
I
forgot to say something about Gurdjieff and his book ALL
AND EVERYTHING -- perhaps because it is a very strange
book, not even readable. I don't think there are any living
individuals except me who have read from the first page
to the last. I have come across many Gurdjieff followers,
but none of them had been able to read ALL AND EVERYTHING
in its totality.
It is a big book -- just the opposite of the ISA UPANISHAD -- one
thousand pages. And Gurdjieff is such a rascal saint -- please
allow me this expression, rascal saint -- he writes in such a way
that it becomes impossible to read. One sentence may go running
on for pages. By the time you come to the end of the sentence you
have forgotten its beginning. And he uses words he made up himself,
just like me. Strange words... for example when he was writing
about kundalini, he called it kundabuffer; that was his word for
kundalini. This book is of immense value, but the diamonds are
hidden among ordinary stones. One has to seek and search.
I have read this book not once but many times. The more I went
into it the more I loved it, because the more I could see the rascal;
the more I could see what it was that he was hiding from those
who should not know. Knowledge is not for those who are not yet
capable of absorbing it. Knowledge has to be hidden from the unwary,
and is only for those who can digest it. It has to be given only
to those who are ready. That's the whole purpose of writing in
such a strange way. There is no other book stranger than Gurdjieff's
ALL AND EVERYTHING, and it certainly is all and everything.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #2
Gurdjieff
wrote this book MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN as a memoir.
It is a tremendously respectful memory to all those strange
people he had met in his life -- Sufis, Indian mystics,
Tibetan lamas, Japanese Zen monks. I must mention to you
that he did not write of them all; he left many out of
the account for the simple reason that the book was going
to be in the marketplace and it had to fulfill the demands
of the market.
I don't have to fulfill anybody's demands. I am not a man who worries
at all about the market, hence I can say that he left out the really
most remarkably significant people from his account. But whatsoever
he wrote is still beautiful. It still brings tears to my eyes.
Whenever something is beautiful my eyes fill with tears; there
is no other way to pay homage.
MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN is a real book. A few of the people
Gurdjieff mentions are still alive; I have met a few of them myself.
I am a witness to the fact those people are not fictitious, although
I cannot forgive even Gurdjieff for leaving out the most remarkable
people he met.
There is no need to compromise with the marketplace; there is no
need to compromise at all. He was such a strong man, I wonder why
he compromised, why he omitted the really important people. I have
met a few people that he omitted from the book, who themselves
told me that Gurdjieff had been there. They are very old now. But
still the book is good -- half, incomplete, but valuable.
- Books I Have Loved, Chapter #12
|
| Gorakh |
Books
on Gorakh:
Die O Yogi Die (in English)
Maro Hey Jogi Maro (in Hindi)
Gorakh
is the first link of a chain. Through him a new type of
religion was born. Without Gorakh, there could be no Kabir,
no Nanak, no Dadu, no Vajid, no Farid, no Meera -- without
| | | | |