Reading Challenge During Locked Down Days Walking In Zen Sitting In Zen : Osho

Reading Challenge During Locked Down Days 

Walking In Zen Sitting In Zen : Osho 

This book I picked up from my bookshelf yesterday. Originally compiled in 1980, the book has multiple subsequent additions. 

It is a compilation of Osho’s discourses in  Question Answer format. 

Osho walks hand in hand with Yoka's insistence that the man of Zen is extraordinary in his ordinariness: he walks in Zen, he sits in Zen. In combining Yoka's sutras with personal questions from seekers, Osho's responses are uniquely tailored, travelling like razor-sharp arrows to the heart of the questioner.

Each chapter contains series of questions and answers. Very readable, understandable; and at times irreverent ! He also tells lots of jokes  and many are of ‘adult’ nature. There are lots of insights about Zen and some comparative comments as well.

Apparently most of his disciples were non-Indian and this also comes out in his comments – ‘Indians think they have rich spiritual heritage and so find it hard to understand me’

Many of his comments are same as what JK and others have said – Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle but some time with stories from likes of Mulla Nasruddin , from many books or his own quick wit.

He discusses the saying of Zen master Yoka, in many chapters.

According to Osho, Zen is derived/morphed from Sanskrit word ‘dhyan’; though understood commonly as ‘meditation’ he says it is not exactly correct; Meditation implies ‘on what’ but Zen is quite beyond that. Going beyond thought, to non-mind state, where ‘vision is clear and there is nothing to see’.

At some point he shares few things about his school and University days – he was sent out of class most of the time for asking questions! After being thrown out by multiple colleges, finally a principal put a condition that he should not ask questions in the class and Osho put counter condition that he will not be required to attend classes but be allowed to take exams! Later on, he was a professor of philosophy but quit when what he taught was not acceptable to the college. Some parts are quite light and hilarious!

So here it goes the stories like these : 

A prince goes to a Zen master and tells him that he wants to be enlightened—and now! Instead of sending him away, the master says it could be arranged. After finding out from the prince that he plays chess very well, the master sets up a game between the visitor and one of his monks who has just a passing knowledge of chess. The condition is: whoever loses will be beheaded. Predictably, the prince starts dominating the game. Soon, however, his conscience starts to prick: “I had come to this monastery for a selfish purpose, but now I may become the cause of this poor monk’s death.” So, feeling compassionate, he deliberately starts playing badly. But playing well was second nature to him, playing badly needs his entire attention. Neither does he want to play too bad a game to make his real move obvious. His nerves stretched, soon he starts sweating profusely. After some time, the master stops the game. “The first lesson is over,” he tells the prince. “You learnt two things today: compassion and concentration. Now go and hug your chess opponent who made it possible.”

——————//

Two travelling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up on to his shoulders and carried her across the water to the other bank. She thanked him and departed. As the monks continued on their way, one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out: “Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!” “Brother,” the second monk replied. “I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.”

———-//

Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: “You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for the horses in your stead?” Po Lo replied: “A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse—one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks—is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. My sons can tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, Chiu-fang Kao, a hawker, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him.” Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, Kao returned with the news that he had found one. “What kind of a horse is it?” asked the Duke. “Oh, it is a dun coloured mare,” was the reply. However, the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. “That friend of yours cannot even distinguish a beast’s colour or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?” Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. “Has he really got as far as that?” he cried. “Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses.” When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.

————-//

An Indian Brahmin was interested in gaining supernatural powers. Learning that a monk in Tibet could grant him his wishes, he undertook an arduous journey through the Himalayas to meet him. The monk told the Brahmin: ‘‘The mantra to gain supernatural powers is simple. Just say Buddham Sharanam Gachchami, Dhammam Sharanam Gachchami, Sangham Sharanam Gachchami three times, but don’t think of monkeys.’’ Content, the Brahmin thought: ‘‘I am such a learned man. Why should I think of monkeys when I chant the mantra?’’ But when he sat down to chant the mantra, the first thought that came to his mind was that of monkeys. Later, all he could think of was monkeys. The monkeys roamed all over his consciousness until he lost his peace of mind. Seeing his condition, the monk smiled: ‘‘If you force your mind to travel in a certain direction, it will go the other way.’’

————//

In ancient times itinerant Zen monks when arriving at a monastery could challenge the monks to a theological contest and would be given food and shelter if they won but would have to move on if they lost. There was a monastery occupied by two brothers, one was wise and the other foolish. The foolish monk had but one eye. One night it was raining cats and dogs and an itinerant monk knocked on the door. The wise brother wishing to be kind to the drenched fellow suggested he has a contest with his brother. Within minutes the contest was over. The travelling monk entered the room, bowed and admitted defeat. The wise brother asked: “Tell me what happened?” The other replied: “Your brother is a genius. We decided to debate in silence. I went first and showed a single finger signifying the Buddha. Your brother showed two fingers, meaning the Buddha and his teachings. I replied with three fingers, indicating the Buddha, dharma and the sangha. Your brother replied with coup de gras when he showed me his fist proving that in reality the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha are all one.” The poor monk left in the stormy night. Just then the brother stormed in, angry. “That man was so rude.” “What happened?” The one-eyed brother replied: “We decided to have a silent debate and the first thing he did was to put a single finger up meaning, ‘I see you have only one eye.’ So I put up two fingers out of courtesy to him, meaning, ‘I see you have two eyes.’ But the guy was so rude, he put up three fingers telling me that together the two of us have three eyes. I got so mad, I shook my fist at him, telling him, ‘If you don’t stop talking about eyes, I’m going to punch your lights out.”

——————//

As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a youth ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the young boy, he asked him why he was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. “But the beach goes on for miles and there are thousands of starfish,” countered the old man. “How can your effort make any difference.” The young boy looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to the safety of the waves. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said.

——————//

There was an American professor who had made a lifetime’s study of the Japanese tea ceremony. He was the western expert. He heard there was an old man living in Japan who was a master of the tea ceremony. So he made a special trip to Japan to see him. He found the master living in a small house on the outskirts of Tokyo and they sat down to have tea together. The professor immediately started talking about the tea ceremony, his study, all he knew about it and how he was looking forward to sharing his learning with the old man. The old man said nothing, but started to pour tea into the professor’s cup. While the professor talked, the old man continued to pour the tea, the cup filled and the old man kept pouring. The tea split down the sides of the cup in a stream onto the floor, yet the old man did not stop. “Stop!” said the professor. “You are crazy. You can’t fit any more tea in that cup. It’s full.” “I was just practising,” replied the old man, “for the task of attempting to pass learning to a mind that is already full.”

Osho’s stories in this book is full of humor. Indeed, the element of humour ensures the longevity of the stories, and precipitates deeper understanding and insight. Ludwig Wittgenstein, a 20th  century philosopher, had once said that he could teach a philosophy class by telling jokes.  According to Idries Shah: “The blow administered by the joke makes possible a transitory condition in which other things can be perceived.” Plato pointed out long time ago: “Serious things cannot be understood without laughable things.”  However, if you stop at the humour level only, the deeper meaning may be missed altogether.  If you don’t laugh, you’ve missed the point. If you only laugh, you’ve missed your chance for illumination. 

A good read for those who want to gulp nirvana or zen as pop up pill .