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NO MIND: THE FLOWERS OF ETERNITY
Chapter 11: Only creation shows your power
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen No Mind: The FLowers of Eternity
BELOVED ZORBA THE BUDDHA,
WHEN KOKO, A DISCIPLE OF JOSHU, WENT TO SEE MASTER HOGEN, HE WAS ASKED WHERE HE HAD BEEN RECENTLY.
"WITH JOSHU," HE ANSWERED.
HOGEN ASKED, "I HAVE HEARD ABOUT JOSHU AND THE OAK TREE; ISN'T THIS SO?"
KOKO SAID, "IT IS NOT SO!"
HOGEN COMMENTED, "BUT EVERYONE SAYS THAT WHEN A MONK ASKED ABOUT THE MEANING OF DARUMA'S COMING FROM THE WEST, JOSHU ANSWERED, `THE OAK TREE IN THE FRONT GARDEN.' HOW CAN YOU SAY IT WAS NOT SO?"
KOKO REPLIED, "MY MASTER SAID NOTHING OF THE KIND! PLEASE DO NOT INSULT THE LATE MASTER."
HOGEN COMMENTED, "TRULY YOU ARE A LION'S CUB!"
ON ANOTHER OCCASION, A MAN SAID TO KOKO, "ALL MY LIFE I HAVE KILLED COWS AND ENJOYED IT; IS THIS SIN OR NOT?"
"IT IS NOT," SAID KOKO.
"WHY NOT?" THE MAN ASKED.
"ONE KILLED, ONE GIVEN BACK," WAS KOKO'S ANSWER.
My Friends,
One wonders whether we are living in a sane society, or everybody has gone bananas...?
Ronald Reagan has been trying to kill Colonel Kadaffi all these years he has been in power, for no reason at all. Libya is a small, poor country. A few months ago, President Ronald Reagan attacked Libya, and destroyed two houses in which Kadaffi sometimes lives -- most of the time he lives in the desert in a tent. But Ronald Reagan killed his daughter and destroyed his houses, for no reason at all.
Just now -- this is the last week of his power, but he could not resist the temptation to attack Libya again. He has brought two warships, great carriers; they are standing just close to the shore of Libya, with dozens of fighter planes just waiting for a signal to attack.
Libya simply wanted to see whether they were standing in Libya's territory or in the international ocean. Two jet planes had gone just to look, and they were still inside Libya's territory when the American warplanes immediately bombed the two jet planes of Libya.
The excuse that Ronald Reagan is giving is that Libya is making a factory for biological warfare. He is showing a picture which has been taken from the sky -- that means he has already violated Libya's territory; otherwise how could he get that picture?
And the most strange and wonderful and unbelievable thing is, Libya is just making a factory. It has not yet been completed, the building; nobody knows what is its purpose, and nobody asks. America decides that it is going to be a factory for biological warfare.
Even if it is going to be a factory for warfare, for biological attacks on other countries, America has the biggest factory like that in the whole world. Ronald Reagan should first destroy the great factory that America has, rather than destroying a poor country's.
You will be surprised to know that President Ronald Reagan and his army chiefs have been denying the fact that they have been using a biological spray on American lands, just to test its potential in case there is a world war based on using destructive biological chemicals. And they have been denying continuously, for years, that it has any bad effect.
But the medical association has come forward to say that it is absolutely wrong: "The president is lying, the army chiefs are lying, because we are the persons who know how many people in these areas have died of cancer -- they don't know that they have been killed by their own government!" The rate of cancer in those areas has risen to ten times more than the average. Small children, pregnant women, old men, young men....
And finally -- because the medical association has come forward -- the president has not answered the medical association; neither have the army chiefs answered. Their silence shows their crime against their own people.
A military war survey from American experts shows that America is the most warlike country in the whole world. In one hundred forty years it has interfered around the world one hundred fifty times, bringing in its military army, attacking poor people, finding any excuse -- any excuse is enough. And Ronald Reagan has committed many crimes, for which he is waiting so that the new president can forgive him.
And nobody around the world even objects, even protests. There is absolute silence.
But I have tremendous respect for Libya and its people. I protest, alone, as a world citizen, against Ronald Reagan:
Before you start dropping bombs on others, you should look at yourself.
I have been searching deeply into the American psyche. My understanding is that America and Australia both have been founded by criminals. These criminals were excommunicated from England. They landed, a few of them in Australia and a few of them in America; they became presidents, they became vice-presidents, they killed people without rhyme or reason. Even today in Australia you can hunt human beings.
Something in the very blood of Americans is criminal. And the world has to be aware of these criminals because they have the most power today; it erupts without any cause. Certainly there must be something inside the person when he kills someone without any cause....
Just a few months before, it had become a tremendous problem in San Francisco and L.A. Six persons were shot dead for no reason -- just because the traffic was jammed. For miles cars were stopped, nobody knew what was the cause -- some accident, some truck has upturned, or what has happened nobody knows. And people started shooting the driver of the car ahead! He was honking as hard as he could, because there were miles of cars ahead -- he was absolutely innocent. Seeing this situation, all the car owners immediately started purchasing automatic rifles to carry with them in their cars.
Something deep down in the psyche of the Americans is bloodthirsty. These are the people who have the nuclear weapons, and it needs only to push a button and the whole world will be on fire.
Every action should be taken by the intelligentsia of the world -- by the artists, by the poets, by the painters, by the mystics -- from all kinds of creative people every protest is needed to save this beautiful planet from bloodthirsty, barbarious people.
America knows only one argument, and that is destruction.
We have to spread the idea that the only real power comes out of creation, not out of destruction. Destruction just shows your madness. Only creation shows your power.
A few more mundane affairs....
The Mahabodhi Society of Buddhists goes on making statements. I have not said a single word against the Mahabodhi Society. Now it is time.
I object to the very name "Mahabodhi." Mahabodhi means "the great enlightenment" -- neither in the past nor in the present is a single member of the Mahabodhi Society enlightened. They don't have any right to call their society Mahabodhi; all they can do is to change their name to Maha-abodhi Society of India -- abodhi means unenlightened. Otherwise, they have to show at least a single member, in the past or in the present, who has become enlightened in their Society.
They are just a bunch of rotten scholars, and they have the nerve to threaten me! In fact, I should take them to court; they have to give evidence for why they are calling their society "Mahabodhi."
It is a great word, it has nothing to do with scholarship. I have known many members of the Mahabodhi Society: none of them is even aware what enlightenment is. And they call their society "The Great Enlightenment Society" -- how many people have they made enlightened?
People never look at themselves. They don't understand the implications of simple words. Although they are great scholars, they go on reciting the old sutras of Buddha. Most of them are out of date.
I have spoken more on Buddha than anybody in the whole world. I have loved the man; hence I have been choosing only the sutras that can be supported with logic, rationality, and understanding. There are many sutras I have been simply keeping out of my way. If the Mahabodhi Society and the Buddhists of India go on making statements against me, I am going to bring all those sutras that I have kept by the side! I don't care a bit about anybody -- Gautam Buddha included.
Just because of my love of the man, because he was not part of any organized religion and he was not inclined to create an organized religion... I have loved his individuality, his grace. But that does not mean that I agree with him one hundred percent. Not more than ten percent is my agreement with his ideas; ninety percent are absolute rubbish. Now these people are provoking me to bring out all that rubbish and condemn it. Unless I do it they will not be silent.
Such is the blindness, utter stupidity.
One chamar, a shoemaker, has been converted from the Hindu sudras, the untouchables, and has become a Buddhist. Today he has given a statement, that before becoming a buddha I have to be initiated by him into Buddhism.
That reminds me of a statement by George Bernard Shaw. He has said, "The people who have lived in inferiority for centuries, if you liberate them don't think they will be equal. They will immediately start being superior to you." There is some truth in George Bernard Shaw's statement.
All these Buddhists who are making statements against me have been for five thousand years untouchables. Just a small group in Maharashtra has been converted to Buddhism -- not on any religious grounds, but because of a political game of Doctor Ambedkar.
But he was purchased. That shows that a sudra, even if he becomes one of the greatest law authorities, and particularly an authority on constitutionalism, can be purchased very easily. That is one of the indications of an inferior person.
He was purchased by giving him a post to create the Indian Constitution. He dropped and forgot all about Buddhism. And these three hundred thousand people that he has converted have suffered unnecessary injury, because he himself made the constitution not knowing -- that is why I say a man of unawareness can do things with all good intentions, but is bound to commit some deep mistake... He made the constitution and he made arrangements for the untouchables: special privileges in schools, in colleges, in universities; a special quota for them because they cannot compete with others. Special quotas in every service of the government. But he forgot completely that it would be applicable only if the sudras remain in the Hindu fold, and he converted these three hundred thousand sudras of Maharashtra to Buddhism. Now they don't have any privileges, no quota, no special scholarships.
Now Doctor Ambedkar has ditched them into a far more inferior, far more difficult life. At least the Hindu untouchables have some privileges, some concessions, some special quotas as a compensation for their oppression for centuries, their suppression and exploitation. But these Buddhists -- they have lost that. And the constitution was made by the same man who turned these poor people into Buddhists.
But George Bernard Shaw is right. And these people have remained under slavery, like cattle, just because they have become Buddhists on political grounds.
I repeat it, because Doctor Ambedkar first thought to convert these people, his followers, to Christianity. But a second thought -- that in Christianity they will be drowned and he will not be anymore the leader -- and he dropped the idea. He had nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity; his whole effort was to remain the leader.
He thought about converting them to Mohammedanism but it was the same situation. He would not be in a position to be a leader. Then, he found out that there were no Buddhists in India. He could convert these people to Buddhism and remain their leader. Now this was absolutely a political conversion.
But these politically-converted idiots, who don't understand a single word of enlightenment, are making statements against me.
Ishida phoned from Japan to say that I should not take any notice of these people; it is the fate of the giants and the geniuses to be condemned by the little man. She must have been feeling wounded that Buddhists can behave in such a way. She has issued to the Japanese newspapers and magazines a statement, that "It is I who have prophesied. If Indian Buddhists are angry, they should be angry at me." And she has informed that she will be coming here soon to encounter the press, and to encounter the so-called Buddhists. A woman of tremendous courage....
And they go on misinterpreting my statements. I have never said that I am a reincarnation of Gautam Buddha. I am just a reincarnation of myself.
In my past lives I have come across many Gautam Buddhas, but I have never been anybody's disciple. I have searched myself alone, and I declare again that I am just myself, my original face. These Buddhists have no reason to be worried about it. If they want to learn something about enlightenment we will welcome them, but we don't initiate anybody into Buddhism. We invoke everybody to be a buddha.
Why Buddhism? Why this long, unnecessary route? When the buddha is already present in you, all that is needed is to call to him loudly, "Come out! You have been hiding inside for too long; it has become habitual. Come out in people's life, in their actions, in their love, in their friendship. Transform them."
This is authentic initiation. It does not come from without; it is a provocation and a challenge to your innermost consciousness.
Maneesha's sutra:
BELOVED ZORBA THE BUDDHA,
WHEN KOKO, A DISCIPLE OF JOSHU, WENT TO SEE MASTER HOGEN, HE WAS ASKED WHERE HE HAD BEEN RECENTLY.
"WITH JOSHU," HE ANSWERED.
Joshu was one of the most important Zen masters.
HOGEN ASKED, "I HAVE HEARD ABOUT JOSHU AND THE OAK TREE; ISN'T THIS SO?"
KOKO SAID, "IT IS NOT SO!"
In fact, there was an oak tree just before the cottage of Joshu, and whenever anybody asked, "What is the meaning of Buddhism?" or "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from India to China?" he pointed to the oak tree, meaning, "Why don't you ask this oak tree, `What is the meaning of your being here? What is the meaning of your spreading the branches and the foliage?'" If nobody asks the oak tree, that simply shows that nature has no meaning; it has only significance.
Remember these two words: Meaning is logical, mental; it is only a concept. Significance is an experience.
What is the meaning of love? If somebody asks you, you will shrug your shoulders. The meaning of love? It is a joy, it is a great experience; it has significance but it has no meaning. A car has a meaning, an air-conditioner has a meaning; things have meanings, but living beings don't have any meaning.
Meaning means some utility. Significance means some beauty, not utility.
It is factually true that Joshu used to indicate the oak tree in front of his cottage: "This is the meaning of Buddhism." Now let the Mahabodhi Society of India fight a court case against Joshu! -- he is saying the oak tree is the meaning of Buddhism, the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from India to China.
He is right. Existence has no meaning. It has significance, it has fragrances, it has colors, it has beauty, it has splendor. But meaning...?
Meaning is concerned with commodities, and life is not a commodity. Enlightenment is not a commodity that you can purchase in the marketplace.
That which cannot be purchased will not have any meaning; it will have only significance.
But Koko denied it on purpose, because people used to make a laughingstock of Joshu behind his back -- "What kind of master is he? We are asking about the great meaning of Buddha's teaching, and he indicates towards the oak tree. He is nuts!"
To the rational mind it will appear so.
Koko was Joshu's very intimate disciple.
Hogen is asking, "I HAVE HEARD ABOUT JOSHU AND THE OAK TREE" -- it has become a joke in Zen circles -- "ISN'T THIS SO?"
KOKO SAID, "IT IS NOT SO!"
I have told you about the difference between fact and truth. Koko is saying, "Factually it may be so, but not in truth. In truth he did not indicate the oak tree, he indicated the life juices in the oak tree which are the same in us."
We are all rooted in the same existence; we are getting our nourishment from the same existence. The oak tree is just a brother, a friend -- maybe mute and dumb, but that does not make any difference. Our life sources are coming from the same existence.
KOKO SAID, "IT IS NOT SO."
HOGEN COMMENTED, "BUT EVERYONE SAYS THAT WHEN A MONK ASKED ABOUT THE MEANING OF BODHIDHARMA'S COMING FROM THE WEST, JOSHU ANSWERED, `THE OAK TREE IN THE FRONT GARDEN.' HOW CAN YOU SAY IT WAS NOT SO?"
KOKO REPLIED, "MY MASTER SAID NOTHING OF THE KIND! PLEASE DO NOT INSULT THE LATE MASTER."
He is dead now, and nobody had the guts when he was alive to approach him and argue about the oak tree. Now that he is dead, please don't insult him. You don't understand the meaning of his indicating the oak tree.
He was not indicating the oak tree, he was simply indicating the hidden sources of life juice rising in the oak tree... AGAINST gravitation. The oak tree is very strong, very tall, one of the most beautiful trees. Against the force of gravitation, the juices go upwards.
No tree needs a pumping mechanism. You cannot bring water from the well without a pump, but the tree is doing exactly that miracle. Every tree is moving juices against gravitation's pull. There are trees three hundred feet tall, and they take up the juices three hundred feet, the waters, their nourishment -- to the last leaf, three hundred feet away from the earth. It also gets the same nourishment.
It is a miracle. Joshu was indicating the miracle, saying that when you also start growing upwards against the gravitation of the earth, when your consciousness starts flying in the sky -- when your consciousness becomes an Everest, a high peak of a mountain -- you will understand the significance of Bodhidharma's coming to China, or Buddha's meaning.
HOGEN COMMENTED, "TRULY YOU ARE A LION'S CUB!"
With deep respect -- he understood Koko's standpoint, that now that Joshu is dead, nobody should raise the question which was never raised when he was alive.
Hogen was a famous master, but Koko did not care about it. Hogen respectfully commented, "TRULY YOU ARE A LION'S CUB. You are certainly a great disciple of Joshu."
ON ANOTHER OCCASION, A MAN SAID TO KOKO, "ALL MY LIFE I HAVE KILLED COWS AND ENJOYED IT; IS THIS SIN OR NOT?"
"IT IS NOT," SAID KOKO -- against the whole tradition of Buddhism.
A master has to respond in the present moment, according to his spontaneity. He does not repeat old scriptures, he does not quote old masters. He has every right to respond spontaneously, and his spontaneous response was very strange, against the whole tradition. He said, "It is not."
According to great masters, there is no sin and there is no virtue. There is only one thing: that is awareness. If you are aware, you can do anything you want and it is not sin. If you are not aware, you may do so-called virtuous acts, but there is no virtue in them. Out of unconsciousness virtue cannot blossom. It blossoms only when you are full of light, full of love, full of consciousness.
Koko said, "IT IS NOT."
"WHY NOT?" -- the person was feeling guilty, because the whole tradition says killing cows is a sin.
It was really a part of Hinduism. Buddha was born a Hindu, was conditioned as a Hindu. So even though he became enlightened, some fragments of his old conditioning, of his childhood, remained hanging around him -- particularly the idea that to kill a cow is a sin. The man was feeling guilty himself because Buddha has forbidden it, he has propagated nonviolence. And what kind of master is this Koko? He says, "It is not."
"WHY NOT?" THE MAN ASKED.
"ONE KILLED, ONE GIVEN BACK," WAS KOKO'S ANSWER.
He said, "You cannot really kill anybody; you can only separate the consciousness from the body. So what is the problem? The consciousness, if it still wants to have a body, will enter another womb. You have supported it perhaps, to drop the old body and to get a fresh one. There is no sin in it."
In fact, there is no sin anywhere.
I have to remind you that the original meaning, the root meaning of the word `sin' is forgetfulness, unconsciousness. It has nothing to do with your actions, it has something to do with your inner remembrance. Who you are, you have forgotten completely.
This is the only sin, to remain unconscious, and the only virtue to become a buddha.
A haiku:
A DRAGONFLY ON THE ROCK;
MIDDAY DREAMS.
I have told you again and again that haikus are not poetries in the ordinary sense; they are poetic, they are more visual than verbal.
Just visualize....
A dragonfly on the rock, having midday dreams....
That is the situation of every unconscious human being. Not only the dragonfly, you are also living in dreams. Until a pillar of consciousness arises in you, you will live in dreams, in nightmares, and your life will be a wastage. It will not come to fulfillment, to contentment, to a deep realization of organic unity with the cosmos.
That is the only splendor to experience.
Nothing is higher than that.
Next: Chapter 11: Only creation shows your power, Question 1
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen No Mind: The FLowers of Eternity
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