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THE BUDDHA: THE EMPTINESS OF THE HEART
Chapter 2: Twenty-four hours a day
Question 1
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen The emptiness of the heart
Question 1
Maneesha has asked:
OUR BELOVED MASTER,
WHAT IS THE WISDOM OF THE HEART?
Maneesha, common sense carries many fragments of truth, but they are never complete. Around the world everywhere it is heard -- "the wisdom of the heart." But the truth is, wisdom arises not out of the heart, it arises out of the emptiness of the heart. But that is known only to those who have reached deepest into the self.
But common sense carries fragments of knowledge. It knows that the people who are compassionate, people of heart, have a certain wisdom which is not knowledge, a certain insight, a certain intuitiveness which cannot be taught. They can see things, feel things. They are sensitive to things which are not available to the mind. So people start thinking that there are possibilities of the heart having wisdom.
But they don't know that the heart is your emptiness. And out of your emptiness a clarity, a transparency arises which can see things which you cannot intellectually infer. This is wisdom.
To make it complete, Maneesha, it has to be said, "the wisdom of the empty heart." The heart, as the physiologist knows it, is just a blood-pumping system. Out of your heartbeats no wisdom can arise. Have you ever felt any wisdom arising from your heartbeats? Has any doctor ever heard some wisdom while checking your heartbeats through his stethoscope?
This heart is not the one we mean when we are talking about the emptiness of the heart. Actually, we are talking about throwing away all the contents of the mind. Then, the no-mind itself becomes your heart. It is not a physiological thing. It is your no-mind -- no prejudice, no knowledge, no content. Just purity, simple silence, and the no-mind can be called the empty heart. It is only a question of expression. What you want to choose, you can choose: the wisdom of the empty heart, or the wisdom of no-mind -- they are equivalent.
When you are in deep meditation, you feel a great serenity, a joy that is unknown to you, a watchfulness that is a new guest. Soon this watchfulness will become the host. The day the watchfulness becomes the host, it remains twenty-four hours with you. And out of this watchfulness, whatever you do has a wisdom in it. Whatever you do shows a clarity, a purity, a spontaneity, a grace.
A Mulla Nasruddin story....
He was born in Iran, and in Iran his grave is still there. A strange grave, unique in the whole world. There are millions of graves, but nothing like Mulla Nasruddin's grave. On the grave there is standing a closed door with a big lock on it. And the lock... Mulla Nasruddin before dying made all the arrangements. "You put the key with me inside the grave, so nobody can open the door." Even the emperor came to see -- "What nonsense is happening! And this man is thought to be a wise man, of course a little eccentric, but loved by everybody."
The emperor inquired of Nasruddin's disciples, "What is the matter?"
They said, "It is not new. He used to carry this door wherever he went. We asked him, `What is the matter?' He said, `If I take the door with me, nobody can enter into my house. Obviously, everybody enters into the house from the door. So just to protect the house, I carry the door with me.' And before dying he said, `Fix that door on my grave, lock it, and put the key with me. Any time I like I can open the door and just have some fresh air.'"
The emperor said, "All nonsense."
But the emperor also liked the man. The chief disciple said, "There is something in it. He is saying: Don't think that my death is my death. You are putting my body in the grave but I am still alive. My life is eternal."
But he was crazy always. To make this statement, that life is eternal, he has put up this door: "Any moment, if I want to come out, at least I have the key and I don't have to ask anybody's permission. I can open the door, have a little walk, or enjoy around the city. You will not see me, but I will see you."
Mulla Nasruddin was once sent by the emperor of Iran with great gifts to the emperor of India. And Nasruddin praised the emperor of India as the full moon. The rumor reached Iran -- there were enemies of Nasruddin, and they said, "You have not chosen the right person to take the message. He has praised the emperor of India as the full moon!"
The emperor said, "Let him come back. He will have to answer; otherwise he will lose his head."
Nasruddin came back. The Indian emperor was very impressed by him, and had given him many presents. The emperor of Iran was very angry and he said, "Nasruddin, your life is at risk!"
Nasruddin said, "Everybody's life is always at risk. Do you think your life is not at risk?"
The emperor said, "Don't discuss philosophy, you have to answer. You called the Indian emperor the `full moon.' It is insulting to me."
Nasruddin said, "You are an idiot; you don't understand the meaning. You are the rising moon, the first-day moon, which is just a small arc, remains for a few moments and disappears. The full moon means the days of decline have come. That Indian emperor was an idiot. He thought I was praising him, but I was simply declaring that `Your time has come. Now there is no more growth, only decline.' And you are an idiot for being angry. You are the rising moon -- you have to expand, conquer. You have enough time to become a full moon."
The emperor was very much impressed by the interpretation. Nasruddin's enemies were simply shocked. They had never thought that he would give this interpretation. Nobody ever thought about it; everybody thought that he had been insulting.
Nasruddin is a Sufi mystic, a little crazy, but always tremendously wise. One day he was going to take his disciples to see a rare collection of paintings that had come to the city. Now the question was... He would be riding on his donkey. He asked his disciples, "What to do? If I ride on my donkey in the usual way, then my back will be towards you. That is insulting, and I cannot insult my disciples. If you walk ahead of me, your backs will be towards me. I don't think you will do that insult to me. So the only possible way is, I will ride on the donkey facing you."
The disciples said, "But the whole town will laugh, and you will make us also look stupid... although there is a point in it. But to go anywhere with you is a trouble."
The procession went on through the town. Everybody looked -- what is the matter? Nobody had ever seen anybody riding on a donkey facing backwards. Finally a crowd gathered, and they said, "We will not let you go unless we get the explanation."
Nasruddin said, "The explanation is simple. I don't want to insult my disciples so I cannot have my back towards them. And I don't want to be insulted by my disciples, so they cannot walk ahead of me. They have to walk behind me. Now what do you say -- how can it be managed? This is the only way."
People said, "It is crazy, but it is the only way. If keeping somebody at your back is insulting, then certainly you are doing the right thing."
A simple man with utter purity -- every act in his life is full of wisdom, but on the surface looks a little crazy. He belongs to the same category as Bodhidharma, as Mahakashyap. But he is a little more eccentric than any of them.
From the emptiness of the heart, it is not necessary that what arises will be understood by people as wisdom. You will be perfectly at ease with it, and those who understand you will be perfectly at ease with you. But in this world to find people who can understand the wisdom of the empty heart is very difficult and rare.
But there is no problem. The man of empty heart does not need any recognition. He is so fulfilled that he may look mad to the whole world, but if it is arising out of his spontaneity, it does not matter. All that matters is that it should not be fake, that it should not be hypocrisy, that it should not be phony. It should be coming out of your heart and its emptiness. Then everything is wise whether people recognize it or not.
Who has recognized Mulla Nasruddin? Very few people. Who has recognized Bodhidharma? Very few people. Who has recognized Mahakashyap suddenly laughing? Only Gautam Buddha. Ten thousand monks were present but nobody could understand this eccentric behavior. But it was arising out of the empty heart, from a clarity of vision. Only another man of the same clarity can understand it.
Maneesha, the wisdom of the empty heart is understandable only to those who have entered into their own emptiness. To others it will remain a puzzle, a craziness, a madness. And there are so many beautiful buddhas -- their behavior was absolutely in tune with the emptiness of the heart, but it was not rational. It could not be understood by the so-called intellectual. It was almost impossible to be understood by the crowd.
In Japan there is a doll... it is available anywhere, here too. The doll is called daruma. Daruma is a Japanese nickname for Bodhidharma, and the doll represents something special. It was made, so goes the story, by Bodhidharma. The doll is made in such a way that its bottom is very heavy, so you can throw it any way and it will always fall and sit up immediately in the lotus posture. When Bodhidharma made it, his disciples laughed: "What are you doing?"
He said, "This will be a teaching even for small children to be a buddha in every position, in every situation. Look at this doll; throw it any way and it will immediately regain its balance and sit in the buddha posture."
A buddha of the category of Bodhidharma can make a doll far more important than any scripture. The tea you drink... perhaps you don't know the whole story of it. Bodhidharma was meditating on a mountain in China called T'a. And he did not want to blink his eyes, but it is natural for the eyes to blink. He wanted to keep his eyes open while he was meditating, so he cut off his eyelids and threw them just in front his temple. From the hairs of the eyelids, the first tea leaves grew.
That is the story. It is called tea, because it was first found on the mountain of T'a and all the names in the different languages refer to the mountain, T'a. In Marathi it is cha, in Hindi it is chai. But it originates with the mountain, T'a. Of course it is a fiction. But because it grew out of the hairs of Bodhidharma, it keeps you awake.
So when you want to be awake... just a cup of tea. But remember, it keeps you awake because it is a product of Bodhidharma's eyelids. And Bodhidharma was a man of absolute awareness, so some quality of awareness still continues in tea.
It is a beautiful story, and its implications are great. Anything that comes out of the empty heart and its wisdom is going to carry some quality for the coming centuries. It may look like a fiction -- it is a fiction. But even a fiction can be used to indicate a truth. Tea keeps you awake because Bodhidharma was a man of fully awakened consciousness.
Even if you watch Buddha's statue silently, you will be surprised that slowly your mind becomes empty and you start entering into your own spring of life. That statue is made exactly in the posture that Gautam Buddha used to meditate in. Sitting in front of that statue, something in you starts synchronizing with the posture of the statue. Doing nothing, just sitting, and the buddha starts reflecting in your mirror.
But the mirror has to be clean, the mirror has to be empty of content. That's what we are trying to do every day -- washing the mirror, cleaning the dust of the centuries. Every day something of the impurity drops away; something becomes more recognizable as a buddha. Maybe just a glimpse, but soon this glimpse will become your whole life.
Before you all become buddhas, a few laughters, because after becoming a buddha, laughter does not suit. No buddha laughs. So it is always good to laugh before you become a buddha, because if you laugh when you are a buddha it will be objected to.
Good old Olga Kowalski comes stomping down the stairs to find her husband on the couch watching football on television.
"Kowalski," she nags, "how come we never talk anymore? Other husbands talk to their wives. You have not said two words to me all week!"
Then Olga furiously steps in front of the TV and demands, "Just say two words!"
"Okay," says Kowalski, stretching his neck around to see the TV. "Shut Up!"
Miss Goodbody is teaching sex education to her ninth-grade class. Sitting in the back of the room, reading Playboy and smoking a cigarette, is Chester Cheese's kid, Wise-guy Willy.
"Class," begins Miss Goodbody, shakily, "today we will discuss sexual intercourse."
Wise-guy Willy puts down his magazine, smiles, and winks at Miss Goodbody.
"Uh... there are eight basic positions for sexual intercourse," Miss Goodbody says nervously.
"Nine," comes Willy's voice from the back.
Flustered and blushing, Miss Goodbody begins again. "There are eight basic positions for sexual intercourse," she stammers.
"Nine," interrupts Willy, again.
This time Miss Goodbody takes a deep breath and continues, "The first is called the missionary position: the man is on top of the woman and facing her..."
"Aha!" says Willy, winking again, "ten!"
Paddy and Kowalski are in town for a drinking spree. After a lot of drinking, they decide to go to the hundred-story-high, revolving, Roasting Rhinoceros Restaurant for some dinner.
They choose a table overlooking the city lights, but have only been sitting there for a few minutes when both of them feel the need to pee.
"Can you tell us where the bathroom is?" Paddy slobbers at the head waiter.
"Certainly, sir," replies the waiter, pointing across the restaurant. "Just go down the passage over there, turn left and go two steps down."
The directions are repeated again for Kowalski, who is not quite sure he knows where he is, or what he is looking for.
"Just remember," says the head waiter, "turn left and two steps down..."
So, Paddy and Kowalski set off across the room and down the passage. They take the first door on the left and step inside, into the open elevator shaft.
One hundred stories below, Paddy slowly picks himself up off the ground.
"How do you feel?" Paddy asks his Polack friend, lying beside him.
"Not too bad," replies Kowalski. "But I don't think I can manage that second step."
Nivedano...
Nivedano...
Be silent, close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen.
Look inwards, as deep as possible.
It is your own space.
At the very end you will find the empty heart.
The empty heart is a door to eternity. It is a connection between you and existence. It is not something physical or material. It is not something mental or psychological. It is something beyond both, transcending both.
It is your spirituality.
Remember, the empty heart makes you a buddha.
This moment is blessed.
Ten thousand hearts are feeling the silence
and the merger with existence.
You are the fortunate ones of the earth.
Make it clear, Nivedano...
Relax... just be a watcher of mind and body both.
The insistence should be on the witnessing.
Witnessing is your secret love.
Witnessing is Buddha, watching.
Catch hold of the experience so that when you come back, you bring something out of your depth -- some gold, some diamond, some splendor.
Nivedano...
Come back, but come back with a new richness, with a new integrity, with a new individuality.
Reborn, sit for a few moments recollecting the experience that you are the buddha.
Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Beloved Master.
Can we celebrate the gathering of ten thousand buddhas?
Next: Chapter 3: This knowing is a transformation
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen The emptiness of the heart
| ENERGY
|
GAIN ENERGY APPRENTICE
LEVEL1
|
THE ENERGY BLOCKAGE REMOVAL
PROCESS
|
THE KARMA CLEARING
PROCESS APPRENTICE LEVEL3
|
MASTERY
OF RELATIONSHIPS TANTRA APPRENTICE LEVEL4
|
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