OUR BELOVED MASTER,

FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO, SAID RINZAI, THIS MOUNTAIN MONK'S VIEW DOES NOT DIFFER FROM THAT OF SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA. IN ALL THE VARIETY OF OUR DAILY ACTIVITIES, IS THERE ANYTHING LACKING? THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT MANIFESTING THROUGH THE SIX SENSES HAS NEVER BEEN INTERRUPTED. HE WHO IS ABLE TO PERCEIVE IT IN THIS MANNER CAN BE AN UNCONCERNED MAN FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

VIRTUOUS ONES, THERE IS NO PEACE IN THE THREE WORLDS WHICH ARE LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE. IT IS NOT A PLACE FOR A LONG STAY BECAUSE THE MURDEROUS DEMON OF IMPERMANENCE WILL, IN AN INSTANT, MAKE NO CHOICE BETWEEN THE NOBLE AND THE HUMBLE, AND BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE YOUNG. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO DIFFER FROM THE PATRIARCH AND THE BUDDHA, IT WILL SUFFICE FOR YOU TO SEEK NOTHING OUTSIDE.

IF, IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR PURE AND CLEAN NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN DHARMAKAYA BUDDHA. IF, IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR PASSIONLESS NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN SAMBHOGAKAYA BUDDHA. IF, IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR NON-DIFFERENTIATING NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN NIRMANAKAYA BUDDHA.

THIS THREEFOLD BODY IS THE ONE WHO IS NOW LISTENING TO MY EXPOUNDING OF THE DHARMA. THIS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED IF NOTHING IS SOUGHT FROM WITHOUT.

Maneesha, I have to say something about my absence yesterday before I can enter into the discussion of Rinzai's statements. I could not come yesterday because Anando took all my clothes to some dry cleaner. First I thought the dry cleaner must be in Poona, but by the end of the evening it became clear that the dry cleaner was in Bombay. And in the night she phoned to say that she was going to Switzerland, with all the twelve suitcases of Avirbhava full of my clothes for dry cleaning!

Somehow she had to be persuaded to come back, because without clothes the government will have immediate reason to arrest me. Fortunately she has returned from Bombay. The whole credit of my being here today goes to her.

FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO, SAID RINZAI, THIS MOUNTAIN MONK'S VIEW DOES NOT DIFFER FROM THAT OF SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.

In fact he is saying that not only are his thoughts actually the same as Gautam Buddha's, all the buddhas, past and present and future, have the same insight, the same illumination. But he can say only about himself for the simple reason that this is his actual experience. Since the moment when his buddhahood became known to him, he has been watching that every action, every activity, every response is exactly that of Sakyamuni Gautam Buddha.

IN ALL THE VARIETY OF OUR DAILY ACTIVITIES, IS THEIR ANYTHING LACKING? THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT MANIFESTING THROUGH THE SIX SENSES...

The six senses have to be noted down. Ordinarily we talk only of five senses; the sixth is dormant. The moment you turn in, the sixth sense starts working. Hence when the Buddhists talk about six senses it amazes people -- where is the sixth sense? It is not visible, it is when you close your eyes: suddenly you see a new sense penetrating in your interiority which you have never known before. It has always been there, but you have never turned inwards. So Buddha always talks about six senses.

THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT MANIFESTING THROUGH THE SIX SENSES HAS NEVER BEEN INTERRUPTED.

Now it should be made seven senses, for the simple reason... Up until this century physiologists were not aware that in your ear there are two senses, not one. One is the sense of hearing and the other is the sense of balance. The drunkard wavers, wobbles as he walks, for the simple reason that the alcohol affects the sense of balance. He wants to put his foot in one place, and it goes to another. This sense that is hidden in the ear has never been mentioned in the past, because it is not as manifest as eyes, ears or hands. The poor drunkard suffers because of the sixth sense.

So I would like to change the order. The seventh sense is the buddha-sense, the buddha-eye. The sixth you all have. Somebody hits on your ear, and suddenly you feel the whole world moving -- that is the sixth sense.

A drunkard is trying hard to open the lock of his door. His wife had got tired of him; he won't listen, he will come home whenever he feels like it -- in the middle of the night... So she said, "You keep the key and you silently open the door, go into the room, and sleep. And don't disturb me!"

He was in great trouble, and a policeman on the street was watching the difficulty of the poor man. He could not manage to enter the key into the lock; both his hands were wobbling. You need a little balance to make the lock stand still, and you need also balance for your other hand which is holding the key.

The policeman, feeling for the old man, came by and asked him, "Can I help you?" He said, "You have to. Just hold my house while I open the door. Everything is trembling, it seems there is an earthquake going on." The policeman laughed, and he said, "This idea never entered in my mind."

At that very moment the wife, hearing some noise, opened the window on the second story and asked, "What is the matter? Is the key not working? Shall I throw down another key?" The man said, "The key is perfectly okay, you just send another lock so that I can open it."

Just, everything loses its sense of balance. One starts not only walking wobbly, one starts seeing things which are not there, avoiding things which are not there, and staggering against things which are there. There is a confusion. To follow a drunkard from the pub to his house is a great experience. How many great things happen on the way, you cannot believe.

So I would like for you to remember that there are seven senses. The sixth, that Rinzai says is the buddha-sense, I would like to call the seventh. About the sixth Rinzai is as traditional, conventional, as everybody else. It was not his fault, it was never thought that there needs to be a sense of balance. It was only the discovery of the deeper structure of the ear that made it clear to us that we have a certain sense of balance, too. From all these senses, Rinzai is saying, constantly a certain light is radiating.

HE WHO IS ABLE TO PERCEIVE IT, IN THIS MANNER, CAN BE AN UNCONCERNED MAN FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

VIRTUOUS ONES, THERE IS NO PEACE IN THE THREE WORLDS WHICH ARE LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE.

This is the experience of all the buddhas. There is no peace anywhere. Everything is as if it is on fire, and all that you need to do is to jump out of this fire. Your jealousy is fire, your anger is fire, your fear is fire, your love is fire -- all that you are living is nothing but a house on fire. Every moment there is anxiety, every moment there is anguish.

VIRTUOUS ONES, THERE IS NO PEACE IN THE THREE WORLDS WHICH ARE LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE. IT IS NOT A PLACE FOR A LONG STAY BECAUSE THE MURDEROUS DEMON OF IMPERMANENCE WILL, IN AN INSTANT, MAKE NO CHOICE BETWEEN THE NOBLE AND THE HUMBLE, AND BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE YOUNG. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO DIFFER FROM THE PATRIARCH AND THE BUDDHA, IT WILL SUFFICE FOR YOU TO SEEK NOTHING OUTSIDE.

That is the essence of the message: nothing to seek outside. Seeking for something outside is entering into a house which is on fire. However much you try... You may even become comfortable in an uncomfortable situation, just by saying to yourself, "This is what life is." But this is not so. You may settle with your sadness, your misery -- everybody has settled with things believing that, what else can one do? Anger comes, love comes, hate comes, and they all possess you like demons.

The only way to avoid this vicious circle -- from one prison to another prison, from one fire to another fire -- the only way is to seek nothing outside and turn inwards. There is no seeking inwards, you simply find. Outside you seek and you never find anything; inside you do not seek, it is already there.

IF, IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR PURE AND CLEAN NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN DHARMAKAYA BUDDHA.

Buddha has made categories. Dharmakaya means the body of religiousness. If in the time of a thought, your mind is clear, clean, no-mind shines, this is your dharmakaya Buddha. You are entering into a realm of your inner space which can be said to be the very body of religiousness.

IF, IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR PASSIONLESS NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN SAMBHOGAKAYA BUDDHA.

No-mind shining itself is meditation. That's what is called samadhi. Buddha has called it sambhogakaya -- the body of blissfulness.

IF IN THE TIME OF A THOUGHT, YOUR NON-DIFFERENTIATING NO-MIND SHINES, THIS IS YOUR OWN NIRMANAKAYA BUDDHA.

Perhaps Buddha is the only person in the past who has given any credit to creativeness. Nirmanakaya means the body of creativeness. Nirman means creativeness.

If no-mind shines without any differentiating, your whole energy itself spontaneously starts creating. It does not matter what it creates; you may be a potter, or you may be a musician, or you may be a poet. Whoever you are and whatever you are doing -- you may be just a housewife -- your work will take the quality of creativeness. Your work will take the quality of love, of silence, of peace.

THIS THREEFOLD BODY IS THE ONE WHO IS NOW LISTENING TO MY EXPOUNDING OF THE DHARMA.

Rinzai says, "You are all these three bodies, although you are not aware of them. You are aware of only one body, the skin body, which is just a skeleton. Hidden behind it are treasures." Buddha has divided them into three: Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya.

THIS THREEFOLD BODY IS THE ONE WHO IS NOW LISTENING TO MY EXPOUNDING OF THE DHARMA. THIS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED IF NOTHING IS SOUGHT FROM WITHOUT.

If you do not seek anything from without, you are complete, you are entire, you are perfect. The moment you start desiring something from outside, trouble starts. You have already descended from the throne of an emperor and become a beggar. And once you are a beggar, it will be very difficult to find the throne again.

The world is vast and desires take you far away. Whole lives are devoted to fulfill childish desires.

One of the richest men of his time, in 1940... I was a small child and my father was sick, so I was with my father in the hospital. This rich man, Sir Seth Hukumchand, had created a really great hospital in Indore. He used to come, and by chance we became friends. He was an old man but he used to come every day and I used to wait for him at the gate. I asked him, "You have so much..." Almost three-fourths of the houses of Indore were his property. And Indore is the next most beautiful and rich place to Bombay.

He said, "You are asking a strange question. Nobody ever asked me."

I had asked him, "Why are you still creating new industries, creating new palaces? And you are becoming old. How is all this going to be of any help at the time of death?"

He said, "I know, everything will remain here and I will be gone. But just a desire to be the most successful, rich man in the country keeps driving me. For no other reason, just that everything I have must be the best."

He has the only Rolls Royce in the whole world made of solid gold. It was never driven, it was just for show, standing in front of his beautiful palace. He has the best horses in the world that you can imagine. I have never seen such beautiful horses. He had a whole palace filled with all kinds of exotic things. And the reason was that he wanted to be the only owner of a certain thing. It was his absolute condition: whenever he purchases a thing, that thing should not be produced again; he should be the only owner. And he was ready to pay any money for it.

His only desire was -- because Indore in those days was a state -- to purchase all the houses in the state, even the palace of the king. And he almost succeeded -- seventy-five percent of the houses of Indore belonged to him. Even the king had to borrow money from him, and he was giving to him very generously in order to finally settle that the whole of Indore..."He may be the king but it is my property."

I asked him, "What will it do to you? What peace will it bring? You are always anxious, tense, coming to the hospital, asking the psychiatrist about your troubles. These houses cannot solve your troubles and this money cannot solve your troubles."

And finally a time came when he captured all the gold of India, he became the gold king of India. He purchased all the gold, wherever it was possible. And once you have all the gold in your hands, you have the whole country in your hands. If you start selling it, the prices will go down. He kept the whole market dependent on him just because he was holding the gold.

And I asked him, "What enjoyment are you getting out of it?"

He said, "I don't know, just there is a tremendous desire to be the richest, to be the most powerful."

The inward journey begins only when you understand it clearly that anything outside is not going to give you contentment.

Takuan wrote:

INVITED BY OUR PARENTS,

WE CAME HERE

AS TEMPORARY GUESTS,

AND WITHOUT REMAINING MIND,

WE GO BACK TO OUR NATIVE PLACE.

In a small haiku he is describing the whole of life. A child comes invited by the parents as a guest in the world, stays here some time, and again moves into the unknown universality, just as a wave arises and disappears in the ocean. This much is our so-called life.

If you understand it, you become humble, you become utterly peaceful. You know that you are just a guest here; there is no need to possess anything, there is no need to cling to anything. Everything will be left behind and you will be gone. The tidal wave of death will be coming and will clean the shore of all the signatures that you have been making.

Hotei, another Zen master's haiku:

MAITREYA! MAITREYA!

FOREVER DIVIDING HIMSELF,

HE IS HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE --

YET SCARCELY NOTICED.

This haiku is particularly important for us, because Maitreya is lying here. Hotei was not aware where Maitreya is. He used to sit here in the front row, and he has been missed. I can provoke him...

(SARDARJI GIVES A LOUD BELLY LAUGH FROM THE BACK OF THE HALL.)

You see, Sardar Gurudayal Singh... he will have to go and provoke him, that is the problem. Because Maitreya won't listen to anybody, he will have to be dragged out. And once in a while he comes, still knocks on doors in Lao Tzu House. For a few days Anando was very much terrified because he was knocking on her door every night. He used to be her neighbor.

He is being missed tremendously, but anyway he is here in the trees, in the air.

MAITREYA! MAITREYA!

HE IS HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE --

YET SCARCELY NOTICED.