---
section: Library
booktitle: "The Great Zen Master Ta Hui"
booktype: "Discourses"
bookcode: "TAHUI"
dategiven: "20 July 1987 pm"
place: " in Chuang Tzu Auditorium"
chapternum: "Chapter #12"
chaptertitle: "Non-duality"
acode: "8707205"
shorttitle: "TAHUI12"
audio: "Yes"
video: "Yes"
esttime: "142mins"
displaytitle: "The Great Zen Master Ta Hui: Chapter #12"
---

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<p class="sutra">BELOVED OSHO,
ILLUSION
SPEAKING OF "EMPTY ILLUSION," IT IS ILLUSION WHEN CREATED, AND ILLUSION WHEN EXPERIENCED TOO; IT'S ILLUSION WHEN YOU'RE KNOWING AND AWARE, AND ILLUSION WHEN YOU'RE LOST IN DELUSION TOO. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE ARE ALL ILLUSIONS. TODAY, IF WE REALIZE OUR WRONG, WE TAKE AN ILLUSORY MEDICINE TO CURE AN EQUALLY ILLUSORY DISEASE. WHEN THE DISEASE IS CURED, THE MEDICINE IS REMOVED, AND WE ARE THE SAME PERSON AS BEFORE. IF YOU THINK THAT THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE OR SOME SPECIAL DOCTRINE, THEN THIS IS THE VIEW OF A MISGUIDED OUTSIDER.
IN THE INSTANT OF MAITREYA'S FINGER-SNAP, SUDHANA WAS EVEN ABLE TO FORGET THE MEDITATIVE STATES FOSTERED IN HIM BY ALL HIS TEACHERS: HOW MUCH MORE SO THE BEGINNINGLESS HABIT ENERGY OF EMPTY FALSEHOOD AND EVIL DEEDS! IF YOU CONSIDER THE MISTAKES WHICH YOU COMMITTED IN THE PAST AS REAL, THEN THE WORLD RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU NOW IS ALL REAL, AND EVEN OFFICIAL POSITION, WEALTH AND STATUS, GRATITUDE AND LOVE, ARE ALL REAL.
NON-DUALITY
IF YOUR MIND DOES NOT RUN OFF SEARCHING, OR THINK FALSELY, OR GET INVOLVED WITH OBJECTS, THEN THIS VERY BURNING HOUSE OF PASSION IS ITSELF THE PLACE TO ESCAPE THE THREE WORLDS. DIDN'T BUDDHA SAY, "NOT DEPENDING ON, OR ABIDING IN, ANY SITUATION, NOT HAVING ANY DISCRIMINATION, ONE CLEARLY SEES THE VAST ESTABLISHMENT OF REALITY AND REALIZES THAT ALL WORLDS AND ALL THINGS ARE EQUAL AND NONDUAL."
THOUGH A BODHISATTVA OF THE "FAR-GOING" STAGE APPEARS TO ACT THE SAME AS OUTSIDERS, HE DOES NOT ABANDON THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS; THOUGH HE APPEARS TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THAT IS WORLDLY, HE'S PERPETUALLY PRACTICING ALL WORLD-TRANSCENDING WAYS. THESE ARE THE REAL EXPEDIENT DEVICES WITHIN THE BURNING HOUSE OF PASSION...
ONLY HAVING PENETRATED ALL THE WAY THROUGH CAN YOU SAY THAT AFFLICTION IS ITSELF ENLIGHTENMENT AND IGNORANCE IS IDENTICAL TO GREAT WISDOM. WITHIN THE WONDROUS MIND OF THE ORIGINAL VAST QUIESCENCE -- PURE, CLEAR, PERFECT ILLUMINATION -- THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THING THAT CAN CAUSE OBSTRUCTION. IT IS LIKE THE EMPTINESS OF SPACE...</p>


One of the most fundamental problems that has to be faced by everyone on the path to enlightenment is that when you become enlightened, all that you have passed through looks illusory. It is just as when you wake up in the morning, the whole night of dreams simply becomes unreal; you don't even think about it. But while you are asleep, the dreams are very real.


In a very strange way, while you are awake you may doubt whether that which is surrounding you is real or not. At least, doubt is possible. Who knows? you may be seeing just a dream. But while you are dreaming even the doubt is not possible. You cannot doubt -- "What I am seeing perhaps is not real." The dream seems to be more deep-rooted in the mind than our so-called reality.


The reality at least allows doubt. The dream does not allow doubt. In fact, that is the only criterion to distinguish between them. If you can doubt, it means you are awake. If you cannot doubt, it means you are fast asleep. A very strange criterion, but that is the only criterion.


Because all the religions are against doubt, they have destroyed the most fundamental criterion available to man. All the religions of the world, without exception, insist on believing. And belief is the antidote to doubt.


One can condition oneself to such an extent that doubt does not arise, but then you have lost the only criterion you have for making the distinction between what is real and what is unreal. Dreams cannot be doubted -- reality can be doubted.


In the life of Chuang Tzu comes one of the most beautiful incidents. One morning he was sitting in his bed -- very sad, very serious... and sadness and seriousness were absolutely against his nature, his philosophy. He was the most hilarious man. He has written the most absurd stories with such great significance -- illogical, irrational, but yet pointing to the truth.


His disciples gathered and they were worried, "It has never happened, he has never been sad. He is a man of laughter, and he is looking so serious. Is he sick, or has something gone wrong?"
Finally some disciple asked, "What is the matter, master?"


Chuang Tzu said very seriously, "The matter is almost beyond my comprehension, and I don't think you will be in any way helpful to me, but still I will tell you. In the night I dreamt that I had become a butterfly."


All the disciples laughed and said, "That is nothing to be serious about. It was only a dream, so you don't have to be so worried. Now you are awake; the dream is finished."


He said, "You first listen to the whole story. When I woke up this morning, a strange idea arose within my heart: "If Chuang Tzu can become a butterfly in his dream, why cannot a butterfly become Chuang Tzu in her dream? There seems to be no logical reason why a butterfly cannot dream to be Chuang Tzu."


Still the disciples said, "You don't need to worry about butterflies! Let them dream whatever they want to dream, but why are you sad?"


Chuang Tzu said, "You still have not grasped the problem. The problem for me now is -- who am I? Am I a butterfly dreaming to be Chuang Tzu? Because Chuang Tzu was able to dream of being a butterfly, how am I to feel satisfied that I am not just a butterfly dreaming myself to be a Chuang Tzu?"


The disciples became sad themselves, because it was really a problem that could not be solved. And it has remained unsolved for almost twenty five centuries. Unfortunately I was not there as one of his disciples, because to me the basic criterion is: while you were a butterfly in your dream, did you have any problem? was there any doubt? Now that you are awake, you can doubt -- who knows, you may be a butterfly.


This is the only distinction between the dream and the real: reality allows you to doubt, and the dream does not allow you to doubt. Obviously you are Chuang Tzu, don't be worried. Certainly you were not a butterfly; it was a dream, because it did not allow you to doubt.


To me, the capacity to doubt is one of the greatest blessings to humanity. The religions have been enemies because they have been cutting the very roots of doubt, and there is a reason why they have been doing that: because they want people to believe in certain illusions that they have been preaching.


A man who believes that if he prays earnestly, sincerely... Then Krishna may visit him, or Jesus may appear before him. These are ways of creating dreams while you are awake, with your eyes open. But because you are awake, you can doubt. So first doubt has to be destroyed; otherwise Jesus may be standing before you and you may start doubting -- who knows, perhaps it is just an illusion. What evidence have I got that it is not an illusion?


There are thousands of people in madhouses around the world who believe in their illusions so deeply that they talk with people whom you cannot see -- only they can see. And they not only talk, they also get a response; they do the work of both themselves!


The strangest thing is that when they speak from one side, their side, they have their own voice, and when they answer from Jesus Christ's side, their voice changes. It has a different quality to it, a different authority to it. You can see that they are doing both things -- the question and the answer -- and that there is nobody else. But because they cannot doubt, their illusion becomes a reality.
Let me tell you:
If you can doubt, even the reality becomes illusory.


Why have the people like Gautam Buddha been so insistent that the whole existence -- except your witnessing self, except your awareness -- is just ephemeral, made of the same stuff as dreams are made of? They are not saying that these trees are not there. They are not saying that these pillars are not there. Don't misunderstand because of the word 'illusion'.


In English you don't have an exact translation of the word maya; in English, either something is real or it is illusory. Maya is just in between the two: It looks real, but it is not real. It appears real, but it is not real. In English there is no word which exactly translates maya. It has been translated as illusion, but illusion is not the right word. Illusion does not exist. Reality exists. Maya is just in between -- it almost exists. As far as day-to-day activities are concerned, it can be taken as reality. Only in the ultimate sense, from the peak of your illumination, it becomes unreal, illusory.


The problem is that what becomes illusory in the experience of enlightenment cannot be conceived of as illusory by people who are not enlightened. How can you think that your wife, your husband, your house, your car, your neighborhood... that all this is just a dream?


It is not a dream the way you know dreams are; hence the word 'maya' has to be kept untranslated, because maya does not mean dream. It simply means that things which are not eternal cannot be accepted as real. They are born, they are there, and they are constantly dying. From the very moment something is born, it starts dying -- what kind of reality is this?


Your birth was the beginning of death. Since then you have not been doing anything except dying -- every day, continuously -- although the process is very slow. It may take seventy years or eighty years to reach your grave, but you have been moving towards it since you left your cradle... consistently... never taking a single holiday, never going astray. There is no way of going astray! Whatever you do, wherever you go, you are going towards the graveyard. One day you were not... one day you are again not -- although you existed for seventy years.


Your dream also exists, for the time being. It may be only seven minutes, or seventy minutes, but that does not make any difference. The dream is born, it remains there... you are affected by it, as you are affected by anything real, and then it dies.


The same is the nature of our so-called reality. Perhaps it is on a bigger scale, the dream lasts longer. But millions of people have lived here before us, and we don't know even their names. We don't know that they had fallen in love, that they had fought, that they had killed, murdered, that they had committed suicide, that they had become prime ministers, presidents, super-rich... and they have all disappeared as if they were nothing but writing on water -- or at the most writing on the sand. It lasts a little while, then a strong wind comes and all the writing disappears.


According to the people of enlightenment, that which is just writing on the water... or it may be writing on the sand, or it may be writing on the granite lasting for thousands of years -- the difference is only of time; otherwise there is no difference. The difference is only of the medium -- water, sand, or granite. The writing is the same: one day it was not, for some time it remains, one day it is again not.


Everything comes from nothing and everything moves into nothing: that is the meaning of maya. It does not mean unreal, because even the writing on the sand is real. Even the writing on water has its own reality, although it is very fleeting -- you have not even written and it has disappeared! The writing on granite will last for thousands of years. Yet one thing is certain: they are all real, but one day they come out of nothing, and one day they go back into nothingness. That is the meaning of the word 'maya'. It is not equivalent to illusion.


The man of enlightenment sees the whole existence as maya. It comes into existence, it disappears. It is not an eternal reality, that which never begins and never ends.


The whole search of truth is for that which remains always and always the same. It neither comes into existence nor does it go out of existence. And thousands of seekers have come to the same conclusion: that there is only one thing, only one thing in the whole existence that remains always the same, and that is your awareness.
Except awareness, everything is maya.


Only awareness, the watcher within you, belongs to eternal reality -- is the only reality. It is never born... never dies. It has always been, and it will be always.


The experience of enlightenment makes it so clear. But to bring it into language that can be understood by people who don't have the experience yet has been always a great problem, and many misunderstandings arise.


For example, if you call the world illusory, then people think, "Then what is the difference between good and bad? Whether you are a saint or a thief, it is all the same -- it is just a dream. Whether you kill somebody or you save somebody from drowning in a river, it is all the same -- both are illusory, so there is nothing that can be called moral, and nothing that can be called immoral." It is very disturbing to the society, and it is very disturbing to the people who have to manage the society and its affairs.


Actually, there is no way to reduce the experience of enlightenment into the languages of people who are asleep. You have to use their words, and their words have their own connotations. The moment you say something, you immediately feel that you have brought the truth in words which are going to be misunderstood.


This country has remained in slavery for two thousand years, and one of the most basic reasons was the idea that everything is illusory. Whether the country is free or a slave, it does not make much difference. India has been ruled by such small, barbarous tribes, and it is such a vast continent; it is simply unbelievable that such a big country could be controlled by a small tribe. But the reason was that India never gave any resistance. It never fought. It simply accepted slavery as part of a dream. Freedom is a dream and slavery is a dream...


People coming from advanced countries cannot believe it -- so much poverty, and yet the poor people are utterly contented. The rich people in the advanced countries are in so much anguish, agony, angst... such a great discontentment. And the people in the East, particularly in India, don't have anything -- and yet they seem to be fully contented.


The reason is, men like Gautam Buddha and Mahavira and Neminatha and Adinatha, a long line of enlightened people, have been talking about their experience -- that when they have come to the ultimate height of their consciousness, the whole of life appears to be just a mirage... just maya, a magical creation with no substance in it. They were perfectly right, but they forgot one thing: the people they are talking to are not enlightened.


Sometimes even the greatest truth can become a calamity. It has been so in this country. Poverty has been accepted, slavery has been accepted, because it is all just a dream -- one need not be disturbed by it. This can be dangerous. This has proved to be dangerous; hence I don't say that the world is a dream. I can see that the implications have proved very dangerous.


There was no intention on the part of the awakened people, but still the responsibility lies on their shoulders. They told things to people who were not ready to understand them. It was absolutely certain that they would be misunderstood -- and they have been misunderstood.


India has lived in poverty without any revolution. The very idea of revolution is irrelevant -- one never revolts against a dream. One simply accepts that a dream is nonexistential, it does not matter at all. But to the ignorant people, it matters -- hunger matters.


I have been in immense difficulty to say the ultimate truth to people, because the question is what the effect is going to be on their minds and their lives... to say to a hungry man who is dying, starving, "Don't be worried, it is all just a dream."


I am reminded of a story... In ancient China, the wells were made without any protective wall around them. There was going to be a big fair and one man fell into a well, but there was so much noise that, although he was shouting from the well, nobody heard him.


Just by coincidence a Buddhist monk passed by the side of the well, and because he was accustomed to silence he was able to hear, even in the hubbub of the fair, that somebody was shouting from the well. He went close by and the man said, "Please save me."


The Buddhist monk said, "There is no point. Everybody has to die; it is only a question of time. Remain peaceful. The great Gautam Buddha has said that life is just a dream, so if you have fallen in a dream into a well, don't unnecessarily shout. Just relax."


The man said, "I am ready to listen to all your teachings -- first take me out!" He could not believe that somebody would give him such a strange sermon in such a situation, when he is dying!


But the Buddhist monk said, "Our master Gautam Buddha has said, 'Never interfere into anybody's life.' So excuse me, I cannot do anything. I can only help you by giving you the real teaching: at the time of death, if you can be silent and peaceful, you will be born in a higher stage of consciousness."


The man said, "I simply want to get out of this well! I don't want to be born in higher stages...."
But the Buddhist monk went on his way.


A Confucian monk heard the man, he looked inside. The man said, "You are not a Buddhist"... and Confucius is very pragmatic. He is not an enlightened being and he is not an idealist. He is very moralistic, realistic, practical. He does not believe in any other life beyond death. He does not believe that consciousness has a separate existence. So the man said, "It is good. I am happy that a Confucian has come, because just now a Buddhist monk has gone by, giving me the advice to relax and die peacefully."


The Confucian monk said, "Don't be worried! I will go into the crowd and immediately I will start a revolution in the country."
The man said, "For what?"


The Confucian said, "Our master Confucius has said that every well should have a protective wall around it. It is not a question only of your life; it is a question of millions of people's lives. You should not be worried for your tiny self. Think of the generations to come, and feel satisfied that you have come across me. I will create a great upheaval in the whole country, that every well should have a wall."


The man said, "That is perfectly okay, but what about me? By the time the revolution succeeds and every well has a wall, I will be gone."


The Confucian said, "I am sorry, but I believe in social changes. Our concern is not with individuals, but with society...."


Just behind him comes a Christian missionary with a bucket and a rope, and before the man says anything he throws the bucket in, and he says, "We will talk later on. First you have to be saved. Just sit in the bucket and I will pull you out."


Out of the well, the man said, "You are the only religious person. That fellow just now has gone to create a revolution -- I am dying here! The other one wanted me to be born in a higher stage of consciousness.... But you are really religious. Just one question, why have you been carrying this bucket and rope?"


The Christian missionary said, "I am always ready and prepared for every emergency, because Jesus Christ has said, 'If you save people, if you serve people, immense will be your reward in the kingdom of God.' So don't think that I am interested in saving you; my interest is to earn more virtue. I am going to fight that Confucian because his revolution will stop people falling into wells. That means ultimately, we will not be able to save them, and without saving them there is no way to the kingdom of God. I have saved you, you teach your children always to fall into wells... and I am always around here. You can call me, and I am always ready for every emergency. This is my whole service to the people."


The religions have not been at all concerned with humanity at large. I cannot say to the hungry people, "Your hunger is just a dream," and I cannot say to a thirsty man, "Just die peacefully. Don't ask for water, don't demand anything because that will create a bad impression for your future life."
You can understand my difficulty.


I am absolutely aware that everything is illusory, and yet I would not like people to take the idea as a belief system, because that belief system, without an experience, is going to destroy their whole life in many ways. I would like them to enter on the path, to realize for themselves what it means that life is just a dream, or maya, and be freed from this illusory misery, suffering, anguish.


Help others also to rise to the same meditative consciousness. But don't give people ideas as beliefs -- which they don't have as their experience -- because they will start acting according to them, and their actions will be tremendously dangerous to them.


India has suffered so much from its enlightened people. No science could grow in this land. Mathematics was found for the first time here, but it could not produce an Albert Einstein. Many scientific inventions had their beginning in the East. The first printing presses were born in China three thousand years ago, the first currency notes two thousand years ago.


But science could not progress, because if the idea is prevalent that everything is illusory, what is the point in searching and analyzing the illusory world? So there have been tremendous geniuses, but they were all devoted to only one thing -- to find their own interior consciousness. They had no interest in the outside world.


The idea of meditation and enlightenment has created an introversion, and just the opposite has happened in the West. The West is extrovert. It only looks at the outside -- the outside is real and the inside does not exist; it is illusory. But in a way, both are the same. The East accepts one half, the inside, and denies the other half, the outside; the West accepts one half, the outside, and denies the other half, the inside.


The West has become scientifically, technologically rich, but has lost its soul. It has become spiritually poor. The East has been spiritually rich, but it has lost all grip on the outside reality and has become so poor that by the end of this century perhaps half the population of India -- that means five hundred million human beings -- will be dying. And this will not be the case only in India, but in all the Eastern countries which have remained poor.


It is not coincidental. To me it is absolutely clear why it has happened: the whole man has never been taught.


I stand for the whole man. His outside -- I will not call it illusory, I will call it "changing reality" -- and his inside, unchanging reality. That is the only difference I will make. The changing reality has its own beauty, just as unchanging reality has its own beauty. And both have to be fulfilled.


Man needs religiousness as much as he needs the scientific approach. Science is for the outside, the objective world, and religion for the inside, the subjective world. If both can grow together, just like two wings of a bird, then there is a wholeness. And to me, when man is whole only then he is holy.


Our scientists are incomplete, our saints are incomplete. The complete man has not come yet into the world. My every effort is to make you aware that the world needs immensely, urgently, the birth of a whole man -- a man who is not split into the inner and the outer. Only this man can make this existence beautiful, can make his awareness a great light, a great joy.


I am, from the very beginning, against this attitude of calling the world illusory. It is a changing reality, it is a flux. In fact, if it were not a changing reality it would have been very boring. Its continuous change of climate, of day into night, of night into day, its continuous change from life to death, from death to life, keeps it interesting, keeps it an adventure, a continuous challenge for investigation into unknown territories.


The same is true about the inner world. If it were also changing, then you would not be the same person for two consecutive days. Yesterday you borrowed money from somebody; the next day, it is not you who is supposed to return it. Somebody else has borrowed -- you are not that person. And if inner and outer both are continuously changing, then against what will you see that they are changing? -- change requires something unchanging as a background.
Your awareness is the center of the cyclone.


Everything around you goes on changing; just you, at the innermost being, remains always the same. With this understanding, I will talk about Ta Hui's sutras.
<p class="sutra">SPEAKING OF "EMPTY ILLUSION," IT IS ILLUSION WHEN CREATED, AND ILLUSION WHEN EXPERIENCED TOO</p>


... he is not right in what he is saying, not right according to the experience of enlightenment. He remains an intellectual. He never rises to the heights of intelligence, at least not yet. Perhaps in his future sutras he may be able to enter higher realms, fly a little higher. But he seems to be very unaware of what he is saying, yet his pretension is that what he is saying, he knows.


The first thing, SPEAKING OF "EMPTY ILLUSION..." Now this is a repetition of terms. Illusion is obviously empty. There is no need to call it empty illusion; it is redundant, it is unnecessarily repetitive. Illusion means empty. Illusion means there is no substance in it -- now why call it empty illusion? Are there some illusions which are not empty? What kind of illusions will they be which are not empty, and how can you call them illusions if they have substance? Dreams don't have any substance.


It is possible to use such terms only because he has heard from many masters, he has read many scriptures, but it is not his own experience.
<p class="sutra">IT IS ILLUSION WHEN CREATED, AND ILLUSION WHEN EXPERIENCED TOO.</p>


That is absolutely absurd! It is illusion only when you are not aware. The moment you are aware and you experience it, it disappears. You have been dreaming and you wake up -- do you think the dream continues when you are awake? The moment you are awake, the dream is finished. Your awareness and your dreaming cannot continue simultaneously.


The moment somebody becomes enlightened, all that is dream disappears. He finds only pure consciousness all over the universe, just an ocean of consciousness. All the forms that used to appear before have disappeared... just a formless, universal consciousness. There is no dream anywhere, there is no illusion anywhere. It is because of this experience that he says that people who are living unconsciously are living in illusion. Where they are seeing forms there are no forms; where they are seeing great things there is nothing, no substance.


What is the substance in your ambitions, what is the substance in your greed? What is the substance in your lust, what is the substance in your will to power? Even if you become the most powerful man in the world, an Alexander the Great, what is the substance in it?


When Alexander the Great was coming to India he met one great man, Diogenes. In their dialogue there is one point which is relevant. Diogenes asked him, "What are you going to do after you have conquered the whole world?"


Alexander said, "After I have conquered the whole world, I am going to relax, just like you."


Diogenes was having a sunbath, naked. He lived naked, by the side of a river, and he was lying in the sand enjoying the morning sun and the cool breeze. Diogenes laughed and he said, "If after conquering the whole world you are just going to relax like me, why not relax right now? Is conquering the whole world a precondition for relaxation? I have not conquered the whole world."


Alexander felt embarrassed because what he was saying was right. Then Diogenes said, "Why are you wasting your life in conquering the world -- only to relax, finally, just like me. This bank of the river is big enough, you can come, your friends can come. It is miles long and the forest is beautiful. And I don't possess anything. If you like the place where I am lying down, I can change!"


Alexander said, "Perhaps you are right, but first I have to conquer the world."


Diogenes said, "It is up to you. But remember one thing: have you ever thought that there is no other world? Once you have conquered this world, you will be in difficulty."


It is said that Alexander became immediately sad. He said, "I have never thought about it. It makes me feel very sad that I am so close to conquering the world... and I am only thirty-three, and there is no other world to conquer."


Diogenes said, "But you were thinking to relax. If there was another world, I think first you would conquer that and then relax. You will never relax because you don't understand a simple thing about relaxation -- it's either now or never. If you understand it, lie down, throw these clothes in the river. If you don't understand, forget about relaxation. And what is the point in conquering the world? What are you going to gain by it? Except losing your life, you are not going to gain anything."


Alexander said, "I would like to see you again when I come back. Right now I have to go, but I would have loved to sit and listen to you. I have always thought of meeting you -- I have heard so many stories about you. But I have never met such a beautiful and impressive man as you. Can I do anything for you? Just a word, a hint from you, and it will be done."


Diogenes said, "If you can just stand a little to the side, because you are preventing the sun. That will be enough gratitude -- and I will remain thankful for my whole life."


When Alexander was leaving him, Diogenes told him, "Remember one thing: you will never be able to come back home because your ambition is too great and life is too short. You will never be able to fulfill your ambitions, and you will never be able to come back home." And actually it happened that Alexander never could reach back home. He died when he was returning from India, just on the way.


A fictitious story has been prevalent for these two thousand years. The story has some significance, and some historicity also about it, because on the same day Diogenes also died. Both died on the same day, Alexander a few minutes before, and Diogenes a few minutes after him; hence the story has come into being....


When they were crossing the river that is the boundary of this world and the kingdom of God, Alexander was ahead of Diogenes, just a few feet ahead, and he heard a laughter from behind. It seemed familiar and he could not believe it -- it was Diogenes. He was very much ashamed, because this time he was also naked. Just to hide his embarrassment, he told Diogenes, "It must be an unprecedented event that on this river a world conqueror, an emperor, is meeting a beggar" -- because Diogenes used to beg.


Diogenes again laughed and said, "You are perfectly right, but on just one point you are wrong."
And Alexander asked, "What is the point?"


Diogenes said, "The emperor is not where you think he is, nor is the beggar where you think. The beggar is ahead of me. You have come losing everything; you are the beggar. I have come living each single moment with such totality and intensity, so rich, so fulfilled, that I can only be called an emperor, not a beggar."


This story seems to be fictitious, because how can one know what happened? But it seems to be significant. The moment you know that life and existence are fleeting phenomena... it does not mean you have to renounce them; it simply means: before they fly away, squeeze the juice of every moment.


That's where I differ from all the enlightened people of the world. They will say, "Renounce them, because they are changing." And I will say, "Because they are changing, squeeze the juice quickly. Before they escape, taste them, drink them, rejoice in them. Before the moments go away, make them a celebration, a dance, a song." Because they are fleeting, that does not mean you have to renounce them. It simply means that you should be very alert, so nothing can escape without being squeezed completely.


This world has to be lived as intensely and totally as possible, and it is not against your awareness. In fact, you will have to be very aware not to miss a single moment. So awareness and enjoying this life can grow together simultaneously. And this is my vision of the whole man.


IT IS ILLUSION WHEN CREATED, AND ILLUSION WHEN EXPERIENCED TOO; IT'S ILLUSION WHEN YOU'RE KNOWING AND AWARE... this is absolutely wrong. When you are knowing and aware, all that is illusion disappears... AND ILLUSION WHEN YOU'RE LOST IN DELUSION TOO. It is delusion only when you are lost in it. When you are standing aside as a watcher, as a witness, it is just a fleeting phenomenon. That is the meaning of the word 'maya', which illusion does not rightly translate.


You know it -- everything is fleeting. Either you can renounce it, which in the past people have been doing... but I am against renouncing it. What is the point of renouncing?


Something which is renouncing you, which is every moment going into annihilation... It is better, it will make you richer, it will make you more mature to take hold of it before it is gone, to live it.


And the man who lives every moment, alert, watchful, knowing perfectly well that there is nothing to cling to -- everything is going away, it will also go away -- he has no misery, no regret, no complaint, no grudge against life. Life is fleeting -- fleeting is its suchness, its thusness. It is its nature -- and your nature is absolutely and eternally the same. Why not enjoy it?


It is true. The roseflower that has blossomed in the morning, will be gone by the evening. But does that mean destroy it in the morning because it will be gone in the evening? That will be sheer stupidity. But that has been the whole history of all your religions.


I say unto you: because the roseflower which has blossomed in the morning and is dancing in the sun and in the air and in the rain will be gone by the evening... before it is gone, dance with it, rejoice with it, let its fragrance become part of you. Don't cling to it! When it is there, be grateful to existence. When it is gone, it will leave a beautiful memory in you, a great remembrance. But nothing to be worried about because more and more roses will be coming.


One has to learn the art of living with awareness. To me, that can be the definition of religion: the art of living with awareness -- not renouncing, but rejoicing.
<p class="sutra">PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE ARE ALL ILLUSIONS. TODAY, IF WE REALIZE OUR WRONG, WE TAKE AN ILLUSORY MEDICINE TO CURE AN EQUALLY ILLUSORY DISEASE. WHEN THE DISEASE IS CURED, THE MEDICINE IS REMOVED, AND WE ARE THE SAME PERSON AS BEFORE. IF YOU THINK THAT THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE OR SOME SPECIAL DOCTRINE, THEN THIS IS THE VIEW OF A MISGUIDED OUTSIDER.</p>


He himself is an outsider. He does not know what he is saying. He is simply repeating the stale words of all the enlightened people. I say that it is not his experience, because he commits so many mistakes which show that. A man of experience cannot commit those mistakes.
<p class="sutra">IN THE INSTANT OF MAITREYA'S FINGER-SNAP, SUDHANA WAS EVEN ABLE TO FORGET THE MEDITATIVE STATES FOSTERED IN HIM BY ALL HIS TEACHERS: HOW MUCH MORE SO THE BEGINNINGLESS HABIT ENERGY OF EMPTY FALSEHOOD AND EVIL DEEDS! IF YOU CONSIDER THE MISTAKES WHICH YOU COMMITTED IN THE PAST AS REAL, THEN THE WORLD RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU NOW IS ALL REAL, AND EVEN OFFICIAL POSITION, WEALTH AND STATUS, GRATITUDE AND LOVE, ARE ALL REAL.</p>


He quotes a very significant incident, but without commenting on it. It is strange. He goes on throwing in big names and incidents just to show his scholarship, his learning. But the incident is so tremendously significant that to talk about it and not to make any comment on it shows that he has not understood what it means.


IN THE INSTANT OF MAITREYA'S FINGER-SNAP, SUDHANA WAS EVEN ABLE TO FORGET THE MEDITATIVE STATES FOSTERED IN HIM BY ALL HIS TEACHERS. The story is that Sudhana was learning with many teachers, many techniques of meditation. And then he came in contact with an enlightened master, Maitreya. As he touched Maitreya's feet and Maitreya looked at him, Maitreya snapped his fingers -- and something strange happened. Sudhana simply became silent. He had never been in such a space, even though he had been practicing meditation, had been living with many teachers. Just this finger-snap... Perhaps he was just on the verge. It can happen. Just a little push, it can be anything. Just as he was rising from touching his feet and Maitreya snapped his fingers, he may have looked at Maitreya -- what is he doing? For a moment he forgot his mind, all his thoughts, all his meditations. For a moment there was a gap, and that gap opened the doors of eternity.


It can be anything. If a person is just on the verge, then a man who understands and can see inside you, and can see that you are just on the verge... a little push, and you will have moved into a totally new dimension.


This simple gesture, a finger-snap, and Sudhana became enlightened. He had come to ask many questions, but all questions were finished. He had just touched the feet of Maitreya as a newcomer -- and after this small gesture, he had to touch the feet of Maitreya again, just to thank him. Not a single word was said by Maitreya, not a single word was said by Sudhana... and everything happened.


When Sudhana left, Maitreya said to his other disciples, "Look, you are working so hard, and I have been beating you so hard..." And he told them that Gautam Buddha was right when he said that there are a few men who are like the horses which will not move unless you beat them really hard, and there are a few men who are like a different kind of horse -- just a little hit by your feet is enough for them to move. And there are horses which don't need even that; just the shadow of your whip will be enough.


"I have heard it," Maitreya said, "but for the first time I have seen a man who belongs to the third category of horses. Just the shadow of the whip, not even the whip, and he has moved into the other world."


Ta Hui mentions this great incident, but without commenting at all about it. It is very strange that one can talk about such great incidents and not comment at all. Perhaps he has not understood it. Perhaps he belongs to the first category of horses!
<p class="sutra">IF YOUR MIND DOES NOT RUN OFF SEARCHING, OR THINK FALSELY, OR GET INVOLVED WITH OBJECTS, THEN THIS VERY BURNING HOUSE OF PASSION IS ITSELF THE PLACE TO ESCAPE THE THREE WORLDS.</p>


What he is saying is right: You don't have to go anywhere. Mind is always interested in going somewhere. Mind is American, always going somewhere -- it does not matter where. What matters is going.


I have heard about a couple... the husband is driving the car so fast, and the wife is concerned. She goes on saying, "At least you should look at the map! Are we on the right road or the wrong road for where we are going?"


And the husband snapped back, "You shut up! You don't see how fast we are going. It does not matter where we are going, what matters is the speed, just the joy of speed."


I have heard that Ronald Reagan was visiting Greece and had gone to see an old volcano. He looked inside, deep in the volcano, and he said to the guide, "My God, it looks like hell."
And the guide said, "You Americans, you have been everywhere!"


Mind is American, that is absolutely certain; otherwise there is no need to move anywhere. Wherever you are is the place of your enlightenment.


... THE PLACE TO ESCAPE THE THREE WORLDS -- hell and earth and heaven. In Christianity, Judaism, Mohammedanism, all the three religions born outside of India -- heaven is the ultimate. But the religions born in India don't think of heaven as the ultimate. To be free from all these three is their ultimate goal, and that fourth is called moksha -- authentic liberation.


Heaven is nothing but a holiday resort. You have earned some money and then you rush to a holiday resort. Heaven is nothing according to the Eastern religions, only a holiday resort. You have earned a little virtue, you have donated to charitable causes, you have been running orphanages, and things like that; these things are absolutely needed, otherwise you will not be able to get into heaven, because from where will you get your bank account to be opened in heaven?


Bertrand Russell was right when he said that if there is no poverty in the world, if everybody is comfortable, happy, living joyously, all so-called saints will disappear. Who would need their services? These saints need people to be poor, to be orphans, to be beggars, so that they can earn virtue. Virtue is a kind of currency that is used in heaven.


According to Indian religions, when you reach heaven you live there as long as your account lasts, and when your account is finished you are back on the earth -- again the business of earning virtue. So they call these "the three worlds." A few people open their accounts in hell by doing evil acts. They also come back. When their account is finished and they have been tortured enough, they also come back.


This earth, this world, is just a place from where people go in all directions -- and they go on coming back. When the account is finished, they have to come back here. This is a vicious circle.


The Eastern religions call it the circle of birth and death. And to be totally free from it, they have a different name -- which is not available in the religions born outside of India -- moksha, or nirvana. That means now you have gone forever, the point of no return. You will not be coming back again.


You can leave all the three worlds just from the place where you are. You don't have to move anywhere -- to the Himalayas, to some caves, to some monasteries. All you have to do is to move withinwards, to your awareness.
<p class="sutra">DID NOT BUDDHA SAY, "NOT DEPENDING ON, OR ABIDING IN, ANY SITUATION, NOT HAVING ANY DISCRIMINATION, ONE CLEARLY SEES THE VAST ESTABLISHMENT OF REALITY AND REALIZES THAT ALL WORLDS AND ALL THINGS ARE EQUAL AND NONDUAL."
THOUGH A BODHISATTVA OF THE "FAR-GOING" STAGE APPEARS TO ACT THE SAME AS OUTSIDERS, HE DOES NOT ABANDON THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS; THOUGH HE APPEARS TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THAT IS WORLDLY, HE'S PERPETUALLY PRACTICING ALL WORLD-TRANSCENDING WAYS. THESE ARE THE REAL EXPEDIENT DEVICES WITHIN THE BURNING HOUSE OF PASSION...</p>


ONLY HAVING PENETRATED ALL THE WAY THROUGH CAN YOU SAY THAT AFFLICTION IS ITSELF ENLIGHTENMENT AND IGNORANCE IS IDENTICAL TO GREAT WISDOM. WITHIN THE WONDROUS no-MIND... I am saying "no-mind." Ta Hui continues to say "mind" -- and that is absolutely wrong. Gautam Buddha's whole teaching is based on no-mind, on going beyond mind.


... WITHIN THE WONDROUS no-MIND OF THE ORIGINAL VAST QUIESCENCE -- PURE, CLEAR, PERFECT ILLUMINATION -- THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THING THAT CAN CAUSE OBSTRUCTION. IT IS LIKE THE EMPTINESS OF SPACE... He is saying: You can live in the world and yet not be of the world. You can live in the world and not allow the world to live in you. All that is needed is a little watchfulness.


A small story in the end.... Just as you have heard the name of Cleopatra -- one of the most beautiful women of Egypt -- in the East, equivalent to Cleopatra, we have the name of a beautiful woman contemporary to Gautam Buddha, Amrapali.


Buddha was staying in Vaishali, where Amrapali lived. Amrapali was a prostitute. In Buddha's time, in this country, it was a convention that the most beautiful woman of any city will not be allowed to get married to any one person, because that will create unnecessary jealousy, conflict, fighting. So the most beautiful woman had to become nagarvadhu -- the wife of the whole town.


It was not disrespectable at all; on the contrary, just as in the contemporary world we declare beautiful women as "the woman of the year", they were very much respected. They were not ordinary prostitutes. Their function was that of a prostitute, but they were only visited by the very rich, or the kings, or the princes, generals -- the highest strata of society.


Amrapali was very beautiful. One day she was standing on her terrace and she saw a young Buddhist monk. She had never fallen in love with anybody, although every day she had to pretend to be a great lover to this king, to that king, to this rich man, to that general. But she fell suddenly in love with the man, a Buddhist monk who had nothing, just a begging bowl -- a young man, but of a tremendous presence, awareness, grace. The way he was walking... She rushed down, she asked the monk, "Please -- today accept my food."


Other monks were also coming behind him, because whenever Buddha was moving anywhere, ten thousand monks were always moving with him. The other monks could not believe this. They were jealous and angry and feeling all human qualities and frailties as they saw the young man enter the palace of Amrapali.


Amrapali told him, "After three days the rainy season is going to start..." Buddhist monks don't move for four months when it is the rainy season. Those are the four months they stay in one place; for eight months they continuously move, they can't stay more than three days in one place.


It is a strange psychology, if you have watched yourself... You can watch it: to be attached to some place it takes you at least four days. For example, for the first day in a new house you may not be able to sleep, the second day it will be little easier, the third day it will be even easier, and the fourth day you will be able to sleep perfectly at home. So before that, if you are a Buddhist monk, you have to leave.


Amrapali said, "After just three days the rainy season is to begin, and I invite you to stay in my house for the four months."
The young monk said, "I will ask my master. If he allows me, I will come."


As he went out there was a crowd of monks standing, asking him what had happened. He said, "I have taken my meal, and the woman has asked me to stay the four months of the rainy season in her palace. I told her that I will ask my master."


People were really angry -- one day was already too much; but four months continuously...! They rushed towards Gautam Buddha. Before the young man could reach the assembly, there were hundreds standing up and telling Gautam Buddha, "This man has to be stopped. That woman is a prostitute, and a monk staying four months in a prostitute's house..."


Buddha said, "You keep quiet! Let him come. He has not agreed to stay; he has agreed only if I allow him. Let him come."


The young monk came, touched the feet of Buddha and told the whole story, "The woman is a prostitute, a famous prostitute, Amrapali. She has asked me to stay for four months in her house. Every monk will be staying somewhere, in somebody's house, for the four months. I have told her that I will ask my master, so I am here... whatever you say."
Buddha looked into his eyes and said, "You can stay."


It was a shock. Ten thousand monks... There was great silence, but great anger, great jealousy. They could not believe that Buddha has allowed a monk to stay in a prostitute's house. After three days the young man left to stay with Amrapali, and the monks every day started bringing gossips, "The whole city is agog. There is only one talk -- that a Buddhist monk is staying with Amrapali for four months continuously."


Buddha said, "You should keep silent. Four months will pass and I trust my monk. I have looked into his eyes -- there was no desire. If I had said no, he would not have felt anything. I said yes... he simply went. And I trust in my monk, in his awareness, in his meditation.


"Why are you getting so agitated and worried? If my monk's meditation is deep then he will change Amrapali, and if his meditation is not deep then Amrapali may change him. It is now a question between meditation and a biological attraction. Just wait for four months. I trust my young man. He has been doing perfectly well and I have every certainty he will come out of this fire test absolutely victorious."


Nobody believed Gautam Buddha. His own disciples thought, "He is trusting too much. The man is too young; he is too fresh and Amrapali is much too beautiful. He is taking an unnecessary risk." But there was nothing else to do.


After four months the young man came, touched Buddha's feet -- and following him was Amrapali, dressed as a Buddhist nun. She touched Buddha's feet and she said, "I tried my best to seduce your monk, but he seduced me. He convinced me by his presence and awareness that the real life is at your feet. I want to give all my possessions to the commune of your monks."


She had a very beautiful garden and a beautiful palace. She said, "You can make it a place where ten thousand monks can stay in any rainy season."
And Buddha said to the assembly, "Now, are you satisfied or not?"


If meditation is deep, if awareness is clear, nothing can disturb it. Then everything is ephemeral. Amrapali became one of the enlightened women among Buddha's disciples.


So the whole question is: wherever you are, become more centered, become more alert, live more consciously. There is nowhere else to go. Everything that has to happen, has to happen within you, and it is in your hands. You are not a puppet, and your strings are not in anybody else's hands. You are an absolutely free individual. If you decide to remain in illusions, you can remain so for many, many lives. If you decide to get out, a single moment's decision is enough.
You can be out of all illusions this very moment.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.
			

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> Copyright 1964-1990 Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
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