---
section: Library
booktitle: "Zen: The Quantum Leap From Mind to No-Mind"
booktype: "Discourses"
bookcode: "QUANT"
dategiven: "11 June 1988 pm"
place: " in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium"
chapternum: "Chapter #1"
chaptertitle: "Babysitting is the basic business of all buddhas"
acode: "8806115"
shorttitle: "QUANT01"
audio: "Yes"
video: "Yes"
esttime: "68mins"
displaytitle: "Zen: The Quantum Leap From Mind to No-Mind: Chapter #1"
---

```style
.sutra {
  font-style: italic;
  white-space: pre-wrap !important;
}
```
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<p class="sutra">BELOVED OSHO,
THE SCHOLAR, RYO OF SEIZAN, ONCE HAD A MEETING WITH BASO, WHO ASKED HIM,
"WHAT SUTRA ARE YOU LECTURING ON?"
"THE MIND SUTRA," HE REPLIED.
BASO SAID, "BY WHAT DO YOU LECTURE?"
RYO ANSWERED, "WITH MIND."
BASO SAID, "THE MIND IS LIKE AN ACTOR, THE MEANING LIKE A JESTER, THE SIX SENSES LIKE AN ACQUAINTANCE; HOW CAN THE MIND LECTURE ON A SUTRA?"
RYO RETORTED, "IF MIND CANNOT LECTURE, CAN'T NO-MIND?"
BASO REPLIED, "YES, NO-MIND CAN LECTURE ALL RIGHT."
RYO DUSTED HIS SLEEVES AND BEGAN TO TAKE HIS DEPARTURE.
BASO CALLED TO HIM AND SAID, "PROFESSOR!"
RYO TURNED HIS HEAD.
BASO SAID, "FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, THIS IS HOW IT IS."
RYO HAD A GREAT AWAKENING AND BOWED IN RESPECT TO BASO.
BASO SAID, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU BOWING FOR, NIT-WIT?"
RYO'S WHOLE BODY WAS NOW RUNNING WITH SWEAT. GOING BACK TO HIS TEMPLE, RYO SAID TO THE MONKS, "I THOUGHT IT COULD BE SAID THAT ALL MY LIFE, NO ONE COULD LECTURE BETTER THAN I ON THE SUTRAS. TODAY, A QUESTION BY BASO DISSOLVED THE ICE OF A LIFETIME."
RYO GAVE UP HIS LECTURES AND RETIRED FAR INTO THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND WAS HEARD OF NO MORE.
... ON ANOTHER OCCASION BASO SAID TO THE ASSEMBLED MONKS, "BELIEVE THAT EACH AND ALL OF YOU HAVE THE MIND WHICH IS THE BUDDHA! DARUMA CAME FROM INDIA TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM TO ENLIGHTEN YOU WITH THE TRUTH HE CONVEYED, OF THE MAHAYANA ONE MIND."
A MONK SPOKE UP AND SAID, "WHY DO YOU TEACH 'THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA'?"
BASO SAID, "TO STOP THE BABY CRYING."
THE MONK SAID, "AND WHEN THE BABY STOPS CRYING?"
BASO SAID, "MIND IS NOT THE BUDDHA."
THE MONK SAID, "BESIDE THIS, IS THERE SOMETHING MORE?"
BASO REPLIED, "I WILL TELL YOU, IT IS NOT SOME THING."</p>


Maneesha, it is the beginning of a beginningless existential festival. Zen is festive, it is not scholarly. It condemns scholars as deeply as possible, because the scholar represents the defined mind, cultured mind, borrowed knowledge, dead scriptures. The scholar is a grave. Zen is a living rose of flowers. Nothing in it is dead, it is always and always. It goes on from beginningless to endless: characters change, leaves fall from the trees, new leaves start growing, the old ones disappear, the new ones arrive -- it is a constant change. But in essence nothing changes -- only on the periphery, only on the circumference, but never in the center. And the center is Zen.


I am happy to begin this series of talks with an anecdote about Baso. He is one of my beloved ones.
<p class="sutra">THE SCHOLAR, RYO OF SEIZAN, ONCE HAD A MEETING WITH BASO, WHO ASKED HIM, "WHAT SUTRA ARE YOU LECTURING ON?"</p>


The poor scholar was not aware that he has entered into the den of a lion. Entering into it is easy, but getting out of it is impossible. Getting into the hands of Baso, you have already committed suicide. Baso was such a swordlike, sharp master. He killed people this way and that, and brought hundreds of people to enlightenment.


This poor scholar does not know that to meet Baso once is to meet your death. That's how the ancients have defined the function of a master. It is not to teach you, but to kill you: it is not to impart knowledge to you, but simply to take away all knowledge from you. Even the very sense of 'I' has to disappear.


The scholar was not aware that meeting Baso once is enough, twice will be too much. He asked him, "WHAT SUTRA ARE YOU LECTURING ON?"
<p class="sutra">THE MIND SUTRA."
Baso replied, "BY WHAT DO YOU LECTURE?"
RYO ANSWERED, "WITH MIND."
BASO SAID, "THE MIND IS LIKE AN ACTOR, THE MEANING LIKE A JESTER, THE SIX SENSES LIKE AN ACQUAINTANCE; HOW CAN THE MIND LECTURE ON A SUTRA?"</p>


Mind cannot speak, it can not even with a single finger indicate the ultimate. All that mind is doing is a controlled, relevant gibberish -- on the surface looking very silent, inside a madhouse. This madhouse cannot say a single word about the truth; it knows nothing, although it plays the game as if it knows.
<p class="sutra">RYO RETORTED, "IF MIND CANNOT LECTURE, CAN'T NO-MIND?"</p>


Just a logical, intellectual question, not authentic, not coming from his own experience... Because Baso says mind cannot speak on the truth, logically it can be asked, "Do you think then no-mind can speak?"
<p class="sutra">BASO REPLIED, "YES, NO-MIND CAN LECTURE ALL RIGHT."
RYO DUSTED HIS SLEEVES AND BEGAN TO TAKE HIS DEPARTURE.
BASO CALLED TO HIM AND SAID, "PROFESSOR!"
RYO TURNED HIS HEAD.
BASO SAID, "FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, THIS IS HOW IT IS."</p>


The no-mind... Mind continuously changes: a child's mind is one thing, a young man's mind is another thing, a mature middle-aged mind is another thing, the mind of an old man is another thing. The mind is constantly accumulating, changing viewpoints, ideologies, religions. It is not very trustworthy, it cannot be relied upon. Today it may be a communist and tomorrow may turn against communism; today it may be atheist, tomorrow it may become a theist. Mind is just hot air, as polluted as Poona.


No-mind is your unpolluted nature, from the beginning to the end. Baso is saying, "FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, THIS IS HOW IT IS." No-mind is continuously singing its song whether you hear it or not; its music is there whether you hear it or not; its dance is there, though of course your eyes cannot see it. It is an eternal dance.
<p class="sutra">RYO HAD A GREAT AWAKENING AND BOWED IN RESPECT TO BASO.
BASO SAID, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU BOWING FOR, NIT-WIT?"
RYO'S WHOLE BODY WAS NOW RUNNING WITH SWEAT. GOING BACK TO HIS TEMPLE, RYO SAID TO THE MONKS, "I THOUGHT IT COULD BE SAID THAT ALL MY LIFE NO ONE COULD LECTURE BETTER THAN I ON THE SUTRAS. TODAY, A QUESTION BY BASO DISSOLVED THE ICE OF A LIFETIME." RYO GAVE UP HIS LECTURES AND RETIRED FAR INTO THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND WAS HEARD OF NO MORE.</p>


Meeting with a man like Baso is dangerous. It is not without reason that I am called the most dangerous man of this century. I am. Meeting me once, you will disappear, you will not be heard of anymore, you will not be seen again... One meeting is enough!
<p class="sutra">... ON ANOTHER OCCASION
BASO SAID TO THE ASSEMBLED MONKS,
"BELIEVE THAT EACH AND ALL OF YOU HAVE THE MIND WHICH IS THE BUDDHA! BODHIDHARMA CAME FROM INDIA TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM TO ENLIGHTEN YOU WITH THE TRUTH HE CONVEYED OF ONE MIND," of this moment, of suchness.
A MONK SPOKE UP AND SAID, "WHY DO YOU TEACH 'THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA'?"
BASO SAID, "TO STOP THE BABY CRYING."</p>


All the enlightened ones have been speaking, so that the baby does not start crying. Consoling, baby-sitting, is the basic business of all buddhas. The moment the baby grows, at the right time they are going to strike the baby. The real teaching will start only when you are mature enough, centered enough, receptive enough, aware enough. No buddha is going to waste a single hit. He will wait and console the baby, and once the baby is consoled the whole approach of the buddha changes. He does not speak in terms of the mind anymore. The mind is the most childish thing in the world. Once the master has helped you to detach your consciousness from your mind, the real teaching is very simple.
No-mind is the buddha.
Your ego is your immaturity.
Your egolessness is your awakening.
Just die to this moment deep enough
so that you can have a resurrection.


Then you will know that no-mind is the buddha. And it has always been so. But to those who cannot understand, the compassionate ones have been saying to them that the mind is the buddha. It is just out of compassion to keep you from crying, because if you are not mature enough -- and it is said , "You are not at all; you are just a soap bubble. Inside is nothingness and that is your nature" -- the retarded ones will be driven crazy.


The physician knows perfectly well in what quantity the medicine has to be given, at what time the disciple needs the ultimate hit so that he disappears, leaving behind him just a pure space.
Out of that pure space everything blossoms.
Into that pure space everything disappears.
That pure space is your being.
<p class="sutra">And THE MONK SAID, "AND WHEN THE BABY STOPS CRYING?"
BASO SAID, "MIND IS NOT THE BUDDHA."
THE MONK SAID, "BESIDE THIS, IS THERE SOMETHING MORE?"
BASO REPLIED, "I WILL TELL YOU, IT IS NOT SOME THING."</p>


This no-mind, this pure silence is not a thing, it is not some thing, it is the very life, the very consciousness, the very blissfulness, the eternal being. It is not a thing.
<p class="question">Maneesha has asked,
BELOVED OSHO,
THE OTHER EVENING I HEARD YOU SAY THAT INTUITION AND ENLIGHTENMENT ARE NOT DIFFERENT. IS THAT BECAUSE BOTH ARE OF NO-MIND? AND DOES THAT MEAN THAT WHEN INTUITION IS WORKING WITHIN US, WE ARE HAVING A SMALL TASTE OF ENLIGHTENMENT?</p>


Maneesha, in your simple question you have raised many questions. First, the other evening never happened! The past is past. How many times do I have to remind you? There has been no other evening than this and there will be no other evening than this! Rather than being here, you are worried that you heard me say that "intuition and enlightenment are not different. Is that because both are no-mind?"


I want you all, not only Maneesha, to understand that this is not an assembly of philosophical, theological inquirers. This is a meeting of the buddhas. As far as your innermost self is concerned, you can give it any name, intuition... What does that word mean? It means 'knowing from within.' We understand perfectly what tuition means, what tutor means: knowledge coming from outside, a teacher, a tutor, a professor; all they are doing is tuition.


Intuition is that which arises within you, it is your very being. You can call it enlightenment. You can give it any name -- it does not matter -- names don't matter in this world of real existence.


And then finally you are asking, "And does that mean that when intuition is working within us..."


No, Maneesha, intuition is never working; it is simply there. What is working is always mind: what is always at rest, not working, is you. Your center is beyond working or not working, it simply is: it is a different language to understand -- it does nothing. So when you think your intuition is working you are being befooled by your mind. Don't be befooled by the mind. Remember that intuition is: it does not work; it is a presence, an awareness. That's why I have called them two names of one experience: intuition, enlightenment, awakening, buddhahood -- just names of the same unmoving center.


You cannot, Maneesha, have just a taste of it. Either you have it whole, or you don't have it. It is indivisible.


This gives me the chance to show you the meaning of individual. No dictionary, no encyclopedia will help. For them it will be very far fetched to connect individual with indivisibility, that which cannot be divided. If it cannot be divided, you cannot have a taste of it. You will either have to have it, or decide to remain in ignorance, but you cannot say, "I have got a little bit of enlightenment." That way it does not work.


You cannot say, "I am partially enlightened." Be -- totally. And what name you give to that totality of your being is up to you. For the moment I have chosen the word enlightenment, because it has the quality of dispelling all darkness, misery, anguish, negativity; it brings you to your positive being, it brings you to your very heart, saying, "Yes," with every beat of the universe surrounding you.


But it is not, Maneesha, possible to have a partial experience. Just look at it this way: can you say to someone, "I am partially in love with you, just thirty percent. I will try a little more, but for the moment I am one third of my being in love with you"? If you say this to anybody he or she will think somebody has escaped from the madhouse! Even love cannot be divided, that's why love has always been taken as an example of enlightenment. The only thing that is similar in both is, they are indivisible.


But we are all living partial lives. Partially we love, obviously a very pseudo, very superficial, very unreal and false deception and nothing more. We are meditating partially. But nothing happens that way. Nature does not allow these great experiences in part. Nature is not America -- you cannot have things on installment.


This American idea of installment is absolutely contrary to existence. Why not have it whole when it is available? You can cut things into pieces, but not beings into pieces. Beings will be dead if you cut them into pieces.


This is one of the most difficult problems for a scientific mind, because it is accustomed to dissecting. Only when something can be dissected will science accept its existence. And the consciousness of man cannot be dissected, hence science continues to deny there is any being, any immortal consciousness in man. It is really hilarious. Everything is in the lab of the scientist except the scientist himself; he is not there. He cannot accept that he is, unless he puts himself on the dissecting table, sees all the qualities, possibilities, inquires into every part, pulls them apart, joins them again and sees what happens.


Naturally if you cut a living being and then join it together again, you will have a corpse on your hands. Life will have disappeared.


It happened... Charles Darwin was celebrating his sixtieth birthday with his friends. And the children of his neighborhood... he was very friendly with children, with animals, with birds, with trees; it was his lifelong work to inquire into evolution, so he was interested in anything that grows; although he was an old man, he was very friendly with small children. All the children were wondering, "What should we bring him as a present on his birthday? His birthday is coming soon, and what can we present to a world famous scientist? There will be precious presents from every corner, what can we do? And he is such a great friend to us, something has to be done."


And they did something. They got hold of many insects, frogs, fish, grasshoppers -- all kinds, whatever they could manage -- and they cut them up to create a new being. The head was of a frog and the legs of a grasshopper. They were very happy that for the first time Charles Darwin would be surprised, because he had been working his whole life with insects, animals, their growth and evolution. "Let us see what he says about this insect."


The children came with their creation amongst the great scientists who had gathered to celebrate. They asked Charles Darwin, "Do you know this insect?"


Even Charles Darwin for a moment could not believe his eyes. He had roamed all over the world, finding all kinds of species, but he had never seen this... and these children of his neighborhood, where had they found it? He looked closely.
The children said, "Can you tell us the name?"
He said, "Yes, its name is hocus pocus."


Anything partial is going to be hocus pocus. Totality is the language to be learned here. To bring you to this moment, I try every device, because this moment is your no-mind.


The circus crowd is tense and silent, as Charlie the crocodile trainer cracks his whip. The crocodile opens its mouth... the crowd gasps as Charlie rolls up his sleeve and puts his arm inside the huge mouth. Charlie cracks his whip again and the croc shuts his mouth with terrific force, but stops an inch from Charlie's bare arm. The crowd is ecstatic.


Then the croc opens its huge mouth again, the white teeth glinting in the spotlights. This time, Charlie pulls out his prick and puts it in the croc's waiting mouth. There is deathly silence and Charlie cracks his whip. Quick as a flash, the croc shuts its mouth, but stops an inch from Charlie's prick. Then he picks up a huge wooden hammer and bangs it hard on the croc's head. But still he won't bite. Charlie takes a bow and then says, "Would anyone from the audience like to give it a try?"


A little old lady jumps up and runs into the ring. "Me! Me!" she cries. "But please, don't hit me so hard!"


Giovanni tells his friend, Zabriski, that he passed his American citizenship test by writing all the answers on the elastic of his underpants.
Zabriski borrows Giovanni's underpants and goes for the interview.
The examiner asks Zabriski the first question:
"How many states are there in America?"


Zabriski pretends that he is thinking. He turns around in his chair and sneaks a look inside the waistband of his pants.
"Thirty-four," he answers.


The examiner thinks that this poor man must be nervous, so he asks another question.
"What is the color of the American flag?"
Zabriski turns away and checks his shorts again.
"Green and purple," he replies.
The examiner decides to give him one last chance.
"Who was the first president of America?" he asks.


Zabriski looks over his shoulder, and stretches the elastic of his underpants. Then he looks up and proudly proclaims,
"Calvin Klein!"


Paddy walks into his local pub one evening and sees a smart traveling salesman leaning against the bar. He is impressed by the man's impeccable clothes, but what really catches his eye is the guy's beautiful red shoes.


So Paddy walks up to him and says, "I really love your shoes. What kind are they?"
"They are crocodile shoes," replies the salesman.


Paddy has never heard of crocodiles but not wanting to show his ignorance, he says, "Thanks," and then goes and asks Sam, the bartender, what a crocodile is.


"It is a big, ferocious animal that lives in the Amazon jungle in Brazil," replies Sam.


Paddy has fallen in love with those shoes, and when Paddy falls in love, he will stop at nothing. So, the next day, he sells his old Ford car and buys a ticket to Brazil. Two days later, he has hired a local guide and is paddling up the river in a small boat, in search of a crocodile.
A week later, and deep in the jungle, the guide suddenly shouts,
"Look! Mr. Murphy, a crocodile!"


Paddy grabs his huge knife and leaps into the river. A terrible fight follows, which is almost Paddy's last. But eventually, he kills the beast and drags it into the boat.


Exhausted, and bloody, Paddy triumphantly turns the crocodile onto his back, and then stares in amazement.
"Shit!" he cries, "it has got no shoes on!"


Now, the first step of meditation is throwing all your craziness out. It is a simple method, if you are not a coward -- I mean if you are not a gentleman. It simply means gibberish. Speak any language that you don't know, or make sounds, but don't sit there like a buddha; that stage comes later.

Arup, first beat...

(Drumbeat)

Go crazy!

(Gibberish)

Arup...

(Drumbeat)

Everybody becomes silent, utterly silent.
Close your eyes and just be in.
Deeper and deeper, total and total...
Just be the buddha!
This is your very nature.
Arup, give the next beat...

(Drumbeat)

Relax.
Relax so deeply... as if you are dead.
Let the body breathe, but you go on entering
deeper and deeper within yourself.

This is it.
No word can say it, no mind can explain it,
but it is deep inside you, already present.

Arup, give the beat...

(Drumbeat)
Come out of your graves, back to life,
to resurrection,
fresh, silent, innocent.

Okay, Maneesha?
Yes, Osho.
Can we celebrate now?
YES!
			

> [!info]
> Copyright 1964-1990 Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
>