No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity

To create a few more rainbows

To create a few more rainbows. Kyozan asked a monk the price of rice in Yushu—the monk talked about breaking bridge girders. 'What should we do at this moment?' 'At this moment, where shall we look?' Pointing at a snowman: 'Is there anything whiter?' Osho returns after weeks of fighting poisoning from the Reagan administration. The poison attacked every joint—the CIA's undetectable poison. Through witnessing, slowly all pain disappeared. To create a few more rainbows: the master's work is to bring color to a gray world. No mind is the empty mirror reflecting eternity.

An assembly of two buddhas

An assembly of two buddhas. Kyozan drew a circle with 'Buddha' inside—the monk was speechless. A monk circled Kyozan: 'What character?' Ten. Then clockwise—swastika. Then circle in hands—circle around the swastika. 'That is what all buddhas have kept—you also, I also.' Osho drops the word 'Bhagwan' after thirty years. The caste system of Manu—the ugliest social structure. Buddha rebelled against caste; that was his crime. An assembly of two buddhas: when host and guest are both awakened, there is no hierarchy—just communion.

A meeting of two rivers

A meeting of two rivers. Kakusan raised his foot: 'The twenty-eight patriarchs were like this, and you, and I!' Kyozan hit him four times. Later, Kakusan bowed silently to an ascetic: 'I am your famous disciple!' Kyozan raised his flapper; the monk shouted 'Kwatz!' 'Where was my mistake?' 'Improperly pointing to an external object.' UPI asks: Has Osho become a Buddhist? 'Buddha has taken shelter in me—I am the host. The moment truth is organized it becomes a lie.' A meeting of two rivers: Buddha's stream and Osho's stream merge without creating a new religion.

In your eyes is the hope of the world

In your eyes is the hope of the world. Isan: 'All day I've heard your voice, not seen you.' Kyozan shook a tea plant. 'You've got the use, not the subject.' 'What do you say?' Silence. 'You've got the subject, not the use.' Kyozan predicted his death at seventy-seven—died holding his folded knees. Osho survived seven weeks of poisoning—seven times his heart skipped a beat. Amrito feared the worst; Osho said: 'Trust my witnessing, not the cardiogram.' In your eyes is the hope of the world: the master sees in his disciples the future of consciousness.

I am just myself

I am just myself. Chosa: 'I went following fragrant grasses, returned in pursuit of falling blossoms.' 'You are full of the spring.' 'Better than autumn dews on lotus leaves.' Kyozan: 'Everyone has this one thing but doesn't know how to use it.' Chosa trampled Kyozan. 'Like a fierce tiger!' Osho struggles with Buddha as inner guest—Buddha's 2500-year-old habits: sleeping on the right side, no pillow. 'I synthesize both sides—the right and the left.' I am just myself: neither Buddhist nor Hindu, neither Eastern nor Western—just the unique individual I am.

My change has taken me higher

My change has taken me higher. 'Does the dog have Buddha-nature?' 'Yes.' 'Have you?' 'No.' 'All creatures have it—how not you?' 'I don't belong to all existent creatures.' 'Is this you a Buddha?' 'No.' 'What is this you?' 'Not a thing.' 'Can it be perceived?' 'Thought cannot attain to it—a mystery.' The seeress Ishida prophesied Buddha entering Osho—and that Osho would change names as Buddha did four times. My change has taken me higher: each transformation is not a fall but a rising. The mystery cannot be thought—it can only be lived.

The world of the gurus has ended

The world of the gurus has ended. Daiji: 'I'm not going to explain debates anymore—it's a disease.' A monk stood; Daiji returned to his room. Joshu asked how to manifest prajna. Daiji repeated the question—Joshu laughed. Next day, Daiji asked the same—Joshu put down his broom and laughed. Osho addresses his people in Urdu: 'Mehre hamsafar, mehre hamdham, mehre dost'—fellow travelers, my heart, my friend. English has lost its poetry to science. The world of the gurus has ended: the master is not a guru but a friend. Enlightenment means disappearing into the cosmos—no return through the womb.

Truth has no history

Truth has no history. 'What is Mount Daizui like?' 'Speak louder—I'm hard of hearing.' 'Like a thousand mountains, ten thousand mountains!' 'The ancient cut off his arm—what truth was he seeking?' 'He didn't cut it off. He was enjoying the snow.' Manjushri and Samantabhadra are in this flapper. The monk drew a circle, threw it behind, stretched his arms—Daizui gave him tea. India-China relations: Rajiv Gandhi settling with China—the second defeat. Truth has no history: truth is always here, now. The man in snow didn't seek truth—he was truth. The tea is the answer.

Be ready to be chopped

Be ready to be chopped. Mayoku circled Shokei three times, rang his staff—'Good.' Same with Nansen—'Wrong.' 'Shokei said good, you say wrong!' 'Shokei is good, but you are wrong—blown about by the wind. That leads to destruction.' A Buddhist leader calls Osho a 'self-styled buddha.' All geniuses are self-styled—only idiots are born. Be ready to be chopped: the master's work cuts through your ego. Don't be blown by opinions—Shokei's 'good' and Nansen's 'wrong' are both correct from their angle. The same act can be right or wrong depending on the doer.

When I call you my friends, I mean it

When I call you my friends, I mean it. 'What did you use before the bowl was given?' 'The one I shall use on my last day.' 'When all things are annihilated, will that also be annihilated?' 'Yes.' 'At the end of the universe, a great fire—will this share that fate?' Daizui: 'Yes.' Master Shu: 'No—because it identifies with the whole universe.' Mahabodhi Sabha angry at Osho. 'It was Buddha who knocked on my doors. I allowed him shelter out of love. But to have him inside was torture—I finally said goodbye.' When I call you my friends, I mean it: not disciples, not followers—friends.

Only creation shows your power

Only creation shows your power. 'Joshu said the oak tree in the garden—right?' Koko: 'My master said nothing of the kind! Don't insult the late master.' Hogen: 'Truly a lion's cub!' 'I've killed cows all my life—is it sin?' 'No.' 'Why?' 'One killed, one given back.' Ronald Reagan attacking Libya—killing Kadaffi's daughter, destroying houses. Only creation shows your power: destruction is easy, any idiot can destroy. Creation needs intelligence, love, courage. The lion's cub refuses to dilute the master's teaching. One killed, one given back: life balances itself.

Nothing to choose, nothing to discard

Nothing to choose, nothing to discard. Ho Koji asked Sekito: 'Who is independent of all things?' Sekito covered his mouth. Koji's verse: 'Daily nothing particular, only nodding to myself. Nothing to choose, nothing to discard. No coming, no going. Blue mountains without dust. Carrying water, shouldering firewood.' Ma Tzu: 'When you've drunk all the water in the Yangtze, I'll tell you.' Second verse: 'The ten directions converging, each learning to do nothing. Mind is empty, all is finished.' An innocent man hanged for being a terrorist's uncle. Nothing to choose, nothing to discard: enlightenment is not choosing good over bad—it's transcending both. Carrying water is Zen.