The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart Talks on Zen

The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart Talks on Zen

Talks given from 08/09/88 English Discourse series

The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart Chapter #1 Chapter title: The emptiness of the heart

8 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

OUR BELOVED MASTER, BUKKO SAID:

TAKING THINGS EASILY AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE RUSH OF THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE SHOWS ITSELF. ... NOW BODY AND MIND, FREE FROM ALL MOTIVATIONS, ALWAYS APPEAR AS VOID AND ABSOLUTE SAMENESS, SHINING LIKE THE BRIGHTNESS OF HEAVEN, AT THE CENTER OF THE VAST EXPANSE OF PHENOMENAL THINGS, AND NEEDING NO POLISHING OR CLEANING. THIS IS BEYOND ALL CONCEPTS, BEYOND BEING AND NON-BEING.

LEAVE YOUR INNUMERABLE KNOWINGS AND SEEINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS, AND GO TO THAT GREATNESS OF SPACE. WHEN YOU COME TO THAT VASTNESS, THERE IS NO SPECK OF BUDDHISM IN YOUR HEART, AND WHEN THERE IS NO SPECK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT YOU, YOU WILL HAVE THE TRUE SIGHT OF BUDDHAS AND PATRIARCHS.

THE TRUE NATURE IS LIKE THE IMMENSITY OF SPACE WHICH CONTAINS ALL THINGS. WHEN YOU CAN GO AND COME IN ALL REGIONS EQUALLY, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING SPECIALLY YOURS, NO WITHIN AND NO WITHOUT, WHEN YOU CONFORM TO HIGH AND CONFORM TO LOW, CONFORM TO THE SQUARE AND CONFORM TO THE ROUND, THAT IS IT. THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE; THE EMPTINESS OF THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY MAKES THE VOICE ECHO; THE EMPTINESS OF THE HEART MAKES THE BUDDHA. WHEN YOU EMPTY THE HEART, THINGS

APPEAR AS IN A MIRROR, SHINING THERE WITHOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM. LIFE AND DEATH AN ILLUSION, ALL THE BUDDHAS ARE ONE'S OWN BODY. ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS; IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH. IF YOU CUT OFF ALL DOUBTS, THE COURSE OF LIFE-AND- DEATH IS CUT OFF NATURALLY. I ASK YOU ALL: DO YOU SEE IT OR DON'T YOU? -- HOW IN JUNE THE SNOW MELTS FROM THE TOP OF MOUNT FUJI.

Maneesha, Bukko has come to the ultimate expression of the experience of one's own being. Very rarely has a master succeeded to such a point as Bukko has in his statements. Listen carefully, because rarely will you meet a Bukko again.

BUKKO SAID: TAKING THINGS EASILY AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE RUSH OF THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE SHOWS ITSELF. That's what I have been telling you. To be a buddha is not a difficult job. It is not some achievement for which you need a Nobel Prize. It is the easiest thing in the world, because it has already happened without your knowing. The buddha is already breathing in you. Just a little recognition, just a little turning inwards... and that has not to be done forcibly. If you do it forcibly you will miss the point. It is very delicate. You have to look inward playfully, not seriously. That's what he means by "taking things easily." Don't take anything seriously.

Existence is very easy. You have got your life without any effort, you are living your life without any effort. You are breathing perfectly well without being reminded; your heartbeat continues even in your sleep -- so easy is existence with you! But you are not so easy with existence. You are very close-fisted. You want everything to be turned into an achievement.

Enlightenment cannot be an achievement. That which you have already -- how can it be an achievement? The authentic master simply takes away things which you don't have and you believe you have, and he gives you that which you already have. You are having many things which you don't have at all, you just believe that you have them. The master's function is that of a surgeon, to cut all that is not you and leave behind just the essential core -- the eternal being. It is a very easy phenomenon; you can do it on your own. There are no problems and no risk in taking things easily, but people take things very tensely. They take things very seriously, and that spoils the whole game.

And remember, life is a game. Once you understand it as a game, a deep playfulness arises on its own accord. The victory is not the point; the point is to play totally, joyously, dancingly. What is called playfulness is very essential in the inquiry of your own being.

TAKING THINGS EASILY, SAYS BUKKO, AND WITHOUT FORCING, AFTER SOME TIME THE RUSH OF THOUGHT, OUTWARD AND INWARD, SUBSIDES NATURALLY, AND THE TRUE FACE SHOWS ITSELF.

When I say to you that meditation is nothing but thoughtlessness, you can misunderstand me. You are not to do anything to become thoughtless, because whatever you will do will be again a thought. You have to learn to see the procession of thoughts, standing by the side of the road as if it does not matter to you what is passing by. Just the ordinary traffic -- if you can take your thoughts in such a manner that they are not of much concern, then easily, slowly, the caravan of thoughts which has continued for thousands of years disappears.

You have to understand a simple thing, that giving attention is giving nourishment. If you don't give any attention but remain unconcerned, the thoughts start dying on their own. They don't have any other way to get energy, any other source of life. You are their energy, and because you go on giving them attention, seriously, you think it is very difficult to be free from thought. It is the easiest thing in the world, but it has to be done in the right way. The right way is just to stand by the side. The traffic goes on -- let it go. Don't make any judgment of good and bad; don't appreciate, don't condemn. That is what is meant by being easy. It is all okay.

WITHOUT FORCING... and that is something that has to be remembered, because our natural tendency is that if we have to become thoughtless, why not force the thoughts? Why not throw them out? But by the very act of forcing them, you are giving them energy, you are giving them nourishment, you are taking note of them and you are making them important -- so important that without throwing them, you cannot meditate. Just try to throw out any single thought, and you will see how difficult it is. The more you throw it the more it bounces back! It will enjoy the game very much, and you are going to be defeated finally. You have taken a wrong route.

I have always told an ancient Tibetan story.... A young man was very much interested in the esoteric, in the mysterious. He found a saint who was known to have many secrets, but it was very difficult to get any secret from him. The young man said, "I will see. I will devote my whole life to his service, and I will get the secrets, the mysteries."

So he remained with the old saint. The old saint told him, "You are unnecessarily wasting your time. I don't have anything, I am just a poor old soul. Because I don't speak, people think I am keeping some secret. But I don't have anything to say, so I remain silent." But the man said, "I cannot be persuaded so easily. You will have to give me the secret which opens the door of all the mysteries."

Tired of the young man, because twenty-four hours a day he was there... the poor old saint had to arrange for his food, had to ask somebody to take care for his clothes; the winter was coming and he would need more clothes. It had become a burden. Finally the old man got fed up. He told the young fellow, "Today I am going to tell you the secret. It is not very difficult. It is very simple." In Tibet there is a common mantra which religious people repeat: Om mani padme hum. He said, "Everything is hidden in this."

But the young man said, "Don't befool me! Everybody knows this mantra, it is not a secret. It is the most widely known mantra to the Tibetans." He said, "It is true, it is widely known. But the key is not known to them for opening it. Do you know the key for opening it?" The young man said, "Key? I have never heard that there is a key to open a mantra."

"That is the secret! The key is, while you are repeating the mantra -- just for five minutes -- just don't let any monkey pop into your head."

He said, "You seem to be an old idiot! In my whole life I have never thought of a monkey. Why should I think of one?" He rushed down the stairs of the temple where the old saint lived. But strangely, even though he was not reciting the mantra, monkeys started coming, giggling. He would close his eyes and they would be there. He would run to this side and they would be there. They were not outside, they were inside his head. And slowly slowly the crowd was becoming bigger. As far as he could see, only monkeys and monkeys, and doing all kinds of circus!

He said, "My god, this is the key? I am finished! I have not even started the mantra." Finally he said, "Let me take a good bath and get rid of all these monkeys." But the more he pushed them away, the more they jumped towards him. He took the bath, he burned incense, he sat in a religious lotus posture, but whatever he was doing, monkeys were watching from every side. He said, "It is strange -- monkeys have never visited this house..." The whole night he tried, but he could not repeat this simple mantra Om mani padme hum without monkeys jumping in.

By the morning he was so tired. He said, "This old saint, I will kill him! What kind of key...?" In the morning he rushed to the old saint and said, "Please take away your key. I am almost mad!" The old man said, "That's why I was not telling anybody, because the key is very difficult. Now do you understand why I was silent?" He said, "I don't want to listen to a single word from you. You just take this key back and let me go home. And I don't want these monkeys to follow me!" The saint said, "If you give back the key, never repeat the mantra again. The monkeys will come! I cannot help it, they are not in my power." The man dropped the mantra, he dropped the key. He descended the same steps and there was no monkey at all. He closed his eyes and there was no monkey. He looked all around and there was no monkey. He said, "It is strange..." He tried just once on the way, to see what happens when he says Om mani padme hum and closes his eyes. And they were all coming, from all directions!

You cannot repress any thought. The very repressive process gives it energy, life, strength. And it weakens you because you become a defeated partner in the game. The easiest thing is not to force but to be just a witness. If a monkey comes, let him come. Just say "Hello!" and he will go. But don't tell him to go. Just be a witness that a monkey has come, or a thousand monkeys have come. What does it matter? It is none of your business. They may be going to some gathering, some religious festival, so let them go. It is none of your concern. And soon the crowd will disappear, seeing that "the man is not interested." All your thoughts are in the same category. Never force any thought to go away; otherwise it will rebound with greater energy. And the energy is yours! You are on a selfdefeating track. The more you throw it away the more it will come back.

Hence, what Bukko is saying is the only way -- I say the only way -- to be thoughtless: don't pay any attention. Just remain silently watching all kinds of things... monkeys and elephants, let them pass. Soon you will find an empty road, and when you find an empty road, you have found an empty mind -- naturally. Everything outward and inward subsides and there is the tremendous silence which easiness brings.

NOW BODY AND MIND, FREE FROM ALL MOTIVATIONS, ALWAYS APPEAR AS VOID AND ABSOLUTE SAMENESS.

When you are in the state of no-mind, which is equivalent to thoughtlessness... when there is no thought cloud moving in your mind, you attain to the clarity of no-mind.

Mind is simply a combination of all the thoughts, of all the clouds. Mind has no independent nature of its own. When all the thoughts are gone and the sky is clean and clear, you will see that everything that you have paid so much attention to is nothing but emptiness. Your thoughts were all empty. They contained nothing, they were void. Whatever you thought they contained was your own energy. You have withdrawn your energy -- just the empty shell of the thought falls down. You have withdrawn your identity and immediately the thought is no longer alive. It was your identity that was giving it life force. And strangely enough, you thought that your thoughts were very strong and it was difficult to get rid of them! You were making them strong, you were cultivating them.

Just by forcing them, you were getting into a fix.

I agree with Bukko. I have agreed out of my own experience that you can simply sit or lie down and let the thoughts pass by. They will not leave even a trace. Just don't get interested... and don't be DISinterested either, just be neutral. To be neutral is to be easy, and to be neutral is to take back the very life force that you have given to your thoughts. Suddenly, a man of no thought becomes so full of energy -- energy which he had spread into the thoughts unnecessarily. He was weak because he was nourishing thoughts, which leads nowhere. They promise -- thoughts are politicians. They promise great things to come, but the moment they have power, they forget all their promises. This has been going on for centuries.

Those promises are just seductive. Your thoughts are promising you many things: "You can be this, you can be that." And they drive you, they give you motivation to become the greatest leader in the world, to become the richest man in the world. They drive you into ambitions, they become your masters. It is one of the weirdest phenomena that the servants become masters, and the master becomes just a servant. The moment you take your energy back you become a tremendous force, gathered in your own being and center.

This is the first and the most important thing to understand: never force anything, just let it go easily. If you ever want to find out what the secret of your life is, then you have to go inwards. And thoughts are always going outwards; every thought takes you outwards. When all thoughts cease, there is nowhere to go -- you simply are at home.

This at-homeness is meditation. Utter silence and peace prevails.

In this silence every ambition seems to be stupid; the whole world of objects seems to be nothing but a dream. And your own being shines in its BRIGHTNESS OF HEAVEN, AT THE CENTER OF THE VAST EXPANSE OF PHENOMENAL THINGS, AND NEEDING NO POLISHING OR CLEANING.

Your own being is so pure, so unpolluted, not even a particle of dust has ever reached there -- cannot reach. Only your consciousness can reach there, and consciousness arises in you with no-mind. With no-mind you become so wakeful, so watchful -- nowhere to go outside, because all thoughts are gone. So you turn inwards, and for the first time face your own original being.

THIS IS BEYOND ALL CONCEPTS...

What you are going to face in your meditation is beyond all concepts. This is a very pregnant statement.

... BEYOND BEING AND NON-BEING. We are using the word `being' because you will not be able to understand, while your thoughts are there, that something beyond being and beyond non-being is in existence within you. But when thoughts are gone, the first encounter is with a being, an individual being, bright and clean. And as you enter this being, you find yourself going beyond your individuality into the universal, which is beyond being and non-being. This is what ultimate enlightenment is. And Bukko has put it in the simplest possible way.

LEAVE YOUR INNUMERABLE KNOWINGS AND SEEINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS, AND GO TO THAT GREATNESS OF SPACE. WHEN YOU COME TO THAT VASTNESS, THERE IS NO SPECK OF BUDDHISM IN YOUR HEART.

He is really a great master. His love towards Buddha is great, but that does not mean that he is a follower of Buddha. He is saying that when you enter into this great space, you will not find anything -- NO SPECK OF BUDDHISM even in your heart. AND WHEN THERE IS NO SPECK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT YOU -- you will not know anything, even about yourself -- YOU WILL HAVE THE TRUE SIGHT OF THE BUDDHAS and the great masters.

Buddha himself had a great difficulty. Perhaps no man has had such a great difficulty in explaining his experience. In this country, the self, atma, has been considered to be the ultimate experience. The two other religions of this country, Hinduism and Jainism, have both emphasized that to know your self is all, there is nothing beyond it. Now, Buddha was going against all of India's traditions by saying that the self is only a door to no-self. Don't stop at the door, it is a bridge to be passed. Don't make your house on the bridge because a vaster universe is ready to welcome you if you can leave this small idea of your self.

What is this self that you carry, that all the traditions of this country and other countries think so much of? Hundreds of philosophers came to Gautam Buddha, saying, "What you are saying goes against the VEDAS, against the UPANISHADS."

He said, "What can I do? It is my own experience, I cannot deny it. The self has to be transcended; only then you become one with the universe. The dewdrop has to disappear into the ocean."

Why cling to the dewdrop? What are you gaining by it?

Have you ever observed? -- all the religions teach that you should liberate yourself from misery, from sin. You should earn virtue so that you can make a place in paradise. "You" are the center of all the religions -- but not of Zen.

All the religions say, "Liberate yourself from your attachments." Only Zen has the strange courage to say, "Liberate yourself from yourself!" Liberating yourself from your attachments is child's play. The real, authentic seeker finally liberates himself not only from other things but even from himself. He drops the very idea that `I am'.

Existence is. Looked at from this viewpoint, it can be said that you are the center of all misery. And however you try, you will find you are only changing misery, from one misery to another misery. Maybe in the gap you feel a little light. From one marriage to another marriage -- just in the meantime, while you have to wait, you feel good. But this goodness is not going to last, you are already filling in the form for another marriage. You are the problem.

All other problems are just your children -- a bus load of children, and you are the driver. Buddhism, particularly, introduced the idea that it is not a question of dropping this greed, that anger, this passion, that possession. The question is of dropping yourself completely, disappearing into the universal energy from where we have arisen.

In India, Buddha was not understood. I am experiencing the same thing. In India I am not understood, because India has, for ten thousand years or more, believed in the self as the ultimate value. Self is not the ultimate value. What are you going to do with the self when you find it? Just sitting stupidly, looking weird to everybody. Just for a moment think: You have found your self, now what are you going to do? And remember, once you have found it, you cannot escape from it. It clings like German glue! It is not Indian glue....

Buddha took a tremendous step in the world of consciousness when he said, "The self is only a stepping stone. Step beyond it! And going beyond it, you are just empty." But this "empty" is not nothingness. The word that Buddha used has been translated either as "emptiness" or as "nothingness," but in English both words have a negative connotation. Buddha's word was shunyata. It is not a negative phenomenon.

Bukko gives it perhaps the best expression I have come across: WHEN YOU CAN GO AND COME IN ALL REGIONS EQUALLY, WHEN THERE IS NOTHING SPECIALLY YOURS, NO WITHIN, NO WITHOUT, WHEN YOU CONFORM TO HIGH AND CONFORM TO LOW, CONFORM TO THE SQUARE AND CONFORM TO THE ROUND, THAT IS IT. When you are simply available, with no self, you don't have any boundaries anymore. Without boundaries you can conform to anything.

THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE...

And your emptiness will also allow waves of blissfulness, peacefulness, splendor and unknown glory. You are at the highest peak available to any consciousness. But all these are still waves according to Bukko. That's why I say he has made a great statement.

THE EMPTINESS OF THE SEA ALLOWS WAVES TO RISE; THE EMPTINESS OF THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY MAKES THE VOICE ECHO...

It is empty; otherwise how can it echo the voice? Just nearby in Matheran, there is an echo point. A very clear echo point -- I have seen other echo points in other mountains also. Whatever you say it simply repeats, the whole valley. If you bark like a dog, the whole valley barks like a dog. If you sing a song, the whole valley sings the song. Its emptiness allows it to conform to anything.

And Bukko is saying that when you are utterly empty of being and no-being, of mind and no-mind... When you are just merged into the universal it can be said from one side that you are empty, but from the other side you are so full that now you can conform to anything. You can be the moon, you can be the rose, you can be the clouds. Or you can just remain the empty sky. For the first time you are free to be anything you want. For the first time your emptiness allows you to experience existence from different angles. It is a vast phenomenon. We know only small parts of it because our self-ness creates a boundary. We cannot go beyond the boundary.

THE EMPTINESS OF THE HEART MAKES THE BUDDHA.

Once your heart is empty, you are the buddha -- serene, silent, utterly blissful, at home. When I say to you that you are a buddha, I mean it. It is just that you have to recover from your dreams, afflictions, addictions. You just have to penetrate deeply to the point where even the self starts disappearing and the door opens to the vast, to the infinite. To be a buddha is the ultimate experience of joy, of eternity, of immortality, freedom and liberation. And nobody else can do it for you. It is simple: you have to do it yourself.

WHEN YOU EMPTY THE HEART, THINGS APPEAR AS IN A MIRROR, SHINING THERE WITHOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM. LIFE AND DEATH AN ILLUSION, ALL THE BUDDHAS ARE ONE'S OWN BODY. ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS; IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH.

I am reminded... A great industrialist had imported a totally new, sophisticated machine. It worked so beautifully, a hundred times more productive than the older one, but one day it stopped. Nobody knew what to do.

The manufacturers were informed, and they said, "We can send our man. But his fee is ten thousand dollars plus all traveling expenses." The industrialist was losing thousands of dollars every day. He agreed; he said, "Send him immediately, right now." The man came from the airport and without wasting a single moment, he took from his handbag a small hammer and hit the machine at a certain point and it started working. The owner of the factory said, "But this is too much! Ten thousand dollars just for hitting it with this little hammer?" The expert said, "No, for hitting with the hammer just one dollar will do. The real thing is knowing where to hit."

It is true, ZEN IS NOT SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS. IT IS JUST HITTING AND PIERCING THROUGH.

But don't believe in Bukko. The point is where to hit. It is not mysterious, but the problem is where to hit. Once you hit at the right time, at the right place, it is really very simple; there is nothing mysterious about it. That's what I have been continuously trying to get you to experience, because there is no way to tell you where to hit. Everybody has to find the place by going deeper into himself, seeing where the light is coming from, where the life is coming from, and then moving in that direction without any fear. This is what he means by "hitting and piercing through." Then don't stop. It will be very beautiful. Even in the beginning, the moment you see your light, your life source, it will have a tremendous beauty and there will be a desire to stop, that you have arrived. Don't do that. Much more lies ahead. Until you are finished completely... when you look all around and you don't find yourself -- that is the goal. This beyond is the buddha.

IF YOU CUT OFF ALL DOUBTS, THE COURSE OF LIFE-AND-DEATH IS CUT OFF NATURALLY. I ASK YOU ALL: DO YOU SEE IT OR DON'T YOU? -- HOW IN JUNE THE SNOW MELTS FROM THE TOP OF MOUNT FUJI.

He is saying that just as in June the snow starts melting from Mount Fuji... so simply, without making any fuss. As June comes, the snow does not say, "Wait a little, I am engaged in something else and I have to wait a little." No -- no resistance, no delaying, no postponing. As June comes, the snow starts melting. So when you reach to the point where you feel, "this is my center," then start melting. Your June has come. Then start melting and disappearing. Your very disappearance is making you the whole universe. Buddha has said, "When I disappeared, I saw stars within me, sun rising, sunset, fullmoon nights -- everything within me, not without me. It was my boundary that had been keeping them out. Now the boundary is no more; everything has fallen in. Now I am the whole."

At the time of his death the Zen monk, Guin, wrote:

ALL DOCTRINES SPLIT ASUNDER ZEN TEACHING CAST AWAY -- FOURSCORE YEARS AND ONE. THE SKY NOW CRACKS AND FALLS THE EARTH CLEAVES OPEN -- IN THE HEART OF THE FIRE LIES A HIDDEN SPRING.

When all is dropping and disappearing, in the heart of all this disappearance is hidden your spring. From this point you will start growing new flowers that you have never seen before.

Question 1 Maneesha has asked:

OUR BELOVED MASTER, IN THE WEST, THEY SAY THAT LOVE -- TWO FULL HEARTS -- MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND. JUDGING BY THE CASUALTY RATE, FULL HEARTS DON'T SEEM TO BE THE ANSWER. WHAT IS THE WORLD OF THE EMPTY HEART OF ZEN?

In the first place, whatever is said in the West, that "love -- two full hearts -- makes the world go round" is all nonsense. Whether you are here or not, the world will continue to go round. And two hearts full of love... where are you going to find them? The world would have stopped long ago if it were dependent on two hearts full of love. Even to find one heart is very difficult; two is too much! But those are just mass-mind oriented proverbs, not statements of a man like Bukko.

When Bukko says the empty heart is the buddha, he is talking about a very authentic experience. And it does not depend on anybody else. Love is both, a joy and a misery, because two are involved. Wherever there is duality, there is going to be conflict. You can put the conflict aside for a few days on the honeymoon, but after the honeymoon the conflict arises on every point. What kind of curtains? -- and immediately there are two voices. What kind of carpets, and what kind of literature, what kind of furniture? On every point you will find that those great lovers are in absolute disagreement! There is the beginning of real love, which always ends in divorce.

The world of religion is not the world of duality. It is a world of oneness. You have to find your own heart, utterly empty, empty of all rubbish. And when your heart is empty of all rubbish, you are the buddha. There is no other experience which goes beyond it.

Now before you become buddhas, a few laughs, because a few may come back, a few may not come back. Those who come back will celebrate, but for those who will not come back from this great inner journey, some laughs as a goodbye....

Kowalski and Olga are making love in the upstairs bedroom. Just as Kowalski is about to start up his machinery, they hear a loud banging noise downstairs. "What's that?" asks Olga, jumping up in bed.

"Nothing," pants Kowalski. "Come on, let's get on with it!" "No! No way!" demands Olga. "No lovemaking until you find out what is going on downstairs." Poor Kowalski stumbles downstairs with a very large erection, and flips on the the lights. Suddenly, the cat jumps out of the window. The dog dives under the sofa. And the parrot, trapped in its cage, looks around frantically, then tucks one leg under its wing and screams, "Wait! Wait, you silly Polack... you wouldn't fuck a cripple would you?"

Terrence and Mrs. Tuber, the TV Couch Potatoes, are propped up on their potato couch, chewing peanuts and watching their favorite soap opera "The Potato Family" on television.

When the doorbell rings, Chip the dog starts barking, and Terrence looks around at it and accidentally pops a peanut into his ear. He is still sitting on his potato couch with his head tipped to one side, trying to get the peanut out, when his daughter and her boyfriend Frito walk in. Frito immediately sees the situation and offers to help Terrence to get the peanut out. "Look," says Frito, "I'll cover your mouth, stick my two fingers into your nostrils and then blow into your other ear."

In desperation, Terrence agrees to give this a try. Frito stuffs his fingers tightly into the couch potato's nose and blows into his ear. Sure enough, the peanut pops out the other side.

Later that evening, Terrence and Mrs. Tuber are propped up in bed watching a re-run of "The Potato Family" on television, when Mrs. Tuber asks her husband, "That Frito is such a nice boy, what do you think he will do when he leaves school?" "I don't know what his plans are," replies Terrence. "But from the smell of his fingers, I think he will probably be our son-in-law."

"Hey man," says Swami Haridas to his friend, Stonehead Niskriya, "how come you got home so early from your date with Papaya Pineapple last night?" "Well," explains Stonehead, "after dinner we went back to her apartment. We sat on her bed listening to music, talked for a while, and drank some herb tea. Then she slowly undressed, pulled back the bed covers, lay down, reached over me, and turned out the light." "So?" asks Haridas. "What happened?"

"Well, I can take a hint," replies Stonehead. "So I went home!"

Nivedano... (Gibberish) Nivedano...

Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be frozen; gather all your life energy inwards and look in. Deeper and deeper. Find the center of your being. Finding the center of your being is the door that leads you beyond yourself, that makes you a buddha.

Be well acquainted with this new space you are in, because you have to carry the buddha twenty-four hours -- in your gestures, in your actions, in your words, in your silence, waking or sleeping.

If one can remain with this silence, then there is no need to follow any discipline, any virtue. Everything will happen on its own accord, spontaneously. And when things happen spontaneously they have a beauty of their own.

It is a blissful moment. You are dissolved into an oceanic consciousness, you are at home, realizing that which you have carried since the very beginning, for thousands of lives, but have never looked into it... never searched for it, have taken it for granted. It is the most precious treasure in you. It is the whole universe falling in you.

Nivedano, to make it clear...

Relax, and just watch the body, the mind. You remain a watcher. Just a watcher.

Your body is born and dies. Your mind every moment changes. Only this watcher is your eternity. Remember it.

Remind yourself of it. And slowly slowly make it your ordinary, simple life experience, just like breathing. You don't have to make any effort. When your buddha is that spontaneous, you have found the truth.

Nivedano...

Come back, and bring with you all the fragrance that you have gathered. Sit down, slowly, gracefully as a buddha, for a few seconds. This is going to be your lifestyle. I don't want any followers. I want everybody to be a buddha, a master unto himself.

Okay, Maneesha? Yes, Beloved Master.

Can we celebrate the buddhas? Yes!

The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart

Chapter #2 Chapter title: Twenty-four hours a day 9 September 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

OUR BELOVED MASTER, DAIKAKU SAID: ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS, BUT THROWING AWAY ONE'S PRECONCEIVED VIEWS AND NOTIONS AND THE SACRED TEXTS AND ALL THE REST, AND PIERCING THROUGH THE LAYERS OF COVERINGS OVER THE SPRING OF SELF BEHIND THEM.

ALL THE HOLY ONES HAVE TURNED WITHIN AND SOUGHT IN THE SELF, AND BY THIS, WENT BEYOND ALL DOUBT. TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, AND IN EVERY SITUATION, TO PIERCE, ONE BY ONE, THROUGH THE LAYERS COVERING THE SELF, DEEPER AND DEEPER, TO A PLACE WHICH CANNOT BE DESCRIBED. IT IS WHEN THINKING COMES TO AN END AND MAKING DISTINCTIONS CEASES, WHEN WRONG VIEWS AND IDEAS DISAPPEAR OF THEMSELVES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE DRIVEN FORTH; WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT, THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE HEART.

THE MAN RESOLUTE IN THE WAY MUST, FROM THE BEGINNING, NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT, WHETHER IN A PLACE OF CALM OR IN A PLACE OF STRIFE, AND HE MUST NOT BE CLINGING TO QUIET PLACES AND SHUNNING THOSE WHERE THERE IS DISTURBANCE. IF HE TRIES TO TAKE REFUGE FROM TROUBLE BY RUNNING TO SOME QUIET PLACE, HE WILL FALL INTO DARK REGIONS. IF, WHEN HE IS TRYING TO THROW OFF DELUSIONS AND DISCOVER TRUTH, EVERYTHING IS A WHIRL OF POSSIBILITIES, HE MUST CUT OFF THE THOUSAND IMPULSES AND GO STRAIGHT FORWARD, HAVING NO THOUGHT AT ALL ABOUT GOOD OR BAD. NOT HATING THE PASSIONS, HE MUST SIMPLY MAKE HIS HEART PURE.

Maneesha, Zen can say things which no other religion is capable of. Zen is a rare flower. All other religions are subservient to the vested interests, to the past, to the society, to the state. Zen is an exception. My love for it is not without reason. It is the only revolutionary approach to the ultimate reality, and a man like Daikaku is a perfectly representative master. You have to listen to his every word as if you are listening to me.

DAIKAKU SAID: ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS...

The whole theological world and the whole philosophical world are concerned only with clarifying conceptual distinctions -- what is what. They never go beyond the conceptual mind. Looking from the point of view of Zen, what they are doing is not only childish, it is also stupid. A child can grow up, but stupidity only becomes thicker and thicker and thicker.

All the religions have served the politicians, the emperors, the murderers, the criminals. You may not be aware of it, but you have to be aware. The pope in the second world war blessed Mussolini, who was a fascist, to be victorious. He prayed to God to make Benito Mussolini the victor. Now it is strange, the archbishop of England was also praying to the same God -- both are Christians -- but Italy and England were at war. Even Adolf Hitler was blessed and received the prayers of both the Catholic and Protestant religions. Their high priests prayed to God that he should be made the victor.

Now, God must have been in trouble to decide! All sides were praying to the same God, the same Christian God. They all worshipped the same Christian Bible. But this strange situation shows completely that your religion is nothing but a servant to the state -- it can even pray for Adolf Hitler to become the victor over the world. It does not matter for whom the religion is praying; it has always been favorable to those who have power and riches. Zen is in every way exceptional. Japan was also at war but not a single Zen master blessed the emperor of Japan to be the conqueror. The emperor of Japan had gone to receive blessings from a Zen master, and wondered how to ask him. First he had tried to persuade the master to come to his court. The master refused. He said, "Even if God calls me to his court, I will refuse. I am perfectly happy where I am. If you want to see me, then you have to come. The thirsty has to come to the well." A clear-cut answer....

The emperor finally had to concede, reluctantly, and he went with all his court following him. Not finding a word -- what to say? -- he asked, "I have always wondered: what is hell and what is heaven?" The master said, "You idiot!" I don't think any emperor has ever received such a welcome. A poor monk who has no possessions, nothing except himself... but having himself gives him such authority that he can say to the emperor, "You are an idiot!" The emperor became furious. This was too much. He pulled out his sword and was going to cut off the head of the master. The master said, "Wait a little... this is the door of hell." The emperor thought for a moment. He had been given the answer: anger, violence, destructiveness. He pulled back his sword and the master said, "This is the door of heaven. Do you want to ask any more questions?"

The emperor said, "I am satisfied." He could not manage to ask, "Bless me, that I should be the victor in the great world war." Just being in the master's presence, the very idea looked stupid. Zen has never been in any way what Karl Marx calls the opium of the people. It is unfortunate that a genius like Karl Marx had no idea of Zen. He knew, in the name of religion, only Christianity which is the worst religion in the world. He did not know the flights of Gautam Buddha, of Mahakashyap, of Nansen, of Tozan. He was absolutely unaware of the East, and religion is an Eastern contribution to the world. In the Far East, in Japan, it has come to flower in its totality. Daikaku is one of those masters who have come to their fullness, to their fulfillment. Just listen to what he says:

ZEN PRACTICE IS NOT CLARIFYING CONCEPTUAL DISTINCTIONS, BUT THROWING AWAY ONE'S PRECONCEIVED VIEWS AND NOTIONS AND THE SACRED TEXTS AND ALL THE REST, AND PIERCING THROUGH THE LAYERS OF COVERINGS OVER THE SPRING OF SELF BEHIND THEM.

Daikaku is famous for burning all the scriptures that belonged to the monastery of which he had become the head, the successor. He burned all the scriptures and he stopped one thousand disciples in the monastery from reading them, saying, "This is not a university, you are not here to study something. You are here to transform yourself, to seek yourself; and that is not possible through scriptures. Throw out all these scriptures, holy and unholy, both together." It was very shocking when Daikaku did it. It shocked almost the whole Buddhist world. But Daikaku was a man of the same strength and the same power as Bodhidharma or Mahakashyap. He did not care what the world said, he knew what he was doing. The only way to reach yourself is to throw away all your preconceived ideas, all your prejudices, all your scriptures, all your religious notions. Anything concerned with the self that has been conceived through the mind has to be thrown away, cleaned out completely. No scriptures can give you the experience of your being. They are really the hindrances -- your life spring is covered by those layers of prejudices and conceptions. Unless you throw them away, whether it is the Bible or Shrimad Bhagavadgita or the holy Koran or Dhammapada... it does not matter what it is. Whatever is covering your life spring, throw it away without a single moment of hesitation. Because all that is borrowed is just dust, layers and layers of dust, and you are covered with that dust.

ALL THE HOLY ONES HAVE TURNED WITHIN AND SOUGHT IN THE SELF, AND BY THIS, WENT BEYOND ALL DOUBT.

He is saying, "It is not only me, but all the buddhas have done the same. They have all burned the whole contents of the mind and cleared the space so that the life springs can flow directly and you can know for the first time your own eternity, your own splendor." It is a paradox to say it, but it is a fact that all your religious teaching is a barrier to your becoming religious. To know anything about God from others is dangerous. It will prevent you from knowing existence directly, and you will settle for cheap knowledge. Zen's whole revolution is: don't settle for cheap knowledge; go for the costly experience. And anything that hinders the way, throw it out. Gautam Buddha has even said, "If I come into your meditations, cut off my head immediately! Nobody is to be allowed to hinder your progress." These were real lions. Humanity can be proud of these people who did not desire to enslave you, as Catholics, as Hindus, as Mohammedans; whose whole effort was to liberate you from all "isms," from all churches, and to help you penetrate your own reality. That is the only truth, the only space which is holy.

TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, AND IN EVERY SITUATION, TO PIERCE, ONE BY ONE, THROUGH THE LAYERS COVERING THE SELF, DEEPER AND DEEPER, TO A PLACE WHICH CANNOT BE DESCRIBED. IT IS WHEN THINKING COMES TO AN END AND MAKING DISTINCTIONS CEASES, WHEN WRONG VIEWS AND IDEAS DISAPPEAR OF THEMSELVES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE DRIVEN FORTH; WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT, THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE HEART.

In these few statements he has covered the whole journey from falsehood to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. What he has said can be condensed, so that you can remember it not as knowledge but only as a finger indicating the moon -- just a few hints for your own inner journey. The first thing is, twenty-four hours a day, to remember what you find in your meditations. You will forget again and again, but the gaps of forgetfulness will become less and the length of remembering will become longer. By and by the gaps of forgetting will disappear. There comes a time when you are a whole circle of remembrance, twentyfour hours. Even in your sleep you know you are a buddha. A small story will explain it to you....

Ananda, Buddha's very intimate disciple, was almost forty-two years continuously serving Buddha, day and night, summer and winter. One night when Buddha was going to lie down, Ananda said, "I don't generally ask any questions, because every question that I could ask, others ask. And I am always here, so I listen to the answer. I know that any question I have is going to be asked by somebody or other; in these years this has become my experience. But there is one question I don't think anybody is going to ask. It is very situational." Buddha said, "You can ask."

"The question," he said, "is not very great. But it has been troubling me for years." Buddha said, "You could have asked at any time."

Ananda said, "I never wanted to trouble you. The whole day you are working on people, and in the night you are alone with me. The question is that I have been watching you for twenty years continuously... even in the night I get up once or twice to have a look at you to see whether you are all right. What has been puzzling me is that you keep the same posture the whole night. You don't change sides, you don't even move your leg. Do you sleep or do you remain awake?" Buddha said, "My body sleeps; it sleeps very profoundly. But as far as I am concerned, I am just a pure awareness. So having found the right position, the one which is the most comfortable, I have not changed it for twenty years. And I am not going to change it till my last breath."

He died in the same posture. Because of Buddha, the posture has become known as the Lion's Posture. For forty-two years after his enlightenment, his day and night was a continuity of awareness. That's what Daikaku is saying:

TO TURN WITHIN MEANS ALL THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS...

Go on turning in. Whenever you find a moment to turn, turn. And it is such a simple act to turn within -- nobody's help is needed. No ladder is needed, no door has to be opened. Just close your eyes and look in. Sitting in a bus, traveling in a train... you can do it any time, and slowly slowly you don't even need to close your eyes. The remembrance simply remains, of its own accord. That's what Daikaku is saying:

IT IS MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEN, WITHOUT BEING SOUGHT, THE TRUE ACTION AND TRUE IMPULSE APPEAR OF THEMSELVES. IT IS WHEN ONE CAN KNOW WHAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE HEART.

What is the truth of the heart? The ordinary commonsense view of the heart is that it is the source of emotions like love or hate or anger. Just as the mind is the source of conceptual thoughts, the heart is the source of all that is emotional and sentimental. That is the commonsense view. But when Buddha says `the heart' he means the very center of your being. It is his understanding that your love, your hate, everything, arises out of your mind. And I think he is being absolutely scientific; all psychologists will agree with him. You can experiment yourself. You can see from where your anger arises -- it is the mind; from where your emotions arise -- it is the mind. Mind is a big phenomenon; it covers conceptual thinking, it covers your emotional patterns, your sentiments. To Buddha, the mind contains all that arises in you, and the heart is that which is always silent and empty and watching. What is THE TRUTH OF THE HEART? -- Silence and watchfulness.

THE MAN RESOLUTE IN THE WAY MUST, FROM THE BEGINNING, NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT...

From the very beginning one should remember that we are in search of a place, a space, where nothing arises -- no dust, no smoke; where everything is pure and clean, utterly empty, just spaciousness. One should be clear from the very beginning what we are looking for.

... NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF IT, WHETHER IN A PLACE OF CALM OR IN A PLACE OF STRIFE, AND HE MUST NOT BE CLINGING TO QUIET PLACES AND SHUNNING THOSE WHERE THERE IS DISTURBANCE.

Zen is not against the world. That is one more of its rebellious attitudes against all religions. All religions somehow condemn the world. All religions praise those who have renounced the world, those who have gone away from it, renouncing the wife, the children, the home. Somebody has some day to do deep research into how many millions of people have left the world in the name of religion and caused to suffer small children, old parents, wives and husbands; who have disturbed the life of many in the name of religion. And do you think these people have found anything? They have simply created many prostitutes, many orphanages, many poor old people, dying without food or medicine. And what have they gained? Not a single one of them has attained to buddhahood.

Zen is very clear and straightforward about everything. It is not a question of renouncing the world; the question is of renouncing your mind. Wherever you go, your mind will go with you. Your knowledge will go with you, your prejudices will go with you, your scriptures will go with you. Your idea that you are a Hindu or a Mohammedan will go with you. So what are you renouncing?

Zen does not want you to renounce the world but to renounce the mind, so that you can find the empty heart. The empty heart is your purity, your virginity. This empty heart opens the door to the universal and the eternal.

Daikaku is saying that people ordinarily do one thing: wherever there is strife or some disturbance, they avoid that place. These are the people who have renounced the world because to be in the world is a difficult task, every moment there is some difficulty. They are escapists.

Once and for all it should be clear that the future of religion cannot depend on the escapists. The authentic religious man will live in the world without being disturbed by all kinds of disturbances. He will be simply a watcher, unperturbed. In fact the world is a good place because it gives you an opportunity to test your silence, your meditativeness, your watchfulness. Be in the world but don't be of it. Be in the world but don't let the world be in you. It is the ordinary mind's approach that where things are quiet and peaceful, it is good; there you can meditate. So people have gone to the Himalayas to meditate. And what they meditate on, you will be surprised: they meditate more on the world that they have left behind! Because everything that they have left behind forcibly, follows them in their minds.

I have heard two stories. One is about an American billionaire. He became tired of money, tired of women, tired of drugs. Finally he thought, "I have to go to the Himalayas, to find a real master to show me the way to peace." He traveled to the Himalayas and inquired, "Is somebody aware of an authentic master?" People said, "Yes, there is a man near Mansarovar" -- the highest lake in the world, on top of the Himalayas. "He has been there perhaps for sixty years or more, nobody remembers; we have always known him to be there. He is the only man there."

Even the swans which live in Mansarovar leave it for three months and come down to the plains, because for those months the lake is completely frozen. You can walk on it, you can drive over it; it is like solid rock. The people said, "But even in those months that man never leaves the place. Obviously, he must have found the truth; otherwise why should one remain there for sixty years in such arduous conditions?"

The billionaire was not to be discouraged; on the contrary, it became a challenge. He was a man who had fought many challenges in his life. He was born a poor man and he became a billionaire by sheer effort and struggle. So he struggled; it was a difficult task to reach there, because no buses go there, no roads go there. He had to find his path by just looking at the map and moving into the unknown.

Finally, he found an old man, a very old man. He thought in his mind that if there is any God, he must look like this man! He was very happy, although tired and tattered. He fell at the feet of the old man and he said, "I am coming from America. I am a super-rich man, but I am tired of the world; I have renounced everything." The old man looked at him and said, "These matters we will discuss later on. Do you have a cigarette on you? Sixty years, and not a single idiot has come here with a cigarette."

The billionaire was very much shocked, but he gave his whole packet, and a lighter, and the old man said, "You are a very religious person." "But," the billionaire said, "what am I to do now?" He said, "Go back. And when you come again, bring as many cigarettes as possible." He said, "This is strange! I had come here for enlightenment..."

The old man said, "Do what I have told you. Just this way -- going back and coming again, going back and coming again -- you will become enlightened." Miserably, he went away. No one has ever heard that he came back again. But this man, for sixty years, had been waiting for a cigarette. The second story is certainly fiction. This one that I have just told you may be true. The second is that when Edmund Hillary reached Everest he was surprised to see a Hindu sannyasin squatting on the ground there. He said, "My god! We used to think that nobody had ever reached here. How did you manage?" He said, "I come here every day. This is a sort of toilet for me. I live just nearby. But these things we can discuss later on -- how much for your watch? Because here it is so difficult to know what time it is..."

These people who have escaped from the world, do you think they are thinking about anything else? They are thinking more of the world than you are, because you don't have to think -- it is there! These poor fellows have to think thousands of things which are not there. Mind always desires that which is not there. That which is with you, mind simply accepts; there is no need to think about it.

This ordinary conception has prevailed amongst humanity that one should go to a quiet place to meditate, and get away from places which are full of strife, struggle, conflict. But Zen has a totally different attitude -- and more psychological. There is no need to leave the world. The world is a perfectly good place -- as a fire test. What is needed is to go in, not to go somewhere out. And you can go in anywhere in the world, whether it is the Himalayas or the M. G. Road. You can become enlightened even with a rented bicycle! It does not matter that it was rented. I have heard of people becoming enlightened even on stolen bicycles, because becoming enlightened has nothing to do with bicycles. Daikaku says:

IF HE TRIES TO TAKE REFUGE FROM TROUBLE BY RUNNING TO SOME QUIET PLACE, HE WILL FALL INTO DARK REGIONS.

No other religion has said that. And I authenticate it: The person who escapes from troubles falls certainly into a very dark space, because his very beginning is wrong. He is going away from the trouble. He should have remained in the trouble, untroubled -- that would have been some gain. But he has escaped from it, and when there is no struggle, no trouble, no strife.... Sitting somewhere in the Himalayas, the silence that surrounds you is of the Himalayas, not of you. That is not going to help. You have to find your own Himalayas within.

IF, WHEN HE IS TRYING TO THROW OFF DELUSIONS AND DISCOVER TRUTH, EVERYTHING IS A WHIRL OF POSSIBILITIES, HE MUST CUT OFF THE THOUSAND IMPULSES AND GO STRAIGHT FORWARD, HAVING NO THOUGHT AT ALL ABOUT GOOD OR BAD.

You can see the rebelliousness of Zen. Every religion is concerned that you should be good, you should not be bad, you should be respectable, you should not be condemned by the society. You should not lose your good repute even if you have to be a hypocrite. Just be good, even though the good is not arising on its own but you are forcing it. It is the greatness of Zen.... Don't have any thoughts about good or bad. Be absolutely a witness, and while you are just a witness, whatever happens through you is bound to be good. The whole world may condemn it; it does not matter. You have to listen only to your own heart. If your heart says "yes, go on," then go on straight forward. Even if it is against all morality, against all doctrines, against all religions, it does not matter. It should not be against your simple, innocent heart. The only criterion is that it should be spontaneous. Spontaneity is good; non-spontaneity is hypocrisy.

NOT HATING THE PASSIONS, HE MUST SIMPLY MAKE HIS HEART PURE.

On every point Zen differs from all other religions, and on every point Zen is right. It does not say to you, "Fight with your passions, drop your passions. Unless you drop all your desires, passions, longings, you cannot attain to the truth." The reality is just vice versa. If you get into this struggle of dropping passions, you will never win. Don't be bothered by the passions, by the desires. Find the empty heart and its purity and you will find that all passions, all desires are transformed.

People always begin from the wrong end. And there is a reason why they begin with the wrong end. The wrong end seems to be rational. For example, they see in Gautam Buddha great compassion. This compassion is arising spontaneously, but they don't know the empty heart of the buddha, from where this compassion is arising. They can see his compassionate actions, and they logically derive the conclusion that if you do compassionate acts you will become a buddha. The law, the dhamma, does not work this way. In the first place you cannot drop the passions. You can fight, you can wrestle, and you can suffer and you can torture yourself. You can repress, you can become a pervert -- as all the monks of all the religions have become perverts, psychologically sick, because they have been fighting against nature. Nobody can win against nature. But they are doing something "rational." It seems to them that by being compassionate... And their compassion will be bogus, false. You know when your smile is just on the lips, a lipstick smile, it has no roots anywhere inside. It is just there on the lips.

I have heard about a politician in America. In America, politicians in an election go from house to house, kissing small babies. In a small park there were at least two dozen babies with one woman. The politician thought, "My god!" And all those babies were dirty, smelly, their noses running, and he had to kiss all of them just to convince the woman that he was t he right candidate. Then he told the woman, "Remember, this is my name and I am running for president." She said, "I will remember. You are so kind." Then he asked the woman, "Just one question arises -- are all these children yours?" She said, "No, not a single one." The politician said, "Not a single one? What are you doing here?"

She said, "I am just keeping an eye on them. Their mothers have gone to a conference." He said, "Fuck you, you noodle! Why didn't you tell me before? I had to kiss all these brats -- they all seem to be Italians, full of spaghetti -- and you didn't stop me!" All that kissing was just political, diplomatic. Unless your life arises from your spontaneity, from your very empty heart, it is going to be just superficial. And with the superficial you cannot be blissful; with the superficial you are going to remain miserable. Only with the truth is there the beginning of a different kind of life -- of joy, of bliss, of dance. Then your whole being is full of songs. Then all your actions are poetic. Then your very presence has a grace, a beauty which is not of the body. It is radiating from the body but it is coming from the deep sources of your own empty heart.

Upon his enlightenment a Zen monk wrote: YOU, BEFORE ME STANDING, OH, MY ETERNAL SELF! SINCE MY FIRST GLIMPSE YOU HAVE BEEN MY SECRET LOVE.

At the moment of death you cannot think about what movie is running in a certain theater. When death is standing before you, you cannot think of anything else. The Zen monk is saying in this small haiku:

YOU, BEFORE ME STANDING, OH, MY ETERNAL SELF!

In the mirror of death he has seen his original face. All things are dropped, all concerns are dropped, all preoccupations are dropped.

SINCE MY FIRST GLIMPSE YOU HAVE BEEN MY SECRET LOVE.

You are all in search of a secret love. And you are all trying to find it in somebody else. Hence the frustration of all lovers except those who are never allowed to meet. Only those who are never allowed to meet are remembered, for centuries, for their great love. In the East we know Shiri and Farhad, Laila and Majnu. Because they were never allowed to meet by their parents and society they have become symbolic of great lovers. But it is strange: they were never allowed even to meet with each other, and they have become the symbols of great love. And what has happened to the millions of lovers who have been allowed? Not a single one of them has proved to be a great lover. All are simply lousy.

Every love affair is a failure, without exception. You may accept it, you may not. One tries to hide the fact as long as possible, but everybody knows what everybody is doing. Your frustration is bound to happen. Your real love is for the eternal self, hidden behind the curtain, and you never look behind the curtain. You are just playing on the stage and befooling.

Everybody's great love is to know the secret of the eternal and immortal life. You cannot find it in another person. When you meet on the sea beach it seems -- and to everyone it is the same story -- "this woman -- or this man -- is made for me." Nobody is made for anybody; everybody is made for himself. You are not some kind of manufactured parts, such that you are made to fit with each other. So when you don't fit, then the tragedy begins. Before that all is goody-goody. The real test is after the honeymoon. After the honeymoon the lovers are finished, they don't look at each other eye to eye. The husband goes on reading the same newspaper to avoid the wife....

A man was saying to his friend in the pub, "Why do you always remain silent? You don't say anything." He said, "The whole credit goes to my wife. She talks and I listen. She does not like any interruption. So after years of listening without interrupting, it has become a habit.

Wherever I am, even though my wife is not there, I sit silently." The failure of love in the world shows a significant fact: perhaps our love is searching for something else, and because we don't find it in our so-called lovers, the frustration arises. Nobody is responsible, it is just that our direction is wrong. The real lover is within you. The eternal lover is within you. Once you have found it, you are absolutely content with yourself. There is no need for anyone because you are no longer incomplete. Only a buddha is fulfilled.

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 nomind 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? Yes!