Sosan was supposed to be the Third Chinese Zen Patriarch, and the author of the following words:
the poetry of the words can almost lead one to miss the revolutionary nature of the piece:for example the discarding of good and evil, and his abhorence of “thinking”. Totally out of kilter for example with say Christian Mysticism. What say ye – the bloggers of Sannyasnews?!
The great Way is not difficult for those who are have no preferences.
Let go of wanting and avoiding, and everything will be perfectly clear.
But make the slightest distinction and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.If you want truth, don’t be for or against anything.
If you don’t grasp the deeper meaning, you trouble your minds complacency.
The infinite is perfect and lacks nothing.
But because you select and reject, you can’t perceive the true nature of existence.Don’t be entangled in the world; but don’t lose yourself in emptiness.
Be at peace in the oneness of things and all errors will disappear by themselves.If you don’t live the Tao, you fall into right and wrong.
Asserting that the world is real, you forget its deeper reality;
Denying that the world is real, you fail to see the integrity of all things.The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth.
Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can’t go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning;
chasing appearances, you lose the source.At the moment of profound insight, you transcend both appearance and emptiness.
Don’t keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions.When the mind is in harmony with the Tao, all self centeredness disappears.
With no doubting self, you can trust the universe completely.
You realize at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to.
All is empty, brilliant, perfect in its own being.
In the world of things as they are, there is no self or no self.
If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is “Not-two.”
In this “Not-two” nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded.
The Masters of all times and places have entered into this truth.
In it there is no gain or loss; one instant is ten thousand years.
There is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished;
the vast is as small as the tiny when you don’t have external limits.
Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being.
Until you understand this truth, you won’t see anything clearly.
One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom?
The mind of absolute openess is beyond all thought, all striving,
it is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.
I am wondering , to know that (the piece above ) , I am sure Sosan had to go through all the judging possible .
Thank you Sosan , for now at least I / we have just a wee glimpse of what you say , even though it’s just the beginning of the infinite tunnel !
Good reminder, Kavita.
It is often the case that those who chose to speak (rather than remain in silence) – as to the places they may have reached beyond mind – make light work of telling us that much about their own journeys.
Osho comments on part of Sosan’s verse above. You can view it if you search at Osho.com.
Thank you Parmartha & more so thanks to Osho as I heard it first time from him , who made such sharings that made these beings alive for me /all the supposedly bi-polars & others to take their first steps beyond any kind of polarity whatsoever .
(THis post from Prem Martyn has merit, but it is written in the Irish brogue phonetically and will not be comprehensible for many. It does not get on topic until the point at which we take it up here. MOD )
If yees want tae benefit from Sosan’s insoight, try havin one yerself first , den yees can write yer own insoights ad infinitum. Yae sees de secret tae insoights is dey have got to be , like me ol mate Karl Popper used tae say over a pint, dey have gotta be context relevant and neutral at de same toime, for dem to be wondrous an’ all. They have also gotta be so friggin etheric dat you can simply glow by having had one, a bit like a point doiwn at Mcafferty’s bar. Although his pints be paradoxically dark and with a creamy head. Never mind, its all symbo-shambolic, especially at closing time, when all the pub philosophers get chucked out for rowdy behaviour !
Next week, oill be sharin de winners of last week’s ”A friend in need is a pain in the Orse’ . The winner will receive a single ticket for a flight into aloneness for two weeks for his own already over familiar company with him or her self together with some internal dichotomy for passin the time with no friends at all.
Ahhc can ye smell de breeze after all that… lovely scents…. loike love on de breeze…a longing, lingering, melodious, sense…
http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/05/maggie.htm
Thanks for that PM, what a treat! X
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/one-giant-leap-what-about-me/
Well all oi can be tellin’ yeez, iz dat oim Oirish, ‘n’ it shure aint comprehensoivetaterfull to me, oither!
To the Mod: Perhaps you would be so kind as to request that PM, also provides a translation of his piece in his more usual Gabbler Dicktum style, which I personally find easier to understand.
Now listen here, Vee are comming to ze unter- vunderbahr country of your forefathers vor ze marvellous landscapen und bier.
Ve are not knowing zis Susan voman, nor off vot she is spooking, butt she is saying ze most strange zings although zis is normall vor zis neck of ze voods vhere ze locals are often talking in ze limericks und zere is much drinking and gobblegooking in ze native language inside the public ale houses.
Here is vun vot got us all chuckling in ze VolksVagon Camper ze ozzer nite…
A Pretty Young Woman Named Susan –
(Vintage Swimming Limerick)
A pretty young woman named Susan
Went wading one day with her shoeson
When she came back to land
With her shoes full of sand
Then she found it was not so amus’n’
….
Und hier is herr photo..
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyxXFqVWUhk/Uz8Hy-D5BzI/AAAAAAAACes/MmkyrZwKUZk/s1600/Vintage+swimming+suit.JPG
OR zis vun :
The Zen Monk and the Hot Dog Vendor
http://benjaminthedonkey-limericksofdoom.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-zen-monk-and-hot-dog-vendor.html
A monk decided to bring
An end to his suffering;
And so, in surrender,
He said to a vendor,
“Make me one with everything.”
Getting no change from a fin,
The monk told him, “Stealing’s a sin,”
But, playing the guide,
The vendor replied,
“Change must come from within.”
Und, Prem Martyn, die Musiktitel:
The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.
Once Osho started speaking on Zen, the value of Zen rose multi fold.
In a typical Osho style, praise was being poured on zen masters and many disciples thought, ” Wow. we must visit them.”
I think most of them have realized till now, oratory skills of Osho were always superb.
Osho began speaking on Zen, Shantam,
because in the west Zen had already been much commented on, and Osho was skilled at reaching people where their interests already were.
Alan Watts, a very well known English mystic/writer published his first book, The Spirit of Zen, as early as 1936!
Osho himself commented on Zen also pretty early on in his ministry, for example the book “No water, no moon” which was first published in 1975. His commentaries on zen were not restricted to the last years of his life.
Parmartha, I am enjoying the story of Veena. Her book is a easy read in this sunny whether, therefore, i read it during my hours at naturist lake.
If Alan Watts book was that influencing, people of Veena´s generation would have gone to Japan and China and not India.
Any way, the miss who was with Osho during his whole working life finally finds her abode in the monasteries of Japan and China.
Most probably, Nirvano too would have followed her without Untimely death reducing her life span!
Parmartha , ofcourse it’s not a competition between Osho & Allan Watts but to be fair to myself , I doubt if Allan Watts could be as clear as Osho could be , probably in this case I’ll never get western sensibilities to really understand ( not that I have ever strived for it nor inclined to) Allan Watts due to my intrinsicality .
Also,apparently in the west,early 70s,before Osho books were available, Bhagwan gave a list of recommended books for disciples to give to potential customers to read that would best express his message. These included Alan Watts` “The way of Zen”.
Is there any subject that Shantam cannot write about with utter ignorance,misinformation and stupidity?
He is a kind of polymath of pig-ignorance.
The nearest that he has ever got to Zen,by his own admission is beating off to “Japanese zen porn”
Sozan wrote a little-known haiku about it
” large man in chuddies
sweats and grunts
in front of the computer screen
splotch! “
And Frank you went to Japan after reading Alan Watts?
Can you tell your readers, how many years of your life you have spend in India?
Can you also tell, was there a single year in your life you contributed something to NHS?
Reading Zen
Following an Indian Mystic
NHS pays
I write sarcasm!
Sozan wrote a little-known haiku about it
” large man in chuddies
sweats and grunts
in front of the computer screen
splotch! “
That is spooky Francis.
Its as if Sozan were in the room.
“One is all; all are one. When you realise this, what reason for holiness and wisdom?”
If Sosan were still alive, I think he might want to edit the above bit, as his piece as a whole, smacks of holy preaching and holy wisdom.
Upon reflection, I think it might be fairer to say that PM’s attempt at Irish brogue, was easier to understand then Sosan’s holy prattle.
Always remember to look beyond the beyond the beyond……! Geddit?
Dear Friends of Sannyas and Onlookers,
the here chosen string text is of great Beauty and Simplicity; I am here hooked to the fact (always!), that here a Master , ancient and yet contemporary talked to practioners in the kind of protected surrounding , a monastery or a school.
“Denying that the world is real, you fail to see the integrity of all things.The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth.”
- Sosan -
The ways, to simply find truth in just that little excerpt of the excerpt of the whole text chosen, is easy, isn ´t it ?
To find it out in the absolutely imaginary virtual surrounding to one – to vast bubbles pumped up inter-netting ;
YET still real humans , sitting and writing to perform it, like me, here-now, in a silent room in my flat. On one of the pretty very much hot summer days , which are happening outside today.
Deciding to go into a nowhere land .
I
And more than in ancient times, denying that also this virtual world we are creating is to be integrated and acknowledged.
It may be that we are fortunate gifted with the possibility to see nowadays the illusionary stuffs clearly, we are even creating delusions deliberately, aren ´t we ?
And some of this come into the worlds of matter, don´t they ?
And what I found out , that practioners , or those , who cherish the memory on partitioning, have other eyes to see and look , and also behave in everyday ´s circumstances much more human , than those , who did not or do not go into these silent realms of themselves.
So , I am a ´groupie , you can say, even under the most isolated circumstances (like mine).
And I do NOT need a Prem Martyns rather cynical approach …to this and that… according to that matter. He is , and stays ´one´ of his kind, and I remember his love , when he talked about real contacts , and his enjoying that realness in the stuff, and sharing that with us all.
So, I was little bit more acquainted with his life with the livings.
Yesterday, I got the german Osho Times with a beautiful pic of an old door
with a heart on it (but not ´kitschig´) as an opener to make a sound with.
And a “home is where the heart is” title.
I took it with me, while I was visiting a festival of movies, and yesterday a begin movie was presented about the GAMES in the internet realms and criminal IT hackers as administrators .
The real world ?
Yes, and No. And yet…
That Sosan stirs the “pot”, I cannot say; I ´d rather feel, he brings more relaxation and may be indicating a way out of some p(L)ots. Who knows ?
Wish you all well, and me too.
Madhu
Why practise ?
If there is practise the practising is practising not knowing .When you know , there is no practise and no you.
One either is or isn’t. Either way- cannot be ‘done’. Be the meditation, no need otherwise.
Signed,
Lazy man.
Nice one Gabbler! I think you’re right on the money here, with this little number which highlights the inane, meaningless and ridiculous nature of Sosan’s scripture (otherwise known as ‘A holy wank’, or alternatively as ‘Mental masturbation’). Keep up the good work!
That kind of dismissiveness says more about you than him.
Try telling a Russian, who doesn’t speak English, who has never tasted raspberries, what raspberries taste like, and just to make it really interesting, get your explanation translated by a bi lingual English man who has also never tasted raspberries.
This Sosan is not a philosopher, he is not a theologian, he is not a priest. He does not want to sell any idea to you, he is not interested in ideas. He is not there to convince you, he is simply blooming. He is a waterfall, or he is a wind blowing through the trees, or he is just a song of the birds — no meaning, but much significance. You have to absorb that significance, only then will you be able to understand.
So listen, but don’t think. And then it is possible for much to happen within you, because I tell you: this man — this Sosan about whom nothing much is known — he was a man of power, a man who has come to know. And when he says something he carries something of the unknown to the world of the known. With him enters the divine, a ray of light into the darkness of your mind.
Osho.
Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing
Chapter #1
Chapter title: The Great Way
The other day, Arpana, you openly confessed to me that you had been naïve (like many others), whilst enduring the travails of the Ranch etc. I think given your comments here, that you might still be stuck in that exalted state. Please feel free to carry on practising the ‘Holy Cokey’, if it pleases you, but remember it won’t get you very far. Here is a little reminder of how it goes:
“You put your right foot in,
You take your wrong foot out,
In out, in out, shake it all about,
You do the Holy Cokey and you turn around,
That’s what it’s all about?”
Secondly, Arps, old chap, it is not really clear to me in your message, as to what was written by you and what was said by Osho. It looks like most of it came from the ‘Old Boy Himself’. Am I wrong, right, right, wrong, known or unknown? Please enlighten me, poor wretched sinner that I am.
And please consider, Arpana, that when you indulge in lengthy Osho quotations that you might be portraying yourself as a kind of ‘Bible Puncher’, unable to think for oneself, and therefore reliant upon a higher authority for guidance. Sounds a bit like a regular holy trip, doesn’t it?
Interestingly, the quotation cited came from the ‘Book of Nothing’, did it not? I think that speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
Thats exactly right Ashok.
You are a wretched sinner.
Taken as a compliment, thank you, Arpana. Obviously, I must be doing something right/wrong to garner such recognition.
* Holy Public Health Warning*
(Specifically, for the benefit of choirboys, aspiring vicars, holy preachers etc.)
Please be aware that the message here was reportedly channeled through Ashok, author of the scripture called ‘The Book of Something’, and therefore may constitute a serious danger to health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYmt8F4ECwQ
Why practise ?, does (not) ask Lazy Man .
Why not ? , Lazy Man, just for the joy of this.
I have heard, Zen is the beginner´s mind, ever fresh; sounds easy, but as to my experience with myself, needs an ever refreshed commitment .
I also have heard, that Zen has to do with:
When eating, eating,
When walking, walking,
When resting, resting,
and so on…
Sounds easy. ..
As far as you is concerned, I don´t know a thing.
As far , as I am concerned, I know for that this one pointed awareness , my commitment to tame the mind , strolling around, while eating, walking, resting etc, is always needed. Ever refreshed, never ending.
And to meet another human, who has developed a ´beginner´s mind ´ was always great joy for me, and has been rare too.
What you shared here with all of us , Mister Lazy Man, I have heard quite very often since the ninetieth of last century in the tone of pride.
However, beginner´s mind eyes, going along with that, have been as rare as ever.
Madhu
“The idea of good and evil is the primary disease of the mind”
To me, that is Sosan being controversial.
Some working agreement of what is meant by good and evil, and how to proceed is pretty important in human affairs, and crops up on a daily basis.
Guy running from the seashore, and shooting over a score of innocent. Why not call it evil?
Giving a blanket to a beggar on a freezing night, why not call it good?
Isnt that more reference to habituated identification, being identified with your own and the behavour of others, disidentified; with good acts, bad acts, and that becomes part of why those acts happen.
The Tunisian gunman almost certainly believes what he did is good. Its possible to do acts of kindness withou identifying, allthough an onlooker may label the act as good.
I agree with Parmarth, that in this primitive planet humans can benefit from some working agreement of what is meant by good and evil.
What I like about the Taoist masters is that they believe in the law of universal balance, that everything in the universe has a balance, even a most enlightened Buddha will have some aspect about themselves that is foolish ,
or stupid beliefs, and even the the most ignorant and dense person will have some intrinsic quality or beauty that stands out.
But as Arpana points out, beliefs about good and bad are in the eye of the beholder , and that idiot who murdered tourists on the beach actually believed his actions were good in god`s eyes and would give him a ticket to paradise.
Beyond comprehension.
Don`t forget that Sosan was a Chinaman from the 6th century, at which stage Chan in China(which much later became `Zen`) was essentially a hybrid mix of imported Buddhism and indigenous Taoism.
The Taoist poets were very fond of exaggeration to illustrate their point as for example when Chuang Tsu described the `perfect man` as a useless deformed crippled good-for-nothing hunchback.
He wasn`t presenting a rational argument saying useless cripples are more enlightened than useful healthy folk…
he was using language in an unusual and poetic way to redress a bias amongst his peers.
Osho did the same sort of thing like in his poem/letter in “A cup of tea” when he said “I am Laotsu and Ghenghis Khan both”
(Osho may have had his foibles but I don`t believe that he was actually fond of disembowelling people with his bare hands and sticking peoples severed heads on a pole etc etc.)
It was poetic license.A move to re-unite the lotus with the mud from which it had falsely been detached.
I doubtv that Soasan is saying that in some cosmic way he sees no real difference between mass murder on the beach and helping old ladies over the road.
The radicality of his position is that he is suggesting that your estimation and judgment of reality is not related to reality at all,
which is scary too
but in a different way.
“(Osho may have had his foibles but I don`t believe that he was actually fond of disembowelling people with his bare hands and sticking peoples severed heads on a pole etc etc.)”
I wouldn`t be so sure, Frank.
I heard Osho was pretty crazy in the sixties.
No, but seriously, I was talking about the universal `law of balance` that Taoists talk about that works with the play of opposites.
A present day Taoist, the Barefoot Doctor, talks about this.
This `law` means that whenever someone sets themselves up on a pedestal(as many gurus do) the law of balance is bound to knock them off this imaginary position sooner than later.
A fully enlightened Buddha may also be a total twat, and even the most ignorant and unconscious man may have insights that are far more profound than the most enlightened Buddha.
Thanks Frank. A useful contribution that helped me think further.
My pleasure P.
Shanti.
Yes,give me taoists over zennists any day of the week-
wandering about in the mountains writing poetry, taking it easy, enjoying the play of opposites,wearing shoes that fit……
or holed up in an authoritarian monastery with a bunch of shaven-headed macho psychos asking each other daft questions and going at each other with sticks and knocking six sorts of shit out of each other when they get it wrong?
No contest!
”Yes,give me taoists over zennists any day of the week-
wandering about in the mountains writing poetry, taking it easy, enjoying the play of opposites,wearing shoes that fit…… No contest! ” – Yes me too
Yes, and lets not forget, some of the taoists wore not just shoes that fit, they wore shoes on their heads too!
And then there’s the kung fu, green tea, acupuncture, tantric tao etc.
Chong!
“…stimation and judgment of reality is not related to reality at all.” Bullseye, Frank baby!
I dont smoke, do drugs, or drink alcohol. A friend intimated he saw this as good, that this was part of the ‘goodness’ that goes with spiritual practise.
I may have eventualy got through that it isnt good. I dont drink, do drugs or smoke because I dont want to, I dont enjoy those things. Its not a moral act.
I dont eat meat, but that is an act of will. That fits his idea of good, moral.
PM, a note from PM
Context.
Buddhists don’t like roller coasters of emotional disturbance.. they call it suffering.
Mostly its low level stuff that people get into managing by becoming or thinking that they are doing buddhist things. Like watching the mind. What a load of self management bollocks. Mostly anemic types with a cork up their arse. Still it does for non-descript sitathons down at the associative land of infinite bollocks pub with lots of ‘mmm’ and peer group support leading to the formulaic life for the laiety.
Example 1
”Oooh your looking well in your aloneness today,how about me ?”
‘ Thanks but your being far too needy, bye’
But they don’t do roller coasters, because then the mindful attention gets sucked into suffering and progressively draculaic ghoulish forms.Too bad for buddhists and their plate of miso soup.
You don’t need to attend to the space of ‘happy’ you don’t need to pull the dog of mind back on a leash.
You just love and fuck the rest whatever happens. And only you can know if your love is love by engaging it and doing the road of excess palace of wisdom bit. But its not for everyone it can leave scars and regrets. But its better than friggin cushions up yer arse.
There are different forms of sociopathic emotive violence, not all obvious when buried in the codicils of religious bogusness.
Mods ..correction.. viz: But they don’t do roller coasters because…..
”
then the mindful attention, which operates on a very narrow bridge of personal familiarity and ‘practise’, risks coming up against a walloping load of uncontrollability without real and authentic redemptive personal non-formulaic ability or ‘skillfulness’ and severely risks getting sucked into suffering ….
” etc etc
”Thoughts have no connection with decision. He who is always engrossed in thoughts never reaches a decision. That is why it invariably happens that those whose life is less dominated by thoughts are very resolute, whereas those who think a great deal lack determination. There is danger from both.
Those who do not think go ahead and do whatever they are determined to do, for the simple reason that they have no thought process to create doubt within.
The dogmatists and the fanatics of the world are very active and energetic people; for them there is no question of doubting – they never think! If they feel that heaven is attained by killing one thousand people, they will rest only after killing one thousand people and not before. They never stop to think what they are doing so there is never any indecision on their part. A man who thinks, on the contrary, will keep on thinking instead of making any decision.”
http://oshosearch.net/Convert/Articles_Osho/In_Search_of_the_Miraculous_Volume_2/Osho-In-Search-of-the-Miraculous-Volume-2-00000004.html
Parmartha , SS & Frank , I just now came across this & thought I could share the link :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3147144/Russell-Brand-blames-UK-government-Tunisian-beach-massacre.html?ICO=most_read_module
Personally I think Blair should never have been so keen to follow Bush into invading Iraq.
IS has arisen from the mess that was left behind.
SS actually I didn’t know that , sometimes its difficult to decide whether Hitler or any American Political Leader has caused more harm to Humanity , when one goes deep into it , one mostly finds its religion which is mostly the cause .
These are sutras that put me always in an uncomfortable position because i can recognize their truth by recognizing my falseness. Sosan is really a NO-BULLSHIT MASTER . Hard to swallow him.
As far as i know, other than “Nintendo”, other famous Zen masters were the product of elite boarding schools, i mean monasteries. They lived their simple life, they could have also become investment bankers of Tokyo but they chose a certain way of life, a very conservative linage.
Whether one is in Christian monasteries or Buddhist or Jaina, certain words of wisdom are bound to be created.
Zen master´s words are the by products of a contemplative way of life.
when Osho gave commantries on them, he has a moral force behind it. He was creating His own monastery for our time.
Parmartha, Madhu, Kavita would have also written or spoken some great insights. About frank and Lokesh i am not sure, they are street smart “mystics”.
When people carrying Sannyas names talk about other lineages, they seem like African refugees talking about the economy of Germany, England France.
They too had/have the chance. Alas Corruption!
Sosan writes from a particular perspective, one where the duality of good and evil, truth and lies; where apparant contradictions, have been resolved.
And many readers will have experienced moments beyond duality, when at last the ‘problem’ of pain has dissolved – if only for a moment.
These are the moments when you see, clearly and without prevarication, that all is well with everything, when all the dilemmas of the mind fade into the realisation that it’s all perfect. The struggle to understand, the need to seek or search disappears and all is well. A sense of separation and identification with oneself is lost for a moment.
As soon as we lose sight of this self knowledge, so we descend back to seeing things as the rational mind does: in duality.
Then the personal actions of a man on the beach become “evil”, and we identify with the sorrow and pain he has caused.
I’m not belittling what this crazy man has done, nor defending it.
The role of a Sosan or an Osho, or anyone else is to remind us, to show us, that there is a way to see things from this different perspective.
As we do, so how we deal with notions of evil changes. We aren’t passive to it, indeed in many ways we become more sensitive to it, more awake to seize opportunities to be MORE loving, more affectionate, more real, more grateful to life, more indebted to our fellow man and woman. Our identification with our petty selves and our wanting needs is reduced.
So I says to the missus just cos you’ve done the washing up , doesn’t mean I can’t go down the pub with me mates for a game of darts, and she says,
”The idea of good and evil is the primary disease of the mind.
If you don’t grasp the deeper meaning, you trouble your mind’s complacency.
The infinite is perfect and lacks nothing.”
Which I considered to be a fair comment really , although on balance and once I’d checked how much change was actually left in the piggy teapot, from me scratch-card winnings I said to her,
”Don’t keep searching for the truth; just let go of your opinions.When the mind is in harmony with the Tao, all self centredness disappears.”
Just at that moment , when it appeared that we had reached a decidedly unifying moment in our exchange, I caught sight of something coming in from the left field of my consciousness, not the usual clip round the ear with a wet tea towel , but something less ominous more benefiting of the monastery she calls ‘home’ ..and it was these words that she opined sweetly,
‘Darling remember our beloved master and his words,’ ”You realize at once you are free, with nothing left to hold on to ” and then she finished declaiming with ”If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is “Not-two.”
I at once put down the cheap china teapot penny pig , and understood clearly what she meant. She had always been a great devotee of the space between the earplugs or the no-mind as she called it. I recognised in her wide beaming smile that brooked no interference that there would be not two that night if I should gamely chance my luck by tempting the fates of fortune…I decided, or rather in this particular kitchen-sutra, the decision arose in me quite insightfully really, not to actually go out and play the aforementioned game of darts for three hours.
An inner peace returned to the now two as one again.
I looked at the now distended holiday souvenir tea-towel that lay draped across the back of the wooden diner chair and momentarily glimpsed the words written on the back folded edge, it read simply ”no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.’
Which really connected me to something I knew I had avoided realising for far far too many years.
I am sipping tea (not chai) while reading this delicious prose.
Mmm, nice choice ! ta very much.
Marty your English is definitely better than your Irish ( I can say that , even though I do not understand Irish ) !
Seconded, and a jolly good satirical read.
Ta,K and big PM
Ur welcome.
These mystical insights, translated so well by somebody, perhaps like anything else that can be actually “said” – can be helpful and dangerous in equal measure – according to who it reaches. This may explain why some mystics hardly speak at all.
In sophist spiritual chat I have heard novice seekers defending all sorts of things by this business of being “beyond” good and evil. Therefore in the wrong hands it can be dangerous, and also give rise to a sort of reinforced esoteric dogmatism.
Also for the purposes of ordinary life and ordinary consciousness, such talk can be confusing and give rise to unnecessary criticism from those dealing with the abundance of evils in the world, which they try to alleviate.
The poetry of Sosan, or his translator, can carry the novice along too far, and should really be for the ears of mystical adepts only.
I felt the same when I read “I am That” by Nisargadatta, (also very well translated) , even got a contact high off it myself, but to “me mates in the pub” as Marty would say it, well, they would regard it as codswallop.
This is – Parmartha, (3 July, 2015 at 6:17 ),
a much more than needed appropriate contribution from your side, well put in all its aspects .
As a reminder and a warning too, because as times go by, the big bang flatliner aspect of internet exchanges shows traits, where (optically grown-up) kids (in real) are playing with fire crackers , causing harm – not only to themselves but also to others (an Andersch Brevik in Norway was and is not the only one).
Very good, to consider that.
I also thank Frank (2 July, 2015 at 9:32 pm) for his lines , to remind the historical context of some ancient wisdom talks , just to get a little sober…
Andersch Brevik, mentioned here is surely not the only mental distorted crack pot happening as a mass murder, indulging in the mad illusion, to be a Freemasons Temple Knight on mission. Military style.
One has to consider that in a internet-chat. Also a Sannyas chat . Anytime. Anywhere.
Madhu
I guess the risk is always there , when I look back now , I had never known before , that my first such read , a small book ”On an Eternal Voyage” by Vimla Thakar , it was my first book after Sannyas , when I went home (at that time Bombay ), my paternal uncle gave me this book , which my boyfriend & me read together ( it was our first book which we read together ) and the voyage continues !
You`re right,big P.
I was down at the “Finger and the Moon” freehouse last night when an almighty ruck kicked off. Apparently,a Millwall fan had asserted that his dog,a pitbull terrier had Buddha nature,and a bunch of Chelsea Headhunters who claimed they were beyond good and evil took exception and claimed that it didn`t. I only just managed to escape without being glassed.
I definitely agree with you that some of these Zen patriarchs should have zipped it,or been a bit more careful with their choice of words-they were unneccesarily provocative and controversial and revolutionary and some of us just like a quiet pint of a Friday evening!
Frank,
you should have seen the ruckus at my local in the Gorbals, there was streams of tears in the eyes of the Rangers fan who felt “most disturbed” at some Celtic fan, over his misunderstanding of Sosan.
I truly think these vague texts should be banned over all the trouble they cause.
Or at least kept on the top shelf for the true Mystics?
It’s a disgrace.
The words of Sosan emanated from a particular state…(mmm,like that Palin woman from Alaska ? )
They are frozen in time and space.
They do not have implicit determination or association.. So one is screwed unless one is in a state already proximal to that state , (but not necessarily Alaska.)
Language is like that
Its like trying to have a shit after you’ve had a shit…the meaning is not there to push out.. its not in the friggin words.. they have been dumped from the consciousness that gave rise to them for it to sublimate faster than radio waves in outer space
One has to wait until; one is ready to letgoagain
then the relief will come
And the sound of Ahhhh Thisssss.
But don’t mistake a benign insight light for ending separation -with that of a ‘how to’ manual !
My tip :
existential implicitness back to the recognising self is not simply semantically reversible like a clever raincoat cum Barbour jacket, nor can it in itself (written language ) trigger that awareness from which it comes or indicates , nor does any furtive or temporal understanding expand that which is making it happen to make it endure and embody. Otherwise spiritual booksellers woulda gone out of business years ago.
Also the insightful brain tends, prefers, to attune in heightened states to poetic metaphorical association when written, So an ABC of what is and isn’t does not much help ( notice how this isn’t helping much ?)
Remember to put the seat down.
”I truly think these vague texts should be banned over all the trouble they cause.Or at least kept on the top shelf for the true Mystics?” – and how does one know that ? !
One never really knows, Kavita,
that´s why sometimes the ´playfulness´, to set triggers here, sometimes works out (up to apparently contentment), sometimes it does cause turmoil and more chaos (confusion).
But if you see it from a broader perspective, it always works….
Have a nice day !
Madhu
I took an opportunity a while ago to attend a non-duality evening, I had never been to one before and was curious. I was very underwhelmed by the speaker, especially during the Q&A. Which I felt she handled poorly. Looking around at the transfixed audience, I remember thinking how fortunate I was to have been with Bhagwan, and lamenting the fact that there is never an Osho around when you need one.
A guy concerned about genocide, asked how such evil could be reconciled with non-duality?
Her reply seemed to me to reassure rather than awaken.
I would have been uncompromising, and told that guy to go out and ask millions of people if they would also consider genocide to be evil? You can assume that a large majority would answer: “yes.” Yet millions of people feeling genocide is evil will not prevent it from happening.
Why is that? And how will adding yourself to those millions change anything?
I would have told him to forget about genocide and concentrate entirely on his own enlightenment. Just walk away in the opposite direction to the millions. And one day when you realise enlightenment, you will also realise that you are now incapable of ever committing genocide yourself.
Whereas the next architect of an atrocity will invariably come from the millions.
When I gave up on good and evil years ago, I found they were replaced by feelings of being impressed, to unimpressed, by events happening in the world, and around me. Living in non-duality does not mean living in bland indecisive indifference.
If you don’t ‘get it’ then lower your expectations.
It’s a shame the gunman on the beach was not devoted to Sosan. He would have found the paradise he was looking for, and 38 holidaymakers would still be alive.
As for thinking?.. Probably best to think when you have to, and not when you don’t.
‘I found they were replaced by feelings of being impressed, to unimpressed, by events happening in the world, and around me.’
Interesting phrase. Really strikes a chord with me. I can relate to that.
Good post Anubodh. Thank you.
In a few places you are a little unclear, but a very good response to this non duality teacher.
Osho mentions somewhere G E Moore the English philosopher who tried to define “Good” in his book “Principia Ethica”. He lampooned him by saying after 250 pages Moore could only say Good was indefinable. But in the context of this present discussion, Osho said that just because a thing cannot be defined it does not mean it cannot be experienced.
Osho was in youth always fond of climbing trees, and invited his lecturer (who had studied under Moore at Oxford) to join him in a little settlement of trees on the edge of the campus, and there he could experience “good” just sitting with him for an hour there.