Cool.

Greater Russia, after the overrun of the Byzantine Empire (the christianised Romans) by the Ottomans, adopted all the symbols (the double headed eagle, etc) and orthodoxy of the Byzantines, to give themselves an identity, a unifying moral code, and to be the continuation of ‘something’.

In a way the Russian communist revolution was a Jewish revolution. And many of those that went on to create Israel were communists and kibbutzniks. From the muslim viewpoint the creation of Israel is just the latest of the west’s crusades. And to the western capitalist, Osho was a communist, who was not clever enough to be a zionist. Osho was also secretly anti-colonial. I say secretly because only other anti-colonials could see it. Obama is a big anti-colonial. As it happens I am pro-colonial. It’s a strange world.

Vartan

St Paul was a Roman. Saint Helena and St Constantine the other two big Xtian spreaders were also Roman. Xtianity was the continuation of the Roman Empire after its collapse. Both Tsar and Kaiser come from Caesar.

Vartan

If one doesn’t take Osho’s statements completely literally and one also takes into account the context, one may not reply in a literal but limited manner. One could then mount a case for many Buddhas or mystics being persecuted. For instance, The Zen master Ikkyu who was arguable the most brilliant of Zen teachers was appointed headmaster at Daitokuji, the great temple in Kyoto, but he lasted only nine days before denouncing the rampant hypocrisy among the monks. Ikkyu, I guess, was part of the crazy wisdom tradition and spent his life rubbishing conventional Buddhist communities. I’ve posted a couple of his poems. There are no doubt more like him.

Widening the discussion I think Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the great contemporary figures who meditates for long hours and is a Buddhist. She has through her efforts brought the plight of the Burmese people to the rest of the world. Another figure who comes to mind is Martin Luther King who isn’t regarded as an enlightened being but was a profoundly spiritual person who was influenced by Gandhi.

Rumi has also been mentioned as enlightened by some but he wasn’t a Buddhist. Lets not forget he was inspired by Shams who was murdered. Does one dismiss early radical Christians and people like Thomas Moore who put their lives on the line? Great teachers have always been shakers.

I also find that the idealization of the Buddhist tradition by Westerners a bit naive. Friends I know have pointed out to me that there are monks in charge of monasteries who do not meditate and they are no different from members of any other clerical tradition. There is also rivalry between Buddhist sects and the head monks or gurus. This happens throughout Burma and Thailand, according to a monk I know. He once told me an interesting account of a Buddhist sect protesting against the Dalai Lama’s arrival in London. Apparently members of the Dalai Lama’s sect were responsible for the murder of members of the sect protesting.

Authenticity is an interesting one. Few people know that the head of the Japanese Aum cult, who committed the terrorist attact some years back, had studied Tibetan Buddhism in India and apparently made great progress. The Dalai Lama acknowledged this in a radio interview. When asked what happened he said the guru reached great heights and that from here it is easy to fall. The Dalai Lama then laughed in his usual way.

Finally, Osho was dragged from one prison to another and it was wealthy sannyasins who got him out of the ‘slammer.’ No doubt Hasya and the ‘Hollywood Crew’ played a part in picking up the mess. They obviously did some good. What I find interesting was how you were told by Hasya and Amrito that you were risking your sannyas with your publications after the ranch folded. It seems to me that these guys were genuine but perhaps misguided. You were being persecuted.

My own feeling is that many of Osho’s self-called disciples were and are devotees! So I don’t mind their path, and maybe their attachment to the charisma of their “leader” is an okay thing. Though I hasten to point out Osho was NEVER any kind of devotee himself!

I am interested in another path, that of discipleship, and defining it can be useful. Charismatic attraction is dangerous for a disciple, he has to work on himself!

In our times, Gurdjieff – you can still read in old newspapers how the ordinary man thought about him. Devil, womaniser, drug addict, etc. Even statements like his disciples were more worthy than him…and disciples like Ouspensky, who left him and berated him. But what does real history now show – a great man striving tirelessly to wake up those drawn to him. And who himself was disappointed in the disciples drawn to him.

I would say that persecution itself is a sign of a great spiritual adventurer’s authenticity.