Notes from some of Osho's discourses... Phone 07 5562 5718 or send an email to book a free 20 minute telephone or skype consultation. NLP Hypnotherapy and Meditation with an Osho Zen Sannyasin. Gold Coast, Robina, Australia.

Osho: The Grass Grows By Itself

	Discourses by Osho are available in book and MP3 form. The following notes were taken from the series of discourses: THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF Talks on Zen

#1: Zen was born in India, grown in China and blossomed in Japan. Why could Zen not blossom in India or China? India is introverted, Japan is extroverted and China is balanced. Zen is now dead in Japan, it has come back to India, it needs to go to England (balanced) where it can grow before going to America (extroverted) where it can blossom once again.
The mind is only a small part of you. Only the whole of your being can understand. Even the heart cannot understand by itself. Animals and trees exist very successfully without a mind. The mind is the most articulate part of you. In life orators lead the world but not necessarily with wisdom or intelligence. Being total is not about being articulate but about allowing all of you to live your life with no divisions between body, mind and heart. Most religions have created a split between the body and mind – the body is bad in some way. Zen says to just be whole again. The mind has a different function for the enlightened man. Mind is just a biocomputer.

#2: Zen quote: “Sitting quietly, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.” Pearls before swine. A monk is told to take a stone to the vegetable market, the gold market and to some jewelers. At the vegetable market he is offered a few cents, at the gold market he is offered many thousands of dollars while at the jewelers he is offered hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the price is increased when he refuses to sell. The value of a product is in the eye of the beholder. Become a ‘jeweler’ to perceive the value of meditation.
The ego is the controller. When the ego is no longer there then who are you? You are perfectly natural. When the ego disappears then the other disappears too and you can get close to another person for the first time.
Zen and Sufism are opposites. Meditation is the path of emptiness which leads to love. In Buddhism there is no concept of God. Sufism is the path of love and hence there has to be a God. Love leads to emptiness.

#3: Excellent: On the ego. When Bodhidharma was asked by Emperor Wu “Well who is this man standing before me and talking?” Bodhidharma replied: “I do not know.” Buddha says that ‘you’ are unknowable. Analogy of a movie theatre screen. The images projected onto the screen are in fact a series of still images thrown onto the screen in quick succession. What you see is just a play of light. The screen reflects the film. The mind projects thoughts onto the screen of your consciousness. The thoughts come so quickly – like the film made up of still images. Thoughts are separate without roots like clouds. Thoughts are not related to each other but they move so fast that they create a centre – hence the ego. Out of the centre of the thoughts arises the ego. In meditation one experiences the space between the thoughts. When you enter into the silence the ego is nowhere to be found.
There are actions but no actor, thoughts but no thinker, - there is no centre. Thoughts occur by themselves – you don’t actually do the thinking but because we are identified with the mind we think we think we do. Drop control so that the controller can disappear.

#4: Excellent: There is only one problem. The ego. Cut at the roots of the mind to dissolve the ego. The solution is to be found inside the problem. A long period of helplessness as an infant (first four years of life) creates a dependence upon others hence the infant gets the idea that he/she is the centre of the world. By age 7 the ego is formed and the primary value system and conditioning is in place. At age 14 with the completion of the second subtle body the teenager is sexually mature and love is the priority. At age 42 with the completion of the sixth subtle body religion should be important in a person’s life.
If you were not comfortable with your mother and father as a child then you won’t be comfortable with people generally in life as an adult. Heal the conflict and tension with your parents first. The ultimate peak of a woman is to be a mother and for a man to be childlike but you need to come to terms with your parents first. Fight and your failure is certain. Learn to go with the flow.

#5: Where there is belief and greed there will always be someone ready to deceive. On Sathya Sai Baba’s magic tricks and producing things out of thin air. On Jesus entering the Temple of Jerusalem and throwing out the business people. Religion and business. On Muktananda, the certificate of enlightenment and conflict with Franklin Jones, aka: Da Free John.
Lao Tzu says that truth can not be said and what can be uttered is not truth but Lao Tzu still uttered these statements. Religion is full of paradoxes. Truth can be indicated.

#6: Excellent: The story of Kosu the Zen monk who declared that he would kill himself if he did not attain to enlightenment within a few days. As he took action to commit suicide he became enlightened. The fundamental difference between man and animals is that man is aware of life and death. Animals are totally unconscious. A Buddha is totally conscious while man is fragmentary conscious. On the conflict between a conscious part of yourself and an unconscious part. That is when you are in two minds about something. An animal does not experience conflict neither does a Buddha. But man always has internal conflict, always trying to control himself – always tense. An animal just acts, a Buddha just acts but man is always trying to be like something else. When total in the sex act the mind disappears and you become an animal once again. Two parts in conflict. Conscious control versus sex which is unconscious. Hence sex has been controlled by society. Marriage is love plus law. Religious conversion means to turn back to the source. Description of Buddha’s enlightenment.

#7: Millions live in concepts and theories – very few know the real. Our ignorance is absolute. Philosophy gives us a feeling of knowing something. Religion, philosophy, objective art, subjective art. Religion and logic = theology. Religion and poetry = objective art e.g. the Taj Mahal. We don’t expect a painter or poet to be consistent but when we hear a religious person speak we expect a consistency in words. Why?
What happens to an enlightened master after death? With enlightenment the ego disappears so your centre disappears but then the whole of existence becomes your centre. An enlightened master knows nothing because he has attained to perfect ignorance.

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