God is an Insult to Man

WHEN SEKITO RECEIVED THE PRECEPTS, HIS MASTER, SEIGEN, ASKED HIM, ”NOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE PRECEPTS, YOU WANT TO LEARN THE VINAYA, DON’T YOU?”

SEKITO REPLIED, ”THERE’S NO NEED TO LEARN THE VINAYA.”

SEIGEN ASKED, ”THEN, YOU WANT TO READ THE BOOK OF SHEELA?”

SEKITO REPLIED, ”THERE’S NO NEED TO READ THE BOOK OF SHEELA.”

SEIGEN ASKED, ”CAN YOU DELIVER A LETTER TO NANGAKU OSHO?”

SEKITO SAID, ”CERTAINLY.”

SEIGEN SAID, ”GO NOW, AND COME BACK QUICKLY. IF YOU COME BACK EVEN A LITTLE LATE, YOU WILL MISS ME. IF YOU MISS ME, YOU CANNOT GET THE BIG HATCHET UNDER MY CHAIR.”

SOON SEKITO REACHED NANGAKU. BEFORE HANDING OVER THE LETTER, SEKITO MADE A BOW AND ASKED, ”OSHO, WHEN ONE NEITHER FOLLOWS THE OLD SAINTS NOR EXPRESSES ONE’S INNERMOST SOUL, WHAT WILL ONE DO?”

NANGAKU SAID, ”YOUR QUESTION IS TOO ARROGANT. WHY DON’T YOU ASK MODESTLY?” TO WHICH SEKITO REPLIED, ”THEN IT WOULD BE BETTER TO SINK INTO HELL ETERNALLY AND NOT EVER HOPE FOR THE LIBERATION THAT THE OLD SAINTS KNOW.”

SEKITO, FINDING THAT HE AND NANGAKU WERE NOT ATTUNED TO EACH OTHER, SOON LEFT FOR SEIGEN WITHOUT GIVING NANGAKU THE LETTER. ON HIS ARRIVAL, SEIGEN ASKED, ”DID THEY ENTRUST SOMETHING TO YOU?”

SEKITO SAID, ”THEY DIDN’T ENTRUST ANYTHING TO ME.”

SEIGEN SAID, ”BUT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A REPLY.”

SEKITO SAID, ”IF THEY DON’T ENTRUST ANYTHING, THERE IS NO REPLY.” THEN HE SAID, ”WHEN I WAS LEAVING HERE, YOU ADDED THAT I SHOULD COME BACK SOON TO RECEIVE THE BIG HATCHET UNDER THE CHAIR. NOW I HAVE COME BACK, PLEASE GIVE ME THE BIG HATCHET.”

SEIGEN WAS SILENT. SEKITO BOWED DOWN AND RETIRED.

Friends, before I answer your questions, I have to answer two letters by very knowledgeable idiots. This distinction has to be remembered. There is a certain ignorance that knows, and there is a certain knowledgeability that knows nothing.

One is a Buddhist scholar, and he writes that ”An enlightened man cannot be concerned with the trivia of the ordinary world and its concerns.”

It means, according to him, I am an ignorant man. It is a compliment to me because every enlightened man finally becomes as ignorant as a child, or as innocent as a child. Socrates’ last words were, ”I don’t know anything.”

This man is a scholar but blind. Does he think that a third world war which is going to erase the whole of humanity is trivia? Does he think that the explosion of the population in this country is trivia when it is going to kill almost five hundred million people in the coming ten years? And if these are trivia then I have to take him back to Gautam Buddha.

He was concerned that no sannyasin of his should have more than three pieces of clothes – that is trivia. He was concerned that no sannyasin of his should wear shoes – that is trivia. He was concerned that no sannyasin should eat more than one time in a day – that is trivia. And still he is enlightened and I am ignorant. This is what I call a knowledgeable idiot.

Buddha has made thirty-three thousand rules for his disciples – all trivia. Where can you find thirtythree thousand truths? Truth is one and inexpressible. But he was concerned with absolute trivia.

One sannyasin was going to spread his message and had come for his last word, because he might not be coming back to him for two or three years. And what was his message? ”Don’t see a woman.” Now, unless you see, you cannot decide whether the person is a woman or a man.

I don’t understand what kind of nonsense Buddha was talking. How are you going to know that the person coming towards you is a woman? You have to see first, then you can close your eyes – but you have seen. And once you have seen a beautiful woman and you close your eyes, she becomes more beautiful. Is it not trivia?

And Buddha told him, ”You have to keep your eyes just four feet ahead of you. Just look only four feet ahead and keep your eyes down, so even if you come across a woman you only see her feet.” This is great spiritual stuff!

The man was a little puzzled. He said, ”I will try my best, but if by chance I happen to see a woman accidentally – suddenly a woman comes out of the forest or on a crossroad – what should I do?”

Buddha said, ”If you accidentally see a woman, don’t talk to her.” Is it great spirituality? Don’t even say, ”Hello,” because she is a woman!

And the man insisted. He said, ”If the woman says something, will it not be embarrassing to not answer her? Will it not be inhuman?”

Buddha said, ”If such a coincidence happens, you can talk to her, but don’t touch her.” Is this spiritual stuff?

What do you call trivia? The whole humanity is going to die and I should not speak!? And your Gautam Buddha is talking absolute nonsense to his people.

And the man was intelligent enough. He said, ”There may be a situation in which I have to touch a woman. Perhaps a woman has fallen in a well, what am I supposed to do? Or in a ditch, what am I supposed to do? Should I just go on without looking at her miserable state, without helping her?”

And Buddha said, ”If such a coincidence happens, you can touch. But remember, all that is outside is illusory.”

If it is illusory then why make the first point? The woman is illusory and don’t touch her! What is the problem if you touch an illusion? Don’t talk to the illusion! Don’t look at the illusion! This I call absolute trivia.

These Buddhist scholars are going to provoke me. I will pull down Gautam Buddha completely!

My concern for humanity makes me ignorant, and his concern about women and about clothes and about shoes, and about not touching women, not looking more than four feet ahead, makes him enlightened! His enlightenment is rotten! It is a bullock-cart enlightenment.

I am a contemporary man, twenty-five centuries ahead of Gautam Buddha. He is just old hat.

But these Buddhist scholars are provoking me. I will start talking about Gautam Buddha and will pull down the whole house that he has built, because it is built on all these stupid things.

My concern for humanity is absolutely spiritual. My concern for this beautiful planet is sacred. It is my compassion and my love. And I don’t care about any Gautam Buddha. I am a buddha in my own right, and your old Buddha is too out of date. I belong to my time, and I speak the language of my time.

Buddha was afraid to allow women in his commune. For twenty years continuously he refused women. What was the fear? He did not trust his own sannyasins; this was distrust. A master distrusting his own people? He was afraid that if women enter into the commune, then what will happen to the celibacy of the monks? But if their celibacy is so thin that the entry of a woman is going to disturb their celibacy, it is not much of a celibacy.

They must have been homosexuals, as we are finding now in every monastery around the world that all kinds of sexual perversions are practiced. It cannot have been otherwise for Buddha’s disciples. Only my people are living a natural, sacred, existential life, not against the current, not against the universe.

And without listening to me, without reading me, these idiots go on making their comments.

My whole effort is to bring materialism and spiritualism into balance. To me the outside world is as real as the inside world. Naturally this creates trouble for me from both sides. The communists have written books against me, for the reason that I am teaching spirituality and meditation and diverting people from their real concern, a classless society. And I am making people selfish because I am just telling them to go in.

And the spiritualists are against me; they have written books against me, and articles, and every day there are letters. Their problem is that I am taking too much interest in the world. A man of real spirituality should close his eyes, because the world is illusory.

But none of your so-called and self-styled enlightened people have taken the trouble to think twice. When you say the world is illusory, then there is no need to renounce it. Nobody renounces dreams. Do you renounce your dream when you wake up in the morning? A dream is just a dream, there is no question of renouncing it. And if you are having a sweet dream, I say enjoy it.

Make this whole world a sweet dream, not a nightmare. All your politicians and all your priests are trying to make it a nightmare. Then naturally people think to renounce it, it is such a tragedy.

But I am not in favor of renouncing the world, and I don’t say that the world is illusory; otherwise, why does Buddha go on begging every day? If the world is illusory why are you going to beg before an illusory house? And when a woman gives you food, she is illusory and the food is real?!

Why do you need three pieces of clothes? This was the criticism of Mahavira, Buddha’s contemporary, who lived naked. He did not accept Buddha as enlightened because he did not live naked. Three pieces of clothes were luxury to Mahavira, a man who lived naked in summer, in winter, in rain. Naturally he has the right to say to Buddha, ”You are living in great luxury. Three pieces of clothes! You are too materialistic.”

Buddha ate one meal a day; to Mahavira that was luxury. In the twelve years before Mahavira became enlightened, he ate on only three hundred and sixty-five days. In twelve years he ate for only one year – not continuously. Two months passed, and then one day he would eat; three months passed, and one day he would eat. That means, on average, that out of eleven days he would eat on one day. Of course, to him Buddha is indulging in luxury. These are relative terms.

And Buddha was criticizing Mahavira for such trivial things, because he could not find answers to Mahavira’s criticism that he was living in luxury – daily food, three pieces of clothes. He found another way to criticize him, because the followers of Mahavira were saying that Mahavira is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, with all the qualities of God. And Buddha was laughing at Mahavira, telling his disciples, ”This fellow, this guy, says that he is omniscient, all knowing, and I know him... Once he was begging before a house in which nobody lived. And he talks about knowing everything: past, present, future, and he does not know that the house is empty, there is nobody there. For years it has been empty, and this man is omniscient?

”And one day he was passing early in the morning, going to the river, when he stamped on the tail of a dog who was fast asleep on the road. When the dog started barking, then he realized. And this man is omniscient, all knowing, and he does not know that a dog is lying just in front of him?”

Do you think these criticisms are very spiritual? Neither are Mahavira’s criticisms very spiritual, nor are Buddha’s criticisms very spiritual. Just trivia.

So I want to tell this Buddhist scholar to consider again who is enlightened.

The other is also a Buddhist scholar, and he had said to me, ”I have been reading your books on Buddha, and I have appreciated them very much.” But he never then wrote any letter to me, nor any letter to the newspapers.

It is a strange thing: when I was saying things in appreciation, nobody ever wrote a single word. They thought what I was saying was really the meaning of Buddha’s sutras. It was not! The meaning was given by me, and I can take it away. I can tear down all your scriptures point by point!

Now he has published a letter in the newspapers. Now he says, that I cannot have samadhi – enlightenment – because I don’t have sheel, I have only pragya. He does not understand at all – neither Buddha nor me. Pragya is a by-product of samadhi, of enlightenment. Pragya means wisdom. Unless you become enlightened, you cannot have wisdom, you can have only knowledge. And pragya does not mean knowledge, it means wisdom. It is a by-product of samadhi, enlightenment.

But he has no experience of samadhi, he has just seen the scriptures. And you will see in the coming sutra, an authentic seeker simply denies that he has anything to do with sheel. Sheel means character. Now he is concerned with my character, saying that without character you cannot become enlightened. What does he know about my character? And has he ever thought about the character of Buddha?

For twenty-nine years continuously Buddha was indulging in sex, and not only with his wife, he had many concubines. His father was told when he was born that either he would become a world emperor, or he would renounce the world and become an enlightened one. These were the two alternatives. Of course his father wanted him to become a world emperor.

So he asked how to prevent him from becoming enlightened. ”I want him to become the world emperor.” He was a small king in a small kingdom. Arun has just brought from Nepal a picture of the palace – which is in ruins – where Buddha was born. Even in ruins you can see the kingdom was not great. The palace looks like just an ordinary big house. And it was in just a small village on the border of Nepal and India. Naturally his father must have had the ambition of Buddha becoming a great world conqueror.

And the astrologers suggested, ”If you want him to be prevented from enlightenment, then make every comfort and luxury possible for him. He should grow up in luxury and indulgence. He should not see anybody old, anybody dead. Even the flowers which are going to fall down should be removed before he sees them. All pale leaves which are going to fall should be removed.

”And he should be made to live in different palaces in different seasons, so he never comes to feel any season is a trouble. So three palaces were made in different places: one for the summer, one for the winter, one for the rain. And great gardens were created around the palaces. And his father collected all the beautiful girls from the kingdom, to be his concubines. He was surrounded with women, music, wine for twenty-nine years, and he had a wife and a son. And he became enlightened.

I don’t have a son, I don’t have a wife, I don’t have concubines, I don’t even have a girlfriend. And I don’t have character? And Buddha has character! No man has indulged more than Gautam Buddha. What character...?

He had five disciples before his enlightenment. They were disciples because he was an ascetic. He was torturing himself fasting and had become just a skeleton. And these five disciples were immensely impressed by his self-torture. The whole of humanity lives with this idea: if you torture yourself you are a saint.

The day he became enlightened, he dropped all self-torture; it was absolutely useless. All the five disciples left him immediately: he has fallen, fallen from saintliness. He had become enlightened, and those five disciples who had been with him for many years, respecting him as a great saint, just left him, saying, ”He has fallen. He has started eating, he has started having warm clothes.”

Perhaps these Buddhist scholars don’t understand anything at all except the scriptures.

Character arises out of enlightenment, it is not vice versa. It is not character that produces enlightenment, otherwise enlightenment would have a cause to it. Enlightenment is your nature; it has no cause. It is already there, you just have to discover it. It does not matter what kind of character you have. If you go inwards the sinner will find the buddha just as much as the saint. And after you have found your enlightenment, the radiation of the enlightenment becomes your character, your sheel.

Your enlightenment becomes your innocence, and out of that innocence arises wisdom. But wisdom is not knowledge, it is simply transparent clarity about everything, inner or outer.

But these knowledgeable idiots simply prove one thing that I have been continuously telling you: don’t get involved in scholarship, don’t get involved in knowledgeability. That is the greatest barrier to enlightenment, because you are so full of knowledge, and all knowledge is of the mind.

Enlightenment is not of the mind, it is the fragrance of no-mind. No-mind is not based on any character. Just the contrary: all character arises out of the clarity of no-mind. So it is not imposed from outside as a discipline. It arises as a spontaneous response. You simply cannot do any evil. It is not a question of your deciding not to do evil, you simply cannot do it. You are so full of light, how can you behave like a blind man? You are so full of light, how can you behave like a man stumbling in darkness?

So character arises, wisdom arises, and a thousand other things: blissfulness, ecstasy, benediction, compassion. There is no end; more and more flowers go on flowering.

But this is the difficulty of the knowledgeable person. He has accepted a certain fixed formula.

I want you to know absolutely clearly that just as everything goes on expanding and growing, even enlightenment becomes clearer, deeper, higher as time passes. After twenty-five centuries, I am not going to be a replica of Gautam Buddha. I have nothing to learn from him. If anything has to be, he has to learn something from me. Twenty-five centuries have not been a mere wastage. Just as everything is progressing and evolving, so is consciousness.

But every scholar gets completely fucked-up! He thinks only in terms of his scripture, and the scripture is twenty-five centuries old. I am a contemporary man, and I do not belong to any category. I am a category in myself. I decide according to my spontaneous response, not according to any commandments, not according to any discipline. Whether the discipline is given by Buddha or Mahavira or Christ or Krishna, it does not matter; they are all old. But these people are living in the past.

I am moving moment to moment into the future. I have left Gautam Buddha twenty-five centuries behind. His enlightenment also is twenty-five centuries old. So much dust has gathered on it. But my mirror of consciousness is absolutely fresh, and I am not going to listen to anybody. Nobody is my master! And nobody has the right to tell me what character is and what is wisdom and what is enlightenment. Nobody has that right.

I am a man absolutely free. I live my life according to my own light. I am nobody’s follower, and I don’t live my life according to any scripture. These idiots should shut up! Because of them I will be provoked to condemn Buddha and Mahavira and Krishna and everybody! And they won’t have any argument against me.

How can these people say that Buddha was not concerned with trivia? He was concerned. And my concern is not trivia.

My concern is a third world war that is hanging just on the horizon. Any moment there will be no life on earth, and no possibility of any buddha! And you call it trivia?

Beware of scholars. They are the most idiotic people in the world.

God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth 34 ♡♥Osho♡♥