The Zen Manifesto ~ 04

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event type discourse & meditation
date & time 3 Apr 1989 pm
location Gautam the Buddha Auditorium, Pune
language English
audio Available, duration 3h 5min. Quality: good.
Osho leading meditation from 2:52:31
online audio
video Available, duration 3h 9min. Quality: good, but a constant audio-noise.
online video
see also
online text find the PDF of this discourse
shorttitle ZENMAN04
notes
Footage of the video of this meeting has been used in Osho Morning Meditation (1990).
synopsis
Reader of the sutra: Ma Prem Maneesha. Questions are being read by Osho himself.
After discourse Osho leads No-Mind Meditation.
The sutra
One day, Tanka said to the monks who were with him, "You should all protect your essential thing, which is not made or formed by you. So how can I teach you to do this or not to do this?
Once, when I saw Sekito Osho, he taught me that I should just protect it by myself. This thing cannot be talked about. You all have your own zazen mat; other than that, what Zen do you talk about?
You should understand this. There is nothing which is to become Buddha. Don't just go on hearing the name of Buddha; you, yourselves, must see that the good devices and four infinite virtues are not from outside; don't carry them in your mind.
What do you intend to follow? Don't use sutras. Leave the emptiness without falling into it.
The seekers of the present day search for the Tao chaotically. Here in this place, there is no way to learn, nor any dharma to show. Even a single sip or a single bite has its own truth.
Don't entertain thoughts and suspicions. In any place, the thing is present. If you recognize Gautam Buddha, an ordinary old man is that. You should all see, and get it, by yourselves. Don't let a blind man lead a mass of blind people into a fire cave.
If you play a dice game in the dark night, how can you see the numbers on the dice?"


Question 1
In his book, 'The way of Zen,' Alan Watts writes, "One must not forget the social context of Zen. It is primarily a way of liberation for those who have mastered the discipline of social convention, of the conditioning of the individual by the group. Zen is a medicine for the ill effects of this conditioning, for the mental paralysis and anxiety which come from extensive self-consciousness."
Beloved master, first, I don't see any need to master social conventions to be ready for the way of Zen. On the contrary, trying to master dead, old rules shows stupidity. Why not drop them immediately?
Second, do you see Zen as a medicine for the ill effect of conditioning?
Question 2
In the whole history of human consciousness, you are the first to give the utmost respect to women and to make available all the opportunities to grow into enlightenment. But why were Zen masters consciously ignoring women for centuries? There are only a few instances of women being enlightened, but not being Zen masters!
Is it true that woman by nature is not much interested in the growth of her consciousness? Could you please include this great matter of the better half in your Zen manifesto?
Question 3
Beloved Osho, is there any truth to what Alan Watts states when he writes: "One must not forget the social context of Zen. It is primarily a way of liberation for those who have mastered the disciplines of social convention, of the conditioning of the individual by the group."
He goes on to say that Zen must specifically be set against the context of Confucianism, with its accent on what is proper, on ritual.
Conversely, Alan Watts says again, "Zen might be very dangerous medicine in a social context where convention is weak, or, at the other extreme, where there is a spirit of open revolt against convention ready to exploit Zen for destructive purposes."


(source:CD-ROM)


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