Nothing more, this is enough. If you can laugh, if you can laugh totally, it is meditation

If you become a little alert you will find love, light, laughter, everywhere!

It is said that when Hotei attained enlightenment he started laughing. He lived at least
thirty years afterwards; he continued laughing for thirty years. Even in sleep his disciples
would hear him giggling. His whole message to the world was laughter; he would go
from one town to another just laughing. He would stand in one marketplace, then in
another, just laughing, and people would gather. His laughter had something of the
beyond -- a Buddha's laughter. He is known in Japan as 'the laughing Buddha'.
His laughter was so contagious that whosoever heard it would start laughing. Soon the
whole marketplace would be laughing; crowds would gather and laugh and they would
ask him, "Just give us a few instructions."

He would say, "Nothing more, this is enough. If you can laugh, if you can laugh totally, it

is meditation."

Laughter was his device. It is said many people became enlightened through Hotei's

laughter. That was his only meditation: to laugh and help people laugh.

Osho-"Be still and know"

Become Alert and Watch things

A Zen Master was asked, "What did you use to do before you became enlightened?"

He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well for my Master's house."
The inquirer asked, "And now that you have become enlightened, what do you do?"
He said, "I chop wood and carry water."
The inquirer was obviously puzzled. "Then what is the difference? You used to chop
wood and carry water, you still chop wood and still carry water -- then what is the
difference?"
The Master laughed. He said, "The difference is infinite! Before I simply used to chop
wood not knowing the beauties that surrounded me. Now chopping wood is not the same
because I am not the same. My eyes are not the same, my heart beats in a different
rhythm -- my heart beats with the heart of the whole. There is a synchronicity, there is
harmony.

"Carrying water from the well is the same from the outside, but my interior has become

totally different. I am a new man, I am born again! Now I can see in depth, I can see into
the very core of things, and each pebble has become a diamond, and each song of a bird
is nothing but a call from God, and whenever a flower blooms, God blooms for me.
Looking into people's eyes I am looking into God's eyes. Yes, on the surface I am
carrying on the same activity, but because I am not the same the world is not the same."

Start becoming a little more alert and watch things, and you will be surprised. Life is

mysterious, unexplainable -- life is absurd. You cannot prove anything for or against.

Osho-"Be still and know"

Watchfulness

In my village there was a very beautiful, old, good man. Everybody loved him; he was so simple and
so innocent, even though he was more than eighty. And by the side of my village flows a river. He
had made a special spot of his own on the river, where he used to take his bath. As far as anybody
in the village could remember, they had always seen him, day in, day out, year in, year out; whether
it was rainy season, summer, winter, made no difference; whether he was sick or healthy made no
difference. He would be there at exactly five o’clock in the morning, on his spot. And that was the
deepest part of the river, so nobody ordinarily used to go there – and it was far away.
People used to go to the river; it was just half a furlong from my house, but that spot was almost two
miles away. And just like our hills surrounding the river, you have to go and pass one mountain, then
another, then another, then you will reach that spot. But it was a beautiful spot. As I became aware
of it I started going there, and we immediately became friends because... you know me, what type
of person I am: if he was going to be there at five, I was going to be there at three. One day, two
days, three days passed; he said, ”What is the matter? Have you decided to defeat me?”
I said, ”No, that is not the point. But I am going to be here at three – just as you have decided to be
here at five.”
He said, ”Do you know how to swim?”
I said, ”I don’t, but you need not worry: if other people can swim, then I can swim. If you can swim,
then what is the problem? One thing is certain: it is humanly possible. That’s enough. At the most I
can be drowned – so what? One day everybody has to die. It does not matter.”
He said, ”You are dangerous. I will teach you how to swim.”
I said, ”No.” I told him, ”You simply sit here and I will jump in. Don’t try to save me if I am dying; even
if I am calling out to you to save me, don’t listen.”
He said, ”What kind of child are you? You will be crying, ’Save me!’ and I am not to save you?”
I said, ”Yes. I will not be crying. I am simply making absolutely sure.... Perhaps when I am drowning,
dying or suffocating, or water is going in my nose and mouth, I may start crying, ’Save me!’ but I
want to be clear: I don’t want to be saved by anybody in any case. Either I will come out knowing
what swimming is or I will go down, knowing that swimming is not for me.”
And before he could stop me, I jumped in. Certainly I had to go two or three times under the water
and come up. And he was standing there, waiting, so that if I called him... but I simply waved my
hand to indicate, ”No, I am not going to call.” Three or four times I went in, down, came up, threw
my arms about haphazardly, because I had no idea how to swim – but what can you do? When you
are drowning you try every possible way you can. And within five minutes I knew the knack. I came
back and I told him, ”You were offering to teach me this – which I can learn within five minutes? I
just had to risk, and accept the fact: at the most it could have meant death.”

Swimming is a knack, it is not an art that anybody has to learn. You have just to be thrown into
water. You are bound to start splashing and throwing your hands and your legs about, and soon you
will find that if you throw your hands and legs about in a harmonious way, in synchronicity, then the
water itself keeps you up.
I had told that old man, ”I have seen dead bodies passing along the river. When a dead man can
swim, do you mean to say to me that I am alive, and I cannot swim? Even the dead man knows the
art!” In the rains, when there were floods, it would happen many times that whole villages would be
taken by the river – many people, dead bodies, dead animals would pass by. So I said, ”Even dead
people go by, fast. And I am alive, so let me have the chance of learning it by myself, because my
feeling is that it is only a knack. What art can there be? It is not craftmanship, or some difficult art
to be understood. All that I see is that people are throwing their hands about – so I can throw mine
about too.”
You have to remember: watching is not some art, some craft, no; it is a knack. All that you have to
remember is, don’t get drowned in the river that is flowing inside. And how do you get drowned in
it? If you become in any way active, you are drowned.
If you remain inactive, passive, not doing anything... alert that, ”I am not supposed to do anything;
the anger is passing, let it pass. Goodbye....” If some thought is going past, good or bad, don’t
bother. Your simple concern is to watch, not to call anything names, not to condemn, because all
those are actions.
Action brings you into the mind. Inaction takes you out of the mind. Action is a bridge between you
and the mind; with inaction the bridge is dropped, you are standing there all alone. And the moment
you are not active, not in any way participating, a miracle is experienced.
It is your participation that gives life to the mind – its thoughts, feelings, emotions – it is your
participation that gives life to it. When you are not participating, they simply disperse, leaving a
pure emptiness: you alone, in your utter aloneness. Time stops. As mind stops, time stops. And
for the first time in your life you see the seer, you observe the observer. You become aware of
awareness, and this is all that religion is about.
But you have to remember the fourth. The three divisions made by three different kinds of people
around the world are not enough. You need the fourth.
And the fourth is simple – watchfulness.

Osho"From unconsciousness to conscicouness"

Unconscious has tremendous powers

The unconscious has tremendous powers. It can communicate. It communicates sometimes even
without your practicing it. For example, if a son is dying, it is possible that the mother may be
thousands of miles away but she will start feeling something wrong is happening, because she has
a certain connection with the son. The son is just part of her. For nine months he was part and
parcel of her physiology, her psychology, everything. His foundation is still connected with her.


It happened: one of my friends is a very well known poet, Professor Rameshwar Shukla, whose pen
name is Anchal. We were traveling from Jabalpur to Nagpur in the same car. It must have been
twelve-thirty in the night. We were midway between Jabalpur and Nagpur and he suddenly heard
something. I didn’t hear anything. He said, ”Did you hear something?”
I said, ”No.”
He said, ”Strange, but I have heard it three times.”
I asked him, ”what have you heard?”
He said, ”I have heard ’Munna, Munna, Munna.’”

I said, ”What does that signify to you?” I had no idea that his childhood name was Munna. In India it
is a popular name, Munna. Before children get a full name, they are called Munna, Pappu, just like

that – any meaningless word. It was his childhood name.

He said, ”Only my father uses it, nobody else,” because he was now himself nearabout sixty, principal
of a college and a well known poet. Who would call him Munna? Only his father, and his father lived
in Allahabad.
I said, ”Then it is better we stop somewhere and you immediately make a phone call to Allahabad.”
He said, ”Nonsense! Why?”
I said, ”Don’t say nonsense... because if only your father calls you Munna, and you heard it three
times, and I have not heard it, that means something in your unconscious is stirring, and it must be
connected with your father.”
He said, ”Do you believe in such things?”
I said, ”It is not a question of belief; to me it is very scientific.”
We stopped at Seoni, a big city between Jabalpur and Nagpur; that was the only place where we
could get to the phone. We phoned. His father had died exactly at twelve-thirty, and before he died
he had called three times, ”Munna, Munna, Munna,” because he was his only son. And at exactly
twelve-thirty my friend had heard it. Now, this has nothing to do with the conscious mind. But the

unconscious can have a communication.

Osho-" From Unconsciousnes to Consciousness"

Remain Unaffected by the Surrounding

Remain Unaffected by the Surrounding

I have heard that it happened once, in some ancient time, in some unknown country, that a prince
suddenly went mad. The king was desperate – the prince was the only son, the only heir to the
kingdom. All the magicians were called, miracle makers, medical men were summoned, every effort
was made, but in vain. Nobody could help the young prince, he remained mad

The day he went crazy he threw off his clothes, became naked, and started to live under a big table.
He thought that he had become a rooster. Ultimately the king had to accept the fact that the prince
could not be reclaimed. He had gone insane permanently; all the e
xperts had failed.
But one day again hope dawned. A sage – a Sufi, a mystic – knocked on the palace door, and said,
”Give me one opportunity to cure the prince.”
But the king felt suspicious, because this man looked crazy himself, more crazy than the prince. But
the mystic said, ”Only I can cure him. To cure a madman a greater madman is needed. And your
somebodies, your miracle makers, your medical experts, all have failed because they don’t know the
abc of madness. They have never traveled the path.”
It seemed logical, and the king thought, ”There is no harm in it, why not try?” So the opportunity was
given to him.
The moment the king said, ”Okay, you try,” this mystic threw off his clothes, jumped under the table
and crowed like a rooster.
The prince became suspicious, and he said, ”Who are you? And what do you think you are doing?”
The old man said, ”I am a rooster, more experienced than you. You are nothing, you are just a
newcomer, at the most an apprentice.”
The prince said, ”Then it is okay if you are also a rooster, but you look like a human being.”
The old man said, ”Don’t go on appearances, look at my spirit, at my soul. I am a rooster like you.”
They became friends. They promised each other that they would always live together and that this
whole world was against them.
A few days passed. One day the old man suddenly started dressing. He put on his shirt. The prince
said, ”What are you doing, have you gone crazy, a rooster trying to put on human dress?”
The old man said, ”I am just trying to deceive these fools, these human beings. And remember that
even if I am dressed, nothing is changed. My roosterness remains, nobody can change it. Just by
dressing like a human being do you think I am changed?” The prince had to concede.
A few days afterwards the old man persuaded the prince to dress because winter was approaching
and it was becoming so cold.
Then one day suddenly he ordered food from the palace. The prince became very alert and said,
”Wretch, what are you doing? Are you going to eat like those human beings, like them? We are
roosters and we have to eat like roosters.”
The old man said, ”Nothing makes any difference as far as this roos-ter is concerned. You can eat
anything and you can enjoy everything. You can live like a human being and remain true to your
roosterness.”
By and by the old man persuaded the prince to come back to the world of humanity. He became
absolutely normal.
The same is the case with you and me. And remember you are just initiates, beginners. You may
think that you are a rooster but you are just learning the alphabet. I am an old hand, and only I can
help you. All the experts have failed, that’s why you are here. You have knocked on many doors, for
many lives you have been in search – nothing has been of help to you.
But I say I can help you because I am not an expert, I am not an outsider. I have traveled the same
path, the same insanity, the same madness. I have passed through the same – the same misery,
the anguish, the same nightmares. And whatsoever I do is nothing but to persuade – to persuade
you to come out of your madness.

To think oneself a rooster is crazy; to think oneself a body is also crazy, even crazier

Osho-"The Empty boat"

FAME

FAME  & NAME


The story is that one man became a chakravartin — and it happens only once in thousands of years that a man becomes a chakravartin. Even Alexander the Great was not a world conqueror; there was yet much left unconquered. And he died very young, he was only thirty-three: there was not even time enough to conquer the world. What to say of conquering, the whole world was not even known. Half of the world was unknown, and the half that was known, even that was not conquered. This man, of whom I am going to tell you the story, became the chakravartin.

It is said that when a chakravartin dies — because a chakravartin happens only in thousands of years, he is a rare being — when he dies he is received in heaven with great rejoicings and he is taken to a special place.

In Jaina mythology, in heaven there is a parallel mountain to the Himalayas. The Himalayas are just made of rocks and earth and ice. The parallel Himalayas in heaven is called Sumeru. Sumeru means the ultimate mountain: nothing can be higher than that, nothing can be better than that. It is solid gold; instead of rocks there are diamonds and rubies and emeralds.

When a chakravartin dies he is led to Sumeru mountain to engrave his name on it. That is a rare opportunity; that happens only once in thousands of years. Of course this man was immensely excited that he was going to write his name on Sumeru. That is the ultimate catalogue of all the great ones that have been, and will also be the catalogue of all the great ones who are going to be. This emperor was becoming party to a lineage of supermen.

The gatekeeper gave him the instruments to engrave his name. He wanted a few of his men who had committed suicide just because their emperor was dying — they could not think of living without him. His wife, his prime minister, his commander-in-chief — all the great people who were around him, they all had committed suicide, so they had come with him.

The emperor wanted the gatekeeper to let them all come to see him engrave his name, because what is the joy if you go alone and engrave your name and nobody is there even to see? — because the real joy is that the whole world should see.

The gatekeeper said, “You listen to my advice, because this is my inherited profession. My father was a gatekeeper, his father was a gatekeeper; for centuries we have been gatekeepers to Sumeru mountain. Listen to my advice: Don’t take them with you; otherwise you will repent.”

The emperor could not understand, but he could not even go against his advice — because what interest could that man have in preventing him?

The gatekeeper said, “If you still want them to see, first go engrave your name; then come back and take them with you if you want. I have no objection even now if you want to take them, but just in case you decide not to, then there will be no place, no chance … they will be with you. You go alone.” This was perfectly sane advice.

The emperor said, “That’s good. I will go alone, engrave my name, come back, and call you all.”

The gatekeeper said, “I am perfectly agreeable to that.”

The emperor went and he saw the Sumeru shining under thousands of suns — because in heaven you cannot be so poor as to have just one sun — thousands of suns, and a golden mountain far bigger than the Himalayas — and the Himalayas are almost two thousands miles long! He could not open his eyes for a moment, it was so glaring there. And then he started looking for a space, the right space, but he was very much puzzled: there was no space; the whole mountain was engraved with names.

He could not believe his eyes. For the first time he became aware what he was. Up to now he was thinking he was a superman who happens once in thousands of years. But time has been from eternity; even thousands of years didn’t make any difference, so many chakravartins had happened already. There was no space on that biggest mountain in the whole universe where he could write his small name.

He came back, and now he understood that the gatekeeper was right not to take his wife and his commander-in-chief and his prime minister and other intimate friends. It was good that they had not seen the situation. They would still believe that their emperor was a rare being.

He took the gatekeeper inside and he said, “But there is no space!”

The gatekeeper said, “That’s what I was telling you. What you have to do is to erase a few names and write down your name. That’s what has been done; my whole life I have been seeing this done, my father used to say this has been done. My father’s father — none of my family have seen Sumeru empty, or any space ever.

“Whenever a chakravartin has come he had to erase a few names and write his own name. So this is not the whole history of the chakravartins. Many times it has been erased, many times it has been engraved. You just do your work, and then if you want to show your friends you can bring them in.”

The emperor said, “No, I don’t want to show them and I don’t want to even write my name. What is the point? — someday somebody will come and erase it.

“My whole life has become utterly meaningless. This was my only hope, that Sumeru, the golden mountain in heaven was going to have my name. For this I have lived, for this I have staked my life; for this I was ready to kill the whole world. And anybody else can erase my name and write his. What is the point of writing it? I will not write it.” The gatekeeper laughed.

The emperor said, “Why are you laughing?”

The gatekeeper said, “This is strange, because this too I have been hearing from my grandfathers — that chakravartins come, and seeing the whole story, just turn back; they don’t write their names. You are not new: anybody having a little intelligence would do the same.”

In this whole world what can you gain?

What can you take away with you?

Your name, your prestige, your respectability? Your money, your power — what? Your scholarship?

You cannot take anything.

Everything will have to be dropped here.

Osho – “From Darkness to Light”