A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-10

Towards Nothingness

20 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

The first question:

I have developed a bad case of seekers ego. It constantly tries to congratulate me on the great progress I have made. You hammer me, and it falls apart, but it comes back. Nothing to do but watch it -- and yet it frightens me. Will you comment?

It's natural. When you are doing something and you are succeeding in it, a subtle pride arises. It is nothing unnatural, so don't be too much concerned with it. If you become serious about it, then it can become a permanent guest in the house. If you accept it as a natural thing -- you walk, your shadow follows -- if you accept the ego just like a shadow, then there is no problem.

The shadow has never created any problem for anybody, but if you start getting frightened about your own shadow then you will be in trouble. If you start fighting with your own shadow, you are doomed to fail. Never fight with the ego.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-09

Laugh Your Way to God

19 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

In the Tang dynasty there was a stout fellow who was called the happy chinaman, or the laughing Buddha.

This Hotei had no desire to call himself a Zen master, or to gather disciples around him. Instead he walked the streets with a sack on his back full of candy, fruit and doughnuts -- which he gave out to the children who gathered and played around him.

Whenever he met a Zen devotee he would extend his hand and say: "Give me one penny." And if anyone asked him to return to the temple to teach others, again he would reply: "Give me one penny."

Once when he was at his play-work another Zen master happened to along and inquired: "What is the significance of Zen?" Hotei immediately plopped his sack down on the ground in silent answer.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-08

Choicelessness is Bliss

18 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

The first question:

"Only compassion is therapeutic" you said. Could you comment on the word 'compassion', compassion for oneself and compassion for the other?

YES, only compassion is therapeutic -- because all that is ill in man is because of lack of love. All that is wrong with man is somewhere associated with love. He has not been able to love, or he has not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being.

That's the misery. That creates all sorts of complexes inside.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-07

Only the Gold

17 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

ONCE THERE WAS A MAN OF CH'I WHO WANTED GOLD. AT DAWN HE PUT ON HIS COAT AND CAP AND SET OUT FOR THE MARKET.

HE WENT TO THE STALL OF A DEALER IN GOLD, SNATCHED HIS GOLD, AND MADE OFF THE POLICE CAUGHT HIM AND QUESTIONED HIM. "WHY DID YOU SNATCH SOMEBODY ELSE'S GOLD, AND IN FRONT OF SO MANY PEOPLE?"

THE MAN REPLIED:

"AT THE TIME WHEN I TOOK IT I DID NOT SEE THE PEOPLE -- I ONLY SAW THE GOLD."

Let me tell you first one small anecdote:

"My doctor insisted that I came to see you." the patient told the psychiatrist. "Goodness knows why -- I am happily married, secure in my job, lots of friends, no worries..."

"Hmmm." said the psychiatrist, reaching for his notebook, "and how long have you been like this?"

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-06

Life Undefined is What God is

16 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

The first question:

Leaving soon for the west I look back on the five months with you and think:

I have been with Bhagwan and I have not been with Bhagwan.

I have seen him and yet something remains unseen.

I have heard him yet still I am deaf to his teaching.

I leave with no feeling of security, no sense of certainty,

nothing to rely on.

Have I missed you?

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-05

Listen to the Waves

15 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

A WRESTLER NAMED O-NAMI GREAT WAVES, WAS IMMENSELY STRONG AND HIGHLY SKILLED IN THE ART OF WRESTLING. IN PRIVATE BE DEFEATED EVEN HIS VERY TEACHER, BUT IN PUBLIC HIS OWN YOUNG PUPILS COULD THROW HIM.

IN HIS TROUBLE HE WENT TO A ZEN MASTER WHO WAS STOPPING AT A NEARBY TEMPLE BY THE SEA, AND ASKED FOR COUNSEL.

"GREAT WAVES IS YOUR NAME, " SAID THE MASTER, "SO STAY IN THIS TEMPLE TONIGHT AND LISTEN TO THE WAVES OF THE SEA. IMAGINE YOU ARE THOSE WAVES. FORGET YOU ARE A WRESTLER, AND BECOME THOSE HUGE WAVES SWEEPING EVERYTHING BEFORE THEM."

O-NAMI REMAINED. HE TRIED TO THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES, BUT BE THOUGHT OF MANY THINGS. THEN GRADUALLY HE DID THINK ONLY OF THE WAVES. THEY ROLLED LARGER AND LARGER AS THE NIGHT WORE ON. THEY SWEPT AWAY THE FLOWERS IN THE VASES BEFORE THE BUDDHA; THEY SWEPT AWAY THE VASES. EVEN THE BRONZE BUDDHA WAS SWEPT AWAY. BY DAWN THE TEMPLE WAS ONLY SURGING WATER, AND O-NAMI SAT THERE WITH A FAINT SMILE ON HIS FACE.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-04

Man is Always an Opening

14 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

The first question:

I believed I was uncreative. What else can be creativity besides dancing and painting and how to find out what my creativity is?

Creativity has nothing to do with any activity in particular -- with painting, poetry, dancing, singing. It has nothing to do with anything in particular.

Anything can be creative -- you bring that quality to the activity. Activity itself is neither creative nor uncreative. You can paint in an uncreative way. You can sing in an uncreative way. You can clean the floor in a creative way. You can cook in a creative way.

Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach -- how you look at things.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-03

Why Should I Grieve Over Him?

13 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

There was a man of Wei, Tung-Men Wu, who did not grieve when his son died.

His wife said to him:

"No one in the world loved his son as much as you did, why do you not grieve now he is dead?"

He answered:

"I had no son, and when I had no son I did not grieve.

Now that he is dead it is the same as it was before, when I had no son.

Why should I grieve over him?"

The MOST fundamental religious truth is that man is asleep -- not physically, but metaphysically; not apparently, but deep down. Man lives in a deep slumber. He works, he moves, he thinks, he imagines, he dreams, but the sleep continues as a basic substratum to his life. Rare are the moment when you feel really awake, very rare; they can be counted on the fingers. if in seventy years' life you had only seven moments of awakening, that, too, will be too much.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-02

When you are Not, God is

12 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

The first question:

I have been thinking all day of a way to ask the question: how

to stop thinking?

Thinking cannot be stopped. Not that it does not stop, but it cannot be stopped. It stops of its own accord. This distinction has to be understood, otherwise you can go mad chasing your mind.

No-mind does not arise by stopping thinking. When the thinking is no more, no-mind is.

The very effort to stop will create more anxiety, it will create conflict, it will make you split. You will be in a constant turmoil within. This is not going to help.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder - Chapter-01

Talks on Zen Stories

11 August 1976 am in Buddha Hall

A Sudden Clash of Thunder

Butei, the emperor of Ryo, sent for Fu-Daishi to explain the Diamond Sutra. On the appointed day Fu-Daishi came to the palace, mounted the platform, rapped on the table before him,

then descended and, still not speaking, left.

Butei sat motionless for some minutes, whereupon Shiko, who had seen all that had happened, went up to him and said, "may I be so bold, Sir, as to ask whether you understood?"

The emperor shook his head sadly. "What a pity", said Shiko

"Fu-Daishi has never been more eloquent."

Truth IS. It simply is, Nothing can be said about it. And all that can be said about it will falsify it.