Sitting at the source

WHEN ENERGY GOES INWARD IT TURNS INTO THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, EMOTIONS, AND

WHEN ENERGY GOES OUTWARD IT TURNS INTO RELATIONSHIPS WITH BEINGS AND

NATURE. BUT WHEN ENERGY DOES NOT MOVE INWARD OR OUTWARD, IT IS JUST THERE

PULSATING, VIBRATING. THEN IT IS ONE WITH THE EXISTENCE, ONE WITH THE WHOLE.

IS THIS ZAZEN?

Exactly. When the energy is just there – not going anywhere, just pulsating at the original source, just radiating its light there, blossoming like a lotus, neither going out nor going in – it is simply here and now. When I say go inward, I am simply saying don’t go on moving in the head. The whole society forces your energy to move in the head. All education consists of the basic technique of how to pulsate the energy only in the head – how to make you a great mathematician, how to make you a great physician. All the education in the world consists of taking the energy into the head. Zen asks you to come out of the head and go to the basic source – from where the educational system around the world has been taking the energy, putting it into the head, and turning it into thoughts, images, and creating thinking. It has its uses. It is not that Zen is not aware of the uses of energy in the head, but if all the energy is used in the head, you will never become aware of your eternity. You may become a very great thinker and philosopher, but you will never know, as an experience, what life is. You will never know as an experience, what it is to be one with the whole.

When the energy is just at the center, pulsating… When it is not moving anywhere, neither in the head nor in the heart, but it is at the very source from where the heart takes it, the head takes it… pulsating at the very source – that is the very meaning of Zazen.

Zazen means just sitting at the very source, not moving anywhere. A tremendous force arises, a transformation of energy into light and love, into greater life, into compassion, into creativity. It can take many forms, but first you have to learn how to be at the source. Then the source will decide where your potential is. You can relax at the source, and it will take you to your very potential. It does not mean that you have to stop thinking forever, it simply means you should be aware and alert and capable of moving into the source. When you need the head you can move the energy into the head, and when you need to love, you can move the energy into the heart.

But you need not think twenty-four hours. When you are not thinking you have to relax back into your center – that keeps the Zen man constantly content, alert, joyful. A blissfulness surrounds him; it is not an act, it is simply radiation. Zazen is the strategy of Zen. Literally it means just sitting. Sitting where? Sitting at the very source.

And once in a while, if you go on sitting in the source, you can manage all mental activities without any disturbance, you can manage all heart activities without any difficulty. And still, whenever you have time, you need not unnecessarily think, you need not unnecessarily feel, you can just be.

Just being is Zazen.

And if you can just be – only for a few minutes in twenty-four hours – that is enough to keep you alert of your buddhahood.

OSHO: The Zen Manifesto # 11

Sit. Rest. Work.

Don’t be worried about the future, everything will be taken care of. Trust nature. AES DHAMMO SANANTANO: this is the inexhaustible, eternal law. Trust, and nature will shower upon you millions of blessings.
SIT…. Don’t rush, don’t run. Don’t continually be on the move for this and that. SIT. That’s exactly the meaning of ZAZEN.Continue reading

Zazen sitting: A pool of energy

What happens when you simply sit? The whole energy that has been moving in the body, outside the body, in actions, is no more moving. You become a pool of energy. The energy goes on gathering; you become a reservoir. In zazen you are not even allowed to sway or move your body, not even a slight movement, so no energy is invested in action; all energy becomes available. It goes on falling inside. It fills you. It starts overflowing. When the moment comes of overflowing, there is satori.Continue reading

Watching is a knack

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. Continue reading

Love yourself and watch,
today, tomorrow, always

We begin with one of the most profound sutras of Gautama the Buddha:
LOVE YOURSELF….

Just the opposite has been taught to you by all the traditions of the world, all the civilizations, all the cultures, all the churches. They say: Love others, don’t love yourself. And there is a certain cunning strategy behind their teaching. Love is the nourishment for the soul. Just as food is to the body, so love is to the soul. Without food the body is weak, without love the soul is weak. And no state, no church, no vested interest, has ever wanted people to have strong souls, because a person with spiritual energy is bound to be rebellious. Continue reading

Meditation is simple

OSHO, I THOUGHT THAT MEDITATION WAS A SIMPLE THING. BUT SEEING PEOPLE DOING VIPASSANA, I AM LOSING ALL HOPE OF EVER BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL MEDITATOR. PLEASE GIVE ME A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT.

Paul, MEDITATION is simple. PRECISELY because it is simple, it looks difficult. Your mind is accustomed to dealing with difficult problems, and it has completely forgotten how to respond to the simple things of life. The more simple a thing is, the more difficult it looks to the mind, because the mind is very efficient in solving difficult things. It has been trained to solve difficult things, it does not know how to tackle the simple. Meditation is simple, your mind is complex. It is not a problem that meditation is creating. The problem is coming from your mind, not from meditation.Continue reading

The Breath inside the Breath

Watch your breath and you will come to know what he means – you will see one thing which cannot be seen unless you watch your breath. Buddha made it a great technique for meditation, watching the breath, because through watching it you will come to know the breath inside the breath. The word ’breath’ means life. In Sanskrit the word for breath is prank: prank means life. In Hebrew the word for breath means spirit. In all the languages of the world, breath is thought to be synonymous with life or spirit or soul. But breath is not the real soul – you will come to this experience only when you watch.Continue reading