Question 4:

Osho,

If buddha did not really need to leave his wife and children in order to attain enlightenment, then can enlightenment happen anywhere? why do i feel that i need to be in your buddhafield?

 

 

Deva Surati, Buddha also realized it only when he became a buddha - that it could have happened anywhere. He had not realized it when he was not a buddha. Then he had to go, leave the palace, the children, the wife, the parents and move to faraway caves in the mountains, into faraway jungles, to live alone with nature, so that the society and all its conditionings could be left behind.

 

Yes, when he became a buddha then he knew that it could have happened anywhere.

 

But when you have become a buddha, it is a totally different perspective. It is very easy to say things like that when you have attained.

 

And that is one of the greatest problems: what the buddhas say, they are saying after they have attained, to people who have not yet attained. Communion becomes difficult, very difficult. The buddhas say, "You are already buddhas"; and when you hear that "We are already buddhas," you say, "Then why be worried about it? Then why meditate? And why be a sannyasin?" Then you have missed the whole point! And Buddha is not saying anything wrong - he is absolutely correct - and yet before you can realize the truth of his statement you will have to experience it on your own.

 

One day you will have become a buddha. Then you will also be able to say that there was no need to leave anything. Then you will say, "There was no need to be in the buddhafield of a master." But right now it is a need, an absolute need.

 

A buddhafield facilitates many processes which can happen without the buddhafield, but it would take long long, arduous effort. It is the same as when the wind is blowing and going towards the other shore: you need not row your boat; you can simply leave the boat and the winds will take it to the other shore. In a buddhafield the winds are blowing towards the other shore; you can simply surrender to the winds and with no effort you will reach the other shore. You can reach the other shore alone too, but then you will have to row the boat. Then you will have to take the risk of being alone in the uncharted sea.

 

In a buddhafield you are not alone, there are many who are moving. A few are ahead of you, a few are behind you; and you know that people are moving, that people are gaining new insights, that people are evolving, that people are reaching closer to the other shore. And those who are ahead of you can always assure you, "Don't be worried.

 

Go on. Come on! The other shore is visible from our state; soon it will be visible to you too." And you can say many things to those who are behind you. Those are the people who need great assurance. Moving into the unknown is not an easy process; a buddhafield becomes a chain.

 

Yes, Surati, fundamentally it is true - you can be a buddha anywhere - but being in a buddhafield things will be far easier. Being with a master in deep love and trust things start happening, just as the spring comes and flowers start blossoming. Out of season you can also manage to bring flowers to the plants, but then it takes great effort, unnecessary effort. When the spring is there, things happen of their own accord. Once it has happened, then it looks easy for everybody.

 

When Copernicus discovered some laws, people said, "We could have found them; they are so simple." But nobody had found them before him.

 

When Columbus reached America, discovered America and came back, people started saying, "This is not such a great thing. Don't make such a fuss about it. The earth is round. Anybody could have reached there!"

 

The queen of Spain invited Columbus for a dinner; the whole court was invited. And everybody was jealous of Columbus, so they were saying, "This is not something big that the earth is round."

 

Columbus said, "But just three years ago when I was saying the earth is round, nobody was ready to listen to me. In fact, I was surprised when the queen agreed to help me."

 

It has happened many times: when the man has not been able to understand something of the unknown, the woman has been able to understand. Man goes with a slow, logical process towards a conclusion. Woman is intuitive: she does not go by a slow process, she simply jumps to the conclusion. That's why it is so difficult to talk with a woman, to argue with a woman. Man always finds himself at a loss, because he goes with very skillful logic, prepares the whole ground and the process step by step. He "logics" to the conclusion, and the woman suddenly jumps with no premise, with no process - she simply arrives at the conclusion. They live in totally different worlds.

 

The queen of Spain agreed. She said, "Okay, go ahead, and I will bear the expenses."

 

Everybody had laughed at the foolish queen, and people had said, "A woman is after all a woman - mad, crazy! What does she understand about geography, astronomy? This man has befooled the queen."

 

Now everybody was saying that it was so easy. Columbus did one thing: he took one egg from the plate and told the people of the court, "Can anyone make it stand upright on the table?"

 

Everybody tried, but it would fall down; it would not stand upright. They said, "This is impossible. This can't be done. How can you make the egg stand? It is so round shaped, it is bound to fall down."

 

When everybody had tried and agreed that this was impossible, Columbus took the egg in his hand, hit it hard on the table so the bottom became flat, and the egg was standing.

 

They all said, "This is cheating! Why didn't you say so before? We could have done it!"

 

Columbus said, "It is always easy when a thing has been done. I have not prevented you, I have not said you can't do it, but none of you ever imagined doing it. Now it is simple, now everybody can do it, now it is nothing much."

 

When you become a buddha you will be surprised how simple the whole phenomenon is. You will be puzzled... why did it not happen before, why did it take so long, so many lives? In India they say millions of lives, and they are right. "Why did it take millions of lives? And the process was so simple!" One simply laughs at human stupidity and ridiculousness.

 

And yes, buddhas are bound to say things which can be dangerous to those who are not yet awakened.

 

For example, YOU listening to this - that Buddha could have become enlightened anywhere - you may find a rationalization to go away from here. That will be a trick of your mind. And I am not saying that you cannot become a buddha - you can become a buddha anywhere, even in California - but it is going to be more and more difficult. If it cannot happen here it will be very very difficult for it to happen anywhere else, although I don't say that it is absolutely impossible. It is not absolutely impossible - it is possible - but whatsoever is possible is not necessarily going to happen. Even the possible can be missed if you don't have the right context.

 

In fact the very idea of buddhahood, of becoming a buddha, has arisen in you because you are here. In the West people worship Christ, but nobody thinks that he is going to become a christ. That is blasphemy. There is only one Christ, the only begotten Son of God! It is enough to be a Christian; the very idea of becoming a christ looks crazy.

 

It is an Eastern contribution to human consciousness that you can become the Buddha, that you can become the Christ, that you can become the Krishna, that you can reach the highest peak that anybody has ever reached, that you carry the transcendental within your being like a seed. But the seed also needs a right soil, a gardener. The master is a gardener, and his field of energy is the right soil.

 

Beware of the mind's tricks! It can always find consolations, rationalizations. And those who are following the path have to be aware of rationalizations and consolations.

 

A farmer drove to town with some produce to sell. Afterwards he decided to have a good time for himself by going to see a burlesque show. The show inspired him so much that afterwards he decided to buy himself a complete new set of clothes, including a suit, hat and shoes, to surprise his wife. He put them under the driver's seat and set off for home.

 

When he got to a river, he got out and threw all of his old clothes in. Returning to his car he looked under the seat - the new clothes were gone. "Well, what the heck," he said to himself as he drove off, "I will surprise her anyway!"

 

The mind can always console you. "If it does not happen there," the mind can say, "who knows? - it may not have happened anywhere else either. If it happens here," the mind can say, "it could have happened anywhere else."

 

But I cannot deny the ultimate truth - although the ultimate truth is not yet your territory. The ultimate truth is that you are already buddhas. It is not a question of it happening, so where it happens does not matter. It can happen in the home; it can happen in the forest; it can happen in the marketplace; it can happen in a monastery. It can happen with a master; it can happen without a master. It can happen to the sinner; it can happen even to the saint. Yes, I know a few saints to whom it has happened - believe me! So the ultimate possibility is there, but to make the ultimately possible immediately actual is a totally different process. How to make it immediately actual?

 

A master is of tremendous help, and if the master also has a buddhafield.... A master may be moving alone, not creating a buddhafield. To create a buddhafield, the master has to create thousands of disciples. He has to create a multidimensional energy in which all kinds of people contribute, pour their energies. He has to make an ocean of energy, so tremendously powerful that whosoever enters the ocean is bound to be transformed - sometimes even in spite of himself; sometimes not even knowing what is happening.

 

It is easier for it to happen with a master. It is even easier for it to happen with a master who has a buddhafield. And my effort is not only to create the buddhafield here but to create small oases all over the world. I would not like to confine this tremendous possibility to this small commune only. This commune will be the source, but it will have branches all over the world. It will be the root, but it is going to become a big tree.

 

It is going to reach every country, it is going to reach every potential person. We will create small oases; we have started creating small communes, centers, all over the world.

 

Almost two hundred small families are functioning all over the world, but this is only the beginning. Thousands of communes are bound to happen once this commune has become really and totally established. It is going to create such an impetus, it is going to create such a longing all over the world, that we will have many many communes all over the world. And wherever my sannyasins are together, I am there. Wherever they will sit in meditation, my presence will be felt.

 

So first we have to create the root, and then the branches. The whole world cannot come here, but we can send our messengers, our apostles; we can send our branches far and wide. We can cover the whole earth. We ARE going to cover the whole earth!

 

This is of such immense importance today that if it doesn't happen, humanity has no future. The "old man" is already dead: you are carrying a corpse. The new man is absolutely needed - only then can this earth go on living; only then can this planet remain alive.

 

And man has the capacity to renew himself - to die to the past and to be reborn. Man has the capacity for resurrection. But the earth is almost like a desert today and small oases are needed everywhere, so those who are thirsty cannot say, "What can we do?

 

The water is not available. How can we quench our thirst?" We have to make God available to every possible seeker all over the world.

 

Yes, even in countries like China, Soviet Russia, and other communist countries, my effort is to create small oases there too. They have started: they are underground there - they have to be underground there. You will be surprised, but in one Russian town we have twenty-five sannyasins - of course not in orange. They have made their own malas, and when they meet in some underground basement they wear orange clothes, listen to the tapes, meditate, study books. They have translated a few books into Russian; now those translations are going around.

 

Just a few days ago I received a letter from the woman who has organized that underground group saying, "We are ready to become sannyasins. Just a hint from you and we will assert ourselves, whatsoever the cost." And of course, in Russia it can be dangerous. It can only mean imprisonment or a lifelong sentence in Siberia. So I have given her a message saying, "There is no need right now. And if you want to make orange clothes, don't make them orange, make them red - let them look communist! I can function through the red as much as through the orange; don't be worried. I don't like unnecessary suffering. I don't want to create unnecessary martyrs, for no reason at all. And continue to work - work is more important."

 

This is going to spread. Soon you will see communes sprouting everywhere, and then it will be possible for me to function on a wider scale. But the root commune has to be here, and the root commune needs at least ten thousand sannyasins. That is the minimum to create enough energy to pulsate the whole earth!

 

You can become a buddha anywhere, but to become a buddha here will be easier, will be possible in THIS life. To become a buddha somewhere else, nothing can be said - one life, two lives, three lives or many lives. You will be working alone; you will not have any help.

 

There are a few people who are loners, they would like to go alone. If you feel like that, I will be absolutely happy - you can go on your own. But you are not that type. That's why you say, "Why do I feel that I need to be in your buddhafield?" - because you DO need to be here! Because you are not a loner. Because you love the same type of energy pulsating around you. Because your path is love and not meditation. And love is possible only where you can find lovers of high quality. You can find lovers everywhere in the world, but that love will be only lust.

 

Here you will find lovers whose love is not lust, whose love is a sharing of joy, whose love is a help to you - a hand stretched out to you so that you can be pulled out of your mud.

 

- Osho, "Dhammapada Vol 6, #6"