Osho on D. T. Suzuki

 

 

One time, the old Zen Master, D. T. Suzuki, gave a talk on Zen in Tokyo. He spoke of the silence, the emptiness, the nothingness, and all the rest, together with the deep wisdom that comes from satori. When he had finished, one of his audience rose to his feet and, not without a touch of irritation exclaimed, “But Dr. Suzuki, what about society? What about other people? What about the other?” Suzuki looked at the man with a smile and remarked, “But there is no other.”

 

-Osho, "Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 3, #6"

 

 

 

 

Says D. T. Suzuki, one of the most significant persons of this age: ‘There is no transference of secrets from Master to disciple. Teaching is not difficult, listening is not difficult either, but what is truly difficult is to become conscious of what you have in yourself and be able to use it as your own. This self-realisation is known as seeing into one’s own being, which is satori. Satori is an awakening from a dream.’

 

-Osho, "Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 1, #8"

 

 

 

 

I have heard a story about D. T. Suzuki. He was a guest in a certain family — Suzuki was a great thinker; he introduced Zen into the West, and he was himself deep in meditation — he was staying with a certain family, and because of him the family had invited many guests there — to meet him.

 

They discussed many, many philosophical problems. The discussion was prolonged up until midnight. It was a long discussion of three, four or five hours. Everything was discussed without any conclusions, as always happens in philosophical discussions.

 

When the guests had left, the host said to Suzuki, “It was a long discussion and we enjoyed it, but there was no conclusion. It is frustrating.” Suzuki laughed and said, “I like philosophy because of this: because you can go on fighting, and there is no victory, no defeat.”

 

This is a very refined game in which no one is defeated and no one ever wins. This is not a vulgar game in which someone wins and someone is defeated. This is such a game that you can go on playing it. No one ever wins and no one is ever defeated; and the beauty is, moreover, that everyone thinks that he has won.

 

This is the beauty of it — it is so. The same happens inside also. You begin to fight with yourself because you are fighting from both the sides. No victory is possible because there is no one except you. You are playing with yourself, dividing yourself. This fight, this inner fight, is the curse of all religious persons, because the moment they become aware of the hell their minds have created they begin to fight it. But through fight, you will never move anywhere.

 

-Osho, "The Ultimate Alchemy, Vol 2, #7"