TANKA ASKED CHORO, "WHAT IS THE SELF BEFORE THE EMPTY EON?"
AS CHORO WAS ABOUT TO ANSWER, TANKA SAID, "YOU'RE STILL NOISY - GO AWAY FOR NOW."
ONE DAY, AS CHORO WAS CLIMBING BOL PEAK, HIS MIND OPENED UP INTO ENLIGHTENMENT. HE TOOK A SHORTCUT DOWN AND WENT BACK TO STAND BY TANKA, WHO SLAPPED HIM AND SAID, "I THOUGHT YOU KNEW IT EXISTS." CHORO BOWED JOYFULLY.
THE NEXT DAY TANKA WENT INTO THE HALL AND SAID, "THE SUN ILLUMINES THE GREEN OF THE SOLITARY PEAK; THE MOON SHINES IN THE COLD OF THE VALLEY STREAM. DON'T PUT THE WONDROUS SECRET OF THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS IN YOUR LITTLE HEART."
THEN HE GOT UP OFF THE SEAT.
CHORO CAME DIRECTLY FORWARD AND SAID, "YOUR ADDRESS TODAY CAN'T FOOL ME ANYMORE."
TANKA SAID, "TRY TO RECITE MY ADDRESS."
CHORO REMAINED SILENT.
TANKA SAID, "I THOUGHT YOU HAD A GLIMPSE."
CHORO THEN LEFT.
Friends, It has been a long awaiting, but that is the very essence of Zen - to wait, to wait for nothing.
There is no God, there is no ultimate meaning.
Life is all there is.
Those who have found, have found nothing but that there is nothing to be found.
Zen is the ultimate manifesto of non-finding, of rejoicing without any reason, of laughing and loving and dancing without any cause.
There are believers in the world, many types of them. There are non-believers in the world; they are not in any way different, just their beliefs are negative. Somebody believes in a God, and somebody believes in a no-God, and both are as fanatic as each other.
Just the other day I was reading the manifesto of the Humanist group of intellectuals, a small, very elite group of American intellectuals. But their manifesto made me laugh. Every statement begins, "We believe..." And a belief is always ignorance. Somebody believes in God - he is ignorant.
Somebody believes in no God - he is as much ignorant as the one who believes.
Each sentence of the whole manifesto begins, "We believe that there is no God." But on what grounds? Finally they give their grounds: "We believe our faith is reason. Because God is not reasonable, we will not believe in God." These are the most intellectual people of America, and it is a very prestigious thing to be accepted by the group as a member.
I am making this statement just before some of my friends in the group are going to propose my name as an honorary member in their coming meeting. It is good for me to make my situation clear to them.
In the first place, I don't become a member of any party, any organization, because every membership is a subtle slavery.
Truth can live and blossom only in freedom.
Love can blossom and be fragrant only in freedom.
Every membership is a concession and a compromise.
Sannyas is not a movement and not an organization. On the contrary, it is a declaration of independence from all organizations and all parties and all churches.
I laughed at the Humanist manifesto because finally they say, "Our faith is in reason." But if you have a faith, every faith is unreasonable. And it is so simple to see. To have faith in reason means you will not allow anything unreasonable in life.
Love is unreasonable. What is the reason of love? What is the reason of existence itself? What is the reason of reason itself? If there were no reason, would you complain to somebody? If there were no life, would there be any way to complain to some court, to some higher authority? If there is nothing, there is nothing; if there is everything, there is everything. Reason itself is unreasonable.
And if one has to be vast enough, one has to include contradictions. Reason on the one side, and irreason on the other side - both have to be accepted.
The Zen Manifesto is not for anything special. It is simply for this life, this existence, this moment. It does not ask for any source, and it does not ask for any goal. Every source will make a limitation, and every goal will make another limitation, and existence is unlimited. It is not limited by reason.
So if the Humanist group wants me to accept their membership, they will have to change their manifesto. I don't believe in anything, and I don't ask for anything to have a reason. It is perfectly okay as it is. If it were not, that too is perfectly okay.
Hence, I said to you that you have to wait long for me, but it is part of the game.
Zen accepts both the presence and the absence, life and death - all the contradictions. Zen is vast enough to contain all contradictions.
Perhaps Zen is the only way that contains contradictions, and that does not disallow anything. It rejoices in everything without any conditions. It accepts everything as it is without making any demands on it. It has no commandments, "Thou shalt," or "Thou shalt not..."
Zen knows nothing about commandments.
Zen knows only a vast life which contains all kinds of contradictions in a deep harmony. The night is in harmony with the day, and life is in harmony with death, and the earth is harmony with the sky. The presence is in harmony with the absence. This immense harmony, this synchronicity is the essential Manifesto of Zen. This is the only way of life which respects and loves, and denies nothing, condemns nothing.
Every other religion, every other philosophy depends on choosing - "Condemn this, deny that, accept this, respect this..." But there is always choice. And a man who has chosen has always chosen a part, and a part is never alive, only the whole is alive. Your hand is not alive separated from you, and your eyes will not be able to see separated from you. You are an organic unity.
Zen is a declaration of the organic unity of all contradictions of life. And because existence accepts everything, who are you to choose? Who are you to judge? Zen knows no judgment. Nobody is a sinner and nobody is a saint. Both are playing a game of their choice, and both will receive their rewards accordingly.
If you have done something wrong, something wrong will happen to you. If you have been blissful to others, existence will be blissful to you... a simple arithmetic. Zen does not believe in complexities, it is a very simple acceptance of the totality that surrounds us.
These days I have been away from you, but I was aware of you, as you were aware of me. I heard your sound of joy, I heard your songs... and I was waiting for the right day to come. I was going to come yesterday, but yesterday was Sardar Gurudayal Singh's day, so I had to remain in my room just for poor Sardar's sake.
-Osho, “The Zen Manifesto Freedom From Oneself, #3”