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OSHO International Foundation presents.
Zen and the art of escaping the circle of life and death
Zen is very
straightforward.
Neither statues can help,
nor scriptures can help.
The only thing that can help is
going deeper into yourself,
realizing the inner sky
and the freedom that comes with it
and the fragrance of the beyond.
The master asked,
"What is the aim of receiving precepts?
What are you going to do
when you become learned?
When you have received all the teachings of Buddha,
what are you going to do? What is the goal?"
Gao answered, "To escape birth and death."
He must have heard about it,
that these Buddhists
are trying to get out of the circle of birth and death.
And obviously,
most of the people live life in such a way
that it creates more and more misery.
The whole programming of humanity is for misery,
so one starts thinking how to get out of
the circle of birth and death.
That is not really
going to help.
You have to learn how to get out of
the programming the society has given to you.
Once you are out of that programming,
you are out of birth and death
and the so-called circle.
But feeling miserable, he may have thought,
"It is better to get out of birth and death."
It is that fateful day on Calvary Hill.
Jesus is hanging on his wooden cross,
twenty feet off the ground,
utterly exhausted.
To his left side, hanging on another cross,
is thief Barnaby,
cousin-brother of the famous murderer and rapist, Barabbas.
On the right side of Jesus,
hanging in the air, is
Fritz the Hun,
great-grandfather of the infamous Attila.
The sun is beating down,
there are no clouds or God in sight,
and Jesus becomes more and more delirious.
Suddenly, Jesus twitches on the cross,
and mumbles towards Barnaby,
"My son,
my son,
come closer."
Barnaby looks up
at Jesus
and wiggles around a bit
but finds himself stuck.
Jesus lifts his head weakly
and looks at Fritz.
"My son, my son,"
he gasps,
"come closer."
Fritz is completely spaced out,
and does not move.
"My sons! My sons!"
cries Jesus in frustration.
"Come closer,
come closer!"
But all is still on Calvary Hill.
"Okay, then," sighs Jesus
"It is your own fault
if you don't want to be in the photograph!"
Source: ' Yakusan:Straight to the Point of Enlightenment # 4' Copyright © Osho International Foundation, Switzerland. OSHO ® is a registered TM.
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