A zen Story by osho-Cherry Blossom and the Misty Moon

Cherry Blossom and the Misty Moon

It happened about a very famous Zen woman, her name was Rengetsu…. Very few women have attained to the Zen ultimate. This one is one of those rare women.

She was on a pilgrimage, and she came to a village at sunset and begged for lodging for the night, but the villagers slammed their doors. They were against Zen. Zen is so revolutionary, so utterly rebellious, that it is very difficult to accept it. By accepting it you are going to be transformed; by accepting it you will be passing through a fire, you will never be the same again.

So traditional people have always been against ALL that it true in religion. Tradition is all that is untrue in religion. So those must have been traditional Buddhists in the town, and they didn’t allow this woman to stay in the town; they threw her out. It was a cold night, and the old woman with no lodging… and hungry. She had to make a cherry tree in the fields her shelter. It was really cold, and she could not sleep well. And it was dangerous too — wild animals and all.

At midnight she awoke — because of too much cold — and saw, as it were, in the spring night sky, the fully opened cherry blossoms laughing to the misty moon. Overcome with the beauty, she got up and made a reverence in the direction of the village….

This is what TATHATA IS.

Overcome with the beauty, she got up and made a reverence in the direction of the village:

Through their kindness in refusing me lodging I found myself beneath the blossoms on the night of this misty moon.

She feels grateful. With great gratitude she thanks those people who refused her lodging, otherwise she would be sleeping under an ordinary roof, and she would have missed this blessing — these cherry blossoms, and this whispering with the misty moon, and this silence of the night, this utter silence of the night. She is not angry, she accepts it. Not only accepts it, welcomes it — she feels grateful.

A man becomes a Buddha the moment he accepts all that life brings with gratitude. He is on the Way, he is on Tao; and he IS becoming meditative.

Osho – “Zen the Path of Paradox”

Osho story on Mystic Hassid-Why are you not Yourself?

Why are you not Yourself?

The Hassid mystic, Zusia, was dying, and he started praying.

Tears were flowing down from his eyes and he was trembling.

And somebody asked ‘What is the matter? Why are you trembling?’

He was saying ‘I am trembling for a certain reason. This is my last moment, I am dying. Soon I will be facing my God, and I am certain he is not going to ask me “Zusia, why were you not a Moses?

If he asks I will say “Lord, because you didn’t give me the qualities of a Moses!”; there will be no problem. He will not ask me “Why were you not the Rabbi Akiba?” I will tell him “Sir, you never gave me the qualities of being an Akiba, that’s why.”

But I am trembling because if he asks “Zusia, why were you not a Zusia” then I will have nothing to answer, then I will have to look down in shame. That’s why I am trembling and these tears are flowing.

My whole life I tried to become Moses or Akiba or somebody else, and I completely forgot that he wanted me to be just Zusia and nobody else. Now I am trembling, now I am afraid. If he asks this question, what am I going to answer?

How will I be able to raise my eyes when he says “Why were you not Zusia? You were given all the qualities of being a Zusia, how did you miss?”

And I have missed in imitating others.’

Osho - THE SUN RISES IN THE EVENING 

I am a tourist here

I am a tourist here

An American tourist went to see a Sufi Master. For many years he had heard about him, had fallen in deep love with his words, his message. Finally he decided to go to see him. When he entered his room he was surprised — it was an utterly empty room! The Master was sitting; there was no furniture at all! The American could not conceive of a living space without any furniture. He immediately asked, “Where is your furniture, sir?”

And the old Sufi laughed and he said, “And where is yours?”

And the American said, “Of course I am a tourist here. I cannot go on carrying my furniture!”

And the old man said, “So am I a tourist for only just a few days, and then I will be gone, just as you will be gone.”

This world is just a pilgrimage — of great significance, but not a place to belong to, not a place to become part of Remain a lotus leaf, as Kabir says.

Osho – “The Guest”