Zen is so strange as far as intellectual understanding is concerned. It looks almost absurd. That is one of the reasons why it has not grown into a vast tree around the world, but has remained a small stream of only those who can see beyond the mind, who can feel it, even though it is illogical, irrational. Once Picasso was sitting in his garden with a beautiful rosebush; many roses had blossomed on it. A friend asked him, ”What is the meaning of the roses?” Picasso said, ”There is no meaning in anything at all, but there is immense significance in even the smallest piece of grass.” You have to understand these two words, ‘meaning’ and ‘significance’. In the dictionary they have the same meaning, but in existence, in life, in truth, they are from different sources. Meaning is of the mind and significance is of the no-mind. Meaning is utilitarian, the bicycle has a meaning; but a roseflower? – it is utterly meaningless.
Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
The people who are asleep have their joys, their dreams, their nightmares. The people who are awake have their blessings, their ecstasies.
An awakened person cannot condemn the sleeping one, he can only be compassionate.
The master, at the most, functions at the bedside like an alarm clock. The clock does not condemn you; it just reminds you that it is time, it is morning.
If you want to take another turn and pull your blanket over, it is up to you – the clock is completely unconcerned. It has done its work, it has made you aware that it is morning and time to get up. But you are free; if you want to get up late today
Just don’t snore. Sleeping is okay, but snoring is absolutely interfering with other sleepers.
The work is truly a diamond thunderbolt and only venturers into the depths of meditation can make sense out of this. Really love it as it is wonderfully affirmative & inspiring to spend more time meditating.
Recommend & also, will read it again next year, hopefully :)