NOTES OF A MADMAN


Om Mani Padme Hum

The Tibetans have got a mantra... Om Mani Padme Hum. The Lotus and the Jewel both together. It must have originated at a moment like this.

Om Mani Padme Hum
Om is simply an exclamation, it simply means "Ahhh!" or "Oohhh!" It is not a word, it is meaningless, but tremendously meaningful too. Meaningful in the sense of its beauty, its joy, its depth... Om....

I am reminded of Basho, old Basho. Whenever I remember the Japanese haiku poet tears start coming. Basho is one of the greatest men, or saints, whichever you prefer. To me they are the same: the ancient-born. And that sound -- oohhhh, that sound -- is Om. That sound... the frog jumps into the pond:

The ancient pond
The frog jumps in
Plop!

Om Mani Padme Hum... The Jewel in the Lotus.... I am soaking in the pond. It is so beautiful.

SERIES #2
SESSION 1

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Om Mani Padme Hum
Before birth I was okay.
After death too I will be okay.
In life the same okay continues.
And the okay is perfect.

Dogen sings in a haiku -- Dogen is a saint....

Coming
Going away
The waterfowl
leaves no trace behind
Nor it needs a guide

Om Mani Padme Hum.

So beautiful... so tremendous... I am in the land of the buddhas. Again I can utter nonsense, because only nonsense can become poetry.
The other day, Devageet, I saw that you were a little hurt again because I called you a fool. Please try to understand the language of a madman. If you want to understand the meaning of the word fool read The Prince by Dostoevsky, or even better, Mikhail Naimy's book, The Book of Mirdad. It is incomparable. Each word is pure understanding, so sweet. Particularly because, as you know, I suffer from diabetes. The Book of Mirdad is good for all sufferers from diabetes because it is so sweet even though there is no sugar in it.

The Book of Mirdad talks about the fool -- fool simply means the simple, the childlike, the innocent. This is why the other day I called you a fool, with great love.
I can call anybody a fool only when I love them; otherwise I am very respectful to the real fools. Then I say "sir".... I called you a fool because I love you. Whenever I call you a fool, rejoice, utterly rejoice, rejoice totally. Only then you will be able to understand.
Om... ahhh! This is the very beginning of the world. Nobody has created it as the Christians think. They think that God created it. God has done nothing. God is the very existence, not a creator. God is the very creativity that pervades everything.

God is,
even today,
this very moment,
creating.
Wherever there are devils in creation, there is God. I am seeing what must have been the very beginning. Nothing can be more beautiful, more pure, more musical... just pure music, just pure poetry.... Just the pureness of all that is good, all that is beautiful....

Om Mani Padme Hum

This mantra has been chanted for thousands of years in Tibet, but it can only be chanted in Tibet because they alone know the great height, the purity of the Himalayas; the purity which nobody else can know. Tibet is the only country in the world to come closest to religion. It is unfortunate, most unfortunate that Tibet is now in the hands of the communists; they are destroying it.
This is the very essence, the ultimate good. The Book of Mirdad must have been conceived in such moments. There are very few books which have been conceived in such moments: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching....
Don't be worried about time. Can you ever be freed from all worries, just like me... free from all concerns? Yes, I know you can -- one day you will be. But for the moment, I am a madman and you are a fool; what a strange combination...!

Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Mani Padme Hum

Now I am only concerned with beauty, that is why I am mad. Just in this beatitude, if you can imagine... it is so beautiful. I know the origin, I recognize it immediately....

The tears in my eyes
are good, so good.
The roses are blooming,
the birds are singing again,
and these fools don't know....

When there are words, nobody expects words and flowers to be together. You must think that I am talking nonsense. It is impossible for me to go out of my mind -- I cannot. I go out but I have no mind. I am a madman not a fool. I am such a height that to even say anything is difficult....

Om Mani Padme Hum....