Basho: The Flower of Zen
Osho on Enlightened Zen Master Basho
Matsuo Basho was the Japanese enlightened ZEN mystic and master, famous for his short poetries known as Haikus. Osho has explained that these Haikus are not from mind or thinking, they are simply what Basho use to see in utter silence, and just write it down. These short lines in the hands of an Enlightened Master carry deep meaning.
Osho has mentioned that Basho’s haiku’s had such a depth that it is incomparable.
In a very early age Basho started getting popular for his poetry. Despite of his success, Basho started feeling dissatisfied and lonely, and then he drew his interest towards ZEN meditation.
Osho says he was not just a poet. Before becoming a poet he was a mystic; before he starting pouring out with beautiful poetry, he poured deep into his own center. He was a meditator.
Some of the Basho’s Haikus-
LONELY IS MY WAY!
NO ONE PASSES HERE BUT I,
LATE THIS AUTUMN DAY.
ALL THE CUCKOOS
DANCING
IN THE TREES.
Basho has tremendous respect in my heart. He is not only a mystic, a master, he is also a poet, a painter, a sculptor; he is a creative phenomenon. Nobody can compare with him as far as his multidimensional personality is concerned. Bodhidharma is the greatest peak but he is one-dimensional. Basho is not that great a peak but he has a different quality of greatness that is his multidimensionality. Just as Bodhidharma is unique so is Basho. His statements have to be listened to very carefully. He speaks as Basho should speak — he is the very essence of Zen. If Bodhidharma is the founder then Basho is the flower. He has the fragrance which only a flower can have. That fragrance is manifested in his poetry, in his small statements, in his every gesture. Even in his ordinary talks with people he cannot be other than Basho.
This small anecdote would have been forgotten if Basho were not there. There is nothing new in it but Basho gives it new meaning. There is nothing philosophical or mystical in it, but Basho makes it a mystery. You will have to be very silently aware to see what a great master is….Bodhidharma is very raw. He smells of the earth when the first rain clouds come — and a beautiful smell out of the earth. Basho is far more refined, perhaps the most refined Zen master up to now. His refinement is in his cultured, meditative spaciousness. Out of that spaciousness many flowers have showered on the world. It does not matter wherever he is and whatever is going on, Basho is going to make it a Zen state of affairs. That uniqueness will not be found again. Just think of this Hyakujo and a wild duck….
WHEN BASHO WAS OUT WALKING WITH HYAKUJO HE SAW A WILD DUCK FLYING PAST.
BASHO SAID, “WHAT IS IT?”
Certainly the question is not about the wild duck, because Basho is not blind. Hyakujo is far behind in spiritual growth; he is not yet a master. Not even a perfect disciple. He has some intellectual sophistication, but even he missed it. He missed it because he must have thought that Basho had not seen that it is a wild duck.
Basho is not asking about the wild duck at all. He is not asking about the form but the essence. WHAT IS IT? He is not asking about the past or the present but that which transcends time.
HYAKUJO SAID, “IT IS A WILD DUCK.”
Perfectly factual, perfectly right — but not in the eyes of a man like Basho.
BASHO SAID, “WHERE IS IT?” He gives another chance to Hyakujo and he again misses it.
HYAKUJO SAID, “IT HAS FLOWN AWAY.”
BASHO AT LAST GAVE HYAKUJO’S NOSE A SHARP PINCH. HYAKUJO CRIED OUT WITH PAIN.
BASHO SAID, “THERE, HOW CAN IT FLY AWAY?”
So much is implied in this small conversation. First, as we conceive time and as it is in the eyes of the awakened, is not the same. For us time passes by. For the awakened one you pass by. Time is always present. It never goes anywhere. It is always now and here. Have you ever met the past? Yes, you have imagined, dreamt about it. But your dreaming about the past is not the past; your imagination is not the reality. Where is the future? — except in your desires and in your longings and in your passions, where is the future? And these longings and desires and greed and ambitions are part of your mind. They are not part of time.
For a man whose desires have disappeared, whose greed is no longer there, do you think there will be even a slight shadow of tomorrow? With the desires and longings going away the future dies, and with the memories and imaginations and the dreams dropping, the past disappears. Then what remains in your hands? You cannot even call it present, because present is possible only if there is something past and something future. In that context the present is the middle, but if the future disappears and the past dies, the present cannot live. The present is also part of your mind. Your mind is time. And when times ceases, your mind ceases. Then you simply are.
You have to understand this background, then only will you be able to see Basho’s tremendous insight into things, transforming small experiences into great metaphysical truths. As he saw the wild duck fly past Basho said, “WHAT IS IT?” He is not asking about the wild duck, he is asking about it — and the it contains the whole existence. But obviously anybody who understands only language and knows nothing about that which is beyond language, will agree with Hyakujo.
HYAKUJO SAID, “IT IS A WILD DUCK.” But he has not understood that Basho would not ask about the wild duck — he can see it himself. He is asking about it, another name of existence. “WHAT IS IT?” The wild duck is just an excuse to raise the question: What is existence? Existence is not a wild duck, although a wild duck is part of existence — but existence is far bigger.
The it of Basho contains the totality; the poor wild duck is not even a dewdrop in the ocean. But he gives another chance to Hyakujo to understand that his question is not directed about the wild duck. BASHO SAID, “WHERE IS IT?” Hyakujo goes on committing the same mistake. That is the nature of mind; it goes on committing the same mistake again and again. HYAKUJO SAID, “IT HAS FLOWN AWAY.” The simple word `it’ in the eyes of Basho contains the whole existence; hence it cannot fly away. Where will it go? It contains all, but poor Hyakujo is still concerned with the wild duck. He cannot understand that a great master like Basho cannot ask such a stupid question and if he is asking, then there must be much more than language contains. He said, “It has flown away” — still he is concerned with the wild duck. Naturally Basho could see that Hyakujo will not understand easily.
BASHO AT LAST GAVE HYAKUJO’S NOSE A SHARP PINCH. HYAKUJO CRIED OUT WITH PAIN.
BASHO SAID, “THERE, HOW CAN IT FLY AWAY?”
Existence cannot go anywhere. It is always here. How can it fly away and where? It is everywhere. That small it contains the whole. And Basho is the first master because it began with him that he started hitting his disciples, slapping his disciples, pinching their noses. Words have failed… what to do? The disciple has to be brought to his senses! Basho gave a sharp pinch to Hyakujo’s nose. Hyakujo cried out with pain. Rather than sympathizing or being compassionate Basho said, “THERE.” Pain brings you here. Pain has a certain quality, the same as pleasure; they bring you here. And a sharp pinch on the nose and Basho asked, “There, when the nose is hurting how can it fly away?”
Setcho comments — his commentaries are becoming better every day….
“THE WILD DUCK! WHAT, HOW, AND WHERE?”
In existence everything is formal: today somebody is alive and tomorrow he is gone. Who was he? Where was he and where has he gone? The flower that was dancing in the wind just now is no longer there — all the petals have withered away. From where did that flower come? From where to where has it gone? What was it? Certainly it was not just the petals. It was a certain expression of existence. It was real; it was not a dream. It came out from nowhere. It remained in nowhere. It has gone into nowhere.
Nowhere….I would suggest to you again to break that word in two: make it now-here — just a small hyphen. That is the meaning of nowhere. Now-here — put together it becomes nowhere, but looked at deeply, now and here are the realities. Perhaps you cannot see it now. It has entered into its own essence. Again will come the spring and again will come the flower. It has been coming again and again and going again and again back into its invisible house — the essence.
THE WILD DUCK! WHAT, HOW, AND WHERE?
BASHO HAS SEEN, TALKED, TAUGHT AND EXHAUSTED THE MEANING OF THE MOUNTAIN CLOUDS AND MOONLIT SEAS.
BUT JO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND — “FLOWN AWAY?”
Setcho is using Hyakujo’s everyday name, Jo. Jo does not understand. He sees but he sees only the form. He does not see the formless; otherwise even in the wild duck you will find the same essential soul as you will find within yourself.
The whole existence consists of one soul with millions of formulations — but the content of every form is the same.
“HAS FLOWN AWAY.” FLOWN AWAY?
NO, HE IS BROUGHT BACK!
By pinching hard on the nose of Hyakujo the wild duck is brought back. Setcho means that if even now he cannot understand that nothing goes anywhere, everything remains here — like the pain. Then the wild duck is brought back.
SAY! SAY! Setcho has the style of repeating his comments with “say.” He is commenting in front of disciples. He is asking them, “Say, have you understood it? Is the wild duck back? Say!” In fact it has never gone anywhere, it has been in its essence since eternity and to eternity. For the first time Setcho has made something beautiful, has added something to Basho’s statement.
Source:
Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.
Discourse name: Live Zen Chapter #4
Chapter title: Always now and here
25 April 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium
References:
Osho has spoken on Zen Mystics like Bodhidharma, Rinzai, Hyakujo, Seppo, Bokoju, Basho, Joshu, Nansen, Dogen, Ma Tzu, Isan, Kyozan, Nan in and many more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses:
- A Bird on the Wing
- Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
- Dang Dang Doko Dang
- Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
- The First Principle
- Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus
- I Celebrate Myself: God Is No Where, Life Is Now Here
- Joshu: The Lion’s Roar
- Live Zen
- The Sun Rises in the Evening
- This, This, A Thousand Times This: The Very Essence of Zen
- Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen
- The Zen Manifesto: Freedom From Oneself
