Osho on Enlightened Zen Master Ryokan

Ryokan Taigu was a Japanese Zen Master born in Echigo Province in Japan. He renounced the world at the age of seventeen to follow Zen practice. He was an esteemed poet and calligrapher as well, living most of his life in seclusion writing serene poems about nature and living a simple life. Ryokan himself was an amicable and innocent person – he liked to play with the children of his village and had a good sense of humor. He was famous for his eccentric ways and stories of generosity and innocence. His collection of poems and calligraphy was compiled by Teishi – a close companion and disciple of Ryokan  – by the name of Hachisu No Tsuyu (1835) which translates to “Dew on the Lotus”.

Osho tells a story about Ryokan, “A great Zen Master, Ryokan, is known in Japan as the Great Fool — a great Master, of the same caliber as Buddha, is known as the Great Fool for the simple reason because his whole life was absurd, unpredictable. If you ask him a question he may hit you on the head; if you don’t ask him a question he may hit you on the head. He used to say, “Ask me a question and I will beat you; don’t ask me a question and I will beat you!” He used to throw his disciples…

Once he cut one of his disciple’s finger with a knife, and when the finger was cut and the disciple was in deep agony, he said, “This is it!” And in that moment the disciple became enlightened — because he was meditating for twenty years. Don’t forget those twenty years! In the West those twenty years are completely forgotten. Those twenty years have brought this climax. At the right moment the Master gave the last push. He wanted to bring him to the present, and cutting the finger is so painful that you cannot think of the past, you cannot think of the future, you cannot fantasize any more. For a moment everything stops. It is like an electric shock — you are suddenly herenow. But those twenty years of meditation had created a different quality: the shock became a satori. Just by cutting somebody’s finger, you cannot make him enlightened, but Ryokan did the miracle.”

BELOVED OSHO,

AS THE YEARS HAVE GONE BY SINCE I TOOK SANNYAS, MY LOVE HAS CHANGED ITS QUALITY. AT FIRST I FELT A CERTAIN EXCITEMENT; NOW THERE IS A DEEP COOLNESS AND I FEEL RELAXED WITHIN MYSELF. THIS IS ACCENTUATED WHEN I SIT IN FRONT OF YOU IN MEDITATION. AS I AM WRITING THIS, A CERTAIN LITTLE VOICE INSIDE BUBBLES UP AND SAYS, “YES, EVERYTHING IS FINE. “BELOVED OSHO, IS THIS LITTLE VOICE A FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION, MY MIND PLAYING TRICKS?

Yoga Videh, I have been watching you. I have seen you becoming more silent, more peaceful. A certain grace is arising in your eyes and on your face. In the beginning I used to see that it was even difficult for you to sit for two hours — you were tossing and turning. Now all that is past; you sit almost like a marble statue. This shows the inner centering.

So whatever you have heard is not a figment of your imagination. I also say to you: Yes, everything is fine but don’t be satisfied with what you have attained. There is much more — infinitely much more. As you go deeper and deeper, you will find more and more treasures; and unless you come to the feeling of immortality, eternity, remember that the journey has not ended. You will come across beautiful spaces which are so enchanting, so magical that one thinks, what more can there be in life? — so much bliss, so much benediction — but don’t stop. Everybody has to discover his eternity, that “I am part of a life that knows no death.”And it is not far away if you go on and on. Whatever happens, be grateful to existence and move on.

Charaiveti, charaiveti — this was one of the constant messages of Gautam Buddha. Whenever sannyasins came to relate to him their state of mind, their consciousness, he would always say, “Everything is fine, but charaiveti, charaiveti. Continue, continue going on and on and on, because I know there is much more to be discovered.” Remember the fragrance of the beautiful words of one of the great Zen masters, Ryokan:

WITH NO MIND, BLOSSOMS INVITE THE BUTTERFLY.

WITH NO MIND, THE BUTTERFLY VISITS THE BLOSSOMS.

There is no cerebral activity in it. The flowers are not thinking and planning how to invite the butterfly. With no mind, in their silence, is their invitation.

WITH NO MIND, BLOSSOMS INVITE THE BUTTERFLY.

WITH NO MIND, THE BUTTERFLY VISITS THE BLOSSOMS.

WHEN THE FLOWER BLOOMS, THE BUTTERFLY COMES.

WHEN THE BUTTERFLY COMES, THE FLOWER BLOSSOMS.

There is such a synchronicity in existence. You become graceful, the whole existence becomes graceful; you become silent, everything else becomes silent. A song arises in you, and all around the birds start singing; you dance, and you see the whole of existence is dancing with you, hand in hand.

Says Ryokan,

I DO NOT KNOW OTHERS, OTHERS DO NOT KNOW ME.

NOT KNOWING EACH OTHER WE NATURALLY FOLLOW THE WAY.

There is no need of knowledge, because nature has its own wisdom. If you don’t interfere with nature and its wisdom, everything goes as it should go.

I DO NOT KNOW OTHERS, OTHERS DO NOT KNOW ME.

NOT KNOWING EACH OTHER WE NATURALLY FOLLOW THE WAY.

Whatever is happening to you Videh, just follow it, very naturally. Don’t be in a hurry, don’t bring your knowledge to improve upon it. Nobody can improve upon nature: when the spring comes, the flowers will come also — and there is no way to bring the spring, and without the spring the flowers won’t come. So you go on the way you are moving. It is the right path, the easy path in your naturalness and spontaneity, and you will not be going astray. You will reach to the ultimate ocean where one merges with the eternal life. Knowledge is really a very complicated phenomenon; you have to be like little children.

Little William went to his father and said, “Daddy, where did I come from?” The father started to stutter and stammer, but he realized that he had to tell his son the facts of life.

“Sit down, Willie,” he said. At great length he described the whole business of creation, beginning with the birds and the bees. Then he went into the most graphic descriptions of human intercourse. He concluded at last, feeling limp and drained. He took a handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from his brow: “Okay, Willie, do you understand now?”

Willie scratched his head. “Not really, Dad. Henry says he came from New Jersey, but you have not told me where I came from.”

His question is of a very innocent character, but the father is a knowledgeable person. He gives a whole discourse on how human beings are produced — and he is perspiring and stuttering and stammering. And the boy must be puzzled about what is going on? He has simply asked a simple question: Where did I come from? Such a complicated journey… and Henry has come from New Jersey.

Be natural, be simple, be innocent, and allow nature to guide you — it has never misguided anybody. Knowledge, on the contrary, has never been able to guide anybody to the ultimate goal, the ultimate peak of our experience, of our consciousness, of our blissfulness, of our enlightenment.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse Series: The Hidden Splendor Chapter #8

Chapter title: The taste of your being

16 March 1987 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium

References:

Osho has also spoken on other Zen Masters and Mystics Mahakashyap, Bodhidharma, Hyakujo, Ma Tzu, Nansen, Dogen, Isan, Joshu, Kyozan, Basho, Bokuju, Sekito, Yakusan, Bankei, Sosan, Nan-in and many more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
2. Ancient Music in the Pines
3. Ah, This!
4. A Bird on the Wing
5. Dang Dang Doko Dang
6. Dogen, the Zen Master: A Search and a Fulfillment
7. Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing
8. God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth
9. Isan: No Footprints in the Blue Sky
10. Joshu: The Lion’s Roar
11. Kyozan: A True Man of Zen
12. The Language of Existence
13. Ma Tzu: The Empty Mirror
14. Nansen: The Point of Departure
15. Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus
16. No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity
17. No Water, No Moon
18. Yakusan: Straight to the Point of Enlightenment
19. Zen: Zest, Zip, Zap and Zing