Birthday of Japanese Artist Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist, illustrator, printmaker, and painter in the Edo period of Japan. Born on 31 October 1760, Hokusai excelled at the ukiyo-e form of art – a genre consisting of woodblock paintings and prints of various subjects and sceneries. He had a versatile and eclectic talent for painting – known to be influenced by the Japanese artist Sesshū Tōyō and by Chinese illustrations – and published over 30,000 sketches, paintings, prints, and images in his lifetime.

Hokusai’s influence over the art world has been exponential – ranging from the art contemporaries in Paris to the Impressionism movement to exhibitions in the British Museum in 2017. His most prominent piece of work is known as Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1830-1832), containing greatly appreciated prints such as The Great Wave and Find Wind, Clear Morning. A biographic film about Hokusai premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2021.

Osho mentions Hokusai, “That’s why people are so full of unnecessary things. They go on clinging to rubbish. ‘The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.’ Without, there are infinite spaces, utterly silent. And within you there are infinite spaces, utterly silent. And between these two silences you go on creating noise. That noise keeps you separate from God.

Let that noise disappear, and these two silences become one. In that becoming one, is the meeting with the Beloved. Those who know will not be afraid, those who have tasted a little bit will not be afraid.

Leonardo Dan Vinci said: ‘Amongst the greatest things which are to be found among us, the Being of Nothingness is the greatest.’

Buddha said the same thing again and again: To be nothing is to be all. To be totally empty is to be totally full.

A great Zen artist, Hakusai, at the end of a long life, joyously exclaimed ‘At last I do not know how to draw!’ This is knowing how to draw — this is responding from innocence, from a state of not-knowing.

One starts living when one does not know how to live — as the grey seal in the blue wide way does not know how to swim, and the white gull, ignorant of how to fly, does not try nor worry whence and where and to what end it lives and flies and dies.

On the path of love, knowledge is not needed, but a state of innocence. Doing is not needed, practicing is not needed, but a state of loving. Eyes full of tears and the heart full of prayer — wordless prayer, silent prayer.”

Osho Says….

The path of love is the path of the feminine. Whosoever follows it, man or woman, has to become feminine. The path of love is not aggressive, the path of love is not of active search and seeking; the path of love is a passive receptivity. One waits like a woman waits for the lover. One is a womb ready to become pregnant with God. Remember this metaphor of the womb. On the path of love you have to become a womb — utterly silent and passive, not doing anything, just being. One who looks is not looking. In looking there is no one — looking is a state of emptiness, as listening is. Truly listening, we are nothing; truly looking, we are nothing. It is not a matter of doing, but of being. ‘The way to do is to be’ says Lao Tzu. The way to do is to be — no other doing is needed on the path of love. Just be; calm and collected, just be. Wait. Let your eyes be full of tears, let your heart be full of passion — but wait. Be aflame — but wait. There is no need to go anywhere, there is nothing to be done — just being. The way to do is to be.

But this frightens people; emptiness frightens people. I have heard, Pascal confessed: ‘The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.’ That’s why people are so full of unnecessary things. They go on clinging to rubbish. ‘The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.’ Without, there are infinite spaces, utterly silent. And within you there are infinite spaces, utterly silent. And between these two silences you go on creating noise. That noise keeps you separate from God. Let that noise disappear, and these two silences become one. In that becoming one, is the meeting with the Beloved. Those who know will not be afraid, those who have tasted a little bit will not be afraid.

Leonardo Dan Vinci said: ‘Amongst the greatest things which are to be found among us, the Being of Nothingness is the greatest.’ Buddha said the same thing again and again:

To be nothing is to be all. To be totally empty is to be totally full.

A great Zen artist, Hakusai, at the end of a long life, joyously exclaimed ‘At last I do not know how to draw!’ This is knowing how to draw — this is responding from innocence, from a state of not-knowing. One starts living when one does not know how to live — as the grey seal in the blue wide way does not know how to swim, and the white gull, ignorant of how to fly, does not try nor worry whence and where and to what end it lives and flies and dies.

On the path of love, knowledge is not needed, but a state of innocence. Doing is not needed, practicing is not needed, but a state of loving. Eyes full of tears and the heart full of prayer — wordless prayer, silent prayer.

All that men strain and strive to become is at best as unnecessary as painting red roses red. At worst it is unnatural — striving to be spiritual, by whatever means, is putting legs on a snake. It is not needed at all, it is unnecessary. Don’t try to put legs on a snake. You may think you are being very compassionate, but you will destroy the snake, you will kill the snake. The snake need not have any legs. All that men strain and strive to become is at best as unnecessary as painting red roses red. At worst it is unnatural — striving to be spiritual, by whatever means, is putting legs on a snake. One cannot strive to be natural, for striving is unnatural. On the path of love there is no striving, no effort, no practicing of anything. No yoga postures, no religious rituals, but just an innocent heart unburdened of all knowledge, unburdened of all borrowed rituals. To see this is to cease to strive. Empty of every wish to be other than we are, we are already other than we were. All that the religions have reached after is already given in grace — if we will have the grace to see it. Yes, it is already given in grace. Only one thing is needed, a grace to SEE it.

On the path of love one simply relaxes and becomes graceful. A great dignity arises out of no-striving; a great calmness surrounds the bhakta, the devotee, the lover. The lover becomes utterly beautiful — something of the beyond starts filtering into him and through him.

All that the religions have reached after is already given in grace — if we will have the grace to see it. There is nothing to be done but to see that there is nothing to be done, and no one to do it. Yes, remember, the doing creates the illusion that you are a doer. Doing stopped, the doer automatically disappears. And when there is no doing and no doer you have arrived; you have arrived home. To see this is emptiness. All that the religions do to be rid of the self is like shouting at an echo to stop. The ego need not be dropped — stop doing, and it disappears of its own accord.

In love, the ego melts and disappears. Trying to drop the ego is stupid — the more you try to drop it, the more you will find it. It is like shouting at an echo to stop — the more you shout, the more you will be echoed. You will be in a vicious circle. The path of love knows no striving, no doing, no practicing, no discipline, no methodology. It knows tears, it knows passion, it knows a silent awaiting. God comes to you, you need not go to Him. He has always been coming to you, He goes on knocking on your door. But you don’t listen, you are so full of your inner noise. He is everywhere but you don’t see — you are blind because of your beliefs. Let these beliefs go and let this noise disappear and God will find you. And when God finds you there is great celebration.

Source:

This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune. 

Discourse Series: The Revolution

Chapter #7

Chapter title: It is Time Now!

17 February 1978 am

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
20. I Celebrate Myself: God Is No Where, Life Is Now Here