Enlightenment and the Western Mind

[Guest guest]

The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy.

Serving tea, Nan-in filled his visitor's cup, and kept pouring. The

professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer:

" Stop! The cup is over full, no more will go in. "

Nan-in said: " Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and

speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup. "

 

You have come to an even more dangerous person than Nan-in, because an empty

cup won't do; the cup has to be broken completely. Even empty, if you are

there, then you are full. Even emptiness fills you. If you feel that you are

empty you are not empty at all, you are there. Only the name has changed:

now you call yourself emptiness. The cup won't do at all; it has to be

broken completely. Only when you are not can the tea be poured into you,

only when you are not is there no need really to pour the tea into you. When

you are not the whole existence begins pouring, the whole existence becomes

a shower from every dimension, from every direction. When you are not, the

divine is.

 

The story is beautiful. It was bound to happen to a professor of philosophy.

The story says a professor of philosophy came to Nan-in. He must have come

for the wrong reasons because a professor of philosophy, as such, is always

wrong. Philosophy means intellect, reasoning, thinking, argumentativeness.

And this is the way to be wrong, because you cannot be in love with

existence if you are argumentative. Argument is the barrier. If you argue,

you are closed; the whole existence closes to you. Then you are not open and

existence is not open to you.

 

When you argue, you assert. Assertion is violence, aggression, and the truth

cannot be known by an aggressive mind, the truth cannot be discovered by

violence. You can come to know the truth only when you are in love. But love

never argues. There is no argument in love, because there is no aggression.

And remember, not only was that man a professor of philosophy, you are also

the same. Every man carries his own philosophy, and every man in his own way

is a professor, because you profess your ideas, you believe in them. You

have opinions, concepts, and because of opinions and concepts your eyes are

dull, they cannot see; your mind is stupid, it cannot know.

 

Ideas create stupidity, because the more the ideas are there the more the

mind is burdened. And how can a burdened mind know? The more ideas there are

the more it is just like dust which has gathered on a mirror. How can the

mirror mirror? How can the mirror reflect? Your intelligence is just covered

by opinions -- the dust -- and everyone who is opinionated is bound to be

stupid and dull. That's why professors of philosophy are almost always

stupid. They know too much to know at all. They are burdened too much. They

cannot fly in the sky, they can't have wings. And they are so much in the

mind, they can't have roots in the earth. They are not grounded in the earth

and they are not free to fly into the sky.

 

And remember, you are all the same. There may be differences of quantity,

but every mind is qualitatively the same, because mind thinks, argues,

collects and gathers knowledge and becomes dull. Only children are

intelligent. And if you can retain your childhood, if you continuously

reclaim your childhood, you will remain innocent and intelligent. If you

gather dust, childhood is lost, innocence is no more; the mind has become

dull and stupid. Now you can have philosophies.

 

The more philosophies you have, the more you are far away from the divine.

 

A religious mind is a non-philosophical mind. A religious mind is an

innocent, intelligent mind. The mirror is clear, the dust has not been

gathered; and every day a continuous cleaning goes on. That's what I call

meditation.

 

This professor of philosophy came to Nan-in. He must have come for wrong

reasons: he must have come to receive some answers. Those people who are

filled with questions are always in search of answers. And Nan-in cannot

give an answer. It is foolish to be concerned with questions and answers.

Nan-in can give you a new mind, Nan-in can give you a new being, Nan-in can

give you a new existence in which no questions arise. But Nan-in is not

interested in answering any particular questions. He is not interested in

giving answers. Neither am I.

 

You must have come here with many questions. It is bound to be so, because

the mind gives birth to questions. Mind is a question-creating mechanism.

Feed anything into it, out comes a question, and many questions follow. Give

an answer to it; immediately it converts it into many questions. You are

here, filled with many questions, your cup is already full. No need for

Nan-in to pour any tea into it, you are already overflowing.

 

I can give you a new existence -- that's why I have invited you here -- I

will not give you any answers. All questions, all answers are useless, just

a wastage of energy. But I can transform you, and that is the only answer.

And that one answer solves all questions.

 

Philosophy has many questions, many answers -- millions. Religion has only

one answer; whatsoever the question the answer remains the same. Buddha used

to say: You taste sea water from anywhere, the taste remains the same, the

saltiness of it.

 

Whatsoever you ask is really irrelevant. I will answer the same because I

have got only one answer. But that one answer is like a master key; it opens

all doors. It is not concerned with any particular lock -- any lock and the

key opens it. Religion has only one answer and that answer is meditation.

Meditation means how to empty yourself.

 

The professor must have been tired, walking long, when he reached Nan-in's

cottage. And Nan-in said: " Wait a little. " He must have been in a hurry.

Mind is always in a hurry, and mind is always in search of instantaneous

realizations. For the mind, to wait is very difficult, almost impossible.

Nan-in said: " I will prepare tea for you. You look tired. Wait a little,

rest a little, and have a cup of tea. And then we can discuss. "

 

Nan-in boiled the water and started preparing the tea. But he must have been

watching the professor. Not only was the water boiling, the professor was

also boiling within. Not only was the tea kettle making sounds, the

professor was making more sounds within, chattering, continuously talking.

The professor must have been getting ready -- what to ask, how to ask, from

where to begin. He must have been in a deep monologue. Nan-in must have been

smiling and watching: This man is too full, so much so that nothing can

penetrate into him. The answer cannot be given because there is no one to

receive it. The guest cannot enter into the house -- there is no room.

Nan-in must have wanted to become a guest in this professor.

 

Out of compassion, a Buddha always wants to become a guest within you.

 

He knocks from everywhere but there is no door. And even if he breaks a

door, which is very difficult, there is no room. You are so full with

yourself and with rubbish and all types of furniture which you have gathered

in many, many lives, you cannot even enter into yourself; there is no room,

no space. You live just outside of your own being, just on the steps. You

cannot enter within yourself, everything is blocked.

 

Then Nan-in poured tea into the cup. The professor became uneasy, because

Nan-in was continuously pouring tea. It was overflowing; soon it would be

going onto the floor. Then the professor said: " Stop! What are you doing?

Now this cup cannot hold any more tea, not even a single drop. Are you mad?

What are you doing? "

 

Nan-in said: " The same is the case with you. You are so alert to observe and

become aware that the cup is full and cannot hold any more, why are you not

so aware about your own self? You are overflowing with opinions,

philosophies, doctrines, scriptures. You know too much already; I cannot

give you anything. You have traveled in vain. Before coming to me you should

have emptied your cup, then I could pour something into it. "

 

But I tell you, you have come to a more dangerous person. No, an empty cup I

won't allow, because if the cup is there you will fill it. You are so

addicted and you have become so habituated that you cannot allow the cup to

be empty even for a single moment. The moment you see emptiness anywhere you

start filling it. You are so scared of emptiness, you are so afraid:

emptiness appears like death. You will fill it with anything, but you will

fill it. No, I have invited you to be here to break down this cup

completely, so that even if you want to you cannot fill it.

 

Emptiness means there is no cup left. All the walls have disappeared, the

bottom has fallen down; you have become an abyss. Then I can pour myself

into you. Much is possible, if you allow. But to allow is arduous, because

to allow you will have to surrender. Emptiness means surrender.

 

Nan-in was saying to that professor: Bow down, surrender, empty your head. I

am ready to pour. That professor had not even asked the question and Nan-in

had given the answer, because really there is no need to ask the question.

The question remains the same.

 

Whether you ask me or not, I know what the question is. So many of you are

here but I know the question, because deep down the question is one: the

anxiety, the anguish, the meaninglessness, the futility of this whole life

-- not knowing who you are. But you are filled. Allow me to break this cup.

This camp is going to be a destruction, a death. If you are ready to be

destroyed something new will come out of it. Every destruction can become a

creative birth. If you are ready to die you can have a new life, you can be

reborn.

 

I am here just to be a midwife. That's what Socrates used to say -- that a

master is just a midwife. I can help, I can protect, I can guide, that's

all. The actual phenomenon, the transformation, is going to happen to you.

Suffering will be there, because no birth is possible without suffering.

Much anguish will come up, because you have accumulated it and it has to be

thrown. A deep cleansing and catharsis will be needed.

 

Birth is just like death, but the suffering is worth taking.

 

Out of the darkness of suffering a new morning arises, a new sun arises. And

the dawn is not very far off when you feel darkness too much. When suffering

is unbearable, bliss is very near. So don't try to escape from suffering --

that is the point where you can miss. Don't try to avoid it, pass through

it. Don't try to find some way which goes round about -- no, that won't do.

Pass through it. Suffering will burn you, destroy you, but really you cannot

be destroyed. All that can be destroyed is just the rubbish that you have

gathered. All that can be destroyed is something that is not you. When it is

all destroyed, then you will feel that you are indestructible, you are

deathless. Passing through death, consciously passing through death, one

becomes aware of life eternal.

 

These few days you will be here with me many things are possible, but the

first step to remember is to pass through suffering. Many times I create

suffering for you; many times I create the situation in which all that is

suppressed within you comes up. Don't push it down, don't repress it. Allow

it, free it. If you can free your suffering, your suppressed suffering, you

will become free of it. And you can come to the state of bliss only when all

suffering has been passed through, thrown, completely dropped.

 

And I can see through you: the flame of bliss is just near the corner. Once

a glimpse and that flame becomes yours. I will push you in many ways to have

a glimpse of it. If you miss you will be responsible, no one else. The river

is flowing, but if you cannot bow down, if you cannot come down from your

egoistic state of mind, you may go back thirsty. Don't blame the river. The

river was there but you were paralyzed by your ego.

 

That's what Nan-in says: Empty the cup. That means empty the mind. Ego is

there, overflowing, and when ego is overflowing nothing can be done. The

whole existence is around you but nothing can be done. All around the

divine...surrounded...but nothing can be done. From nowhere can the divine

penetrate you, you have created such a citadel. Empty the cup. Rather, throw

the cup completely. When I say throw the cup completely I mean be so empty

that you don't have even the feeling that " I am empty. "

 

Once it happened, a disciple came to Bodhidharma and said: " Master, you told

me to be empty. Now I have become empty. Now what else do you say? "

 

Bodhidharma hit him hard with his staff on the head, and he said: " Go and

throw this emptiness out. "

 

If you say: " I am empty, " the " I am " is there, and the " I " cannot be empty.

So emptiness cannot be claimed. No one can say: " I am empty, " just as no one

can say: " I am humble. " If you say: " I am humble, " you are not. Who claims

this humility? Humbleness cannot be claimed. If you are humble, you are

humble, but you cannot say it. Not only can you not say it, you cannot feel

that you are humble because the very feeling will give birth to the ego

again. Be empty, but don't think that you are empty, otherwise you have

deceived yourself.

 

You have brought many philosophies with you.

 

Drop them. They have not helped you at all, they have not done anything for

you. It is time enough, the right time. Drop them wholesale, not in parts,

not in fragments. For these few days you will be here with me just be

without any thinking. I know it is difficult but still I say it is possible.

And once you know the knack of it, you will laugh at the whole absurdity of

the mind that you were carrying so long.

 

I have heard about a man who was traveling in a train for the first time, a

villager. He was carrying his luggage on his head, thinking: " Putting it

down will be too much for the train to carry, and I have paid only for my

own self. I have purchased the ticket but I have not paid for the luggage. "

So he was carrying the luggage on his head. The train was carrying him and

his luggage, and whether he carried it on his head or put it down made no

difference to the train.

 

Your mind is unnecessary luggage. It makes no difference to this existence

that is carrying you; you are unnecessarily burdened. I say: Drop it. The

trees exist without the mind and exist more beautifully than any human

being; the birds exist without the mind and exist in a more ecstatic state

than any human being. Look at children who are still not civilized, who are

still wild. They exist without the mind, and even a Jesus or a Buddha will

feel jealous of their innocence. There is no need for this mind. The whole

world is going on and on without it. Why are you carrying it? Are you just

thinking that it will be too much for God, too much for existence? Once you

can put it down, even for a single minute, your whole existence will be

transformed. You will enter into a new dimension, the dimension of

weightlessness.

 

That's what I'm going to give you: wings into the sky, into the heaven --

weightlessness gives you these wings -- and roots into the earth, a

groundedness, a centering. This earth and that heaven: they are two parts of

the whole. In this life, your so-called ordinary life, you must be rooted;

and in your inner space, in the spiritual life, you must be weightless and

flying and flowing, floating.

 

Roots and wings I can give to you, if you allow -- because I am only a

midwife. I cannot force the child out of you. A forced child will be ugly,

and a forced child may die. Just allow me. The child is there, you are

already pregnant. Everybody is pregnant with God. The child is there and you

have already carried too long; long ago the period of nine months passed.

That may be the root cause of your anguish -- that you are carrying

something in the womb which needs birth, which needs to come out, which

needs to be born. Think of a woman, a mother, carrying a child after the

ninth month. Then it becomes more and more burdensome, and if the birth is

not going to happen the mother will die, because it will be too much to

bear. That may be the reason why you are in so much anxiety, anguish,

tension. Something needs to be born out of you; something needs to be

created out of your womb. I can help.

 

This Samadhi Sadhana Shibir, this camp for inner ecstasy and enlightenment,

is just going to be a help for you so that which you have carried like a

seed up to now can come out of your soil and become an alive thing, an alive

plant. But the basic thing will be that if you want to be with me you cannot

be with your mind. Both cannot happen simultaneously.

 

Whenever you are with your mind you are not with me; Whenever you are with

your mind you are not with me; whenever the mind is not there you are with

me.

 

And I can work only if you are with me. Empty the cup. Throw the cup away

completely; destroy it.

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta, " shinkai taisen " <shinkai_taisen@h...>

wrote:

>

> The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of

philosophy.....................

 

 

Well, well.....this essay is forceful. If this is Zen Buddhism, my

image of a sword (of Enlightenment) incising the unwitting head of

the philosophy professor is appropriate. This Nan-in fellow sounds

pretty severe, even threatening. If a seeker encountered this Master

and had " too many " questions, obviously he was not ready for

the " Forced Labor " method of Enlightenment. Who dares question?

 

be well

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta, " d_agenda2000 " <d_agenda2000>

wrote:

> Nisargadatta, " shinkai taisen " <shinkai_taisen@h...>

> wrote:

> >

> > The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor

of

> philosophy.....................

>

>

> Well, well.....this essay is forceful. If this is Zen Buddhism, my

> image of a sword (of Enlightenment) incising the unwitting

head of

> the philosophy professor is appropriate. This Nan-in fellow

sounds

> pretty severe, even threatening. If a seeker encountered this

Master

> and had " too many " questions, obviously he was not ready for

> the " Forced Labor " method of Enlightenment. Who dares

question?

>

> be well

 

----

 

Don't worry, everybody makes it.........

Lester Levenson

 

Exactly 30 minuites (or was it 60)

before you die......Mocha..........

UG Krishnamurti

 

 

..