Bodhidarma Frightens Emperor Wu
Find your ego, I will kill it
Bodhidharma was asked by Emperor Wu, “I am very much disturbed by my ego, by this self. And I have tried everything, but I cannot get rid of it. Help me!” Bodhidharma said, “Come early in the morning tomorrow, three o’clock in the morning. And come alone, and don’t forget to bring your self with you — and I will finish it forever.” The emperor was afraid. This man looked mad. “How can anybody finish the self? And what does he mean when he says, ‘Don’t forget to bring it’?”
The whole night he could not sleep, tossed and turned. Many times he decided not to go, and he had said, “Come alone” — and he was a very dangerous looking man. In China he was known as the Barbarian Buddha. He had very dangerous eyes. If he looked into your eyes, then for months you would not be able to sleep. And he looked murderous — and he WAS a murderer. He murdered many disciples. Many people became enlightened through him. And he was really a hard taskmaster.
Three o’clock, in the dark, alone, to be with this man… and one never knows — he was unpredictable. When he had entered China, he had come with one shoe on one foot, the other shoe on his head. The emperor was puzzled and he said, “What are you doing?”
He said, “I am trying to show you — this is the way I am. Just to give you a taste of what type of man I am, so you know from the very beginning with whom you are dealing.” Now, to go to this man in his mountain cave in the dark…. M any times he decided not to go, but the attraction was also great — because this man was no ordinary man. Yes, on the surface he looked very hard, but deep down there was the kindest heart possible. He was all compassion. Even if he was hard, it was because of his compassion.
Finally, he had to go. And the moment he reached in front of Bodhidharma… he was sitting there with his staff, and he said, “You have come?.Where is your ego? Where is your self? Have you brought it with you? I am going to finish it forever.”
The emperor said, “What are you talking about? Is the self a thing that I can bring with me?” Bodhidharma said, “Then what is it?” The emperor said, “Of course, it is something inside.” Bodhidharma said, “Okay, inside or outside, it makes no difference. My staff can reach anywhere! You just sit in front of me, close your eyes, and try to find it. And the moment you have found it, just tell me that ‘I have found,’ and I will kill it.”
Look inside and find it!
Shaking and trembling, the emperor sat before Bodhidharma. Hours passed. The sun started rising. He looked and looked… he had to look! because this man was sitting there with his staff. He could hit hard. And by the morning when the sun was rising, he was totally a different man. Bodhidharma said, “Now you can open your eyes. Where is it? For three hours you have been looking.”
The emperor touched Bodhidharma’s feet and said, “I cannot find it. I looked hard — I have never looked so hard. Your presence made me look hard. I searched with all my energy possible. I was not holding anything back, but I did not find it.” And Bodhidharma laughed and he said, “So you see? I have finished it forever.”
The ego is not
It is not! When you don’t look it is. When you look, it is not. Go in… and you will not find any ego, any self, anything. What you will find is eternal, infinite life, and then there is really respect for it. But it has nothing to do with you or me — it is reverence for life.
Osho, excerpts from The Perfect Master Vol. 2 #4
Osho book recommendations on masters of meditation
The Buddha Said…: Meeting the Challenge of Life’s Difficulties
Discover the Buddha: 53 Meditations to Meet the Buddha Within
When the Shoe Fits: Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chuang Tzu
No Water No Moon: Talks on Zen Stories
Unidentified and Silent
December 20, 2008
About meditation the masters of meditation have said mainly one thing: whatever is said is not the truth. Some pointers to the moon…
What is meditation?
Meditation is not really mind-effort. Real meditation is not effort at all. Real meditation is just allowing the mind to have its own way, and not interfering in any way whatsoever — just remaining watchful, witnessing. It silences, by and by, it becomes still. One day it is gone. You are left alone
Leaving thoughts aside
Meditation is nothing but putting the mind aside, putting the mind out of the way, and bringing a witnessing which is always there but hidden underneath the mind. This witnessing will reach to your center, and once you have become enlightened, then there is no problem. Then bring the mind in tune with you.
No concentration, no contemplation, only watching
Meditation does not mean concentration, it does not mean contemplation: it means getting beyond the mind. Concentration, contemplation, are both of the mind. Meditation means getting unidentified with the mind, seeing the mind as separate, knowing the mind as separate, witnessing the mind but not getting identified with it. Slowly slowly as witnessing grows, the distance grows between you and the mind. Soon the mind is a faraway echo, and finally you cannot even hear the echo; then you are left utterly alone.
That needs courage, hence very few people have been able to know their own selves, and very few people have been able to become Buddhas. Before one can become a Buddha, one has to pass through a death — of the mind, of the ego, of all that we think we are. We have to lose all that we think we possess, then only can we possess the eternal.
Being in silence
Meditation is not contemplation either because it is not thinking at all — consistent, inconsistent, crazy, sane. It is not thinking at all; it is witnessing. It is just sitting silently deep within yourself, looking at whatsoever is happening inside and outside both. Outside there is traffic noise, inside there is also traffic noise — the traffic in the head. So many thoughts — trucks and buses of thoughts and trains and airplanes of thoughts, rushing in every direction. But you are simply sitting aloof, unconcerned, watching everything with no evaluation.
Osho, excerpts from different sources
Osho book recommendations on meditation
The Book of Secrets: Keys to Love and Meditation
Awareness: The Key to Living in Balance (Osho, Insights for a New Way of Living)
Meditation: The First and Last Freedom
Everyday Osho: 365 Daily Meditations for the Here and Now
Meditation For Busy People: Stress-Beating Strategies To Calm Your Life
Discover the Buddha: 53 Meditations to Meet the Buddha Within
