Talks on Zen

And the Grass grows by itself is de sprekende titel van dit boek. Het is een onderdeel van de bekende
reeks van Osho zoals hij die regelmatig uitsprak:

Sitting silently
Doing nothing
Spring comes
And the Grass grows by itself.

Toen iemand een groot meester vroeg: “Wat doe je met je discipelen?” zei hij: ” Wat ik doe? Ik doe niets.”
De vragensteller vroeg: “Maar er gebeuren zoveel dingen rondom u, u moet iets doen.” De meester zei: Sitting quietly, Doing nothing, Spring comes, And the Grass grows by itself…

En het gras groeit vanzelf…is een prachtige introductie voor iedereen die zich afvraagt “Wat is Zen?”.
Deze serie talks is voor ieder die ontdekken wil wie er binnenin is – en zo de echte substantie van het menselijk bewustzijn wil ontdekken.
Door Zen verhalen te gebruiken ter illustratie, de mind te verwarren, en te verlichten, verkent Osho elke hoeksteen van Zen: in het moment leven, met de stroom meegaan, je bent en toch ben je niet, het bestaan toestaan om door je heen te gaan.

“Zen heeft er eenvoudig slag van om het juiste punt te raken en datgene aan gegeven wat niet aangegeven kan worden.”

Osho beschrijft in deze serie lezingen ‘The Grass Grows by Itself’ hoe Zen ontstaan is. De bijzondere mensen die er zorg voor droegen dat Zen zich over het Aziatische continent kon verspreiden, komen aan bod. Grote namen als Lao Tzu, Bokujo, Bodhidharma, Confucius en anderen, passeren de revu.
Osho’s humor en inzicht nemen de toehoorder mee in de sferen van toen, alsof tijdloosheid is doorgedrongen. Zo kon men als het ware de kernpunten van deze mystici zelf ervaren. Het is alsof men bij Lao Tzu zelf komt om hem over ‘The Way’ te vragen, men een ware schok krijgt van het wezen en optreden van Bodhidharma en alsof men een beetje meer ontwaakt door Seddyo’s koan. Natuurlijk is er daarnaast de ervaring van Osho zelf, de Mysticus van de mystici.

Het boek ‘The Grass Grows by Itself’ wordt verkrijgbaar bij de Boekhandel. Wel is het audiobook te bestellen via internet.

Impressie van The Grass Grows by itself

“The quality of being total is totally different. It is not a question of being articulate, it is rather a question of giving every part its proportion. It is a harmony. It is giving your life a harmonious rhythm with everything existing in it. Then the mind is also beautiful. Then it doesn′tt lead you to the madhouses. Then the mind becomes the greater mind, the mind becomes the enlightenment. But your whole exists as a whole; you Don′t divide yourself; your wisdom remains undivided. That′s what Bokuju is saying, and that is what Zen is all about. That′s why I say that Zen is a rare phenomenon. No other religion has reached to such a great flowering. Because Zen has come to understand that the understanding is of the total – you eat, you sleep, you be natural and you be total, and Don′t try to divide yourself, mind and body, soul and matter. Don′t divide. With division comes conflict and violence, with division comes millions of problems, and there are no solutions. Rather, there is only one solution and that is to be whole again, to leave everything to the natural totality.

“The mind will be there but its function will be totally different. I also use the mind. I am talking to you, the mind is needed. For communication the mind is needed; in fact it is a communication device. For memory the mind is needed. It is a computer. But to be, your whole is needed. In the body – and when I say‘body’ I mean your whole: body, mind, soul – everything has its own functioning. If I want to catch something, I will use my hand. If I want to move, I will use my legs. If I want to communicate, I will use my mind. That′s all. Otherwise I remain as a whole. And when I use my hands, my whole backs my hands. They are no used against the whole, but with the co-operation of the whole. When I use my legs and walk, they are used by the whole, in coöperation. In fact, they are functioning, walking for the whole, no for themselves. If I talk to you, communicate, I use the mind for the whole. If I have something in my whole being that I would like to communicate, I use my mind, I use my hands and my gestures, I use my eyes; but they are used by the whole. The whole remains the supreme. The whole remains the master. When the parts become the master, then you are falling apart, then your togetherness will be lost.” Osho

And the Grass grows by itself, Talks on Zen

When somebody asked a great master: “What do you do with your disciples?” He said: “What do I do? I don’t do anything.”
The questioner asked: “But so many things happen around you, you must doing something.”
The master said: ”Sitting quietly, ding nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.”

And the Grass grows by itself… is a wonderful introduction for anyone wondering “What is Zen?”. This series of talks is for anyone who wants to find out who is there inside – and so discover the very substance of human consciousness.
Using Zen stories to illustrate, confound the mind, and enlighten, Osho explores each of the foundation stones of Zen: living in the moment, going with the flow, you are and yet you are not, allowing existence to pass through you.

“Zen simply has the knack of hitting at the right thing and indicating that which cannot be indicated.”