In the Book ‘A Sudden Clash of Thunder’ Osho answers to questions of seekers. He highlights through Zen stories and jokes our conditioning – our learned, social, cultural behaviour and beliefs – as the barrier to our natural state of happiness.
Wielding his words like a humorous compassionate Zen stick, Osho shows us how we can begin to recognize our conditioning and see that it is not the same as our authentic self.

LAUGHING…WEEPING

“If you really want to laugh you will have to learn how to weep. If you cannot weep and if you are not capable of tears, you will become incapable of laughter. A man of laughter is also a man of tears – then a man is balanced. A man of bliss is also a man of silence. A man who is ecstatic is also a man who is centered. They both go together. And out of this togetherness of polarities a balanced being is born. And that is what the goal is.

A Sudden Clash of Thunder Nederlands

Dit boek A Sudden Clash of Thunder bevat prachtige Zen verhalen. Zo is er het verhaal over de vier kikkers dat erg aanstekelijk is.
Osho geeft aan, dat werkelijk ‘zien’ een lastige aangelegenheid voor mensen is. De waarheid bonkt voortdurend op onze deur. Maar zijn we ook bereid om haar als gast in ons te accepteren?
Plotseling word je je immers bewust van het feit dat je, als dit de waarheid is, hiervoor kennelijk in leugens geleefd hebt . En dat is een pijnlijke confrontatie.
Verder benadrukt Osho het belang van vreugde en het hebben van een diepe lach. Als je je gelukkig voelt, volgt meditatie vanzelf.

Het is de inspanning van alle Meesters, zegt Osho: om een plotseling lachsalvo te creëren, zodat zij die diep in slaap zijn, kunnen ontwaken. hoewel deze serie lezingen over meditatie gaat, moedigt Osho aan “om blij te zijn en dan zal meditatie vanzelf volgen.”

NOTHING ELSE IS POSSIBLE, Niets anders is er mogelijk

“Je komt bij me op zoek naar kennis. Je wilt formules opstellen, zodat je je aan deze vast kunt klampen. Ik geef je er geen een. In feite, als je ze hebt, neem ik ze weg. Geleidelijk aan vernietig ik je zekerheid. Geleidelijk aan maak ik je steeds meer aarzelend. Geleidelijk aan maak ik je steeds meer onveilig.
Dat is het enige wat gedaan moet worden. Dat is het enige wat een meester moet doen! Je in totale vrijheid laten. In totale vrijheid, met alle mogelijkheden open, niets staat vast … je zult bewust moeten worden. Niets anders is mogelijk.” Osho, A Sudden Clash of Thunder # 6

Het boek is niet gemakkelijk te krijgen, mogelijk wel tweedehands in de Boekhandel en als audio-book.

Fragment from A sudden Clash of Thunder

Osho says that laughter is “the very essence of Zen.” And though the theme of this series is meditation—watching, remaining alert and aware—as the only way to truth, Osho encourages us to, “be happy and meditation will follow.”here is a wonderful chapter on laughter, Hotei the Laughing Buddha and enlightenment: “This is the whole effort of all the masters: to create a sudden clash of thunder so those who are fast asleep can be awakened.” “Osho could keep his audience in thrall, knitting prescient anecdotes culled from various sources.”

“I am neither for this nor for that. I would like you to become so capable that you can remain in the marketplace and yet meditative. I would like you to relate with people, to love, to move in millions of relationships – because they enrich – and yet remain capable of closing your doors and sometimes having a holiday from all relationship… so that you can relate with your own being also.

“Relate with others, but relate with yourself also. Love others, but love yourself also. Go out! – the world is beautiful, adventurous; it is a challenge, it enriches. Don′t lose that opportunity! Whenever the world knocks at your door and calls you, go out! Go out fearlessly – there is nothing to lose, there is everything to gain.

But don′t get lost. Don′t go on and on and get lost. Sometimes come back home. Sometimes forget the world – those are the moments for meditation. Each day, if you want to become balanced, you should balance the outer and the inner. They should carry the same weight, so that inside you never become lopsided.

“This is the meaning when Zen masters say: ′Walk in the river, but don′t allow the water to touch your feet.′ Be in the world, but don′t be of the world. Be in the world, but don′t allow the world to be in you. When you come home, you come home –as if the whole world has disappeared.”

“Hotei, a Zen master, was passing through a village He was one of the most beautiful persons who have ever walked on earth. He was known to people as ′The Laughing Buddha′ – he used to laugh continuously. But sometimes he would sit under a tree – in this village he was sitting under a tree, with closed eyes; not laughing, not even smiling; completely calm and collected.
Somebody asked: ′You are not laughing, Hotei?′
He opened his eyes and he said, ′I am preparing.′
The questioner could not understand. He said, ′What do you mean by ′preparing′?
He said, ′I have to prepare myself for laughter. I have to give myself rest. I have to go in. I have to forget the whole world so that I can come again rejuvenated and I can again laugh. 

“So sometimes when I am talking about Buddhas, you may have glimpses, you may start flying into the inner world. And you will see, yes! – you know what it is. It simply fits with you in some moments. You can become a witness to it. But in some other moments it is weird. You don′t know what a Buddha is. You have lost contact with your own inner center; now you are on the periphery. You can understand a Machiavelli, but now you cannot understand a Buddha. You are both!” Osho, A Sudden Clash of Thunder.