“I don’t consider Zen a philosophy or a theology, but closer to poetry, to music, to painting, to dancing, to singing. It is not renunciation of life, it is rejoicing in life with your whole heart. And as you become deeply involved in creative lifestyles, the beyond opens its doors.”
“My emphasis here is on therapies which don’t go on for years and years: just a few days of therapy to prepare the ground for meditation. We are running here almost one hundred therapy groups, for every possible human being. But therapy is not the end; therapy is a preparation, clearing the ground for meditation. This is the only place in the whole world where therapy is being used as clearing the ground for a tremendous transformation from mind to no-mind.”
Zen The Mystery and the Poetry of the Beyond
Dit boek Zen The Mystery and the Poetry of the Beyond bevat een levendige en gevarieerde verzameling Zen anekdotes. Daarnaast valt er van poëzie en grappen te genieten en zijn er antwoorden op vragen van zoekers.
Osho definieert zijn visie van Zen als een creatieve vorm van kunst. Zen staat, volgens zijn opvatting, dichter bij kunst dan bij filosofie. De transformatie die ontstaat als je het leven creatief benadert, kan de deuren naar het mysterie van het bestaan voor je openen – naar wat verder gelegen is en niet meteen zichtbaar. Iedere keer laat Osho weer zien wat het geheim van het leven is, namelijk: het te vieren. En hij toont dit in allerlei situaties, of hij zich nu kritisch uitlaat over de moderne psychoanalyse of dat hij de inzichten van een haiku van Basho openbaart.
“I don’t consider Zen a philosophy or a theology, but closer to poetry, to music, to painting, to dancing, to singing. It is not renunciation of life, it is rejoicing in life with your whole heart. And as you become deeply involved in creative lifestyles, the beyond opens its doors.”
Het boek Zen The Mystery and the Poetry of the Beyond is verkrijgbaar via internet.
Zen: The Mystery and Poetry of the Beyond, Chapter 1, excerpt
“To become spiritual you have to go into your own depth, leaving mind far behind. Let it dream, let it think, you simply watch. And just watching is the greatest alchemy for transforming your being. The more you become rooted in watching and witnessing… the thoughts disappear, the dreams disappear, the mind is miles away and you are left alone in utter silence, in peace. All the tensions, anxieties, angst, are completely 
transformed into bliss, into ecstasy, into blessings.
“My emphasis here is on therapies which don’t go on for years and years: just a few days of therapy to prepare the ground for meditation. We are running here almost one hundred therapy groups, for every possible human being. But therapy is not the end; therapy is a preparation, clearing the ground for meditation. This is the only place in the whole world where therapy is being used as clearing the ground for a tremendous transformation from mind to no-mind.
“Meditation is the only thing that can be called spiritual, because it is rooted in your very spirit. It is the only thing that is not going to die. Your body will be dying, your mind will be dying; only your witness has an eternity. And without having eternity… how can you be joyous when death is coming every day closer?
“Stop calling your birthdays birth days! These are the days when death has come one year closer. Those are the days of death!
“You have been dying since the very moment you were born! Every moment death is taking its territory. It may take seventy years, or ninety years – it does not matter; death is following you like a shadow. Wherever you go, whichever direction you choose, you will end up in a grave, remember!
“The only thing that will not end up in a grave is the experience of your mirrorlike witnessing being, your very life source. And just the experience of your own life source heals you immediately; nothing else needs to be added.” Osho