선(禪)이란 무엇인가? (오쇼 - 영문)

과거에 선(禪)은 인도에서 태어나 중국의 토양에서 자라나고 일본에서 꽃피웠다.

미래에 선은 다시 인도에서 태어나 영국의 토양에서 자라나고 미국에서 꽃피울 것이다.

What is Zen? Zen is a very extraordinary growth. Rarely does such a possibility become an

actuality because many hazards are involved. Many times before the possibility has existed - a

certain spiritual happening could have grown and become like Zen, but it was never realized

to its totality. only once in the whole history of human consciousness has a thing like Zen

come into being. It is very rare.

So first I would like you to understand what Zen is, because unless you do that these

anecdotes won't be much help. You need to know the complete background. In that

background, in that context, these anecdotes become luminous - suddenly you attain to the

meaning and the significance of them, otherwise they are separate units. You can enjoy them;

sometimes you can laugh at them; they are very poetic; in themselves they are beautiful,

unique pieces of art, but just by looking at these anecdotes you will not be able to penetrate

into the significance of what Zen is.

So first try to follow me slowly through the growth of Zen - how it happened. Zen was

born in India, grew in China, and blossomed in Japan. The whole situation is rare. Why did it

happen that it was born in India, but could not grow here and had to seek a different soil? It

became a great tree in China, but could not blossom there, it had to again seek a new climate,

a different climate - and in Japan it blossomed like a cherry tree, in thousands of flowers. It is

not coincidental, it is not accidental; it has deep inner history. I would like to reveal it to you.

India is an introvert country, Japan is extrovert, and China is just in the middle of these

two extremes. India and Japan are absolute opposites. So how come the seed was born in

India and blossomed in Japan? They are opposites; they have no similarities; they are

contradictory. And why did China come just in the middle, to give soil to it?

A seed is introversion. Try to understand the phenomenon of the seed, what a seed is. A

seed is outgoing; a seed has really turned upon itself. A seed is an introvert phenomenon, it is

centripetal - the energy is moving inwards. That's why it is a seed, covered and closed from

the outer world completely. In fact a seed is the loneliest, most isolated thing in the world. It

has no roots in the soil, no branches in the sky; it has no connection with the earth, no

connection with the sky. In fact it has no relationships around it. A seed is an absolute island,

isolated, caved in. It does not relate. It has a hard shell around it, there are no windows, no

doors; it cannot go out and nothing can come in.

Seed is natural to India. The genius of Indian can produce seeds of tremendous

potentiality, but cannot give them soil. India is an introverted consciousness.

India says the outer doesn't exist and even if it exists it is of the same stuff that dreams are

made of. The whole genius of India has been trying to discover how to escape from the outer,

how to move to the inner cave of the heart, how to be centred in oneself, and how to come to

realize that the whole world that exists outside consciousness is just a dream - at the most

beautiful, at the worst a nightmare; whether beautiful or ugly, in reality, it is a dream, and one

should not bother much about it. one should awake, and forget the whole dream of the outer

world.

The whole effort of Buddha, Mahavir, Tilopa, Gorakh, Kabir, their whole effort through

the centuries, has been how to escape from the wheel of life and death: how to enclose

yourself, how to completely cut yourself from all relationships, how to be unrelated, detached,

how to move in and to forget the outer. That's why Zen was born in India.

Zen means DHYAN. Zen is a Japanese change of the word DHYAN. DHYAN is the

whole effort of Indian consciousness. DHYAN means to be so alone, so into your own being,

that not even a single thought exists. In fact, in English, there is no direct translation.

Contemplation is not the word. Contemplation means thinking, reflection. Even meditation

is not the word because meditation involves an object to meditate upon; it means something is

there. You can meditate on Christ, or you can meditate on the cross. But DHYAN means to

be so alone that there is nothing to meditate upon. No object, just simple subjectivity exists -

consciousness without clouds, a pure sky.

When the word reached China it became CH'AN. When CH'AN reached Japan, it became

Zen. It comes from the same Sanskrit root, DHYAN.

India can give birth to DHYAN. For millennia the whole Indian consciousness has been

travelling on the path of DHYAN - how to drop all thinking and how to be rooted in pure

consciousness. With Buddha the seed came into existence. Many times before also, before

Gautam Buddha, the seed came into existence, but it couldn't find the right soil so it

disappeared. And if the seed is given to the Indian consciousness it will disappear, because

the Indian consciousness will move more and more inwards, and the seed will become

smaller and smaller and smaller, until a moment comes when it becomes invisible. A

centripetal force makes things smaller, smaller, smaller - atomic - until suddenly they

disappear. Many times before Gautam Buddha the seed was born - and to become a

DHYANI, to become a great meditator. In fact he is one of the last of a long series. He

himself remembers twenty-four Buddha’s before him. Then there were twenty-four Jaina

Teerthankaras and they all were meditators. They did nothing else, they simply meditated,

meditated, meditated, and came to a point where only they were, and everything else

disappeared, evaporated.

The seed was born with Parasnath, with Mahavir, Neminath, and others, but then it

remained with the Indian consciousness. The Indian consciousness can give birth to a seed,

but cannot become the right soil for it. It goes on working in the same direction and the seed

becomes smaller and smaller, molecular, atomic and disappears. That's how it happened with

the Upanishads; that's how it happened with the Vedas; that's how it happened with Mahavir

and all others.

With Buddha it was also going to happen. Bodhidharma saved him. If the seed had been

left with the Indian consciousness, it would have dissolved. It would never have sprouted,

because a different type of soil is needed for sprouting - a very balanced soil. Introversion is a

very deep imbalance, it is an extreme.

Bodhidharma escaped with the seed to China. He did one of the greatest things in the

history of consciousness: he found the right soil for the seed that Buddha had given to the

world.

Buddha himself is reported to have said: My religion will not exist for more than 500

years; then it will disappear. He was aware that it always happened that way. The Indian

consciousness goes on grinding it into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces; then a moment

comes when it becomes so small that it becomes invisible. It is simply no longer part of this

world; it disappears into the sky.

Bodhidharma's experiment was great. He looked all around the world and observed deeply

for a place where this seed could grow.

China is a very balanced country, not like India, not like Japan. The golden mean is the

path there. Confucian ideology is to remain always in the middle: neither be introvert, nor be

extrovert; neither think too much of this world, nor too much of that world - just remain in the

middle. China has not given birth to a religion, just morality. No religion has been born there;

the Chinese consciousness cannot give birth to a religion. It cannot create a seed. All the

religions that exist in China have been imported, they have all come from the outside;

Buddhism, Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Christianity - they have all come from the outside.

China is a good soil but it cannot originate any religion, because to originate a religion one

has to move into the inner world. To give birth to a religion one has to be like a feminine

body, a womb.

The feminine consciousness is extremely introvert. A woman lives in herself; she has a

very small world around her, the most minimum possible. That is why you cannot interest a

woman in things of great vastness. No. You cannot talk about Vietnam to her, she doesn't

bother. Vietnam is too far away, too outer. She is concerned with her family, her husband, the

child, the dog, the furniture, the radio set, the TV. A very small world is around her, just the

minimum. Because she doesn't have a very big world around it is very difficult for man and

woman to talk intelligently - they live in different worlds. A woman is beautiful only when

she keeps quiet; the moment she starts talking then stupid things come out of her. She cannot

talk intelligently. She cannot be very philosophic; no, that's not possible. These things are too

far away, she doesn't bother. She lives in the very small circle of her own world, and she is the

center. And whatsoever is meaningful is meaningful only in concern to herself - otherwise it

is not meaningful. She cannot see why you are bothered about Vietnam. What is the matter

with you? You are not related to the Vietnamese at all. Whether there is a war happening or

not, it is no concern of yours. And the child is ill and you are bothering about Vietnam! She

cannot believe that she is present near you and you are reading the newspaper.

Women live in a different world. A woman is centripetal, introvert. All women are Indian -

wherever they are it makes no difference. Man is centrifugal, he goes out. The moment he can

find an excuse he will escape from the home. He comes to the home only when he cannot go

anywhere else; when all the clubs and hotels are closed, then, what to do? He comes back

home. Nowhere to go, he comes home.

A woman is always home-centered, home based. She goes out only when it is absolutely

necessary, when she cannot do otherwise. When it has become an absolute necessity she goes

out. Otherwise she is home based.

Man is a vagabond, a wanderer. The whole of family life is created by women, not by men.

In fact, civilization exists because of woman, not because of man. If he is allowed he will be a

wanderer - no home, no civilization. Man is outgoing, woman is in-going; man is extrovert,

woman is introvert. Man is always interested in something other than himself, that's why he

looks healthier. Because when you are too concerned with yourself, you become ill. Man is

more happy looking.

You will always find women sad and too concerned with themselves. A little headache and

they are very concerned, because they live inside - the headache becomes something big, out

of proportion. But a man can forget the headache; he has too many other headaches. He

creates so many headaches around himself that there is no possibility of coming upon his own

headache and making something out of it. It is always so little he can forget about it. A

woman is always concerned - something is happening in the leg, something in the hand,

something in the back, something in the stomach, always something - because her own

consciousness is focused inwards. A man is less pathological, more healthy, more outgoing,

more concerned about what is happening to others.

That's why, in all religions, you will find that if there are five persons present, four will be

women, and one a man. And that one man may have only come because of some woman - the

wife was going to the temple so he had to go with her. Or, she was going to listen to a talk on

religion, so he came with her. In all churches this will be the proportion, in all churches,

temples, wherever you go. Even with Buddha this was the proportion, with Mahavir this was

the proportion. With Buddha there were fifty thousand SANNYASINS - forty thousand

women and ten thousand men. Why?

Physically man can be healthier; spiritually woman can be healthier, because their

concerns are different. When you are concerned with others you can forget your body, you can

be more physically healthy, but religiously you cannot grow so easily. Religious growth needs

an inner concern. A woman can grow very, very easily into religion, that path is easy for her,

but to grow in politics is difficult. And for a man to grow in religion is difficult. Introversion

has its benefits; extroversion has its benefits - and both have their dangers.

India is introvert, a feminine country; it is like a womb, very receptive. But if a child

remains in the womb for ever and for ever and for ever, the womb will become the grave. The

child has to move out from the mother's womb otherwise the mother will kill the child inside.

He has to escape, to find the world outside, a greater world. The womb may be very

comfortable - it is! Scientists say we have not yet been able to create anything more

comfortable than the womb. With so much scientific progress we have not made anything

more comfortable. The womb is just a heaven. But even the child has to leave that heaven and

come outside the mother. Beyond a certain time the mother can become very dangerous. The

womb can kill, because it will then become an imprisonment - good for a time, when the seed

is growing, but then the seed has to be transplanted to the outside world.

Bodhidharma looked around, watched the whole world, and found that China had the best

soil; it was just a middle ground, not extreme. The climate was not extreme, so the tree could

grow easily. And it had very balanced people. Balance is the right soil for something to grow:

too cold is bad, too hot is bad. In a balanced climate, neither too cold nor too hot, the tree can

grow.

Bodhidharma escaped with the seed, escaped with all that India had produced. Nobody was

aware of what he was doing, but it was a great experiment. And he proved right. In China, the

tree grew, grew to vast proportions.

But although the tree became vaster and vaster, no flowers grew. Flowers did not come,

because flowers need and extrovert country. Just as a seed is introvert, so a flower is

extrovert. The seed is moving inwards; the flower is moving outwards. The seed is like male

consciousness. The flower opens to the outer world and releases its fragrance to this outside

world. Then the fragrance moves on the wings of the wind to the farthest possible corner of

the world. To all directions, the flower releases the energy contained in the seed. It is a door.

Flowers would like to become butterflies and escape from the tree. In fact, that is what they

are doing, in a very subtle way. They are releasing the essence of the tree, the very meaning,

the significance of the tree to the world. They are great sharers. A seed is a great miser,

confined to it self, and a flower is a great spendthrift.

Japan was needed. Japan is an extrovert country. The very style of life and consciousness

is extrovert. Look... in India nobody bothers about the outside world very much: about

clothes, houses, the way one lives. Nobody bothers. That is why India has remained so poor.

If you are not worried about the outside world, how can you become rich? If there is no

concern to improve the outside world you will remain poor. And India is always very serious,

always getting ready to escape from life, with Buddha’s talking about how to become perfect

drop-outs from existence itself - not only from society, ultimate drop-outs from existence

itself! The existence is too boring. For the Indian eye life is just a grey colour - nothing

interesting in it, everything just boring, a burden. one has to carry it somehow, because of

past karmas. Even if an Indian falls in love he says it is because of past karmas, one has to

pass through it. Even love is like a burden one has to drag.

India seems to be leaning more towards death than life. An introvert has to lean towards

death. That's why India has evolved all the techniques how to die perfectly, of how to die so

perfectly that you are not born again. Death is the goal, not life. Life is for fools, death is for

those who are wise. Howsoever beautiful a Buddha, a Mahavir may be, you will find them

closed; around them a great aura of indifference exists. Whatsoever is happening, they are not

concerned at all. Whether it happens this way or that way makes no difference; whether the

world goes on living or dies, it makes no difference... a tremendous indifference. In this

indifference flowering is not possible; in this inner-confined state, flowering is impossible.

Japan is totally different. With the Japanese consciousness it is as if the inner doesn't exist,

only the outer is meaningful. Look at Japanese dresses. All the colours of flowers and

rainbows - as if the outer is very meaningful. Look at an Indian when he is eating, and look at

the Japanese. Look at an Indian when he takes his tea - and the Japanese.

Japanese create a celebration out of simple things. Taking tea, he makes it a celebration. It

becomes an art. The outside is very important; clothes are very important, relationships are

very important. You cannot find more out-going people in the world than the Japanese -

always smiling and looking happy. For the Indian they will look shallow; they will not look

serious. Indians are the introvert people and the Japanese are the extrovert: they are opposites.

Japanese is always moving in society. The whole Japanese culture is concerned with how

to create a beautiful society, how to create beautiful relationships - in everything, in every

minute thing - how to give them significance. Their houses are so beautiful. Even a poor

man's house has a beauty of its own; it is artistic, it has its own uniqueness.

It may not be very rich, but still it is rich in a certain sense - because of the beauty, the

arrangement, the mind that has been brought to every small, tiny detail: where the window

should be, what type of curtain should be used, how the moon should be invited from the

window, from where. Very small things, but every detail is important.

With the Indian nothing matters. If you go to an Indian temple, it is without any windows;

there is nothing, no hygiene, no concern with air, ventilation - nothing. Even temples are ugly,

and anything goes –dirt or dust, nobody bothers. Just in front of the temple you will find

cows sitting, dogs fighting, people praying. Nobody bothers. No sense of the outer, they are

not at all concerned with the outer.

Japan is very concerned with the outer - just at the other extreme. Japan was the right

country. And the whole tree of Zen was transplanted in Japan, and there it blossomed, in

thousands of colours. It flowered.

This is how it has to happen again. I am again talking about Zen. It has to come back to

India because the tree has flowered, and the flowers have fallen and Japan cannot create the

seed. Japan cannot create the seed: it is not an introvert country. So everything has become an

outer ritual now. Zen is dead in Japan. It did flower in the past, but now, if by reading in

books - reading D. T. Suzuki and others - if you go to Japan in search of Zen, you will come

back empty-handed. Now Zen is here; in Japan it has disappeared. The country could help it

to flower, but now the flowers have disappeared, fallen to the earth, and nothing is there any

more. There are rituals - the Japanese are very ritualistic - rituals exist. Everything in Zen

monasteries is still continued the same way, as if the inner spirit is still there, but the inner

shrine is vacant and empty. The master of the house has moved. The God is there no more -

just empty ritual. And they are extrovert people, they will continue the ritual. Every morning

they will get up at five - there will be a gong - they will move to the tea-room, and they will

take their tea; they will move to their meditation hall, and they will sit with closed eyes.

Everything will be followed exactly as if the spirit is there, but it has disappeared. There are

monasteries, there are thousands of monks, but the tree has flowered and seeds cannot be

created there.

Hence I am talking so much about Zen here –because, again, only India can create the

seed. The whole world exists in a deep unity, in a harmony - in India the seed can again be

given birth. But now many things have changed around the world. China is no longer a

possibility, because it has itself become an extrovert country. It has become communistic:

now matter is more important than the spirit. And now it is closed for new waves of

consciousness.

To me, if any country can in the future become again the soil, it is England.

You will be surprised, because you may think it is America. No. Now the most balanced

country in the world is England, just as in the ancient days it was China. The seed has to be

taken to England and planted there; it will not flower there, but it will become a big tree.

English consciousness - conservative, always following the middle way, the liberal mind,

never moving to the extremes, just remaining in the middle - will be helpful. That is why I am

allowing more and more English people to settle around me. It is not only for visa reasons!

Because once the seed is ready, I would like them to take it to England. And from England it

can go to America, and it will have flowering there, because America is the most extrovert

country right now.

I tell you that Zen is a rare phenomenon, because only if all these situations are fulfilled

can such a thing happen.

Now, try to understand the story. These small anecdotes are very meaningful, because Zen

people say that that which arises in the depth of your being cannot be said, but it can be

shown. A situation can be created in which it can be hinted at; words may not be able to tell

anything about it, but an alive anecdote can. That is why Zen is so anecdotal. It lives in

parables, indicates in parables, and nobody else has been able to create such beautiful

parables. There are Sufi stories, there are Hassid stories, and there are many others, but

nothing to compare with Zen. Zen has simply got the knack of hitting at the right thing and

indicating that which cannot be indicated. And in such a simple way that you can miss it: you

will have to search for it, you will have to grope for it, because the anecdote in itself is so

simple that you can miss it. It is not very complex, in fact, the mind is not required; rather, an

opening of the heart, so that you can understand.

- OSHO, <The Grass Grows By Itself>, Chapter 1 -