Just as he was leaving empty-handed, the dervish woke up and called after him, ‘Please shut the front door.’

‘Why should I?’ the thief answered.‘I came and supplied your mattress, someone else might come and bring your blanket too.’

So remain open, don’t be worried — even a thief cannot steal anything from you. He may supply a mattress or a blanket, that is another matter. He may give something to you but he cannot take anything from you, because that which can be taken is not yours. That which cannot be taken, only that is yours.

Trojan Remover

Link: http://www.simplysup.com/

IN THE PASTURE OF THIS WORLD,

I ENDLESSLY PUSH ASIDE THE TALL GRASSES IN SEARCH OF THE BULL.

FOLLOWING UNNAMED RIVERS,

LOST UPON THE INTERPENETRATING PATHS OF DISTANT MOUNTAINS,

MY STRENGTH FAILING AND MY VITALITY EXHAUSTED, I CANNOT FIND THE BULL.

I ONLY HEAR THE LOCUSTS CHIRRING THROUGH THE FOREST AT NIGHT.

COMMENT:

THE BULL HAS NEVER BEEN LOST. WHAT NEED IS THERE TO SEARCH? ONLY BECAUSE OF SEPARATION FROM MY TRUE NATURE, I FAIL TO FIND HIM. IN THE CONFUSION OF THE SENSES I LOSE EVEN HIS TRACKS. FAR FROM HOME, I SEE MANY CROSSROADS, BUT WHICH WAY IS THE RIGHT ONE, I KNOW NOT. GREED AND FEAR, GOOD AND BAD, ENTANGLE ME.

2. DISCOVERING THE FOOTPRINTS

ALONG THE RIVER BANK UNDER THE TREES,

I DISCOVER FOOTPRINTS!

EVEN UNDER THE FRAGRANT GRASS I SEE HIS PRINTS.

DEEP IN REMOTE MOUNTAINS THEY ARE FOUND.

THESE TRACES NO MORE CAN BE HIDDEN THAN ONE’S NOSE LOOKING HEAVENWARD.

COMMENT:

UNDERSTANDING THE TEACHING, I SEE THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE BULL. THEN I LEARN THAT, JUST AS MANY UTENSILS ARE MADE FROM ONE METAL, SO TOO ARE MYRIAD ENTITIES MADE OF THE FABRIC OF SELF. UNLESS I DISCRIMINATE, HOW WILL I PERCEIVE THE TRUE FROM THE UNTRUE? NOT YET HAVING ENTERED THE GATE, NEVERTHELESS I HAVE DISCERNED THE PATH.

3. PERCEIVING THE BULL

I HEAR THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE.

THE SUN IS WARM, THE WIND IS MILD, WILLOWS ARE GREEN ALONG THE SHORE.

HERE NO BULL CAN HIDE!

WHAT ARTIST CAN DRAW THAT MASSIVE HEAD, THOSE MAJESTIC HORNS?

COMMENT:

WHEN ONE HEARS THE VOICE, ONE CAN SENSE ITS SOURCE. AS SOON AS THE SIX SENSES MERGE, THE GATE IS ENTERED. WHEREVER ONE ENTERS ONE SEES THE HEAD OF THE BULL! THIS UNITY IS LIKE SALT IN WATER, LIKE COLOR IN DYESTUFF. THE SLIGHTEST THING IS NOT APART FROM SELF.

4. CATCHING THE BULL

I SEIZE HIM WITH A TERRIFIC STRUGGLE.

HIS GREAT WILL AND POWER ARE INEXHAUSTIBLE.

HE CHARGES TO THE HIGH PLATEAU FAR ABOVE THE CLOUD-MISTS,

OR IN AN IMPENETRABLE RAVINE HE STANDS.

COMMENT:

HE DWELT IN THE FOREST A LONG TIME, BUT I CAUGHT HIM TODAY! INFATUATION FOR SCENERY INTERFERES WITH HIS DIRECTION. LONGING FOR SWEETER GRASS, HE WANDERS AWAY. HIS MIND STILL IS STUBBORN AND UNBRIDLED. IF I WISH HIM TO SUBMIT, I MUST RAISE MY WHIP.

5.  TAMING THE BULL

THE  WHIP AND ROPE ARE NECESSARY,

ELSE HE MIGHT STRAY OFF DOWN SOME DUSTY ROAD.

BEING WELL TRAINED, HE BECOMES NATURALLY GENTLE.

THEN, UNFETTERED, HE OBEYS HIS MASTER.

COMMENT:

WHEN ONE THOUGHT ARISES, ANOTHER THOUGHT FOLLOWS. WHEN THE FIRST THOUGHT SPRINGS FROM ENLIGHTENMENT, ALL SUBSEQUENT THOUGHTS ARE TRUE. THROUGH DELUSION, ONE MAKES EVERYTHING UNTRUE. DELUSION IS NOT CAUSED BY OBJECTIVITY; IT IS THE RESULT OF SUBJECTIVITY. HOLD THE NOSE RING TIGHT AND DO NOT ALLOW EVEN A DOUBT.

6.  RIDING THE BULL HOME

MOUNTING THE BULL, SLOWLY I RETURN HOMEWARD.

THE VOICE OF MY FLUTE INTONES THROUGH THE EVENING.

MEASURING WITH HAND-BEATS THE PULSATING HARMONY, I DIRECT THE ENDLESS RHYTHM.

WHOEVER HEARS THIS MELODY WILL JOIN ME.

COMMENT:

THIS STRUGGLE IS OVER; GAIN AND LOSS ARE ASSIMILATED. I SING THE SONG OF THE VILLAGE WOODSMAN, AND PLAY THE TUNES OF THE CHILDREN. ASTRIDE THE BULL, I OBSERVE THE CLOUDS ABOVE. ONWARD I GO, NO MATTER WHO MAY WISH TO CALL ME BACK.

7.  THE BULL TRANSCENDED

ASTRIDE THE BULL, I REACH HOME.

I AM SERENE. THE BULL TOO CAN REST.

THE DAWN HAS COME. IN BLISSFUL REPOSE,

WITHIN MY THATCHED DWELLING I HAVE ABANDONED THE WHIP AND ROPE

COMMENT:

ALL IS ONE LAW, NOT TWO. WE ONLY MAKE THE BULL A TEMPORARY SUBJECT. IT IS AS THE RELATION OF RABBIT AND TRAP, OF FISH AND NET. IT IS AS GOLD AND DROSS, OR THE MOON EMERGING FROM A CLOUD. ONE PATH OF CLEAR LIGHT TRAVELS ON THROUGHOUT ENDLESS TIME.

8.  BOTH BULL AND SELF TRANSCENDED

WHIP, ROPE, PERSON, AND BULL — ALL MERGE IN NO-THING.

THIS HEAVEN IS SO VAST NO MESSAGE CAN STAIN IT.

HOW MAY A SNOWFLAKE EXIST IN A RAGING FIRE?

HERE ARE THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PATRIARCHS.

COMMENT:

MEDIOCRITY IS GONE.

MIND IS CLEAR OF LIMITATION. I SEEK NO STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. NEITHER DO I REMAIN WHERE NO ENLIGHTENMENT EXISTS. SINCE I LINGER IN NEITHER CONDITION, EYES CANNOT SEE ME. IF HUNDREDS OF BIRDS STREW MY PATH WITH FLOWERS, SUCH PRAISE WOULD BE MEANINGLESS.

9. REACHING THE SOURCE

TOO MANY STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN RETURNING TO THE ROOT AND THE SOURCE. BETTER TO HAVE BEEN BLIND AND DEAF FROM THE BEGINNING!

DWELLING IN ONE’S TRUE ABODE, UNCONCERNED WITH THAT WITHOUT — THE RIVER FLOWS TRANQUILLY ON AND THE FLOWERS ARE RED.

COMMENT:

FROM THE BEGINNING, TRUTH IS CLEAR. POISED IN SILENCE, I OBSERVE THE FORMS OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION. ONE WHO IS NOT ATTACHED TO FORM NEED NOT BE REFORMED. THE WATER IS EMERALD, THE MOUNTAIN IS INDIGO, AND I SEE THAT WHICH IS CREATING AND THAT WHICH IS DESTROYING.

10. IN THE WORLD

BAREFOOTED AND NAKED OF BREAST,

I MINGLE WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.

MY CLOTHES ARE RAGGED AND DUST-LADEN AND I AM EVER BLISSFUL.

I USE NO MAGIC TO EXTEND MY LIFE;

NOW, BEFORE ME, THE TREES BECOME ALIVE.

COMMENT:

INSIDE MY GATE, A THOUSAND SAGES DO NOT KNOW ME. THE BEAUTY OF MY GARDEN IS INVISIBLE. WHY SHOULD ONE SEARCH FOR THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PATRIARCHS? I GO TO THE MARKETPLACE WITH MY BOTTLE AND RETURN HOME WITH MY STAFF. I VISIT THE WINE SHOP AND THE MARKET, AND EVERYONE I LOOK UPON BECOMES ENLIGHTENED.

And the Sufi said, “And so you should….”  – And the Sufi said to the soldiers, “And so you should” –

“… for you must do your duty.”

“But are you not Sufis?” said the soldiers.

“Test us.” said the Sufi.

The officer took out a Sufi book. “What is this?” he said.

The Sufi looked at the title page and said, “Something which I will burn in front of you since you have not already done so.” He set light to the book, and the soldiers rode away satisfied.

The Sufi’s companion asked, “What was the purpose of that action?”

“To make us invisible,” said the Sufi. “for to the man of the world, visibility means that you are looking like something or someone he expects you to resemble. If you look different, your true nature becomes invisible to him.”

The people of the town had gathered to condemn him, to insult him. He silently listened. Their words were ugly. Even Gautam Buddha’s nearest disciples became angry. But in Buddha’s presence of course they had to be silent and not speak; otherwise they would have killed those people.

But Buddha finally said, “I have to reach to another town and the people there must be waiting. The sun is rising and becoming hotter. You will have to excuse me. I have heard whatever you wanted to say. If you are still in need of saying something more, on my return trip you can fulfill that desire too. But I just want to ask you one question.”

They said, “But we are enemies — and it is not a conversation. We have not come here to ask questions or to talk to you, or to listen to you.”

Buddha said, “No, that is not a problem. Just a small question: In the other town before, people who love me came with flowers and sweets to offer to me. But we eat only one time a day so we told them, `We are sorry, we are thankful to you, but you will have to take them back. It is too early for us to eat…’”

Buddhists eat only one time in the middle of the day. And the Buddhist cannot carry food or anything edible with him.

“I want to ask you,” he said to the people, “what should they have done with the sweets and the flowers?”

One man from the crowd said, “They must have distributed them to the children, who must have eaten and enjoyed them.”

Buddha said, “That’s all. Just as I rejected what they brought I reject what you have brought. Now go back home and enjoy. Distribute whatever you have brought to your children, your friends, your wife.

“If you had come ten years ago, none of you would have gone back alive. I am a warrior” — and he was a prince, well trained in swordsmanship. He could have finished them all. “But,” he said, “you came too late. Now I have only compassion for you and love for you and a prayer that existence may bring you some light so that you see that I am not the problem. The real problem is that you are not certain of your religion, not certain of your beliefs. You have repressed many doubts inside and my presence brings those doubts. It is not my problem. Now what can I do? I had not even entered in your town. I was going from the outside, not to disturb you.”

They were stunned. They could not believe that you can insult somebody and he says I don’t accept it; it is not natural. You are insulting and the other man is silently saying, “You can keep it, I don’t want it. It is your problem, it is not my problem. You are angry: burn into your anger, but why harass me?”

A man of truth behaves so totally differently from the common masses that it becomes very difficult for the crowd to accept him. Only very intelligent people, very alert people can understand that there cannot be any law for a man of understanding.

Laws are made for criminals. A man of understanding cannot commit a crime. He cannot even dream of committing a crime. His meditation cleanses his whole being of all possibilities of the poisons that can erupt any moment. His eyes become pure clarity, perceptivity. He can see far away to each action and its consequence.

Upon the clatter of a broken tile 
All I had learned was at once forgotten. 
Amending my nature is needless. 
Pursuing the task of everyday life 
I walk along the ancient path. 
I am not disheartened in the mindless void. 
Wheresoever I go I leave no footprint 
For I am not within color or sound. 
Enlightened ones everywhere have said: 
“Such as this is the attainment.”

This poor monk, Chikanzenji, had been working for at least thirty years. He was a hard seeker; he was a very, very honest and sincere and serious seeker. He practiced all that was told to him, he visited many masters, he lived in many monasteries. He did all that was humanly possible. He practiced yoga, he practiced zazen, he did this and that — but all to no avail. Nothing was happening; in fact, his frustration was growing more and more. The more the methods failed, the more and more frustrated he became.

He had read all the Buddhist scriptures — there are thousands of them. It is said about this Chikanzenji that he had all these scriptures in his room, and he was constantly reading, day and night. And his memory was so perfect he could recite whole scriptures — but still nothing happened.

Then one day he burned his whole library. Seeing those scriptures in the fire he laughed. He left the monastery, he left his guru, and he went to live in a ruined temple. He forgot all about meditation, he forgot all about yoga, he forgot all about practicing this and that. He forgot all about virtue, sheela; he forgot all about discipline, and he never went inside the temple to worship the Buddha.

But he was living in that ruined temple when it happened. He was mowing down the weeds around the temple — not a very religious thing to do. Not anything specific, not anything special, just taking the weeds out. When he threw away a bit of broken tile, it clattered against a bamboo tree — in that moment, chittakshana, the moment of awareness, happened. In that very clattering of the tile against the bamboo, a shock, a jerk happened and his mind stopped for a moment. In that very moment he became enlightened.

How can one become enlightened in one single moment? One can, because one is enlightened — one just has to recognize the fact. It is not something that happens from the outside, it is something that arises from the inside. It has always been there but you were clouded, you were full of thoughts.

Chikanzenji burned all the scriptures. That was symbolic. Now he no longer remembered anything. Now he had forgotten all search. Now he no longer cared. Unconcerned, he lived a very ordinary life — he was no longer even a monk. He had no pretensions anymore, he had no ego goals any more. Remember, there are two kinds of ego goals: the worldly and the otherworldly. Some people are searching for money; some people are searching for power, prestige, pull. Some people are searching for God, moksha, nirvana, enlightenment — but the search continues. And who is searching? The same ego.

The moment you drop the search, you drop the ego also. The moment there is no seeking, the seeker cannot exist.

Just visualize this poor monk — who was no longer a monk — living in a ruined temple. He had nowhere else to go, he was just clearing the ground — maybe to put some seeds there for vegetables or something. He came across a tile, threw it away, and was taken unawares. The tile clattered against the bamboo tree and with the sudden clattering, the sudden sound, he becomes enlightened.

And he said: Upon the clatter of a broken tile / All I had learned was at once forgotten.

Enlightenment is a process of unlearning. It is utter ignorance. But that ignorance is very luminous and your knowledge is very dull. That ignorance is very alive and luminous, and your knowledge is very dark and dead.

He says, All I had learned was at once forgotten. In that moment he knew nothing. In that moment there was no knower, in that moment there was no observer — just the sound. And one is awakened from a long sleep.

And he says, Amending my nature is needless. That day he felt that he was just struggling unnecessarily. Amending my nature is needless. You need not amend yourself, you need not improve yourself — that is all just tommyrot! Beware of all those who go on telling you to improve yourself, to become this or to become that, to become virtuous. Who go on telling you that this is wrong, don’t do it; that this is good, do it; that this will lead you to heaven and this will lead you to hell. Those who go on telling you to amend your nature and improve upon yourself are very dangerous people. They are one of the basic causes for your not being enlightened.

Nature cannot be amended; it has to be accepted. There is no way to be otherwise. Whosoever you are, whatsoever you are, that’s how you are — that’s what you are. It is a great acceptance. Buddha calls it tathata, a great acceptance.

Nothing is there to be changed — how can you change it, and who is going to change it? It is your nature and you will try to change it? It would be just like a dog chasing its own tail. The dog would go crazy. But dogs are not as foolish as man. Man goes on chasing his own tail, and the more difficult he finds it the more he jumps and the more he tries and the more and more bizarre he becomes.

Nothing has to be changed, because all is beautiful — that is enlightenment. All is as it should be, everything is perfect. This is the most perfect world, this moment lacks nothing — the experience of this is what enlightenment is.

He went. Humbly he said that he has come from Germany and he wants to be his disciple. “And I have come to learn Zen.”

The master laughed. He said, “We don’t know anything about Zen. I am an archer. I can teach you archery, and by the side, if Zen happens you are fortunate. It happens if you follow exactly what I say.”

And he was saying, “Looking at the target, stretching your bow, let the arrow go by itself: you be relaxed.”

This was absolutely absurd. How can the arrow go by itself if one is relaxed? One has to be very tense, one has to concentrate, and the man is saying nothing about concentration; he is talking about relaxation. Herrigel was a very good hunter, so it was not a difficult problem for him: one hundred percent of the time he was hitting the target.

But the master would always say, “No, the thing is missing. You don’t listen to me. You are too concerned with hitting the target, you are too tense, afraid that you may miss the target. That target is not the real target; that is just a device. Stretch the bow, be relaxed, and let the arrow go by itself.”

Three years of constant frustration… Every day it would begin, and every day the master would say, “It seems impossible… you cannot succeed. As far as being an archer, you are — you can compete with any archer — but you had come to know Zen. And I told you I don’t know anything about Zen because I did not want you to be concerned about Zen, because even a concern about it becomes a tension.

“Now I want to say to you: if you can manage to let the arrow go by itself, and you remain relaxed and unconcerned, perhaps by the side you will have a taste of Zen.”

After three years of constant failure Herrigel went to the master and said, “Tomorrow I have to leave. You have been kind and compassionate, but I cannot do this; both together seems to be illogical to me. So tomorrow sometime I will be leaving. If I have time, then I will come just to see you for the last time.”

And he came for the last time. The master was teaching another disciple, and Herrigel was sitting on the bank just looking, because now he was finished. He had decided, “It is not for me.” He could not even understand the language of how it could be possible.

The master was teaching the disciple, and to show him how it should be, he took the bow and arrow in his hands; he stretched the bow. And Herrigel saw, with surprised eyes, that the master was absolutely relaxed, and the arrow reached to the target. And he could see that the arrow was going by itself. It did not have the tension of the master; the master was absolutely relaxed standing there. He was not even worried whether it reached to the target or not.

Herrigel said, “My God! For three years he has been showing me: how could I manage not to see it? It is so apparent that he manages it. Logical or illogical, he is managing it!”

Spontaneously he stood up, went to the master, and took the bow and arrow from his hands. He had not come to try again, but just on the spur of the moment… He had seen for the first time, because for the first time he was unattached, for the first time he was unconcerned — he was leaving, he was finished. His eyes were clear, there was no desire.

He took the bow and arrow, stretched the bow, became relaxed and let the bow be released on its own. It hit the target. The master said, “You have done it! I knew one day you would be able to do it, but I never knew that it would be the last day. And today you had not come to do it. That’s what I have been telling you — that it is a doing which is totally different from ordinary doing. It is action through inaction, doing through non-doing.”

Herrigel said, “Now there is no problem: I have understood it; I have tasted what I had come for. I have tasted that relaxed moment. So that is Zen.”

WITHOUT A JOT OF AMBITION LEFT

I LET MY NATURE FLOW

WHERE IT WILL.

THERE ARE TEN DAYS OF RICE

IN MY BAG,

AND BY THE HEARTH,

A BUNDLE OF FIREWOOD.

WHO PRATTLES OF ILLUSION

OR NIRVANA?

FORGETTING THE EQUAL DUSTS OF

NAME AND FORTUNE,

LISTENING TO THE NIGHT RAIN

ON THE ROOF OF MY HUT,

I SIT AT EASE,

BOTH LEGS STRETCHED OUT.

I know, I know…just hear me out. When I was exposed to this, I too thought, I know this, don’t waste my time. But…this gave me a revelation which I will never forget.

The question has always been ” 1/2 empty OR 1/2 full ” ? The very question is misleading, it takes you away from Truth. Its the nature of mind which lives in duality. Now lets experience an answer from those who live in the absolute:

THE TRUTH: ITS BOTH, IT IS HALF EMPTY AND HALF FULL AT THE SAME TIME

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