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"He Osho is the greatest incarnation after Buddha in India. He is a living Buddha."
Lama Karmapa, late head of the Kargyupta, (or Red Hat) Sect of Tibetan Buddhism

"Osho is a mystical giant, a flowering of a unique intelligence and one of those rare humans ex-pressing himself with joy."
Paul Reps, author of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

"Osho is an enlightened master who is working with all
possibilities to help humanity overcome a difficult phase in developing
consciousness." The Dalai Lama

"I read all his books."
Shirley MacLaine

"He discourses with eloquent familiarity on virtually all the world's great mystics - Zen masters, Hassids, Sufis, Bauls, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Jesus. Though he "knocks the mind," Osho is an intellectual's guru, and his message is aimed not at spiritual sheep but at rebels and risk takers - people who consider themselves intelligent, adventurous, and
independent, and want to be more so."
Annie Gottlieb, author of Do You Believe in Magic?

"Osho makes you free from the existing mind set...he is inclusive, not exclusive."
Mr. Nair, The High Commissioner for India to Singapore

"I was inspired by Osho's wisdom when I wrote the song 'How Fragile We Are'; Reading his books gave me hope for humanity. It is a must for everybody to have a look into his words ....."
Sting, Singer and Performer

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IS OSHO MAITREYA?

Here follows a portion of a discourse given by Osho

(talks on Zen),

"This, This, A Thousand Times This," Discourse #4

By the way, just a few days ago I received an invitation from the Soto sect, founded by Tozan. They were celebrating a thousand-year-old tradition on a great scale. And the chief of Soto Zen must have read my books. He must also have heard the story that I have accepted that I am the fulfillment of Gautam Buddha's promise that he will be coming after twenty-five centuries and his name will be `friendliness' -- maitreya.
The representative of Tozan and his sect -- there are only two sects of Zen, Soto is the more ancient... And you will be happy to note that the chief of Soto Zen has recognized that I have the consciousness and awareness, that I have fulfilled the promise. He asked if I could come to their ceremony, and if I cannot come, I should at least send my robe -- that is an old tradition in Zen.
I have sent one of my robes -- with my message -- to their ceremony. In the ceremony almost a million people are participating, and more than two hundred fifty government officials are deputed by the government of Japan to be present in the ceremony.
I have told my sannyasins there to go with my robe, my note and message. The chief of the sect presented my robe and my message to the whole gathering with deep love and devotion. He has informed me that he will be coming here soon to visit me and to see my people.
In fact this is the only alive Zen assembly. In those one million people and two hundred fifty government representatives, not a single person knows exactly the space that you are feeling every day.

One anecdote about Tozan:
WHEN TOZAN WAS WITH NANSEN, another great master, ONE OF BASO'S DISCIPLES... Baso is the ultimate as far as Zen is concerned. NANSEN OBSERVED THE ANNIVERSARY OF BASO'S DEATH AND SAID TO THE ASSEMBLY, "WILL BASO COME BACK TO US?"
TOZAN SAID, "IF THERE IS COMPANY FIT FOR HIM, HE WILL!"
NANSEN APPRECIATED THE ANSWER VERY MUCH.
... Because the words -- Buddha or Bodhidharma or Nansen or Baso -- are just names of the forms. They all represent the same space; and whenever there are people who are ready to receive, they suddenly descend there.
I have received many letters saying that in the meditations a strange feeling happens -- as if something is descending, a deep silence from beyond, heavy, almost tangible. In that silence Baso is present, Buddha is present. When you are absent all the awakened ones are present to you. Then this assembly becomes an eternal phenomenon.
We have been here always and always. Once in a while you forget who you are, but it is immaterial: Sooner or later you recognize again, sooner or later you again see your crystal clear being.
Neither time matters, nor space, you are the one who never comes and never goes, the one who simply is.
THIS!
WHEN TOZAN WAS STUDYING WITH ISAN, HE ASKED ISAN ABOUT CHU KUKUSHI'S "SERMONS BY INSENTIENT CREATURES."
ISAN SAID, "SERMONS BY INSENTIENT CREATURES ARE GIVEN HERE FOR US TOO, BUT FEW CAN HEAR THEM."

Do you hear the bamboos? These are the sermons referred to, sermons from insentient beings. Once you are silent, even roses start speaking to you.

(THE WIND IS BLOWING AND THE BAMBOOS START COMMENTING WITH THEIR CREAKING.)

Do you hear the loud speaking of the bamboos?
The deeper your silence, the louder you will be able to hear it.

TOZAN SAID, "I AM NOT YET CERTAIN ABOUT THEM, WOULD YOU PLEASE TEACH ME?"
ISAN SAID NOTHING, BUT RAISED HIS STICK STRAIGHT UP.
TOZAN SAID, "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. WOULD YOU EXPLAIN IT TO ME?"
ISAN SAID, "I WOULD NEVER TELL YOU ABOUT THIS WITH THE MOUTH GIVEN TO ME BY MY PARENTS!"
THIS WAS HIS WAY OF TEACHING.
This mouth, given by your parents is not capable of saying it; but the being is not given to you by your parents. You have come through them, they have been vehicles, but you are not part of them. Your body is made by your parents, the temple is raised by them, but the deity in the temple, the being, comes from eternity, it cannot come from mortal bodies.
ISAN THEN SUGGESTED THAT TOZAN VISIT UNGAN WHO TOZAN LATER SUCCEEDED. COMING UP TO UNGAN, TOZAN ASKED, "WHO CAN HEAR THE SERMONS OF INSENTIENT CREATURES?"
"INSENTIENT CREATURES CAN HEAR THEM," ANSWERED UNGAN.
"WHY CAN I NOT HEAR THEM?" ASKED TOZAN.
UNGAN RAISED HIS STAFF STRAIGHT UP AND SAID, "DO YOU HEAR?"
"NO, I DON'T," ANSWERED TOZAN.
UNGAN SAID, "DON'T YOU KNOW THE SUTRA SAYS, `BIRDS AND TREES, ALL MEDITATE ON THE BUDDHA AND THE DHARMA?'"
AT THIS TOZAN SUDDENLY BECAME ENLIGHTENED.
HE WROTE THE FOLLOWING VERSE:
WONDERFUL! HOW WONDERFUL!
SERMONS BY INSENTIENT CREATURES;
YOU FAIL IF YOU LISTEN WITH YOUR EARS;
I repeat:
YOU FAIL IF YOU LISTEN WITH YOUR EARS.
LISTENING WITH YOUR EYES, YOU HEAR THEM.

By the eyes he does not mean the ordinary eyes, he means the eyes of an awakening clarity of your being. If you can hear in your silence, if you can see in your silence, then everything in the world is speaking, giving sermons, singing songs, dancing.
Can't you see? But these eyes and these ears won't do. You will have to dig deep within yourself to find the right approach to see the eternal dance of existence, to hear the music and to see the beauty of it.

TOZAN CONTINUED PRACTICING ZAZEN AND WAS EVER WATCHFUL. ONE DAY WHILE HE WAS SWIMMING IN A STREAM, HE SAW HIS SHADOW CAST ON THE WATER AND EXPERIENCED HIS GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT. HIS VERSE ON THAT OCCASION WAS:
LONG SEEKING IT THROUGH OTHERS,
I WAS FAR FROM REACHING IT.
NOW I GO BY MYSELF;
I MEET IT EVERYWHERE.
IT IS JUST I MYSELF,
AND I AM NOT ITSELF.
UNDERSTANDING THIS WAY,
I CAN BE AS I AM.
Tozan has talked about two enlightenments. The second one he calls the greater enlightenment. The first enlightenment was upon hearing the sutra of Gautam Buddha, that insentient beings are not insentient. They are also living, loving. They are also singing, giving sermons. And he became enlightened; this sutra pierced his very being. But he calls it just enlightenment.
The Great Enlightenment happened when he saw his own shadow in the river and suddenly became aware that, wherever you go to seek, to find the truth, you are going far away. Your being is with you just like your shadow. You don't have to go anywhere, you have just to look in the mirror of your being.
Naturally he calls it a Greater Enlightenment, because it is no longer concerned with anybody else. It is authentically his.
Question 1
Maneesha has asked:
BELOVED OSHO,
I UNDERSTAND TOZAN TO BE SAYING THAT NOTHING IS TO BE AVOIDED, ON THE CONTRARY, TO MEET EVERYTHING HEAD-ON. AND THAT TOTALITY IS TRANSCENDENCE.
COMPARED TO ZEN, OTHER, FORMAL RELIGIONS, SUCH AS CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM, SEEM TO BE SO CHILDISH IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE -- WITH THEIR GODS AND ALL THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PARAPHERNALIA THAT GOES WITH GOD-WORSHIP -- AND SO INSENSITIVE TO THE SUBTLE AND THE POETIC.
IN FACT, IT SEEMS AS IF EITHER ZEN IS A RELIGION AND THE OTHERS ARE NOT; OR ZEN BELONGS TO A CATEGORY ALL OF ITS OWN. WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT?

There is no need of any comment. You are all experiencing Zen. It is not a religion in which you have to believe. It is an experience, like love, which you have to live, which you have to experience.
In other words, Zen is the most essential religion -- without anything unnecessary. Just the core, the essential. You can call it religion, you can call it science, it does not matter what name you give to it. In its pure simplicity it is experiencing your own being. And the moment you experience your own being, you have experienced the being of this whole universe because your heartbeat is part of the heartbeat of the universe.
Just be silently aware, and you are filled with Zen inside and out. It is not a formal religion like Christianity or Hinduism. It is very individual, unique, a category of its own. It is only for the eccentric people, only for the very intelligent. It is not for the mediocre, for the crowd. It is only for the individual who has the guts to stand up alone and listen to his own being without being bothered about what others are saying or believing or worshipping.
It is not an argument, it is not a belief. It is a pure experience, just like love or beauty or silence. It is anonymous.

Before we enter into Zen, although you are already standing on the door steps of the temple, I would like you to have a few laughs. Because I want you to enter into the temple laughing and dancing, joyous.

(Osho tells a few jokes, before leading Gibberish, Let Go Meditation.)

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