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Chapter: 3

The State of No-Mind

One day the King of Yen visited the Master Chao Chou, who did not even get up when he saw him coming. The king asked, “Which is higher, a worldly king, or the ‘King of Dharma’?”

Chao Chou replied, “Among human kings I am higher; among the Kings of Dharma I am also higher.” Hearing this surprising answer, the king was very pleased.

The next day a general came to visit Chao Chou, who not only got up from his seat when he saw the general coming, but also showed him more hospitality in every way than he had shown to the king.

After the general had left, Chao Chou’s attendant monks asked him, “Why did you get up from your seat when a person of lower rank came to see you, yet did not do so for one of the highest rank?”

Chao Chou replied, “You don’t understand. When people of the highest quality come to see me, I do not get up from my seat; when they are of middle quality, I do; but when they are of the lowest quality, I go outside of the gate to receive them.”

Man lives in a very upside-down state. Hence, whenever there is an enlightened master, his actions, his words, his behavior; all appear absurd to the ordinary man. Jesus is misunderstood for the simple reason that a man of eyes is talking to the men who are blind. Socrates is not understood for the same reason, because he is talking to people who are utterly deaf. And so is the case with all the buddhas of all the countries, of all the races. Unfortunately, this is going to remain the case forever. It is something in the very nature of things.

Man is unconscious. He understands the language of unconsciousness. And whenever somebody talks from the peaks of consciousness it becomes utterly un-understandable, unintelligible. He is so far away! By the time his words reach the dark valleys of our unconscious, we have distorted them to such an extent that they have no reference at all anymore to their origin.

The master looks sometimes mad, sometimes irrational, sometimes stubborn. But the only reason that he cannot behave like you, that he cannot be part of the crowd mind, is that he has become awakened and the crowd is fast asleep.

To understand a master you have to learn great sympathy. Only that will create a bridge. That’s what the relationship of a disciple to the master is. You can listen to a master without being a disciple. You will hear the words but you will miss the meaning. You will hear the sound but you will miss the music. You will hear the argument but you will miss the conclusion. You will know what he is saying but you will not be able to see where he is indicating.

To understand the significance which is wordless, to understand the meaning, a totally different kind of relationship is needed. It is not that of a speaker and the audience: it is that of two lovers. It has to be a love affair; only then is there sympathy enough to have a bridge, to have communication.

And once the sympathy is there, it is not very far away from empathy. Sympathy can be transformed into empathy very easily; in fact, it changes on its own accord into empathy. Just as you sow seeds and in the right time they sprout and the spring comes and there are many flowers, sow the seeds of sympathy. That is, initiation into disciplehood, then soon there will be flowers of empathy.

In sympathy there is still a little distance. You can hear, you can hear a little better than before. You can understand more clearly than before. But still things are in a state of vagueness. Clearer than before but not absolutely clear yet: in a state of twilight. The night is no more but the sun has not risen yet and it is very misty. You can see but can’t decipher things accurately.

Empathy means there is no longer distance. Now the disciple is drowned in the master. He has become a devotee. Now the master is drowned in the disciple. They are not separate entities any more. They have reached the same rhythm of being, they pulsate in synchronicity.

Then there is understanding and that understanding liberates, and that understanding is immediate. You see the master, you look into his eyes, you hear his words, you see him moving, his gestures… And they are immediately understood without any translation by the mind. The mind no longer functions as a mediator. It is direct communion, not even communication but communion.

The first step is that of a student, curious but still a spectator, far away, collecting information, knowledge. The second step is that of a disciple, no longer a spectator, but a participant; no longer interested in knowledge, but tremendously interested in knowing. And the third step is that of a devotee, utterly one with the master, partaking of his being, drinking out of his inexhaustible source, drunk – drunk with the divine.

Only the devotee understands absolutely. The disciple understands a little bit. The student only hears mere words.

Remember, you have to pass through these stages too. And it all depends on you. One can remain a student forever. If you keep a distance, if you are afraid to come close, you will be here and yet not here.

Come closer, spiritually closer. Bring your beings, unafraid, closer to the master, closer to his light. Yes, that light is not only light, it is fire too. It is going to consume you. Be consumed, because in that fire there is great hope of a rebirth.

These small Zen stories on the surface look just like ordinary anecdotes. They are not. They carry immense significance. Before we enter into the story, a few things have to be understood.

The other day there was a question from Satsanga. He said, “Osho, why are you not a little more diplomatic with the politicians and the priests, because that will save us a lot of trouble?”