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About A Bird on the Wing
In these eleven Zen stories and responses to seekers’ questions, we hear how man must first be grounded in himself before he can fly in the sky of consciousness. Religion has always been against "roots" - wordly pleasures; and for "wings" - renunciation. Osho shows that there is no choice to be made: that wings cannot develop without these roots, and that if we accept the roots and explore them deeply and consciously, they will transform into the wings of transcendence.
Taking the reader through subjects as diverse as food, jealousy, being a businessman, enlightenment, how to know if one needs a master, gratefulness and the barriers we create through fear, this book is a beautiful starting point for those who want to enter the world of Zen.
Excerpt from A Bird on the Wing
Subhuti was one of Buddha’s disciples. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness - the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.
One day, when Subhuti was sitting under a tree in a mood of sublime emptiness, flowers began to fall around him.
“We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness,” the gods whispered to him.
“But I have not spoken of emptiness,” said Subhuti.
“You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness,” responded the gods. “This is true emptiness.”
And blossoms showered upon Subhuti like rain.
Yes, it happens. It is not a metaphor, it is a fact -- so don’t take this story metaphorically. It is literally true... because the whole of existence feels happy, blissful, ecstatic when even one individual soul achieves the ultimate.
We are part of the whole and the whole is not indifferent to you, cannot be. How can a mother be indifferent to a child -- her own child? It is impossible. When the child grows the mother also grows with him. When the child is happy the mother is also happy with him. When the child dances, something in the mother also dances. When the child is ill the mother is ill. When the child is miserable the mother is miserable... because they are not two, they are one. Their hearts beat in a rhythm.
The whole is your mother. The whole is not indifferent to you. Let this truth penetrate as deeply as possible in your heart, because even this awareness that the whole feels happy with you will change you. Then you are not alienated, then you are not a foreigner here. Then you are not a homeless wanderer, then this is a home. And the whole mothers you, cares about you, loves you. So it is natural that when somebody becomes a buddha, when somebody reaches the ultimate peak, the whole existence dances, the whole existence sings, the whole existence celebrates. Literally true it is. It is not a metaphor, remember; otherwise you will miss the whole point.
Blossoms shower, and then they go on showering - they never stop.
The blossoms that showered for Buddha are still showering. The blossoms that showered for Subhuti are still showering. You cannot see them, not because they are not showering but because you are not capable of seeing them. Existence goes on celebrating infinitely for all the buddhas that have happened, for all the buddhas that are happening, and for all the buddhas that will happen - because for existence, past, future and present don’t exist. It is a continuity. It is eternity. Only the now exists, infinite now.
They are still showering, but you cannot see them. Unless they shower for you, you cannot see them; and once you see them showering for you, you will see that they have been showering for every buddha, for every enlightened soul.
The first thing: existence cares what happens to you. Existence is continuously praying that the ultimate should happen to you. In fact you are nothing but a hand extended by the whole to reach the ultimate. You are nothing but a wave coming from the whole to touch the moon. You are nothing but a flower opening, so that the whole is filled with fragrance through you.
If you can drop yourself, those flowers can shower this very morning - this very moment. The gods are always ready, their hands are always full with flowers. They simply watch and wait. Whenever somebody becomes a Subhuti, empty, whenever somebody is absent, suddenly the flowers start showering.
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