Once it happened that a man was very ill. The illness was that he continually felt that his eyes were popping out and his ears were ringing – continually. By and by, he became crazy because it went on twenty-four hours a day. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t do his work. So he consulted doctors. […]
Love should be pure. It should not be impure. You will be surprised to know that the English word `love’ comes from a very ugly root in Sanskrit. It comes from लोभ — LOBH. Lobh means greed. And as far as ordinary love is concerned, it is a kind of greed. That’s why there are
SHOULD WE BE SELFISH? There is no other way. Nobody can be unselfish– except hypocrites. The word ‘selfish’ has taken a very condemnatory association, because all the religions have condemned it. They want you to be unselfish. But why? To help others…. I am reminded: a small child was talking to his mother, and the
A man with three hairs on his otherwise bald head came into a hair saloon and asked to get his hair shampooed and braided. The hairdresser got on with his job but just as he was about to finish combing it, one of the hairs fell out. The hairdresser was very embarrassed but the man
A religion is to be sought. A religion has to be chosen consciously. Nobody should be made a Christian or a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Jain by birth. Birth has nothing to do with religion. Because of this association with birth, the whole world seems to be religious, and nobody is religious. Everybody
MASTER, PLEASE HELP ME. I cannot do that. I am not your enemy. I am not a do-gooder. I don’t “help,” because the help, the very desire to be helped, is a desire to continue as you are. You want some props, some supports. You want consolation, comfort. No, I am the last person to
WHAT IS THE GREATEST PROBLEM IN THE WORLD? THE greatest problem or the smallest problem, it is the same: MAN. And when I say man, I do notmean something abstract. I mean I, you, he, she. There exists no man as such, separate from human beings. Man lives a problematic life, and dies a problematic
You ask me: what is right, what is wrong? I say to you to be AWAKE is right. To be ASLEEP is wrong. I don’t determine acts wrong and right as such. My focus is your being. My effort is that you are there, in your being. Then whatever you do is right. One Zen
HOW DO YOU REDEFINE ”FREEDOM” AND ”THE MASTER”? The word ‘master’ creates confusion. It gives you the idea that you have become a slave, somebody has become your master. In the East, the word is used in the sense that you have become master of yourself, that you are no longer a slave, that you
It is only a question of when one decides to wake up. It is up to you whether you want to have a little more sleep — then turn over and pull the blanket up. But even while you are asleep inside the blanket, enjoying a beautiful morning, you are a buddha. It is up
