Osho - Bodhidharma - The Greatest Zen Master 18 - Wakefulness is awareness

4 months ago
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BELOVED OSHO,
YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT THE PRACTICE YOU CULTIVATE DOESN'T
EXIST APART FROM YOUR MIND. IF YOUR MIND IS PURE, ALL BUDDHA
LANDS ARE PURE. THE SUTRAS SAY, "IF THEIR MINDS ARE IMPURE,
BEINGS ARE IMPURE. IF THEIR MINDS ARE PURE, BEINGS ARE PURE."
AND, "TO REACH A BUDDHA LAND, PURIFY YOUR MIND. AS YOUR
MIND BECOMES PURE, BUDDHA LANDS BECOME PURE." THUS, BY
OVERCOMING THE THREE POISONED STATES OF MIND, THE THREE SETS
OF PRECEPTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY FULFILLED.
BUT THE SUTRAS SAY THE SIX PARAMITAS ARE CHARITY, MORALITY,
PATIENCE, DEVOTION, MEDITATION AND WISDOM. NOW YOU SAY THE
PARAMITAS REFER TO THE PURIFICATION OF THE SENSES. WHAT DO
YOU MEAN BY THIS? AND WHY ARE THEY CALLED FERRIES?
IN CULTIVATING THE PARAMITAS, PURIFICATION OF THE SIX SENSES
MEANS OVERCOMING THE SIX THIEVES. CASTING OUT THE THIEF OF
THE EYE BY ABANDONING THE VISUAL WORLD IS CHARITY. KEEPING
OUT THE THIEF OF THE EAR BY NOT LISTENING TO SOUNDS IS
MORALITY. HUMBLING THE THIEF OF THE NOSE BY EQUATING ALL
SMELLS AS NEUTRAL IS PATIENCE. CONTROLLING THE THIEF OF THE
MOUTH BY CONQUERING DESIRES TO TASTE, PRAISE AND EXPLAIN IS
DEVOTION. QUELLING THE THIEF OF THE BODY BY REMAINING
UNMOVED BY SENSATIONS OF TOUCH IS MEDITATION. AND TAMING
THE THIEF OF THE MIND BY NOT YIELDING TO DELUSIONS BUT
PRACTICING WAKEFULNESS IS WISDOM. THESE SIX PARAMITAS ARE
TRANSPORTS. LIKE BOATS OR RAFTS, THEY TRANSPORT BEINGS TO THE
OTHER SHORE. HENCE, THEY'RE CALLED FERRIES.
BUT WHEN SHAKYAMUNI WAS A BODHISATTVA, HE CONSUMED THREE
BOWLS OF MILK AND SIX LADLES OF GRUEL PRIOR TO ATTAINING
ENLIGHTENMENT. IF HE HAD TO DRINK MILK BEFORE HE COULD TASTE
THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD, HOW CAN MERELY BEHOLDING THE
MIND RESULT IN LIBERATION?
WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE. THIS IS HOW HE ATTAINED ENLIGHTENMENT.
HE HAD TO DRINK MILK BEFORE HE COULD BECOME A BUDDHA. BUT
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF MILK. THAT WHICH SHAKYAMUNI DRANK
WASN'T ORDINARY IMPURE MILK BUT PURE DHARMAMILK. THE THREE
BOWLS WERE THE THREE SETS OF PRECEPTS. AND THE SIX LADLES
WERE THE SIX PARAMITAS. WHEN SHAKYAMUNI ATTAINED
ENLIGHTENMENT, IT WAS BECAUSE HE DRANK THIS PURE
DHARMAMILK THAT HE TASTED THE FRUIT OF BUDDHAHOOD. TO SAY
THAT THE TATHAGATA DRANK THE WORLDLY CONCOCTION OF
IMPURE, RANK-SMELLING COW'S MILK IS THE HEIGHT OF SLANDER.
THAT WHICH IS TRULY-SO, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE, PASSIONLESS
DHARMA-SELF, REMAINS FOREVER FREE OF THE WORLD'S
AFFLICTIONS. WHY WOULD IT NEED IMPURE MILK TO SATISFY ITS
HUNGER OR THIRST?
THE SUTRAS SAY, "THIS OX DOESN'T LIVE IN THE HIGHLANDS OR THE
LOWLANDS. IT DOESN'T EAT GRAIN OR CHAFF. AND IT DOESN'T GRAZE
WITH COWS. THE BODY OF THIS OX IS THE COLOR OF BURNISHED
GOLD." THE OX REFERS TO VAIROCANA. DUE TO HIS GREAT
COMPASSION FOR ALL BEINGS, HE PRODUCES FROM WITHIN HIS PURE
DHARMABODY THE SUBLIME DHARMAMILK OF THE THREE SETS OF
PRECEPTS AND SIX PARAMITAS TO NOURISH ALL THOSE WHO SEEK
LIBERATION. THE PURE MILK OF SUCH A TRULY PURE OX NOT ONLY
ENABLED THE TATHAGATA TO ACHIEVE BUDDHAHOOD, IT ENABLES
ANY BEING WHO DRINKS IT TO ATTAIN UNEXCELLED, COMPLETE
ENLIGHTENMENT.

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