Is nasagra drishti the posture of meditation?

Osho, Mahavira meditated with nasagra drishti—gazing at the tip of the nose. Is that itself the posture of meditation?

If someone lives with eyes completely open to the outer world, like Charvaka, he will say there is nothing within, soul and such are false notions: eat, drink, be merry. This is the experience of fully open eyes—that everything is outside: eat, drink, enjoy. There is nothing within; go within and you die—there is nothing there. There is nothing like a soul. If one lives by the experience of fully open eyes, only sensory pleasures remain; the soul dissolves. Then the world is true and the soul is false. And Mahavira says: the world is true and the soul is true. The world is not false, nor is the soul false. Mahavira says these are two ways of seeing. If someone experiences with closed eyes, the self will seem true and the world false. Another view is: someone never sits in meditation with closed eyes and lives only in the…

Osho, in this verse it would be good if you could clarify two small points. First, kusa, deer skin, and cloth—the order is given as one atop the other. And second, a “pure ground.” Please speak on this.

Kusa has been used extensively for meditation, for many reasons. First, in the days when the process of meditation was unfolding on this earth—those moments when meditation was being unveiled and discovered—kusa is very closely related to those moments. We still have a word from that time: kushal, or kusala—skillful. It comes from kusa itself. You may never have thought about it; we say of someone, “He’s a very skillful driver,” “She’s a very skillful teacher.” But do you know what kusala means? In its essence it simply means “one who can find the right kusa.” Not every grass is kusa. In the days when meditation was widespread on this earth, especially in this land, and when the preliminary stages of meditation were first uncovered, a kusala was one who, out of thousands of grasses, could find the particular grass that is supportive of meditation—the kusa. A special kind of…

Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, DAIKAKU SAID: THIS SCHOOL IS AN EXCEEDINGLY DEEP AND SUBTLE TEACHING; ONCE YOU HAVE HEARD IT, IT BECOMES AN EXCELLENT CAUSE FOR ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ALL TIME. AN ANCIENT SAID, "THOSE WHO HEAR THIS, EVEN IF THEY DON'T BELIEVE, HAVE BLESSINGS GREATER THAN HUMANS OR GODS; THOSE WHO STUDY, EVEN WITHOUT ATTAINMENT, EVENTUALLY REACH BUDDHAHOOD." A MONK ASKED DAIKAKU: "HOW SHOULD I REST MY MIND; HOW SHOULD I USE MY MIND?" DAIKAKU SAID: THE NO-MIND HAS NO ATTACHMENT TO APPEARANCES; DETACHMENT FROM APPEARANCES IS THE CHARACTER OF REALITY. AMONG THE FOUR MODES OF CONDUCT -- WALKING, STANDING, SITTING, AND LYING -- SITTING IS CONSIDERED TO BE STABLE AND TRANQUIL. THIS MEANS SITTING STRAIGHT AND CONTEMPLATING REALITY. SITTING STRAIGHT MEANS SITTING CROSS-LEGGED AS THE BUDDHAS DO. CONTEMPLATING REALITY MEANS SITTING MEDITATION.

One part of your mind goes on doing things and another part of your mind goes on condemning it. Then you are in such a state where nothing can happen, only confusion. So just watch and look at the reasons, and don't support those reasons. Once the ego is dropped you can drop the mala any moment; then there is no problem. And dropping the mala is not difficult at all, it is so easy. Dropping the ego is the problem... and one should take that challenge because only that will make you more alive, more joyous. Dropping the ego, your fear of death, your constant worry about death will also disappear, because it is only the ego that dies. When there is no ego, who bothers? Whether I continue or not does not matter.

What is the difference between gazing at an open clear sky, gazing at an enlightened master's photo, and gazing at the darkness?

The technique of gazing is not concerned really with the object; it is concerned with gazing itself. Because when you stare without blinking your eyes, you become focused, and the nature of the mind is to be constantly moving. If you are really gazing, not moving at all, the mind is bound to be in a difficulty. The nature of the mind is to move from one object to another, to move constantly. If you are gazing at darkness or at light or at something else, if you are really gazing, the movement of the mind stops. Because if the mind goes on moving, your gaze will not be there; you will go on missing the object. When the mind has moved somewhere else, you will forget, you will not be able to remember what you were looking at. The object will be there physically, but for you it will…