Is there a connection between intuition and Zen?

Maneesha is asking: beloved Osho, although I am not even sure what intuition is, I suspect that there is a connection between intuition and zen. Is that so? And if it is, can intuition be triggered through any of the senses, even through thinking?

No, Maneesha. Thinking is not capable of triggering intuition. Intuition... the very word is against tuition. Tuition comes from outside, intuition blossoms like a flower from your innermost core. Thinking cannot do it, but these bamboos can do it, this finger pointing to nothing can do it, this silence pervading here can do it. Thinking is a hindrance, it cannot trigger your innermost being. In fact it is preventing the triggering. When you see a beautiful sunset, immediately the thought comes and hinders. It says, "How beautiful, what a beautiful sunset!" and it has prevented the sunset from reaching and hitting your very being. If you can hear these poor bamboos without a single word arising you have arrived home. Maneesha is asking: <q>COULD THE "INTUITIVE FLASH" BE A COGNITIVE QUANTUM LEAP; AND ENLIGHTENMENT, A QUANTUM LEAP OF THE BEING?</q> Intuition and enlightenment are not two things. Your innermost center…

Question: OSHO, WHAT IS INTUITION, AND WHAT IS ITS PLACE IN YOUR RELIGION? Instinct and intuition are both independent of you. Instinct is in the power of nature, of unconscious nature, and intuition is in the hands of the superconscious universe, the consciousness that surrounds the whole universe, the oceanic consciousness of which we are just small islands -- or better, icebergs, because we can melt into it and become one with it. In some ways intuition is exactly opposite to instinct. Instinct always leads you to the other; its fulfillment is always dependent on something other than you. Intuition leads you only to yourself. It has no dependence, no need for the other; hence its beauty, its freedom and independence. Intuition is an exalted state needing nothing. It is so full of itself that there is no space for anything else.

Question: THE SUFI MASTER, AJNABI SAID, 'WRITE TO MULLA FIROZ AND TELL HIM THAT I HAVE NO TIME TO ENGAGE HIM IN CORRESPONDENCE, AND THEREFORE HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO HIS LETTER.' THE DISCIPLE, AMINI, SAID, 'IS IT YOUR INTENTION TO ANNOY HIM WITH THIS LETTER?' AJNABI SAID, 'HE HAS BEEN ANNOYED BY SOME OF MY WRITINGS. THIS ANNOYANCE HAS CAUSED HIM TO WRITE TO ME. MY PURPOSE IN WRITING THE PASSAGE WHICH ANGERS HIM WAS TO ANGER SUCH AS HE.' AMINI SAID, 'AND THIS LETTER WILL ANGER HIM FURTHER?' AJNABI SAID, 'YES. WHEN HE WAS ENRAGED AT WHAT I WROTE, HE DID NOT OBSERVE HIS OWN ANGER, WHICH WAS MY INTENTION. HE THOUGHT THAT HE WAS OBSERVING ME, WHEREAS HE WAS ONLY FEELING ANGRY. NOW I WRITE AGAIN, TO AROUSE HIS ANGER, SO THAT HE WILL SEE THAT HE IS ANGRY.

Maneesha has asked, beloved Osho, the other evening I heard you say that intuition and enlightenment are not different. Is that because both are of no-mind? And does that mean that when intuition is working within us, we are having a small taste of enlightenment?

This is one of the most difficult problems for a scientific mind, because it is accustomed to dissecting. Only when something can be dissected will science accept its existence. And the consciousness of man cannot be dissected, hence science continues to deny there is any being, any immortal consciousness in man. It is really hilarious. Everything is in the lab of the scientist except the scientist himself; he is not there. He cannot accept that he is, unless he puts himself on the dissecting table, sees all the qualities, possibilities, inquires into every part, pulls them apart, joins them again and sees what happens. Naturally if you cut a living being and then join it together again, you will have a corpse on your hands. Life will have disappeared. It happened... Charles Darwin was celebrating his sixtieth birthday with his friends. And the children of his neighborhood... he was very…

Beloved Osho, some people do things instinctively. Is instinct the same as intuition? Or is instinct animal-like, and intuition only human? Beloved master, please comment on the difference, if there is a difference.

Just a few months ago one Jaina monk did this kind of suicide. They call it santhara. And I wonder that a government which is against suicide takes no note of these people. They should be prevented. They should be put in jails, with others who attempt suicide ... because what does it matter what kind of means you use for suicide? Whether you die within nine minutes or ninety days does not matter. And if you allow the Jaina monks, then why should you prevent others? And the prevention is also very beautiful. If you are caught committing suicide -- if you have committed, nothing can be done -- but if you are caught committing suicide, then you will be sent to the gallows. Strange punishment! That's what he was doing himself! Now why waste unnecessary years of time in courts, cases, judges, advocates and finally, because he was…