Is Zen full of zest, zip, zap, and zing?

Osho, do you really think zen is full of zest, zip, zap and zing?

The father, not wanting to leave his son without an answer, says, 'Listen to the following, son. Let us suppose that two men come into a restaurant, one with dirty hands and the other with clean hands. Which one is going to go and clean his hands?' 'The one with dirty hands, of course, Daddy!' 'Very good,' says the father. 'Now let's suppose that the two men walk into a restaurant, one with dirty hands and the other with clean hands. Which one is going to go and wash his hands?' 'The one with dirty hands, Dad. I just told you!' 'No, not this time, son. The one who will go and wash his hands is the one who already has clean hands, because he is in the habit of cleaning them. The one with dirty hands is in the habit of keeping his hands dirty.' 'What a mess, Daddy!'…

Osho, what is zen?

Sagar, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER because Zen is not a philosophy, it is not a doctrine. It is an experience, an experience of your own interiority, of your own subjectivity -- not an objective experience. If it were some object outside you, there would be a possibility of describing it, of analyzing it, of defining it. It is indefinable by its very nature; it is not within the grasp of intellect. It is an experience of dropping out of your mind, disappearing from your mind into your being, slipping out of the mind and entering into your being. The mind is a false entity; your being is your real face, your original face. The mind is created by the society, hence there are different kinds of minds -- Hindu mind, Christian mind, Jewish mind -- but the being is one; it is neither Christian nor Hindu nor Mohammedan.…

Ascending to the high seat, dogen zenji said: "zen master hogen studied with keishin zenji. Once keishin zenji asked him, joza, where do you go?' hogen said. 'I am making pilgrimage aimlessly.' keishin said, 'what is the matter of your pilgrimage?' hogen said, 'I don't know.' keishin said, 'not knowing is the most intimate.' hogen suddenly attained great enlightenment."

Beware of getting lost in philosophy and religion if you really want to know what truth is. Beware of being Christian, Hindu, Mohammedan, because they are all ways of being deaf, blind, insensitive. Three deaf British gentlemen were traveling on a train bound for London. The first said, "Pardon me, conductor, what station is this?" "Wembley, sir," answered the conductor. "Good Lord!" exclaimed the second Englishman. "I am sure it is Thursday." "So am I," agreed the third. "Let us all go into the bar car and have a drink." That's how it goes on between professors, philosophers, theologians. They can't hear what is being said. They have their own ideas and they are so full of them, so many thick layers of words, that reality cannot reach them. ZEN SAYS: IF YOU CAN DROP PHILOSOPHIZING, there is a hope for you. The moment you drop philosophizing you become innocent…

Maneesha's question: beloved Osho, d.t. Suzuki describes two different kinds of "seeing" as denoted by two different chinese characters.

One Sunday morning at the Loony Tunes Funny Farm, old Father Fungus is the guest preacher in the lunatic asylum's small chapel. He is ranting and raving in the pulpit, screaming all about damnation and hellfire, God's sweet love and the nocturnal emissions of the Holy Ghost, when suddenly, Mad Melvin jumps up out of his seat, raises both arms high in the air and shouts, "Bullshit! Do we have to listen to this idiot?" Then Mad Melvin smiles and sits back down. There is pindrop silence. Father Fungus is extremely embarrassed, and turns to the hospital director Doctor Dumshit. "Oh dear!" stammers the priest. "Shall I stop speaking?" "No need for that, Father," sighs Dumshit, yawning. "It won't happen again. Mad Melvin only makes a true statement once every seven years." Two famous music lovers, Cardinal Catsass and Pope the Polack, are sipping wine and having an intimate chat…

Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear. When you seek to know it, you cannot see it, you cannot take hold of it, but you cannot lose it. In not being able to get it you get it. When you are silent it speaks; when you speak, it is silent. The great gate is wide open to bestow alms, and no crowd is blocking the way.

And remember, when Zen says 'just sitting' it means just sitting -- nothing else, not even a mantra. If you are repeating a mantra you are not just sitting, you are again getting into some tommyrot, again into some mind thing. If you are not doing anything whatsoever.... Thoughts are coming, coming; they are going, going -- if they come, good; if they don't come, good. You are not concerned with what is happening, you are simply sitting there. If you feel tired you lie down. If you feel your legs getting tense you spread them. You remain natural. Not even watching. Not making any effort of any kind. That's what they mean by just sitting. Just sitting it happens. Zen is the feminine approach and religion is basically feminine. Science is male, philosophy is male -- religion is female. All that is beautiful in the world -- poetry, painting,…