What happens when a Zen discourse is dedicated to nature?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, A MONK SAID TO TOZAN, "YOU ALWAYS TELL LEARNERS TO TAKE THE WAY OF THE BIRDS. WHAT IS THIS WAY OF THE BIRDS?" TOZAN SAID, "YOU MEET NOBODY ON IT." THE MONK THEN ASKED, "HOW CAN WE GO ON THIS WAY?" TOZAN ANSWERED, "BY EGOLESSNESS, ATTENDING TO EACH STEP AS IT COMES." THE MONK SAID, "ISN'T THE BIRDS' WAY THE SAME AS ONE'S ORIGINAL NATURE?" TOZAN SAID, "O MONK, WHY DO YOU GET EVERYTHING UPSIDE-DOWN?" THE MONK ASKED, "WHAT IS THIS PLACE WHERE PEOPLE GET THINGS UPSIDE-DOWN?" TOZAN SAID, "IF THERE WERE NO TOPSY-TURVINESS HOW COULD A SERVANT BECOME A LORD?" THE MONK ASKED, "WHAT IS OUR ORIGINAL NATURE?" TOZAN ANSWERED, "NOT TAKING THE WAY OF THE BIRDS." WHEN A MONK ASKED KASSAN, "WHAT IS THE WAY?" HE ANSWERED, "THE SUN OVERFLOWS OUR EYES; FOR TEN THOUSAND LEAGUES NOT A CLOUD HANGS IN THE SKY.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, HYAKUJO HAD A UNIQUE WAY OF GUIDING MONKS. FROM MORNING TILL NIGHT HE KEPT ON SAYING, "WORK FOR ME IN THE FIELD, AND I WILL TEACH FOR YOU." HE THUS MADE HIS DISCIPLES WORK IN THE FIELD ALL THE TIME; BUT HE DID NOT SEEM TO BE PREPARED TO GIVE ANY LECTURES OR SERMONS. FINALLY, THE MONKS, NOT ABLE TO STAND IT ANY LONGER, WENT TO THE MASTER AND ASKED: "WOULD YOU PLEASE BE GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO GIVE US AN EDIFYING SERMON?" THE MASTER'S UNWAVERING REPLY WAS: "WORK FOR ME IN THE FIELD, AND I WILL TEACH FOR YOU." SEVERAL DAYS PASSED, AND THE IMPATIENT MONKS WENT TO THE MASTER AGAIN AND URGED: "PLEASE GIVE US A SERMON." THIS TIME, HE QUITE READILY AGREED TO DO SO. AFTER A WHILE ALL THE MONKS GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE HALL.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, A MONK PUT THE QUESTION TO JOSHU: "I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU SAID THAT WHEN THE UNIVERSE IS DESTROYED THE BUDDHA NATURE WILL NOT BE DESTROYED. WHAT IS THIS `NATURE'?" JOSHU RESPONDED BY SAYING, "THE FOUR ELEMENTS AND THE FIVE COMPONENTS." THE MONK ASKED AGAIN, "THESE ARE THE VERY THINGS THAT WILL BE DESTROYED; WHAT IS THIS `NATURE'?" JOSHU SAID, "IT IS THE FOUR ELEMENTS AND THE FIVE COMPONENTS." ONCE, A MONK WAS SAYING FAREWELL TO JOSHU, WHO ASKED HIM, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" THE MONK REPLIED, "ALL OVER THE PLACE, TO LEARN BUDDHISM." HOLDING UP HIS MOSQUITO-FLAPPER, JOSHU INSTRUCTED THE MONK, "DO NOT STAY WHERE THE BUDDHA IS! PASS QUICKLY THROUGH A PLACE WHERE THERE IS NO BUDDHA! DO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE AND BRING UP BUDDHISM TO ANYONE FOR THREE THOUSAND LEAGUES!" THE MONK SAID, "IN THAT CASE I WON'T GO!

He simply laughed about the question, because to get entangled in a question like death or birth, immediately brings you to the point that these things are beyond thinking. You cannot think anything about birth or death. If you really want to know, you will have to drop all thinking, and enter into the empty heart. Only the empty heart knows the eternity of your being. YUN KUANG ASKED, "DOES THIS APPLY EVEN TO THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO PERCEIVE THEIR OWN NATURE?" HYAKUJO SAID, "YOUR NOT HAVING PERCEIVED YOUR OWN NATURE DOES NOT IMPLY THAT YOU lack THAT NATURE. WHY SO? BECAUSE PERCEPTION ITSELF is THAT NATURE.... Told in a more contemporary way: I have been telling you continuously, you are a buddha. And I know that you are suspicious -- you, and a buddha? Your suspicion or your doubt does not make any difference.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHEN THE HEAD MONK, RYOSUI, WENT FIRST TO SEE MAYOKU, MAYOKU TOOK UP HIS HOE AND BEGAN TO WEED. RYOSUI WENT TO THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS WEEDING, BUT MAYOKU DELIBERATELY TOOK NO NOTICE OF HIM AND WENT BACK TO HIS ROOM AND SHUT THE DOOR. THE NEXT DAY THE SAME THING HAPPENED, BUT THIS TIME RYOSUI KNOCKED AT THE DOOR. MAYOKU SAID, "WHO IS IT?" RYOSUI HAD HARDLY UTTERED HIS NAME WHEN HE WAS ENLIGHTENED AND SAID, "DO NOT MAKE A FOOL OF ME. IF I HAD NOT VISITED YOU, I WOULD HAVE BEEN DECEIVED ALL MY LIFE BY THE TWELVE DIVISION CANON." MAYOKU OPENED THE DOOR AND CONFIRMED RYOSUI'S ENLIGHTENMENT. RYOSUI WENT BACK TO HIS PLACE OF LEARNING, RESIGNED FROM IT, AND SAID TO THE ASSEMBLED LEARNERS, "WHAT YOU KNOW, I KNOW; WHAT I KNOW, YOU DON'T KNOW.