What is the difference between Za-Zen and Patanjali's Dhyana?

What is the difference between waiting for godot and waiting for god?

It is as if the sun has risen in the morning and you are sitting in your room with closed doors and windows, in darkness. Open the doors, you become available to the sun. The sun was already available -- just the meeting happens. You cannot wait for God. All waiting is for Godot. Godot means the one who never comes, who CANNOT come, whose arrival is impossible. And the only impossible thing is that which has already happened -- how can it happen again? You are alive, and you are waiting for life, Now, this is ridiculous. The real man of religion does not think in terms of God. He thinks in terms of life or, even better, of living -- because life can again become an abstract idea. Living, moment-to-moment living. In that very living, one knows what God is, because one knows who one is. Your idea…

What you have been saying about heraclitus, christ and zen seems like kindergarten teachings compared to patanjali. Heraclitus, christ and zen make the final step seem close; patanjali makes even the first step seem almost impossible. It seems like us westerners have hardly begun to realize the amount of work that has to be done.

Patanjali is gradual, Zen is sudden. If you cannot be sudden, then it is better to be gradual. Rather than being nothing, neither this nor that, it is better you be gradual. Patanjali will also bring you to the same situation, but he will give you a little space. It is more comfortable -- difficult, but more comfortable. No immediate transformation is demanded, and with gradual progress, mind can fit. HERACLITUS, CHRIST AND ZEN MAKE THE FINAL STEP SEEM CLOSE; PATANJALI MAKES EVEN THE FIRST STEP SEEM ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. IT SEEMS LIKE US WESTERNERS HAVE HARDLY BEGUN TO REALIZE THE AMOUNT OF WORK THAT HAS TO BE DONE. It is up to you. If you want to do the work, you can do. If you want to realize without doing the work, that too is possible. That too is possible! It is up to you to choose! If you want…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, ARE THE UPANISHADS AND ZEN THE SAME? People want the way to be hard and to be long because this is a good excuse for avoiding -- because the way is so long and so hard... life is so short and so many problems, so many responsibilities; so much has to be done. The children are growing up, they have to be married, the business is not good -- or the business is so good that this is not the moment to meditate. Upanishad is the shortest possible way. Neither has the disciple to do anything nor has the master to do anything. Doing is not part of it. I have quoted the great Zen poet Basho many times to you: "Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself." As far as upanishadic methodology is concerned, even doing nothing is not needed.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, AN INDIAN DISCIPLE OF ENO, KUTTA SANZO, ON PASSING THROUGH A VILLAGE FOUND A MONK DOING ZAZEN IN A SMALL HUT HE HAD BUILT. SANZO ASKED, "WHAT'S THE IDEA OF SITTING HERE ALL BY YOURSELF?" THE MONK ANSWERED, "I'M MEDITATING." SANZO SAID, "WHAT IS THIS `HE' WHO IS MEDITATING? WHAT ARE YOU MEDITATING ON?" THE MONK SAID, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING AT." SANZO SAID, "WHY DON'T YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF, AND QUIETEN YOURSELF?" THE MONK STILL LOOKED BLANK. SANZO THEN ASKED HIM, "WHAT SCHOOL ARE YOU OF?" "JINSHU'S," SAID THE MONK. SANZO SAID, "EVEN THE LOWEST HERETICS IN THE INDIA I COME FROM DON'T FALL AS LOW AS THAT! JUST TO SIT EMPTILY AND AIMLESSLY -- WHAT CAN IT PROFIT YOU?" ONE DAY, YAKUSAN WAS DOING ZAZEN. SEKITO ASKED HIM, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "NOT A THING," REPLIED YAKUSAN. "AREN'T YOU SITTING BLANKLY?" SAID SEKITO.

Dharana, concentration, is confining the mind to the object being meditated upon.

DHYAN, CONTEMPLATION, IS THE UNINTERRUPTED FLOW OF THE MIND TO THE OBJECT. SAMADHI IS WHEN THE MIND BECOMES ONE WITH THE OBJECT. THE THREE TAKEN TOGETHER -- DHARMA, DHYAN, AND SAMADHI -- CONSTITUTE SAMYAMA. BY MASTERING IT, THE LIGHT OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS. And the way in the West you are looking for causes, for ways and means how to help humanity, seems to have from the very beginning gone wrong. You are still looking for causes outside -- and the causes are within. The causes are not outside, not in relationship, not in the world; they are deep in your unconsciousness. They are not in your thinking: they are not in your dreams. The analysis of dreams and the analysis of thoughts is not going to help much. At the most it can make you normally abnormal, not more than that. The basic cause is that you are not aware…