What is the relationship between Zazen and the ultimate truth?

Osho, please comment on these words of yoka: by zazen we can obtain directly the ultimate truth. The scholars like to teach others but have no deep convictions themselves. Once you have revealed your prejudices you can see your true self. How can you wander off into external struggles?

Hell is divided in two parts -- let me tell you the truth! In one part saints live, in the other part, sinners. Sinners live a little more uncomfortable life -- a third-class prison you can call it. In India there used to be class divisions during the British Raj: third class for the criminals and first class for the political leaders -- for Mahatma Gandhi and Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, etcetera. Just like that, in hell there are two divisions: one is for sinners, the other is for saints. Saints are provided with a little comfort. They have already suffered too much in being saintly, hence they have to be compensated. The sinners have enjoyed too much, hence a little suffering will bring a balance, but there is not much difference. Whenever you choose you are in bondage. Zen teaches choiceless awareness: neither this nor that, neti neti. It teaches…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, ON ONE OCCASION, JOSHU SAID TO HIS MONKS: I HAVE SINGLE-HEARTEDLY PRACTICED ZAZEN IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE FOR THIRTY YEARS. IF YOU WANT TO REALIZE ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU SHOULD REALIZE THE ESSENCE OF BUDDHISM, DOING ZAZEN. IN THE COURSE OF THREE, FIVE, TWENTY OR THIRTY YEARS, IF YOU FAIL TO GRASP THE WAY, YOU MAY CUT OFF MY HEAD AND MAKE IT INTO A LADLE TO DRAW URINE WITH. JOSHU IS ALSO REPORTED TO HAVE SAID: THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE ONLY SEEKERS AFTER BUDDHA, BUT NOT A SINGLE ONE IS A TRUE MAN OF TAO. BEFORE THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD THE SELF-NATURE REMAINS INTACT. NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN THIS OLD MONK, YOU ARE NO LONGER SOMEONE ELSE, BUT A MASTER OF YOURSELF. WHAT'S THE USE OF SEEKING ANOTHER IN THE EXTERIOR? ONCE A MONK ASKED JOSHU: "WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY'S TRADITION?

The pure land paradise is not far.

WHEN IN REVERENCE THIS TRUTH IS HEARD EVEN ONCE, HE WHO PRAISES IT AND GLADLY EMBRACES IT HAS MERIT WITHOUT END. HOW MUCH MORE HE WHO TURNS WITHIN AND CONFIRMS DIRECTLY HIS OWN NATURE, THAT HIS OWN NATURE IS NO-NATURE -- SUCH HAS TRANSCENDED VAIN WORDS. THE GATE OPENS, AND CAUSE AND EFFECT ARE ONE; STRAIGHT RUNS THE WAY -- NOT TWO, NOT THREE. TAKING AS FORM THE FORM OF NO-FORM, GOING OR RETURNING, HE IS EVER AT HOME. TAKING AS THOUGHT THE THOUGHT OF NO-THOUGHT, SINGING AND DANCING, ALL IS THE VOICE OF TRUTH. WIDE IS THE HEAVEN OF BOUNDLESS SAMADHI, RADIANT THE FULL MOON OF THE FOURFOLD WISDOM. WHAT REMAINS TO BE SOUGHT? NIRVANA IS CLEAR BEFORE HIM, THIS VERY PLACE THE LOTUS PARADISE, THIS VERY BODY THE BUDDHA. Meditate over it. What a man! What manner of man! A Buddha. Each act and each word and each…

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,…

Osho, what is zen?

He knows that all is illusory so there is no need to escape. It is unfounded, you need not be worried about it. It is a rope -- it appears to be a snake. So why escape? Why renounce? Let it appear to be a snake, let it be there as a rope. Whatsoever it is, the appearance is unfounded, hence there is no need to renounce. Zen does not teach renunciation. It teaches understanding, awareness, alertness, the capacity to see things as they are. And then there is no need to escape from anywhere. Wherever you are, Zen helps you to relax. And there is no need to search for God, to search for satori, samadhi, enlightenment -- the very search is a barrier. We search for things only if they are not within our being; if they are within our being, there is no need to seek and…