Absurd

Beloved master, whenever one comes to the absurd, something inside simply explodes and the whole world looks anew. Is it when the absurd becomes overwhelming that one gets an insight into the gestalt of everything?

For a buddha, life is a continuous revelation, unending revelation. There is no beginning to it and no end to it. It is a mystery; unfathomable, immeasurable, unknown and not only unknown but unknowable too. You can only taste it, feel it, see it, touch it, but you cannot KNOW it. You cannot reduce it to a theorem, to a hypothesis; that is not possible. Prabhati, you are right: if you can have a contact with the absurdity of it all, with the irrationality of existence, you are moving into a totally different dimension -- moving from mind to no-mind, moving from mind to meditation. That's what meditation is all about: taking you out of the prison of the mind, the prison of the past. And there is no other prison; that past is the only prison. The man of awareness -- the meditator -- goes on dying every moment…

Mamiya later became a well-known teacher, but while he was studying under a master he was asked to explain the sound of one hand clapping.

ALTHOUGH MAMIYA WORKED HARD AT IT HIS MASTER SAID TO HIM ONE DAY, "YOU ARE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH. YOU ARE TOO ATTACHED TO FOOD, WEALTH, THINGS -- AND THAT SOUND. IT WOULD BE BETTER IF YOU DIED." THE NEXT TIME MAMIYA CAME BEFORE THE MASTER, HE WAS AGAIN ASKED WHAT HE HAD TO SHOW REGARDING THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING. MAMIYA AT ONCE FELL OVER AS IF HE WAS DEAD. "YOU ARE DEAD ALL RIGHT," SAID THE MASTER, "BUT HOW ABOUT THAT SOUND?" LOOKING UP MAMIYA REPLIED, "OH, I HAVEN'T SOLVED THAT ONE YET." "WHAT?" ROARED THE MASTER, "DEAD MEN DON'T SPEAK. GET OUT!" Once you are awake and out of the vicious circle, God is there, nothing else exists. Then there is no need to believe. Then you know. But before that knowing happens, faith will be needed. And all those philosophers who have been trying for…

Sometimes listening to you, an overwhelming feeling comes over me of how absurd and ridiculous we all are and yet at the same time how incredibly beautiful life is. If eel there is so much I want to say to you, but it can't be put into words, and I would like to just run up and hug you.

Good idea -- but don't do it. Because even then you will not be able to say what you want to say, even with a hug. You will be able to show your helplessness, but nothing will be said. When something overwhelming is happening, it cannot be expressed. It is inexpressible by its very nature. It is intrinsically inexpressible, ineffable. So whenever it happens a very deep helplessness arises. Words seem to be futile, meaningless, trivial, and then one would like to say it in some other way -- one would like to hug or kiss or hold the hand -- but even then nothing is said. Only your helplessness is shown. One would like to cry or weep, but then too nothing is said. Only your helplessness is expressed. Rather than trying to express it, my suggestion is, when this happens, remain with it. Don't make any effort to…

"you said that either one sees the world or the brahman and that no gradually increasing perception of the brahman is possible. But in experience we feel that as we become aware and more silent and still, the feeling of the divine presence becomes gradually clearer and clearer. What is this gradual growth and clarity if the authentic experience is never gradual, but sudden?"

The second thing to remember: even hot water is still water. So even if you become more clear in your mind, more pure in your perceptions, more moral, more centered, you are still man, not a buddha, not enlightened. You become more silent, more still, calmer. You feel a deep bliss, but still you are a man, and your feelings are really negative, not positive. You feel calm because you are now less tense. You feel blissful because now you are clinging less to your miseries; you are not creating them. You feel collected. It is not that you have come to realize the one, but only because now you are less divided. Remember this: your growth is negative. You are just hot water. The possibility is there that at any moment you will come to the point where evaporation happens. When it happens, you will not feel calmness, you…