Way of the White Clouds

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.

How do I find my way?

Exactly like that it happens. In the close proximity of a Master you are given constant shocks and shakings. He does not supply you with paths, ways, methods, he simply shocks you -- he goes like a shiver in your spine. And the sleep is no ordinary sleep, it is metaphysical sleep. You have slept for lives together. You have slept the whole past, and you have dreamed so much and you have invested in the dream so much that it looks almost impossible to wake up -- too risky, too costly, such a gamble. You can do it only if you fall in love with a Master. If you fall in love with a Master risk is possible, because people risk only when they are in love. Sannyas is a love affair. When you are in love you are mad. And only the mad man can come back; the…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, KYOGEN WAS ASKED BY A MONK, "WHAT IS THE WAY?" HE ANSWERED, "A DRAGON SINGING IN A WITHERED TREE." THE MONK SAID, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT." KYOGEN SAID, "THE PUPILS OF THE EYES OF A SKULL." AFTERWARDS, ANOTHER MONK ASKED SEKISO, "WHAT IS THIS `DRAGON SINGING IN A WITHERED TREE'?" SEKISO SAID, "IT IS BEING INVESTED WITH JOY." THE MONK THEN ASKED, "WHAT IS THIS `PUPILS OF A SKULL'?" SEKISO SAID, "IT IS THE GARMENT OF WISDOM." AGAIN, A MONK ASKED SOZAN WHAT THE DRAGON SINGING IN THE WITHERED TREE MEANT, AND HE ANSWERED, "THE PULSE DOES NOT STOP." TO THE QUESTION ABOUT WHAT THE PUPILS OF THE SKULL SIGNIFIED, HE ANSWERED, "NOT QUITE DRY." THE MONK ASKED, "IS THERE ANYONE WHO CAN HEAR THE DRAGON SINGING?

Osho, it is said that whatever can be named cannot be the eternal and changeless truth. But the names given to the Ultimate are provisional, and through the practice of name-remembrance people have also attained the Nameless. Please explain why one cannot begin with a changing name and arrive at the changeless Nameless?

No! I say Lao Tzu is absolutely right, precisely right. And still, when I speak on Chaitanya, I will say Chaitanya is absolutely right. One can arrive by the stairs too. But do not raise that now. Bringing it in will not make Lao Tzu any easier to understand. Forget it—forget it completely. If you sit to understand Lao Tzu, then understand the leap in its entirety. Otherwise our mind behaves this way: when I sit to explain the leap, you bring up the stairs; when I sit to explain the stairs, you bring up the leap. You miss. It is the mind’s dishonesty. When I say, “Do kirtan,” you say, “What will kirtan do?” And when I say, “Throw everything away; burn the names and all that,” you say, “But you were saying it will happen through kirtan.” You did neither that nor this. You keep seeking a way…