Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen MasterTalks given from 05/07/87 am to 14/07/87 pmEnglish Discourse series20 ChaptersYear published: 1987Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen MasterChapter #1Chapter title: To seek nothing is bliss5 July 1987 am in Chuang Tzu AuditoriumArchive code: 8707050ShortTitle: BODHI01Audio: YesVideo: YesLength: 128 minsBELOVED OSHO,BODHIDHARMAS OUTLINE OF PRACTICEMANY ROADS LEAD TO THE PATH, BUT BASICALLY THERE ARE ONLY TWO: REASON AND PRACTICE. TO ENTER BY REASON MEANS TO REALIZE THE ESSENCE THROUGH INSTRUCTION AND TO BELIEVE THAT ALL LIVING THINGS SHARE THE SAME TRUE NATURE, WHICH ISNT APPARENT BECAUSE ITS SHROUDED BY SENSATION AND DELUSION. THOSE WHO TURN FROM DELUSION BACK TO REALITY, WHO MEDITATE ON WALLS, THE ABSENCE OF SELF AND OTHER, THE ONENESS OF MORTAL AND SAGE, AND WHO REMAIN UNMOVED, EVEN BY SCRIPTURES, ARE IN COMPLETE AND UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT WITH REASON. WITHOUT MOVING, WITHOUT EFFORT, THEY ENTER, WE SAY, BY REASON.TO ENTER BY PRACTICE REFERS TO FOUR ALL-INCLUSIVE PRACTICES: SUFFERING INJUSTICE, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS, SEEKING NOTHING AND PRACTICING THE DHARMA.FIRST, SUFFERING INJUSTICE. WHEN THOSE WHO SEARCH FOR THE PATH ENCOUNTER ADVERSITY, THEY SHOULD THINK TO THEMSELVES, IN COUNTLESS AGES GONE BY, IVE TURNED FROM THE ESSENTIAL TO THE TRIVIAL AND WANDERED THROUGH ALL MANNER OF EXISTENCE, OFTEN ANGRY WITHOUT CAUSE AND GUILTY OF NUMBERLESS TRANSGRESSIONS. NOW, THOUGH I DO NO WRONG, IM PUNISHED BY MY PAST. NEITHER GODS NOR MEN CAN FORESEE WHEN AN EVIL DEED WILL BEAR ITS FRUIT. I ACCEPT IT WITH AN OPEN HEART AND WITHOUT COMPLAINT OF INJUSTICE. THE SUTRAS SAY, WHEN YOU MEET WITH ADVERSITY, DONT BE UPSET. BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE. WITH SUCH UNDERSTANDING, YOURE IN HARMONY WITH REASON. AND BY SUFFERING INJUSTICE, YOU ENTER THE PATH.SECOND, ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS. AS MORTALS, WERE RULED BY CONDITIONS, NOT BY OURSELVES. ALL THE SUFFERING AND JOY WE EXPERIENCE DEPEND ON CONDITIONS. IF WE SHOULD BE BLESSED BY SOME GREAT REWARD, SUCH AS FAME OR FORTUNE, ITS THE FRUIT OF A SEED PLANTED BY US IN THE PAST. WHEN CONDITIONS CHANGE, IT ENDS. WHY DELIGHT IN ITS EXISTENCE? BUT WHILE SUCCESS AND FAILURE DEPEND ON CONDITIONS, THE MIND NEITHER WAXES NOR WANES. THOSE WHO REMAIN UNMOVED BY THE WIND OF JOY SILENTLY FOLLOW THE PATH.THIRD, SEEKING NOTHING. PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD ARE DELUDED. THEYRE ALWAYS LONGING FOR SOMETHING, ALWAYS, IN A WORD, SEEKING. BUT THE WISE WAKE UP. THEY CHOOSE REASON OVER CUSTOM. THEY FIX THEIR MINDS ON THE SUBLIME AND LET THEIR BODIES CHANGE WITH THE SEASON. ALL PHENOMENA ARE EMPTY. THEY CONTAIN NOTHING WORTH DESIRING. CALAMITY FOREVER ALTERNATES WITH PROSPERITY. TO DWELL IN THE THREE REALMS IS TO DWELL IN A BURNING HOUSE. TO HAVE A BODY IS TO SUFFER. DOES ANYBODY WITH A BODY KNOW PEACE?FOURTH, PRACTICING THE DHARMA. THE DHARMA IS THE TRUTH THAT ALL NATURES ARE PURE. BY THIS TRUTH, ALL APPEARANCES ARE EMPTY. DEFILEMENT AND ATTACHMENT, SUBJECT AND OBJECT DONT EXIST. THE SUTRAS SAY, THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO BEING BECAUSE ITS FREE FROM THE IMPURITY OF BEING. AND THE DHARMA INCLUDES NO SELF, BECAUSE ITS FREE FROM THE IMPURITY OF SELF. THOSE WISE ENOUGH TO BELIEVE AND UNDERSTAND THIS TRUTH ARE BOUND TO PRACTICE ACCORDING TO THE DHARMA. SINCE THE EMBODIMENT OF THE DHARMA CONTAINS NOTHING WORTH BEGRUDGING, THEY GIVE THEIR BODY, LIFE AND PROPERTY IN CHARITY, WITHOUT REGRET, WITHOUT THE VANITY OF GIVER, GIFT OR RECIPIENT, AND WITHOUT BIAS OR ATTACHMENT. AND THEY TAKE UP TRANSFORMING OTHERS TO ELIMINATE IMPURITY BUT WITHOUT BECOMING ATTACHED TO FORM. THUS, THROUGH THEIR OWN PRACTICE, THEYRE ABLE TO HELP OTHERS AND GLORIFY THE WAY OF ENLIGHTENMENT. AND AS WITH CHARITY, THEY ALSO PRACTICE THE OTHER VIRTUES. BUT WHILE PRACTICING THE SIX VIRTUES TO ELIMINATE DELUSION, THEY PRACTICE NOTHING AT ALL. THIS IS WHATS MEANT BY PRACTICING THE DHARMA. THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THIS DETACH THEMSELVES FROM ALL THAT EXISTS AND STOP IMAGINING OR SEEKING ANYTHING. THE SUTRAS SAY, TO SEEK IS TO SUFFER. TO SEEK NOTHING IS BLISS. WHEN YOU SEEK NOTHING, YOURE ON THE PATH.I have a very soft corner in my heart for Bodhidharma. That makes it a very special occasion to speak about him. Perhaps he is the only man whom I have loved so deeply that speaking on him I will be almost speaking on myself. That also creates a great complexity, because he never wrote anything in his life. No enlightened being has ever written. Bodhidharma is not an exception, but by tradition these three books that we are going to discuss are attributed to Bodhidharma.The scholars reason that because there is no contrary evidence - and for almost one thousand years, these books have been attributed to Bodhidharma - there is no reason why we should not accept them. I am not a scholar, and there are certainly fragments which must have been spoken by Bodhidharma, but these are not books written by him. These are notes by his disciples. It was an ancient t