So my teacher, Osho, did lots of stuff that didn’t really work out all that well. But one of the things that he did do, that I think is a huge breakthrough in the conversation about Enlightenment, in the searching for awareness, in all non-dual studies, and all Zen studies, is that he talked directly about enlightenment.
He didn’t say, “I am enlightened.” But he did say, “This is what enlightenment is. It’s like this. This is what it is and I know this as a direct experience. This is my experience.”
He was direct, and that is a very very good way to talk about enlightenment. It’s absolutely important, it’s critical, that we take the conversation of Enlightenment out of this fancy crazy mystical, unclear, kind of conversation. It’s absolutely critical to stop thinking of Enlightenment as something unattainable. As something mysterious and Powerful. That you get some sort of powerful Magic gifts with it.
If a person says, “I am enlightened,” they are literally saying, “I know that I am nothing.” Because that is who are. When you scrape it down to the very very bottom of the bowl you are nothing. Nothing that is not separate from anything. It’s just an absolute zero. It’s a nothing.
That is everything.
It’s normalness. It’s ordinariness. It’s not anything special at all.
Recently I got accused of bragging about enlightenment. Why would you brag about nothing? About being nothing?
You’re not bragging about knowing that you’re nobody. You’re not bragging about your intimate experience of connection to everything… because that means that you’re just you’re nothing.
So thinking that someone can’t say Enlightenment and speak that out directly shows a big misunderstanding of what it is. Let’s get over that number one, right away. Let’s talk about it directly, and you’ll find out that if you have the ability to talk about it directly, think about it directly, really look directly, you will not be able to be manipulated by anyone.
Isn’t that really the big fear? You’re afraid that some fake person is going to be fake enlightened and that they’re going to manipulate you.
Well, first of all. You’re being manipulated by everybody else anyway, so what does that matter? One more right?
Second of all. You’re totally missing the point on awakening. It’s not about you. It’s not it’s not about me. The only reason I’m talking to you is I want you to be nothing [Laughter].
Come on. Join us all the nothing people over here.
What we’re talking about here is ordinary. It’s natural. It’s not entertainment. It’s nothing special, You can find out who you are.