The Shadow of a Shadow
Individual Talk
From:The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 02
In stock
"God is not really the center of religious inquiry – death is. Without death there would have been no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the..."
"God is not really the center of religious inquiry – death is. Without death there would have been no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the..."
Osho continues:
"A man is really a mature man when he has come to this conclusion: 'If death is happening to everybody else, then I cannot be an exception.' Once this conclusion sinks deep into your heart, your life can never be the same again. You cannot remain attached to life in the old way. If it is going to be taken away, what is the point of being so possessive? If it is going to disappear one day, why cling and suffer? If it is not going to remain forever, then why be in such misery, anguish, worry? If it is going to go, it is going to go – it does not matter when it goes. The time is not that important – today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. But life is going to slip out of your hands.
"The day you become aware that you are going to die, that your death is an absolute certaintyin fact the only certainty in life is death. Nothing else is so absolutely certain. But somehow we go on avoiding this question, this question of death. We go on keeping ourselves occupied in other matters. Sometimes we talk about great things – God, heaven and hell – just to avoid the real question. The real question is not God, cannot be, because what acquaintance have you got with God? What do you know about God? How can you inquire about something which is absolutely unknown to you? It will be an empty inquiry. It will be at the most curiosity, it will be juvenile, childish, stupid.
"Stupid people ask about God, the intelligent person asks about death. The people who go on asking about God never find God, and the person who asks about death is bound to find God – because it is death that transforms you, your vision. Your consciousness is sharpened because you have raised a real question, an authentic question, the most important question of life. You have created such a great challenge that you can't remain asleep for long; you will have to be awake, you will have to be alert enough to encounter the reality of death.
"That's how Buddha's inquiry began:
"The day Buddha was bornhe was the son of a great king, and the only son, and he was born when the king was getting old, very old; hence there was great rejoicing in the kingdom."
"The day you become aware that you are going to die, that your death is an absolute certaintyin fact the only certainty in life is death. Nothing else is so absolutely certain. But somehow we go on avoiding this question, this question of death. We go on keeping ourselves occupied in other matters. Sometimes we talk about great things – God, heaven and hell – just to avoid the real question. The real question is not God, cannot be, because what acquaintance have you got with God? What do you know about God? How can you inquire about something which is absolutely unknown to you? It will be an empty inquiry. It will be at the most curiosity, it will be juvenile, childish, stupid.
"Stupid people ask about God, the intelligent person asks about death. The people who go on asking about God never find God, and the person who asks about death is bound to find God – because it is death that transforms you, your vision. Your consciousness is sharpened because you have raised a real question, an authentic question, the most important question of life. You have created such a great challenge that you can't remain asleep for long; you will have to be awake, you will have to be alert enough to encounter the reality of death.
"That's how Buddha's inquiry began:
"The day Buddha was bornhe was the son of a great king, and the only son, and he was born when the king was getting old, very old; hence there was great rejoicing in the kingdom."
| Publisher | Osho International |
|---|---|
| Duration of Talk | 112 mins |
| File Size | 26.11 MB |
| Type | Individual Talks |
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