Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 3

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Zen says that if you want to find truth, you have to seek. Zen also says don’t seek, because then you won’t find. This is why Zen is called “the path of paradox.”
This series explores this paradoxical world, this distinctive approach to life.

Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 3
Click on Chapter Titles below for Details of Each Talk

Zen says that if you want to find truth, you have to seek. Zen also says don’t seek, because then you won’t find. This is why Zen is called “the path of paradox.”
This series explores this paradoxical world, this distinctive approach to life.


Excerpt from: Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 3, Chapter 5

     “Truth is neither in words nor in silence. Truth is a transcendence. Truth is a transcendence of duality. Silence is part of the dual game of the mind. The mind is not only words, remember. Between two words there is a small gap where the mind is silent. The mind is both: words and silence crisscrossing. Each word is followed by silence, and each silence is followed by a word.

     “When you are thinking, one thought comes, then a gap. Otherwise, one thought will overlap another. There will be great confusion. The gap is needed. Then another thought comes. It is just like when you stand on the road watching the traffic. One car passes by, then a gap. You don’t see the gap because you can’t see the gap. One car passes by, then a gap, and then another car. If there is no gap, there will be a crash between two cars; there will be an accident. The gap is always there. The gap is as much a part of the traffic as the cars. Exactly the same is the case with the mind. Words, noise, so-called silence, are all parts of the mind.

     “There is another kind of silence which has nothing to do with the mind. That silence is not the absence of noise, it is the presence of the unknowable – a totally different quality. Not the absence of noise, but the presence of God or the presence of the whole. That silence is not a dead silence. That silence is very much alive, vibrating, full of joy, showering bliss all around, overflowing with love – and you can see the difference.

     When a person is simply silent in the sense of no word, absence, you will see dullness. You will see a kind of sleep surrounding him. You will see a kind of stupidity, a torpor. This kind of man will not be intelligent. You can find this kind of paramhansa in many places in India. To be a humbug mahatma is so easy. You don’t have to do much. If you can just keep silent – at least in the daytime – that will do. Not a big practice, a small thing.

     “Silence that is absence is dull. Silence that is presence of the divine, God, truth, Tao, or whatever name you like, has a totally different quality to it. It blooms, it blooms in a thousand and one flowers. It has a fragrance. It is young, it is fresh; it is not dull and dead. It is not the silence of the cemetery; it is the silence where life is happening, but happening very silently.

     “So remember this difference: words cannot say anything about truth neither can your so-called silence. Your silence is also yours. The plane of your silence and the plane of your words are not different. They belong to the same plane. Truth can be understood only when you transform, transfigure, your plane of being; when you attain a new kind of consciousness, a new awareness.” Osho

More Information
Publisher Osho Media International
Type Series of Talks