OSHO explained the story on how sudden enlightenment can happen
’’It happened to Chiyono.
Carrying water in her bucket she admired the the silent splendor of the reflecting full moon.
And then, the bottom fell out, the water was gone, the moon disappeared.
Chiyono, it is said, became enlightened:
She realized herself to be a hollow bamboo,
A flute on the lips of the infinite:
An empty bucket.
Finding God, enlightment, had been Chiyono’s life ambition.
She wanted to become a monk, a meditator,
devoting herself to the search.
Because of her physical beauty she was rejected by many monasteries.
She burned and scarred her beautiful face.
With her head shaved, disguised as a man she entered the monastery.
Only at night, alone, washing herself, her secret was revealed. For years she lived a simple life of meditation.
One night it happened to Chiyono.
In her own words:
’This way and that way
I tried to keep the pail together,
Hoping the weak bamboo
Would never break.
Suddenly the bottom fell out.
No more water,
No more moon in the water_
Emptiness in my hand’.
In these Zen-series Osho makes a distillation of religiousness at its purest. In a very playful and humorous way he exposes the traditional religions.
’Zen is the most unique phenomenon in the whole world of religions. Zen is the highest peak that religion has attained yet. It is the sanest religion.’
Brimming with paradox and humor, Osho is guaranteed to shake, shock and delight with these discourses based on Zen stories.
This book is about sudden enlightenment –
that supreme moment when we cease
struggling to understand with our minds matters that are beyond the mind, and jump wholeheartedly into the abyss. Osho offers us deep insights into ourselves, our individual natures and the universe
The message Osho reveals is that life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived. It is a deep mystery, to trust and allow yourself to enter. With humor and Zen sticks a delightful pleasure. These series of talks is counted to the Classics of Osho about Zen.
‘Whatsoever you see, you see through the reflection. Your eyes reflect; your eyes are just mirrors. Your ears reflect - all your senses are just mirrors, they reflect. And then there is the greatest of all mirrors, your mind; it reflects. It not only reflects, it comments, interprets. With the reflection it gives a commentary side by side.’
“Enlightenment is like an accident. But don’t misunderstand me --I am not saying don’t do anything for it. If you don’t, the accident will not happen.
It happens only to those who have been doing much for it, but it never happens because of their doing --and it never happens without their doing. All your meditations will just create an accident-proneness, an invitation, that’s all. Be ready for the accident, for the unknown –ready, waiting, receptive. Without the invitation the guest will never come!” --OSHO