A man was known as a master thief in Japan; he was well-known, famous, all over the country. And, of course, he was a master thief so nobody had ever been able to catch hold of him. He was never caught red-handed — although everybody knew that he was the one who had stolen — even from the treasury of the king he had been stealing.

And he was always leaving marks of his so everybody would know who had been there.

In fact, it had become the fashion to BRAG about it, if the master thief had thought you worthy to steal something from. It became an aristocratic bragging! People would brag, saying, “Last night the master thief has been to our house.”

But the man was getting older, and one day his young son said to him, “Now you are getting older, teach me your art!”

The father said, “Then come with me tonight — because this is not something that can be taught. You can only imbibe the spirit of me; if you are intelligent enough you can catch it. I cannot TEACH it to you, but you can catch it. I cannot give it to you, but you can get it. We will see. You come tonight with me.”

Naturally the son was afraid — the first time! The wall was broken, they went into the palace. Even in his old age the father’s hands were like a surgeon’s, unwavering, unshaking, although he was becoming very old — with no fear, as if he was working in his own home, breaking the wall. He did not even look here and there he was so certain of his art. And the young man was trembling — it was a cold winter night and he was perspiring! But the father was doing everything silently.

Then the father entered into the house. The son followed, his knees trembling, and he was feeling he might fall any moment. He was losing all consciousness because the fear was such…if they were caught, then?

The father was moving in the dark house as if it was his house and he knew everything about the house, and even in the dark he could move without stumbling against the furniture, against the doors. Making no noise at all, noiselessly, he reached into the innermost chamber of the palace. He opened a cupboard and told the son to go in and find whatsoever was valuable. The son entered it. The father locked the door, shouted, “A thief! A thief! Wake up!” and escaped through the hole that they had dug in the wall.

Now this was too much! The son could not under-stand it. Now he is locked in the cupboard, trembling, perspiring, and the whole house is awake, people are searching for the thief. “What kind of father is this? He has murdered me!” he thought. “And what kind of teaching is this?” This is the last thing he would have ever imagined: he has created a living nightmare for him! Now he is certain to be caught! And he has locked the door from the outside; he cannot even open the door and escape.

After one hour he reached home — the son — and the father was fast asleep and snoring! He threw aside his blanket and said, “What kind of nonsense is this?!”

The father said, “So you are back! No need to tell the whole story — you also go to sleep. Now you know the art, we need not discuss it.”

But the son said, “I have to tell you the whole story, what happened.”

The father said, “If you want to tell it you can, otherwise I don’t require it. Just that you have come is enough proof! Now from tomorrow night you start on your own. You have got the intelligence, the awareness that a thief needs. I am immensely happy with you!”

But the son was so overflowing, he wanted to relate the whole thing — he had done such a great job. He said, “Just listen, otherwise I will not be able to sleep at all. I am so excited! You almost killed me!”

The father said, “It is hard, but that’s how a master has to act many times. Tell me the whole story. What happened?”

He said, “Out of nowhere — not from my intellect, certainly not from my mind — this has happened.”

The father said, “This is the key to all mastery in all the fields of life, whether you are a thief or a meditator, whether you are a lover or a scientist or a painter or a poet, it doesn’t matter. Whatsoever the field, this is the master key — that nothing happens from the head, everything happens from somewhere below. Call it intuition, call it no-mind, call it meditation — these are names, different names for the same thing. It has started functioning, I can see it on your face; I can see the aura around you. You are going to become a master thief! And remember through being a master thief I have attained to meditation. So remember: this is the way for you to attain meditation.”

The son said, “When I was standing inside that damned cupboard and people were searching for the thief, a woman servant came with a candle in her hand; I could see from the keyhole. Something from nowhere…I started making noises as if I was a cat — and I have never done it before! The woman servant, thinking that there was a cat in the cupboard, unlocked it. As she unlocked it — I don’t know how I did it and who did it — it happened! I blew the candle out, pushed the woman away, and ran! People followed me — the whole house was awake, the neighborhood was awake. And they were coming closer and closer and I was on the verge of being caught.

Then suddenly I came across a well. I saw a rock just by the side of the well — I don’t believe that I have that much strength to pick that rock up now, but it happened.”

When you are in such situations your whole energy becomes available to you. You don’t live only on the superficial level. When life is at stake, your whole energy becomes available.

“I moved the rock, picked up the rock — I cannot believe that I could even shake it now! — and threw it in the well, then ran away. The noise, the sound of the rock falling in the well…and all the people who were following me stopped following me. They surrounded the well; they thought I had jumped into the well. That’s how I am back home.”

The father said, “Now you can go to sleep. I am finished! Never ask me anything again. Now you start on your own.

Osho – “Be Still and Know”

The post The Master Thief of Japan – A Zen Buddhist Spiritual Story by Osho appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

Three men became very famous saints in Russia.
The highest priest of the country was very much disturbed — obviously, because people were not coming to him, people were going to those three saints, and he had not even heard their names. And how could they be saints? — because in Christianity a saint is a saint only when the church recognizes him as a saint. The English word ‘saint’ comes from ‘sanction’; when the church sanctions somebody as a saint, then he is a saint. What nonsense! that a saint has to be certified by the church, by the organized religion, by the priests — as if it has nothing to do with inner growth but some outer recognition; as if it is a title given by a government, or a degree, an honorary degree, conferred by a university.
The high priest was certainly very angry. He took a boat because those three saints used to live on the far side of a lake. He went in the boat. Those three saints were sitting under a tree. They were very simple people, peasants, uneducated. They touched the feet of the highest priest, and the priest was very happy. He thought, “Now I will put them right — these are not very dangerous people. I was thinking they would be rebels or something.” He asked them, “How did you become saints?”
They said, “We don’t know! We don’t know that we are saints either. People have started calling us saints and we go on trying to convince them that we are not, we are very simple people, but they don’t listen. The more we argue that we are not, the more they worship us! And we are not very good at arguing either.”
The priest was very happy. He said, “What is your prayer? Do you know how to pray?”
They looked at each other. The first said to the second, “You say.” The second said to the third, “You say, please.”
The priest said, “Say what your prayer is! Are you saying Our Lord’s Prayer or not?”
They said, “To be frank with you, we don’t know any prayer. We have invented a prayer of our own and we are very embarrassed — how to say it? But if you ask we have to say it. We have heard that God is a trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are three and he is also three, so we have made a small prayer of our own: ‘You are three, we are three: Have mercy on us!’ ”
The priest said, “What nonsense! Is this prayer? You fools, I will teach you the right prayer.” And he recited The Lord’s Prayer.
And those three poor people said, “Please repeat it once more, because we are uneducated, we may forget.”
He repeated it and they asked, “Once more — we are three, repeat it at least three times.” So he repeated it again, and then very happy, satisfied, he went back in his boat.
Just in the middle of the lake he was surprised, his boatman was surprised: those three poor people were coming running on the water! And they said, “Wait! Please one more time — we have forgotten the prayer!”
Now it was the turn of the priest to touch their feet, and he said, “Forget what I have said to you. Your prayer has been heard, my prayer has not been heard yet. You continue as you are continuing. I was utterly wrong to say anything to you. Forgive me!”

Prayer is a state of simplicity. It is NOT of words but of silence.

– As told by Osho in “Be Still and Know”

The post Priest And The Prayer appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

The Emperor reached the Zen Master and asked him, “What is hell and what is heaven?”

The Zen Master looked at the Emperor and said “You son-of-a-bitch! Have you looked at your face in the mirror lately? I have never seen such a dirty-looking fellow before!”

The Emperor was enraged! He had not expected such a thing from such a great saint. You don’t know great saints! You know only small, puny saints. A real saint is not a cat, he is a tiger!

The Emperor was so enraged that he pulled his sword out of its sheath. He was going to cut the head of the Master. Just as the sword was coming closer, the Master said, “Wait! You are entering hell. This is the gate to hell.”

The way the Master said “Wait!” was so powerful that the Emperor’s hand was stopped in the middle, and he understood — “True!” He threw the sword away, fell at the feet of the Master, and the Master laughed and said, “This is the way to heaven! You have already experienced both within a single moment. The distance is not far.”

Whenever you are surrendered to existence, whenever you live in trust, love, prayer, joy, celebration, you are in heaven.

Osho – “Be Still and Know”

The post Hell And Heaven appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.

I will tell you a Sufi story:

There is a story told by Sufis about a man who read that certain dervishes, on the orders of their Master, never touched meat and did not smoke. Since this tends to fit in with certain well-established beliefs, especially in the West, this man made his way to the ZAWIA — assembly place — of the illuminated ones, to sit at their feet. They were all over ninety years old.

Sure enough, there they were, not a spot of nicotine or shred of animal protein among them, and our hero gasped with delight as he sat drinking in the unpolluted air and tasting the bean-curd soup which they provided. He hoped that he would at least live to a hundred.

Suddenly one of them whispered, “Here comes the great Master!” And all stood up as the venerable sage came in. He smiled benignly and went into the house, heading for his quarters. He did not look a day over fifty.

“How old is he, and what does he eat?” asked the enraptured visitor.

“He is one hundred and fifty years old, and I don’t suppose any of us will reach that venerable age and station,” wheezed one of the ancients. “But, of course, he is allowed twenty cigars and three steaks a day, since he is now beyond being affected by frivolities and temptations!”

It is a beautiful story. There comes a moment when a man goes beyond all duality — then he is allowed everything.

Osho – “Be Still and Know”

The post Everything Is Allowed appeared first on Spiritual Growth Events.