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The authentic religion teaches you to be centered in yourself. Then everything that is good follows, and what is bad simply does not arise. It is not a question of choice; choicelessly you are good. It is not that you are being good; you cannot be otherwise.
This is the miracle of Zen.
Zen simply means witnessing.
These shouts throw you to the center, and once you have learned to be at the center, you will know that on the periphery you are always a beggar, and at the center you are always an emperor. And who wants to be a beggar?
Religion is the alchemy of transforming beggars into emperors.
A great Zen poet, Ikkyu, wrote:
CRAZY MADMAN,
BLOWING UP A CRAZY WIND,
WANDERING HERE AND THERE,
AMIDST BROTHELS AND WINE SHOPS.
IS THERE AN ENLIGHTENED MONK
WHO CAN MATCH ME
EVEN FOR A SINGLE WORD?
I PAINT THE SOUTH; I PAINT THE NORTH;
I AM PAINTING THE WEST AND EAST.
He is saying "People think I am crazy...." CRAZY MADMAN, BLOWING UP A CRAZY WIND, WANDERING HERE AND THERE, AMIDST BROTHELS AND WINE SHOPS.
An authentic buddha is not afraid of brothels and wine shops. The saints who are afraid are really repressed people; they are not transformed beings.
IS THERE AN ENLIGHTENED MONK WHO CAN MATCH ME?
A buddha can move with absolute freedom in the marketplace. Those who renounce the world are the cowards, the escapists, and they have destroyed all the religions of the world. All the religions are in the hands of the cowards.
An authentic religious man is a lion, and he is so centered in himself that he is not worried about being anywhere. He is so certain of his purity, of his eternity, of his divinity that he knows that if a thief comes to him, it is the thief who will have to change; if a prostitute comes to him, it is the prostitute who will have to change.
Our so-called saints are so much afraid. Their fear shows their repressions. A repressed man is not a religious man; he is simply sick, he needs psychiatric treatment.
Question 1
Maneesha has asked:
OUR BELOVED MASTER,
OUR LOVE FOR MUSIC, POETRY, DANCE, OUR
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