Question 1

Maneesha has asked:

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

IS OUR ORIGINAL FACE THAT OF THE WITNESS? IS IT THAT WE LIVE AS AMNESIACS, FORGETTING THAT WE HAVE ONLY ARBITRARILY ADOPTED A BODY AND MIND, AND THAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS SIMPLY REGAINING OUR MEMORY?

Yes, Maneesha. You have condensed in your question the whole answer.

But she goes on writing:

P.S. WHY DO YOU CALL ME "POOR" MANEESHA?

Stonehead Niskriya, give a good hit to poor Maneesha.

 (NISKRIYA TAPS MANEESHA LIGHTLY ON THE HEAD WITH HIS ZEN STICK.)

I call you "poor Maneesha" because there is a poverty of the outer world, and there is a poverty of the inner world. I am against the poverty of the outer world, but I am not against the poverty of the inner world. The poverty of the inner world means: no ego, no pride, no arrogance, pure humbleness, as if you are not. And what begins "as if" soon you find it is so. There is no need to call it "as if."

Whenever I call you, Maneesha, "poor Maneesha," that is to wake in you a silence, a peace, a blossom, a spring.

Because of this, Buddha used to call his sannyasins -- against the whole tradition of India -- bhikkshu, the beggar. But he is a beggar on the outside. The more beggarly he becomes on the outside, the richer becomes his inner being.

The poverty of a humble man, the poverty of an innocent man, the poverty of a silent meditative man is not a poverty. Through this poverty you are attaining the whole world. The whole blue sky becomes smaller than you.

Now it is time for Sardar Gurudayal Singh.

It is that fateful day on Calvary Hill. Jesus has been hanging from his cross for hours, and he is getting weaker and weaker.

Suddenly he sees Moseki, his Polish disciple, among the faces in the crowd below.

"Moseki, Moseki," gasps Jesus to the Polack. "Moseki, come here; I have a message for you and your people."

Moseki shimmies up the cross, bringing his ear next to Jesus and says, "Yes, Lord, what is the message for us Polacks?"

"The times are dangerous for my Polish disciples," whispers Jesus, "so until I come back, just play dumb!"

Little Ernie walks into his parents' bedroom and sees his father putting on a condom.

"Hey, Dad," says Little Ernie. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, er... I am going out to hunt rabbits," stammers his embarrassed father.

"Really?" says Ernie. "What are you going to do when you reach them, Dad? Fuck them?"

Little Ernie and Little Sally are discussing what big boys and girls do together when they are alone at night.

"What do you think they do?" asks Sally.

"I'm not sure," replies Ernie. "But I know a way of finding out. Tonight, when my sister Suzy takes her boyfriend Herbert into the sitting room, I will hide behind the curtains and watch them."

"Great idea!" says Little Sally. "Then you can tell me all about it tomorrow."

The next morning, the two little kids meet.

"Sally!" cries Little Ernie, excitedly. "You won't believe what happened last night. I was playing behind the sofa, when my sister, Suzy, and her boyfriend, Herbert, came home. They sat on the sofa and did not know I was there.

"They talked for a while, then Herbert turned off most of the lights. Suzy must have been cold, because he put his arms around her back and blew hot breath on her neck.

"I guessed she must have been feeling sick, because her face looked funny. He must have thought so too, because he put his hand inside her blouse to feel her heart -- just like the doctor. Except he is not as smart as the doctor, because he seemed to have trouble finding it!

"I guess he was feeling sick too, because pretty soon both of them started panting and getting all out of breath. His other hand must have been pretty cold because he put it under her skirt.

"About this time, Suzy got worse and began to moan and groan and started squirming around and slid down to the end of the sofa.

"This is when the fever started! I know it was a fever because Suzy told Herbert she was getting really hot.

"Finally, I found out what was making them sick. A big snake jumped out of Herbert's pants, and stood there -- it was about ten inches long! It was incredible! Suzy got really scared. Her eyes got big and her mouth fell open and she started saying, `MY GOD!' and stuff like that. She said it was the biggest one she had ever seen!

"Anyway, Suzy got braver and tried to kill it by biting its head off! I guess it bit her back, because suddenly she made a noise and let go. Then she grabbed it with both hands and held it tight while Herbert took a plastic muzzle from his pocket and put it over the snake's head to keep it from biting again.

"Then Suzy and Herbert lay back on the sofa and tried to squash the snake between them. But the snake put up a hell of a fight. They both started groaning and squealing and almost turned over the sofa! And after a long struggle they finally stopped and gave a big sigh.

"When Herbert got up, I could tell that the snake was dead. It was all limp and just hanging there.

"You know, Sally, I think they are the bravest people I know."

"Why is that?" asks Sally.

"Because," replies Ernie, "as Herbert was leaving, he and Sally decided to do the same thing again next week!"

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

(Gibberish)

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Be silent. Close your eyes. Feel your body to be completely frozen. Now look inwards with your total consciousness, with an urgency as if this is the last moment, and pierce into the very center of your being.

Your center is also the center of the universe. We are all connected at the center. On the circumference we have different personalities.

Deeper and deeper.

This is your very life source. Go deep into it, it will refresh you, rejuvenate you. It will bring freedom to you from all the nonsense that societies have poured into your mind.

This moment you are the buddha. Just witnessing, doing nothing -- the same mirror that Isan has sent to Kyozan as a gift. The mirror only witnesses.

To make it clear,

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Relax and witness the body is separate from you, the mind is separate from you. Your only identity is witnessing. The Sanskrit word for witnessing is buddha.

You are those few blessed people on the earth today, who are entering on the ancient golden path which leads you to eternity, immortality. Slowly slowly you start melting, and Gautam the Buddha Auditorium becomes a pure lake of consciousness: one buddha you all share.

Do you see the change in your inner climate?

Has not the spring come?

Are not flowers of joy showering over you?

Is not this moment the most precious, because you are at home? To be a buddha simply means to be at home.

Soon Nivedano will be calling you awake. Before he gives his beat, collect as much of the experience as possible. Bring all those flowers to your circumference.

The ultimate in the search for truth is to bring the hidden buddha into your day-to-day actions, gestures, words, silences.

Nivedano...

(Drumbeat)

Come back, but remember you are coming with the grace of buddha, with the silence and the joy of the buddha.

Sit down for a few moments just to recollect, to remember where you have been, the golden path that you have gone on; and you have returned back on the same path. One has to go on repeating -- going in, coming out, going in, coming out -- and slowly slowly the going becomes so deep that you need not come back, you can remain a buddha in the world.

I am against all renunciation. My philosia is to live in this beautiful world with grace and love and blissfulness.

It is a great opportunity to blossom. Don't miss it.

Okay, Maneesha?