Uniqueness
Comparison
Beyond superiority and inferiority
This osho discourse is related to this card;
especially the talk which starts from one star “＊”.
The Sun Rises in the Evening : chapter 4 question 7
＊ ＊ ＊
The Sun Rises in the Evening
chapter 4
Learn to Breathe this Air
question 7
Question 7
HOW CAN ANYONE WHO HAS NOT REALISED HIS TRUE BUDDHA NATURE HELP FEELING INFERIOR IN YOUR PRESENCE EVERY MORNING?
Krishna Prabhu, then there must be something wrong in your mind.
To feel inferior in my presence...?
And I go on provoking again and again that you are Buddhas.
Can you find anybody anywhere who will respect you more than I respect you?
My whole work consists of one thing:
reminding you that you are Buddhas,
that you are gods and goddesses,
that you have fallen in a dream and
you think of yourself as a beggar or a tramp,
but you are not.
Why should you feel inferior in my presence?
In my presence you should feel at the very top of the world, because I am not separate from you:
I am that which you can become any moment – this moment.
I am simply a representation of all that you can be.
How can you feel inferior in my presence?
There must be something else.
It is not my presence that makes you feel inferior,
it must be a very subtle ego somewhere deep down.
You want to feel superior in my presence – that is creating the trouble.
If you want to feel superior in my presence then you will feel inferior.
You are the cause of it, not my presence.
If you want to feel superior it will be difficult;
you will not be able to manage it.
You will fall short,
you will slip again and again, and then you will feel inferior.
Inferiority is created when you want to feel superior.
Inferiority is the shadow.
If you love me, who is inferior and who is superior?
In love all superiority, all inferiority, disappear.
The Master is not superior to the disciple;
the disciple is not inferior to the Master.
The Master knows, is aware of, the disciple’s perfection,
the disciple is not aware;
but nobody is inferior and nobody is superior.
And when a disciple bows down to the Master it is not because of inferiority, but because it is only in the presence of the Master that for the first time all inferiority disappears.
That’s why he bows down: it is out of gratitude, that ’It is only in your presence where I don’t feel rotten, where I don’t feel rubbish.
Where I don’t feel like a worm;
where suddenly my reality blooms.
It is only in your presence that I remember my own innermost core;
it is in your presence that my innermost flame burns bright, that I am aflame with love, with presence, with awareness – hence I bow down.
It is not because of any inferiority,
but because all inferiority disappears.
And I am not saying that when inferiority disappears you start feeling superior.
When inferiority disappears,
all feeling of superiority also disappears.
They live together, they are together;
they cannot be separated.
The man who feels superior is still feeling inferior somewhere.
The man who feels inferior wants to feel superior somewhere.
They come in a pair;
they are always there together;
they cannot be separated.
The man who says
’I am humble’ is simply trying to prove himself superior;
he wants to be superior.
That’s what happens to your so-called saints:
they become humble but they don’t become simple.
’Simple’ means no inferiority, no superiority.
Can’t you visualize what I mean?
One simply is – no comparison.
Superiority, inferiority, arise out of comparison:
you start comparing.
＊
It happened...
A Zen Master was sitting in SATSANG,
his disciples were there, and a very proud man, a warrior, a samurai, came to see him.
The samurai was a very famous one, well-known all over the country, but looking at the Master, looking at the beauty of the Master and the grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior.
Maybe he had come with an unconscious desire to prove his superiority.
He said to the Master
’Why am I feeling inferior?
Just a moment before everything was okay.
As I entered into your court suddenly I felt inferior.
I have never felt like that.
My hands are shaking.
I am a warrior, I have faced death many times, and I have never felt any fear –
why am I feeling frightened?’
The Master said
’You wait.
When everybody has gone, I will answer.’
People continued coming, and the man was getting tired more and more tired, and by the evening the room was empty, there was nobody, and the samurai said
’Now, can you answer it?’
And the Master said
’Now, come out.’
A full moon night – the moon was just rising on the horizon...
And he said
’Look at these trees,
this tree high in the sky and this small tree.
They both have existed by the side of my window for years, and there has never been any problem,
the smaller tree has never said
”Why do I feel inferior before you?”
to the big tree.
How is it possible?
This tree is small, and that tree is big,
and I have never heard any whisper.’
The samurai said
’Because they can’t compare.’
The Master said
’Then you need not ask me;
you know the answer.’
Comparison brings inferiority, superiority.
When you don’t compare,
all inferiority, all superiority, disappear.
Then you are, you are simply there.
A small bush or a big high tree – it doesn’t matter;
you are yourself.
You are needed.
A grass leaf is needed as much as the biggest star.
Without the grass leaf God will be less than he is.
This sound of the cuckoo is needed as much as any Buddha;
the world will be less,
will be less rich if this cuckoo disappears.
Just look around.
All is needed, and everything fits together.
It is an organic unity:
nobody is higher and nobody is lower,
nobody superior, nobody inferior.
Everybody is incomparably unique.
If you cannot feel this in my presence,
where are you going to feel it?
Every day, morning, evening, I bow down to you just to remind you that you are perfect, that nothing is lacking, that you are already there – not even a single step has to be taken, that from the very beginning everything is as it should be.
This is religious consciousness.
from osho talks
from osho transformation tarot
The Sun Rises in the Evening
Talks on Zen
Talks given from 11/06/78 am to 20/06/78 am
English Discourse series
Chapter 4
Chapter title: Learn to Breathe this Air
14 June 1978 am in Buddha Hall
The free downloading of all chapters of this osho discourse, please click here.
＊ ＊ ＊
beloved osho
”The last word of Buddha was, sammasati.
Remember that you are a buddha – sammasati.”
sammasati
It means right remembrance.
meditation & love
osho samadhi
