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Question - Beloved Osho,
Buddha had many enlightened people around him, yet he felt something
special for this one enlightened person. Is there something different in
enlightenments?
Osho - Yes, Buddha, had many enlightened persons around, but the key can
be given only to such a person who can become a master in his own right,
because the key is to be delivered on and on. It has to be kept alive.
It was not going to become a treasure for Mahakashyap; it was a great
responsibility, it had to be given to somebody else.
There were other enlightened persons but the key couldn't be given to
them; the key would be lost with them.
Really, Buddha chose the right person, because the key
is still alive. Mahakashyap did well. He could find another person who
would transfer it to somebody else. The question is to find the right
person. Just enlightened is not enough -- not all enlightened persons
are masters -- a distinction has to be made.
Jainas have a beautiful distinction; they have two types of enlightened
persons. One enlightened person is known as kaivali, one who has
attained to absolute aloneness. He has become perfect but he cannot be a
teacher, he cannot give this perfection to somebody else. He is not a
master, he cannot guide; he himself has become an ultimate peak, but
whatsoever he knows he cannot transmit in any way.
The other type of enlightened person is called tirthankara, one who
becomes a vehicle for others. He is enlightened, but he is also a master
of a certain art of communicating through words and communicating
through silence. He can deliver the message. Others can be enlightened
through him.
Buddha said, "Whatever can be said by words I have told you. That which
cannot be said by words I give to Mahakashyap."
Mahakashyap was the master of silence. Through his silence he could
teach. Others were masters of words, and through their words they could
teach and carry on the work. It was not so essential, it was on the
periphery; but that too was needed because Buddha's words had to be
recorded. What Buddha did had to be recorded and transferred from
generation to generation. This, too, was essential, but it existed on
the periphery. His scholars, Moggalayan, Sariputta, Ananda, would record
everything. That is a treasure.
Buddha was really happy: all should be recorded, not a
single word should be left, because, who knows, that single word may
become enlightenment to someone. But the silence also had to be carried.
So two traditions exist -- the tradition of the scripture and the
tradition of silence. Then many can become enlightened. And the moment
they become enlightened they become so silent, so content that not even
the desire to help others arises in them.
But Jainas say that the tirthankara is a person who
has gathered some karma -- and this is strange -- and has to fulfill
this karma by conveying the message to others. It is not a very good
thing; karma is not a very good thing. In his past life he has gathered
karma to be a master. It is not a good thing, because something has to
be done, something has to be completed, and he must do it; then his
karmas are fulfilled, then he is relieved completely. The desire to help
others is still a desire; compassion towards others is still energy
moving towards others. All desires have disappeared but one, to help
others. That too is a desire, and unless this desire also disappears
this man will have to come back.
So a master is one who has become enlightened, but one
desire is left. That desire is not a trouble in becoming enlightened --
to help others helps to become enlightened -- but you will still be
attached to the body. Only one stream, all sources cut, but one bridge
is there.
There were other enlightened persons, but the key could not be given to
them; it had to be given to Mahakashyap, because he had an inner desire
to help -- his past karmas. He could become a tirthankara; he could
become a perfect master. And he did well.
Buddha's choice was perfectly right -- because there
was one other of Buddha's disciples who could have been given the key.
His name was Subhuti. He was as silent as Mahakashyap, even more. It
will be difficult for you -- how silence, how perfection, can be more --
but it is possible. It is beyond ordinary arithmetic. You can be
perfect, and you can be even still more perfect, because perfection has
growth, it goes on growing infinitely.
Subhuti was the most silent man around Buddha, even
more than Mahakashyap. But the key could not be given to him because he
was so silent. It will be difficult now: you are entering a very complex
phenomenon. In the first place, he would not laugh, and the key could
not be given to him because he would not laugh. He was not there. He was
so silent, he was not there to laugh, he was not there to contain or not
to contain. Even if Buddha had called, "Subhuti, come!" he would not
have come. Buddha would have had to go to him.
It is related of Subhuti that one day he was sitting
under a tree, when suddenly out of season flowers started falling on
him. So he opened his eyes: What is the matter? The tree was not in
blossom, the season was not there; then from where, suddenly, these
millions of flowers? He looked and he saw many deities all around, above
the tree, in the sky, dropping flowers. He would not even ask the
deities what was the matter. He closed his eyes again.
Then those deities said to Subhuti, "We are thanking you for the sermon
you have given on emptiness."
And Subhuti said, "But I haven't said a single word, and you say you are
thanking me for the sermon that I have given on emptiness! I have not
spoken a single word."
The deities said, "You have not spoken and we have not heard -- that is
the perfect sermon on emptiness." He was so empty that the whole cosmos
felt it, and gods had to come to shower flowers on him.
This Subhuti was there, but he was so silent that he was not there. He
was not even bothered why Buddha was sitting with the flower.
Mahakashyap was -- not like the others, but still in a way. He looked at
Buddha, he felt the silence, he felt the absurdity, but there was one
who was feeling.
Subhuti must have been there somewhere, sitting. There arose no idea why
Buddha was sitting silently today, why he was looking at the flower;
then there was no effort to contain it, then there was no explosion.
Subhuti was there as if absolutely absent. He would not laugh, and if
Buddha had called he would not have come; Buddha would have had to go to
him. And no one knows -- if the key had been given to him, he might have
thrown it away. He was not a man meant to be a tirthankara, he was not a
man meant to be a teacher or a master. He had no past karmas. He was
perfect, so perfect, and whenever something is so perfect it becomes
useless. Remember, a person so perfect is useless, because you cannot
use him for any purpose.
Mahakashyap was not so perfect. Something was lacking and he could be
used, so in that gap the key could be put. The key was delivered to
Mahakashyap because he could be relied upon to deliver it to somebody
else. Subhuti was not reliable. Perfection, when absolute, just
disappears. It is not there in the world. You can shower flowers on it
but you cannot use it. That's why many enlightened persons were there,
but only one in particular, Mahakashyap, was chosen. He was a man who
could be used for this great responsibility.
This is strange. That's why I say ordinary arithmetic won't help,
because you will think that the key should be given to the most perfect.
But the most perfect will forget where he had put the key. The key
should be given to one who is almost perfect, just on the brink where
one disappears. And before he disappears he will hand over the key to
somebody else. To the ignorant the key cannot be given, to the most
perfect the key cannot be given. Someone has to be found who is just on
the boundary, who is passing from this world of ignorance to that world
of knowing, just on the boundary. Before he crosses the boundary this
time can be used and the key delivered. To find a successor is very
difficult, because the most perfect is useless.
I will tell you one event that happened just recently: Ramakrishna was
working on many disciples. Many attained, but nobody knows about them.
People know about Vivekananda, who never attained; the key was given to
Vivekananda who was not the most perfect, and not only was he not the
most perfect, but Ramakrishna wouldn't allow him to be perfect. And when
Ramakrishna felt that Vivekananda was going to enter into the perfect
samadhi, he called him and said, "Stop! Now I will keep the key with me
for this final entry, and only before your death, three days before, the
key will be returned to you." And only three days before Vivekananda
died, did he have a first taste of ecstasy, never before.
Vivekananda started crying and weeping and said, "Why are you so cruel
to me?"
Ramakrishna replied, "Something has to be done through you. You have to
go to the West, to the world; you have to give my message to people,
otherwise it will be lost."
There were others, but they were already in; he could not call them out.
They would not be interested in going to the West or around the world.
They would say that this was nonsense -- they were just like
Ramakrishna. Why would he not go himself? He was already in, and
somebody had to be used who was out. Those who are far out cannot be
used; those who are almost in, just near the door, can be used; and
before they enter they deliver the key to somebody else.
Mahakashyap was just near the door, fresh, entering into silence.
Silence became celebration and he had a desire to help. That desire has
been used. But Subhuti was impossible. He was the most buddhalike, the
most perfect, but when somebody is buddhalike he is useless. He can give
himself the secret key; there is no need to give it to him. Subhuti
never made anybody a disciple. He lived in perfect emptiness, and gods
had to serve him many times. And he never made a disciple; he never said
anything to anybody, everything was so perfect. Why bother? Why say
anything?
A master is fulfilling his past karmas. He has to fulfill them. And when
I have to find a successor, many will be there who will be like Subhutis:
they cannot be given the key. Many will be there who are like Sariputtas:
only words can be given to them. Somebody has to be found who is
entering silence, celebrating, and has been caught just near the door.
That is why. Related Articles:
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Father
Osho Enlightenment Experience
Osho on Gautam Buddha Enlightenment
Osho - Yes, enlightenment is
a Selfish search
Osho - The buddha is your destiny, the
fool is your reality
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