Osho Rajneesh Book "The Transmission of the Lamp"

The Transmission of the Lamp

When it is ripe, the heart opens
3 June 1986 am in Punta Del Este, Uruguay.
Question 1

BELOVED OSHO,

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MASTER-AND-DISCIPLE RELATIONSHIP NOW,

AND IN THE DAYS OF BUDDHA AND BODHIDHARMA? IT SEEMS THAT THOUSANDS OF

YEARS AGO A NEW DISCIPLE, UPON MEETING A MASTER, OFTEN HAD A SUDDEN,

DRAMATIC REALIZATION THAT OPENED HIM UP TO A STATE OF AVAILABILITY – UNKNOWN IN THE PRESENT TIME. IT WAS AS IF THE MASTER COULD SLAY THE DISCIPLE WITH ONE STROKE OF THE SWORD. TO MODERN MAN, THOSE DRAMATIC JUMPS ARE SO RARE. HIS AVAILABILITY IS SO PARTIAL, HIS COMMITMENT SO FRAGMENTED, THAT THE MASTER MUST DELIVER A THOUSAND STROKES OF HIS SWORD TO SLAY THE DRAGON. PLEASE COMMENT.

There are many things which have changed as the centuries have passed. First, the search for truth

used to be the only search that any man of genius would undertake. There was no other search in

competition with it. For the man of genius there was only one thing, and that was truth. Naturally

the highest quality of intelligence came to the masters. And to be a disciple is not an ordinary thing.

It needs immense intelligence, great trust, total surrender.

Today the situation on this point is totally different. The genius mind is most probably attracted

towards some scientific research, to become a great scientist, an Albert Einstein, to become a

mathematician, to become a painter, a musician. There are many choices. The genius is rarely

interested in the search for truth. He comes to realize it only when his search – whatever he was

doing – has come to an end and he feels unfulfilled and cannot see a way leading anywhere. All

goals are missed because he has made a certain goal, he has achieved it, but it gives no satisfaction

– not even to Albert Einstein.

Although his name will remain as one of the greatest scientists ever, it gave him no contentment.

Inwardly he was frustrated. At the moment of death he said, ”If there is another life – the way the

Hindus believe – I would like to be a plumber rather than a physicist.” What he is saying is he would

like to be a nobody, a plumber, rather than being a celebrity because physics is enriched by his

effort but he remains poor. Physics is certainly enriched. Without Albert Einstein it would have been

a different story. He influenced all the spheres of life, but his own life remained empty – and this

recognition came too late, and even when it came there was nobody he could turn to.

Geniuses have gone on different adventures.

Secondly, there are very few masters available. There are only teachers because religions have not

allowed masters to exist. Every master is a danger to the establishment – religious, political, social

– whatever it is. He cannot say but the truth, and the whole establishment is based on lies, lies upon

lies.

So down the ages, slowly, slowly, they have crucified masters, poisoned masters, killed masters.

Slowly, slowly the phenomenon of a master has become very rare.

Even if someone comes to the state of realization he remains silent because very few people like

crucifixion, and very few people like to be condemned by the whole world.

And the problem is, unless the master declares himself, there is nobody else who can declare him.

There is nobody else who is above him. So it is up to him to keep silent or to take on himself all the

antagonism and venom of the ugly people who are in power all over the world.

So in the first place, very few people reach to that state, because the people who might have reached

are working in the world of chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy.

There are three hundred and sixty-five departments in Oxford University and each department needs

geniuses to go deeper into its subject. And there is not a single department in those three hundred

and sixty-five departments for mysticism.

So rarely by chance circumstances does somebody move into the world of mysticism. He may

become a mystic, but he remains silent.

And the place of the master has been taken by the teacher, and a teacher is thousands of miles

away from truth. He repeats only the borrowed knowledge that he has got from the scriptures, from

the elders, from the universities, from the libraries – he collects it, he’s a good collector. And he

preaches it as if it is his experience.

These teachers cannot help anybody to realize. On the contrary, these teachers put off thousands

of people from the very search because as you come closer to them you find that it is an ordinary

man, just a little more knowledgeable.

But knowledge can be accumulated sitting in a library. There is no need to surrender, no need to

trust, no need to be devoted and committed. Books don’t ask you for anything..

And as they come closer they can see that he is an intellectual but not an intelligent man, and these

are two different things. An intellectual is just a memory system, his memory is full, he’s a well-fed

computer.

Intelligence is a totally different thing. It may not know anything in particular, but its capacity to know

is very sharp. Its receptivity towards truth is very clear.

So these teachers of different religions, different cults – first, they don’t help anybody; secondly, they

disappoint many to such an extent that people are simply put off – they simply forget all about truth,

mysticism, the mystic path, the masters. The teacher has created a barrier for them because he has

proved wrong, the whole search seems to be hocus-pocus, and people are exploiting.

Many other things have changed.

One is that in the ancient days, people were simple, innocent, childlike. The work of the master was

very easy. They were open and they could be read like a book, and the master could see where a

few touches are needed and the man will be awakened.

I will tell you a few stories and you can see the difference – if those things happened today what will

happen?

Lin Chi, a great Zen master, had many disciples and he had given them the famous koan of ”The

Sound of One Hand Clapping” to meditate on and report whenever they had found the answer.

One disciple was very innocent. He will come everyday to report – anything. He was so simple,

just childlike. Sitting with closed eyes, he will think, ”One hand clapping... the sound. It must be the

wind passing through the pine trees. It makes a beautiful sound.” And he will run. He has found the

answer.

And the master will say, ”You should think a little more. You seem to be in such a hurry. The koan

has been given to many disciples, months have passed, nobody has reported except you. Every

morning I am waiting for you. And you bring any kind of nonsense. Now what has one hand clapping

and making sound got to do with the wind passing through the pine trees? Just get lost! And don’t

make such a mistake again.”

But he was so innocent. He will go again. The next morning sitting silently he will listen... the

faraway sound of a cuckoo. And he will say, ”Now, I have got it! That old man cannot now say to me

‘get lost.’ ” And he went again.

It went on for two or three months and finally one day when the disciple came very joyously – again

he has found something – the master said, ”Keep quiet, because I can see you cannot find the sound

of one hand clapping. And after three months experience I know what you must have brought. I will

have to do something.”

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