OSHO REFLECTION : ZEN STORIES # 8 -ZEN SAGE & THIEF
Osho : A sage is a person who has become enlightened. Now he has no choices.
For him nothing is bad and nothing is good. He has become natural. He is, just like a tree or like a hill, like a river or like the ocean. He has no mind to say anything, to interpret. He doesn’t divide.
It is said of one Zen master, one Zen sage.... He lived in a small hut three or four miles outside a village.
One night he found that a thief had entered his hut. He was very much disturbed, because there was nothing in the house, and this thief had traveled for three or four miles in the night and he would have to go back emptyhanded.
The sage started weeping and crying. The thief also became concerned. He said, ”What has happened? Why are you crying so much? Are you disturbed that I may take something from your hut?”
The sage said, ”No, that is not the thing, I am disturbed because there is nothing here. At least you could have been a little more gentlemanly, you could have informed me before; I would have arranged something for you to steal.
There is nothing – what will you think of me? And this is such an honor, that you traveled three or four miles in this night, this cold night, to come to my hut. No one has given such an honor to me before.
I am just a beggar and you have made me a king, just by the idea that something can be stolen from me.
And there is nothing, so I am crying. So what should I do now? You can take my blanket.”
He had only one blanket, otherwise he was naked, just under his blanket he was naked. And the night was very cold. He said to the thief, ”Please have some compassion on me and don’t say no, because I have nothing else to give to you. Take this blanket, and whenever you again think of visiting, just send a hint. I am poor, but still I will arrange something.”
The thief could not understand what was happening, but he saw the man crying and weeping so he took compassion on him; he couldn’t say no.
He took the blanket and disappeared. And that night this Zen monk wrote a small haiku, in which he said...
he was sitting still at his window, the night was cool, cold, the full moon was in the sky, and he says in his haiku:
God if I could give this moon to that thief....
This is the mind of a sage, or, the no-mind. With this same sage, again a thief happened to come to his hut. He was writing a letter, so he looked at the thief and said, ”For what have you come? What do you want?”
And this sage was so innocent that even the thief couldn’t tell a lie. So he said, ”Looking at you, so mirrorlike, so innocent like a child, I cannot tell a lie. Should I tell the truth?”
The sage said, ”Yes.”
He said, ”I have come to steal something.”
The sage said, ”There in that corner I have got a few rupees. You can take them” – and then he started to write his letter again.
The thief took the money, was trying to go out, and then the sage said, ”Stop! When somebody gives you something you should thank him. The money may not be of much help, but thanking a person will go a long way and will be of help to you. So thank me!” The thief thanked him and disappeared into the dark.
Later on the thief was caught, and it was discovered that he had been to this sage’s hut also, so the sage was called to the court. The sage said, ”Yes, I know this man very well – but he has never stolen anything from me. I gave him some rupees and he thanked me for them.
It is finished, it was nothing wrong. The whole thing is finished, the account is closed. I gave him some money and he thanked me for it. He is not a thief.”
This mind, or no-mind, of a sage is the base.
Source: from book “Vedanta: Seven Steps to Samadhi” by Osho
http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Stories/Zen/Sage_&_Thief.htm
Osho : A sage is a person who has become enlightened. Now he has no choices.
For him nothing is bad and nothing is good. He has become natural. He is, just like a tree or like a hill, like a river or like the ocean. He has no mind to say anything, to interpret. He doesn’t divide.
It is said of one Zen master, one Zen sage.... He lived in a small hut three or four miles outside a village.
One night he found that a thief had entered his hut. He was very much disturbed, because there was nothing in the house, and this thief had traveled for three or four miles in the night and he would have to go back emptyhanded.
The sage started weeping and crying. The thief also became concerned. He said, ”What has happened? Why are you crying so much? Are you disturbed that I may take something from your hut?”
The sage said, ”No, that is not the thing, I am disturbed because there is nothing here. At least you could have been a little more gentlemanly, you could have informed me before; I would have arranged something for you to steal.
There is nothing – what will you think of me? And this is such an honor, that you traveled three or four miles in this night, this cold night, to come to my hut. No one has given such an honor to me before.
I am just a beggar and you have made me a king, just by the idea that something can be stolen from me.
And there is nothing, so I am crying. So what should I do now? You can take my blanket.”
He had only one blanket, otherwise he was naked, just under his blanket he was naked. And the night was very cold. He said to the thief, ”Please have some compassion on me and don’t say no, because I have nothing else to give to you. Take this blanket, and whenever you again think of visiting, just send a hint. I am poor, but still I will arrange something.”
The thief could not understand what was happening, but he saw the man crying and weeping so he took compassion on him; he couldn’t say no.
He took the blanket and disappeared. And that night this Zen monk wrote a small haiku, in which he said...
he was sitting still at his window, the night was cool, cold, the full moon was in the sky, and he says in his haiku:
God if I could give this moon to that thief....
This is the mind of a sage, or, the no-mind. With this same sage, again a thief happened to come to his hut. He was writing a letter, so he looked at the thief and said, ”For what have you come? What do you want?”
And this sage was so innocent that even the thief couldn’t tell a lie. So he said, ”Looking at you, so mirrorlike, so innocent like a child, I cannot tell a lie. Should I tell the truth?”
The sage said, ”Yes.”
He said, ”I have come to steal something.”
The sage said, ”There in that corner I have got a few rupees. You can take them” – and then he started to write his letter again.
The thief took the money, was trying to go out, and then the sage said, ”Stop! When somebody gives you something you should thank him. The money may not be of much help, but thanking a person will go a long way and will be of help to you. So thank me!” The thief thanked him and disappeared into the dark.
Later on the thief was caught, and it was discovered that he had been to this sage’s hut also, so the sage was called to the court. The sage said, ”Yes, I know this man very well – but he has never stolen anything from me. I gave him some rupees and he thanked me for them.
It is finished, it was nothing wrong. The whole thing is finished, the account is closed. I gave him some money and he thanked me for it. He is not a thief.”
This mind, or no-mind, of a sage is the base.
Source: from book “Vedanta: Seven Steps to Samadhi” by Osho
http://www.messagefrommasters.com/Stories/Zen/Sage_&_Thief.htm
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