If It Could Happen To Buddha, Why Not You: Understanding the Ancient Secrets of Self Awareness

Techniques

PREFACE

In view of the constraints of time we face today, I feel it is more useful that ideas and discourses be given as briefly as possible to make a point succinctly. The purpose of this book, therefore, is neither to ‘teach’, nor to ‘convince’. It is basically a sharing of what I have learned on the spiritual path and what has helped me in my personal growth. Not all is intended to be covered, nor all is intended to be explained—what is covered is seen as enough to focus on selected aspects of spiritual growth.

The insights shared here have worked for me; maybe they will work for you, too. There are pointers given by enlightened beings. They also show the path, the process, and the potential within us so that we may attain the same state of consciousness that Buddha and many others have attained before. I also feel learning from these insights can prove to be highly educational and encouraging.

I wish to express my gratitude to Dr Earl Anderson, Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Cleveland State University (CSU), for his consideration and support in the publication of this book. The India Scholar Program at

CSU was initiated by Dr K.C. Bhaiji. I am indebted to him for inviting me to teach Eastern Religions and Hinduism under this programme since 1999. I have dedicated this book to the memory of late Dr Bhushan Wadhwa, professor of mathematics at CSU, whose support and care made my participation in this academic programme a personally enriching and rewarding experience. I am equally grateful to CSU and the Indian community of Greater Cleveland for creating the India Scholar Program and having me to contribute to its success.

This book contains various meditation techniques taught by the enlightened mystic and a prolific author, osho. I have drawn from his vision and techniques because I find them immensely valuable for our times.

Dr Vasant Joshi

INTRODUCTION

It is said, once a young man came to see Gautam Buddha. The man was skeptical about Buddha’s enlightenment and divine presence. ‘Does the Blessed one teach a path which is new and original?’ the man asked.

One of Buddha’s close and illustrious disciples, Sariputta, turned his attention from Buddha, looked at the skeptic and said, ‘If the Blessed one taught a path that was new and original, He would not be a Blessed One!’

Looking graciously at Sariputta, Buddha smiled and said, ‘Well said, Sariputta, well said!’

Being on a spiritual path, I have learned that information can be new or old, but truth is not information. Regardless of who sees the truth—Buddha, Jesus, Kabir, Rumi, Osho, Ramana Maharshi you or I—it comes as an experience which springs forth from one’s innermost core. It certainly is not a mind-product.

Reflecting upon Buddha’s story, I wonder: can experiences of truth, love, compassion, be ‘new’ and ‘original’? Can love be new or old? Can compassion be ancient or modern? We can say truth is both, old and new, or neither. Love and compassion are fresh, novel and alive experiences regardless of time and space. Truth simply is, love is, compassion is—their is-ness never goes through any mutation. It matures, but never mutates.

Because truth has been seen, discovered, realised so many times, a skeptic can say, ‘What is new?’ But when Buddha knows the truth, the truth known by the sages before him does not become old. In fact, it becomes new again because Buddha has attained it in a new way, in his own way. It is original because it has originated the first time through Buddha. Since truth has been seen so many times, one can easily confuse it with information.

Science is either new or old. When Albert Einstein, for example, finds something, Issac Newton’s discovery becomes old. Einstein brings more information; his research brings new facts, which were not known to Newton. Thus we come across new scientific theories, and the Nobel Prize is given in recognition of the novelty of ideas. Buddha is not building upon what seekers have found before him. All that may be relevant for his search, but is not crucial to work with. What others before him found is so personal, so uniquely discovered, that there is no way Buddha could replicate it or recycle it. Buddha’s discovery is his individual achievement—very special, very distinct, and very new.

How Gautam Siddhartha became a Buddha is a story of selftransformation, not a chronicle of how information was refined further, applied and disseminated. He never claimed to be other than a human being—earnest, authentic but very ordinary. He attributed his spiritual search, his self-realisation to human effort, human understanding and human intelligence. That every human being is a potential Buddha was not a matter of belief or theory for him, it was his firm conviction based on his own discovery. His ultimate message to humanity is crystallised and coded in two of his powerful declarations: sammasati, remember you are a Buddha, and, appa dipo bhava, be a light unto yourself.

In the stories and teachings of self-realised beings, such as Buddha and many others before and after him, I find significant pointers, which if understood, made instrumental in one’s search, and lived, can help in the evolution of one’s consciousness and in the realisation of one’s Buddha-hood.

The paths Buddhas have followed may or may not be for everyone, but the processes of awareness, discovery and transformation they went through is intrinsically relevant and valuable to experiencing enlightenment.

For the strategic application of pointers and the process in the pursuit of enlightenment what is also required, I have found, is the preparation led by techniques, skills and methods of meditation, which may create an opening within us to be receptive and available to the pointers and the process.

PART I

POINTERS

CHAPTER 1

WE THE HUMANS

Unchecked industrialisation and urban growth, the culture of consumerism and the explosion in population, the race for nuclear armaments and the increase of religious fundamentalism—all this has brought mankind to the critical point of making a choice: either self-annihilation or self-transformation.

Broadly speaking, some of the current problem areas critically affecting the individual, the society and the environment include:

Dysfunctional relationships and mental stress

The withering away of the family structure

Crime and violence

Poverty

Environmental problems, of which there are many

Even a cursory look around the world will show that we have become worshippers of death, disease and destruction. We humans are a strange species. We first create conditions for hurting ourselves, and then we debate and argue; we hold conferences and summits to find out how to deal with their disastrous effects. We first create situations that drift us into war and violence, and then we go to churches, mosques and temples to pray for peace. We first create dirt, filth, garbage, poisonous gases, and then we talk about ecology and look for environmental safety. The deaf, dumb and blind political machinery has pursued such policies of economic development that have raped the earth and hurt the planet.

Instead of providing leadership to bring about an attitudinal change in the ignorant masses, instead of teaching them and showing them how to develop a scientific way of looking at the human existence, the scientist has been toeing the line of politicians and helping them fulfil their ambitions. Instead of taking a courageous, independent stand and refusing to follow the suicidal direction, the scientist continues to work for the vested interests.

Mother Earth is hurt, people are faced with violence, nations are at each other’s throats, drugs are destroying human lives and yet leaders at the helm of religious affairs are behaving like ostriches. What they have been giving are canons, catechism and consolation.

What the world needs is transformation of consciousness. Like politicians, religious leaders also make promises: they promise paradise. But like politicians, they also let the earth be turned into an unspeakable hell.

The fundamental problem facing humanity as a whole is not only that of a polluted environment but also that of polluted minds. Greed and violence, deforestation and global warming, racial and ethnic tensions, religious fundamentalism and blind nationalism are all manifestations of a functionally polluted human mind.

Ecology of the mind, therefore, is the prerequisite for restoring environmental ecology, human dignity and international solidarity. In our frenzy for material gain and worldly power, we have lost touch with the living bridge—the bridge of feeling and of healthy emotion, which binds human life to the cosmic web of life. We are cut off from Nature and from each other because we are cut off from our own hearts.

Human society has gone through an agricultural revolution, followed by the industrial revolution. Now, experts say, we need to go through an ecological revolution. But none of these revolutions will have any lasting impact and benefit until we can bring about a spiritual revolution—a worldwide recognition that we are the Nature, we are the world, and we are the life.

As we are now in the twenty-first century, looking at the millennium that has passed, we can see a wounded civilisation, a civilisation that needs an enormous amount of healing. How did we become a wounded civilisation? Arthur Koestler says, ‘Somewhere along our evolutionary process, we developed a hardware fault, our brains became miss-wired, leading us to be born with an inherently violent, aggressive nature.’

Another possibility is that our underlying fault may be what the enlightened mystic, osho, calls a ‘software problem’—a bug, a virus in our thinking, our perception, our attitude, our conditioned behaviour. The real confusion is we don’t really know what we want, what our priorities are, and how to go about meeting them.

For example, we want to live, but in the name of nationalism, religion, race and other such divisions, our energy is directed towards death and destruction. We yearn for progress and material growth but the means and methods we apply to achieve them end up destroying the planet’s ecological balance, our very life. We show our concern about increasing poverty, but we do very little to control population, to apply vigorous contraceptive methods, or to direct our resources away from building armies and armaments. We talk about freedom and equality in society, but we treat 50 percent of the human population, women, as inferior, incompetent ‘doormats’. We unashamedly carry our biases, racial prejudices and sense of ethnic superiority.

This schizophrenic state of humanity has its roots in the way we are hypnotised. No wonder we are wounded, we act in a hypnotic state not knowing what we are doing and why we are doing the things we are doing. The sources which cause this hypnosis are diverse in nature and scope. Mainly, however, as individuals and as society on the whole, we are culturally hypnotised, programmed by family, religion, politics, media and the market.

Basically, we are facing a cultural crisis. We have caused wounds to ourselves. We need to heal ourselves. Healing has to begin with oneself; only a healthy individual can help another. One view is, and it is a very common view, change the society, create more laws and law enforcement, change the system and that will bring order, well-being and happiness to all. This view believes there is no need to bother about changing the individual, the inner world; just make the outer world different and it will benefit the individual.

How, one may ask, can an individual, born and brought up in the very society, the system, the structure that has ingrained strong ideas and views, change it? An individual or a group of individuals