Turning In

CHAPTER 1

The absolute host
12 August 1988 pm in Gautam the Buddha Auditorium

OUR BELOVED MASTER,
RYUSUI SAID:
EMPTINESS IS A NAME FOR NOTHINGNESS, A NAME FOR UNGRASPABILITY, A NAME FOR
MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, THE WHOLE EARTH. IT IS ALSO CALLED THE REAL FORM. IN THE
GREEN OF THE PINES, THE TWIST OF THE BRAMBLES, THERE IS NO GOING OR COMING.
IN THE RED OF THE FLOWERS AND THE WHITE OF THE SNOW, THERE IS NO BIRTH AND
NO DEATH.
JOY, ANGER, LOVE, PLEASURE – THESE ARE BEGINNINGLESS AND ENDLESS
DELUSION. ENLIGHTENMENT, PRACTICE, REALIZATION – THESE ARE INEXHAUSTIBLE AND
BOUNDLESS. THUS, EMPTINESS IS THE NAME FOR NOTHING ELSE; ALL THINGS ARE THE
REAL FORM. IN ALL WORLDS, IN ALL DIRECTIONS, THERE IS NO SECOND, NO THIRD.
THEREFORE, IN THE FUNDAMENTAL VEHICLE THERE IS NO DELUSION OR
ENLIGHTENMENT, NO PRACTICE OR REALIZATION. EVEN TO SPEAK OF PRACTICE AND
REALIZATION IS A RELATIVE VIEW.
IN OUR SCHOOL, FROM THE FIRST ENTRY, THIS POINT SHOULD BE PRACTICED WHETHER
SITTING, LYING DOWN, OR WALKING AROUND. WHEN SLEEPING, JUST SLEEPING, THERE
IS NO PAST OR FUTURE. WHEN YOU AWAKEN, THERE IS NO SLEEP EITHER. THIS IS
CALLED THE ABSOLUTE HOST.

Maneesha, Ryusui is pointing to a very fundamental question which Gautam Buddha raised for the
first time in human history.

The question is, is enlightenment something to be achieved, desired, longed for? If so, then
there must be practices, disciplines, rituals, and the whole paraphernalia. And millions of people
have gone astray in search of enlightenment. Buddha is the first human being who has said that
everything is absolutely arbitrary because you need not go anywhere. Enlightenment is your very
nature.

It is consciousness that you are built with; this house, this body is not you. And this mind also is not
you. And there is not much problem to stand aside and watch the mind and its functioning, to stand
aside and watch the gestures of the body. This watcher is your reality, your truth. It is already here,
so don’t go in search somewhere else. Whenever, wherever you find it, you will always find it here
and now. Now is the time and here is the space. If you can be now here, you are a Gautam Buddha.
I have heard a small story about a man who was a great atheist. The whole day he was arguing
against religion, against all kinds of superstitions. He had written in his sitting room in big letters:

GOD IS NOWHERE.

Then a small child was born to him.

One day the small child was looking at the writing. He was just learning to write, learning the
alphabet, so he could not manage to read GOD IS NOWHERE; on the contrary, he read: GOD IS
NOW HERE – nowhere can be divided into two.

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