FIRST THINGS FIRST: HAVE A CUP OF TEA!

A Zen Story:

Joshu, the Zen master, asked a new monk in the monastery, 'Have I seen you before?'

The new monk replied, 'No sir.'

Joshu said, 'Then have a cup of tea.'

Joshu then turned to another monk, 'Have I seen you here before?

The second monk said, 'Yes sir, of course you have.'

Joshu said, 'Then have a cup of tea.'

Later the managing monk of the monastery asked Joshu, 'How is it you make the same offer of tea to any reply?'

At this Joshu shouted, 'Manager, are you still here?'

The manager replied, 'Of course, Master.'

Joshu said, 'Then have a cup of tea.'

The story is simple, but difficult to understand. It is always so. The more simple a thing the more difficult it is to understand.
To understand, something complex is needed; to understand, you have to divide and analyze. A simple thing cannot be divided and analyzed-there is nothing to divide and analyze; the thing is so simple.

The simplest always escapes understanding; that is why god cannot be understood. God is the simplest thing, absolutely the simplest thing possible.

If you and I are in a room and you ask me, 'Who are you?' I can at least say I am not you. This will become the definition, the indication.
But if I am alone in a room and I ask myself the question, 'Who am I?' the question resounds but there is no answer. How to define it?

I was just reading one Christian theologian's book.
He says God is everything except evil. This, too, is enough to define. He says, 'All except evil'-this much will draw a boundary. He is not aware: if God is 'everything' then from where does this evil come?

It must be coming from 'everything.' Otherwise there is some other source of existence besides God, and that other source of existence becomes equivalent to God.

Then evil can never be destroyed, then it has its own source of existence; then evil is not dependent on God, so how can God destroy it? God will not destroy it. Once evil is destroyed God cannot be defined. To define him he needs the Devil to be there always, just around him.

Saints need sinners; otherwise they would not be there. How will you know who is a saint? Every saint needs sinners around him; those sinners make the boundary.

''The first thing to be understood is that complex things can be understood, simple things cannot. A simple thing is alone.''

This Zen story about Joshu is very simple. It is so simple it escapes you: you try to grip it; you try to grab it - it escapes. It is so simple that your mind cannot work on it. Try to feel the story. I will not say try to understand because you cannot understand it - try to feel the story.

Many things are hidden within it if you try to feel them; if you try to understand it nothing is there - the whole anecdote is absurd.

Osho, 
A Bird on the Wing, Talk #4