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Rakesh Joshi
Rakesh Joshi
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Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery – because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams – you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen.

Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can’t exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you are living, desire disappears.

Have you not seen in some psychology books a certain picture of an old woman? And in the same picture, in those same lines, is hidden a beautiful young woman – both are there. But if you look at the old woman, then you cannot see the young woman. If you look at the young woman, then suddenly the old woman disappears. They are BOTH there in the same lines, but you can see only one at a time. Your gestalt changes. When you are looking at the young face, then those lines are making a new pattern. Because of this pattern, the other pattern cannot be seen. When you start seeing the old woman, the young woman recedes back; because of the old woman’s pattern, you cannot see the new woman’s pattern. You cannot see both together. Because you cannot see both together, whenever you are with one the other becomes non-existential to you. And you know both are there; still you cannot see.

Exactly the same is the case with desire and life. If you desire, life is no more there; you stop living. The same energy becomes desire, so no more energy is available to live. When you start living, desire disappears because the same energy has become life; you cannot desire any more.

But what happened? People listened to Buddha and they thought, ”He must be right. He says. ’With desire there is misery,’ So now we will desire desirelessness. How to attain desirelessness.?” Now they are ready to go on another journey of desire. Just the OBJECT of desire has changed. first they were thinking how to have more money, how to have more power, how to go to New Delhi, Washington, London, Moscow; now, their goal has changed – how to attain NIRVANA, MOKSHA, God, desirelessness.

But the object is there, and with the object the desire ii there. They have committed something very absurd. They missed the point. Buddha is not saying to create a new desire. Buddha is simply saying: Understand desire. Look into desire and you will find misery. Once this understanding has penetrated deep into your being, that desire is misery, then the problem has disappeared. Then you don’t desire at all. And, when you don’t desire, there is desirelessness.

Desirelessness cannot be desired; MOKSHA cannot be desired; God cannot be desired. If you desire, God has become an object of lust. You are again in the same trap – with a new label, but the disease is the same. Maybe the skin is new, but the wine is old.

Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery – because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams – you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen.

Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can’t exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you are living, desire disappears.

Have you not seen in some psychology books a certain picture of an old woman? And in the same picture, in those same lines, is hidden a beautiful young woman – both are there. But if you look at the old woman, then you cannot see the young woman. If you look at the young woman, then suddenly the old woman disappears. They are BOTH there in the same lines, but you can see only one at a time. Your gestalt changes. When you are looking at the young face, then those lines are making a new pattern. Because of this pattern, the other pattern cannot be seen. When you start seeing the old woman, the young woman recedes back; because of the old woman’s pattern, you cannot see the new woman’s pattern. You cannot see both together. Because you cannot see both together, whenever you are with one the other becomes non-existential to you. And you know both are there; still you cannot see.

Exactly the same is the case with desire and life. If you desire, life is no more there; you stop living. The same energy becomes desire, so no more energy is available to live. When you start living, desire disappears because the same energy has become life; you cannot desire any more.

But what happened? People listened to Buddha and they thought, ”He must be right. He says. ’With desire there is misery,’ So now we will desire desirelessness. How to attain desirelessness.?” Now they are ready to go on another journey of desire. Just the OBJECT of desire has changed. first they were thinking how to have more money, how to have more power, how to go to New Delhi, Washington, London, Moscow; now, their goal has changed – how to attain NIRVANA, MOKSHA, God, desirelessness.

But the object is there, and with the object the desire ii there. They have committed something very absurd. They missed the point. Buddha is not saying to create a new desire. Buddha is simply saying: Understand desire. Look into desire and you will find misery. Once this understanding has penetrated deep into your being, that desire is misery, then the problem has disappeared. Then you don’t desire at all. And, when you don’t desire, there is desirelessness.

Desirelessness cannot be desired; MOKSHA cannot be desired; God cannot be desired. If you desire, God has become an object of lust. You are again in the same trap – with a new label, but the disease is the same. Maybe the skin is new, but the wine is old.

Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery – because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams – you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen.

Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can’t exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you are living, desire disappears.

Have you not seen in some psychology books a certain picture of an old woman? And in the same picture, in those same lines, is hidden a beautiful young woman – both are there. But if you look at the old woman, then you cannot see the young woman. If you look at the young woman, then suddenly the old woman disappears. They are BOTH there in the same lines, but you can see only one at a time. Your gestalt changes. When you are looking at the young face, then those lines are making a new pattern. Because of this pattern, the other pattern cannot be seen. When you start seeing the old woman, the young woman recedes back; because of the old woman’s pattern, you cannot see the new woman’s pattern. You cannot see both together. Because you cannot see both together, whenever you are with one the other becomes non-existential to you. And you know both are there; still you cannot see.

Exactly the same is the case with desire and life. If you desire, life is no more there; you stop living. The same energy becomes desire, so no more energy is available to live. When you start living, desire disappears because the same energy has become life; you cannot desire any more.

But what happened? People listened to Buddha and they thought, ”He must be right. He says. ’With desire there is misery,’ So now we will desire desirelessness. How to attain desirelessness.?” Now they are ready to go on another journey of desire. Just the OBJECT of desire has changed. first they were thinking how to have more money, how to have more power, how to go to New Delhi, Washington, London, Moscow; now, their goal has changed – how to attain NIRVANA, MOKSHA, God, desirelessness.

But the object is there, and with the object the desire ii there. They have committed something very absurd. They missed the point. Buddha is not saying to create a new desire. Buddha is simply saying: Understand desire. Look into desire and you will find misery. Once this understanding has penetrated deep into your being, that desire is misery, then the problem has disappeared. Then you don’t desire at all. And, when you don’t desire, there is desirelessness.

Desirelessness cannot be desired; MOKSHA cannot be desired; God cannot be desired. If you desire, God has become an object of lust. You are again in the same trap – with a new label, but the disease is the same. Maybe the skin is new, but the wine is old.

Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery – because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams – you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen.

Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can’t exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you are living, desire disappears.

Have you not seen in some psychology books a certain picture of an old woman? And in the same picture, in those same lines, is hidden a beautiful young woman – both are there. But if you look at the old woman, then you cannot see the young woman. If you look at the young woman, then suddenly the old woman disappears. They are BOTH there in the same lines, but you can see only one at a time. Your gestalt changes. When you are looking at the young face, then those lines are making a new pattern. Because of this pattern, the other pattern cannot be seen. When you start seeing the old woman, the young woman recedes back; because of the old woman’s pattern, you cannot see the new woman’s pattern. You cannot see both together. Because you cannot see both together, whenever you are with one the other becomes non-existential to you. And you know both are there; still you cannot see.

Exactly the same is the case with desire and life. If you desire, life is no more there; you stop living. The same energy becomes desire, so no more energy is available to live. When you start living, desire disappears because the same energy has become life; you cannot desire any more.

But what happened? People listened to Buddha and they thought, ”He must be right. He says. ’With desire there is misery,’ So now we will desire desirelessness. How to attain desirelessness.?” Now they are ready to go on another journey of desire. Just the OBJECT of desire has changed. first they were thinking how to have more money, how to have more power, how to go to New Delhi, Washington, London, Moscow; now, their goal has changed – how to attain NIRVANA, MOKSHA, God, desirelessness.

But the object is there, and with the object the desire ii there. They have committed something very absurd. They missed the point. Buddha is not saying to create a new desire. Buddha is simply saying: Understand desire. Look into desire and you will find misery. Once this understanding has penetrated deep into your being, that desire is misery, then the problem has disappeared. Then you don’t desire at all. And, when you don’t desire, there is desirelessness.

Desirelessness cannot be desired; MOKSHA cannot be desired; God cannot be desired. If you desire, God has become an object of lust. You are again in the same trap – with a new label, but the disease is the same. Maybe the skin is new, but the wine is old.

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Rakesh Joshi
Rakesh Joshi
  • 19.4k
  • 6
  • 55
  • 160

When someone opts or "wishes" to get free from desire then it is not "natural". But when desires themselves drop from your mind then that is real "desirelessness". By consiously "witnessing" or "observing" these desires one slowly starts understanding the pattern and they start to diminish.

Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery – because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams – you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen.

Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can’t exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you are living, desire disappears.

Have you not seen in some psychology books a certain picture of an old woman? And in the same picture, in those same lines, is hidden a beautiful young woman – both are there. But if you look at the old woman, then you cannot see the young woman. If you look at the young woman, then suddenly the old woman disappears. They are BOTH there in the same lines, but you can see only one at a time. Your gestalt changes. When you are looking at the young face, then those lines are making a new pattern. Because of this pattern, the other pattern cannot be seen. When you start seeing the old woman, the young woman recedes back; because of the old woman’s pattern, you cannot see the new woman’s pattern. You cannot see both together. Because you cannot see both together, whenever you are with one the other becomes non-existential to you. And you know both are there; still you cannot see.

Exactly the same is the case with desire and life. If you desire, life is no more there; you stop living. The same energy becomes desire, so no more energy is available to live. When you start living, desire disappears because the same energy has become life; you cannot desire any more.

But what happened? People listened to Buddha and they thought, ”He must be right. He says. ’With desire there is misery,’ So now we will desire desirelessness. How to attain desirelessness.?” Now they are ready to go on another journey of desire. Just the OBJECT of desire has changed. first they were thinking how to have more money, how to have more power, how to go to New Delhi, Washington, London, Moscow; now, their goal has changed – how to attain NIRVANA, MOKSHA, God, desirelessness.

But the object is there, and with the object the desire ii there. They have committed something very absurd. They missed the point. Buddha is not saying to create a new desire. Buddha is simply saying: Understand desire. Look into desire and you will find misery. Once this understanding has penetrated deep into your being, that desire is misery, then the problem has disappeared. Then you don’t desire at all. And, when you don’t desire, there is desirelessness.

Desirelessness cannot be desired; MOKSHA cannot be desired; God cannot be desired. If you desire, God has become an object of lust. You are again in the same trap – with a new label, but the disease is the same. Maybe the skin is new, but the wine is old.

-Osho , Zen: The path of paradox Vol 3