“Nobody has ever heard that anybody became enlightened by seeing a falling leaf.”
Lao Tzu was sitting under a tree when an old leaf fell, just wavering; and he watched the leaf falling down from the tree, and he became enlightened. Now you can sit under any tree and you can watch thousands of leaves dropping, and you will come back home as much an idiot as you were before, because that falling of the leaf has nothing to do with enlightenment. Lao Tzu was meditating under that tree, and his meditation was ready – any slight opportunity for opening the inner lotus, and the immense experience will explode.
What happened with this leaf? The leaf was falling with such grace and such beauty, although it was dead. Soon it would disappear into the earth, from where it had come. Instantly, a tremendous awareness, like lightning, flashed into Lao Tzu’s mind, that our consciousness has also come from a source, just as this leaf has come; it has manifested, and is going again into unmanifestation. Our consciousness has come from the eternal source; one day it will move again to its source. There is no need to search outside – everything that is of any significance is inside.
It is said that for days he remained sitting with closed eyes. His disciples used to laugh about him, “Nobody has ever heard that anybody became enlightened by seeing a falling leaf.”
Osho, Zen: The Diamond Thunderbolt, Ch 11
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
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