Turning the Key at The Turiya Files

MASTER LU-TSU SAID:

WHEN THE LIGHT IS MADE TO MOVE IN A CIRCLE, ALL THE ENERGIES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, OF THE LIGHT AND THE DARK, ARE CRYSTALLIZED.

WHEN ONE BEGINS TO APPLY THIS MAGIC IT IS AS IF, IN THE MIDDLE OF BEING, THERE WERE NON-BEING.

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF TIME THE WORK IS COMPLETED, AND BEYOND THE BODY THERE IS A BODY, IT IS AS IF, IN THE MIDDLE OF NON-BEING, THERE WERE BEING.

ONLY AFTER CONCENTRATED WORK OF A HUNDRED DAYS WILL THE LIGHT BE GENUINE, THEN ONLY WILL IT BECOME SPIRIT-FIRE. AFTER A HUNDRED DAYS THERE DEVELOPS BY ITSELF IN THE MIDST OF THE LIGHT A POINT OF THE TRUE LIGHT-POLE.

THEN SUDDENLY THERE DEVELOPS THE SEED-PEARL. IT IS AS IF A MAN AND WOMAN EMBRACED AND A CONCEPTION TOOK PLACE. THEN ONE MUST BE QUITE STILL AND WAIT.

IN THE MIDST OF THE PRIMAL TRANSFORMATION, THE RADIANCE OF THE LIGHT IS THE DETERMINING THING.

IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD IT IS THE SUN; IN MAN, THE EYE. THIS ENERGY IS DIRECTED OUTWARD (FLOWS DOWNWARD).

THEREFORE THE WAY OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER DEPENDS WHOLLY ON THE BACKWARD-FLOWING METHOD.

THE CIRCULATION OF THE LIGHT IS NOT ONLY A FANTASY.

BY CONCENTRATING THE THOUGHTS, ONE CAN FLY; BY CONCENTRATING THE DESIRES, ONE FALLS.

WHEN A PUPIL TAKES LITTLE CARE OF HIS THOUGHTS AND MUCH CARE OF HIS DESIRES, HE GETS INTO THE PATH OF SUBMERSION.

ONLY THROUGH CONTEMPLATION AND QUIETNESS DOES TRUE INTUITION ARISE: FOR THAT THE BACKWARD-FLOWING METHOD IS NECESSARY.

A GREAT MASTER was asked, What is the Buddha? 'Mind is the Buddha,' he answered.

When after many years he was asked the same question again by the same disciple, he said, 'No Buddha, no mind.'

'To stop the baby crying! Once the baby stops crying, I say, "No mind, no Buddha!"'

Religion really consists of experience, experimentation; it has nothing to do with speculation. In its essential nature it is the science of the inner; it is as scientific as any other science. The difference between religion and science is not of their methodology but only of their object.

Science looks at the objective world where our energy is flowing, where our light is flowing. Religion searches into the subjective where our light is not flowing but can be turned to flow. Hence science is easier than religion. Never for a single moment think that religion is simpler than science. It is a higher science, how can it be simpler than science? It is a superior science.

First the light has to flow inwards, then it falls on your being, and then your being is revealed and you can enter into your being. And to enter into one's own being is to enter into the kingdom of God.

There, you are not and God is: you exist only in the shadow. When the light flows outward you exist - but only in the shadow. You exist because you remain unaware of your real Self. Your real Self is the supreme Self. Your real self is a 'Self' with a capital 'S'. It has nothing to do with you, it is the Self of all. But for that, a great transformation has to take place.

Nature has prepared you for the outward flow. Nature's function is finished. With man, nature has reached to its clim@x, now nothing else is going to happen naturally unless man makes a decision to go further than nature. Nature has brought you to the point where you are capable of standing on your own. Man is no longer a child, man has become adult. Now nature will no longer parent you; there is no need.

Natural evolution has stopped at man. This is a fact. Even scientists are becoming more and more aware of it: that for thousands of years nothing has happened to man, man has remained the same - as if nature's work is done. Now man has to take the course of further growth into his own hands.

Religion means: man starts standing on his own feet, becomes responsible for his own being, starts looking and searching and inquiring into what is the case - Who am I? And this should not only be curiosity.

Philosophy is out of curiosity. Religion is a very sincere, authentic search; it is inquiry. And there is a great difference between curiosity and inquiry. Curiosity is childish, just a little itching in the head. You would like to scratch and then you feel satisfied. Philosophy is that scratching; religion is a life-and-death matter. In philosophy you never become involved, you remain aloof. You play with the toys, but it is not a question of life and death. You accumulate knowledge, but you never practise it.

Once upon a time there lived an eminent Confucian scholar. He was a gentleman of nearly eighty, and was said to have no equal in learning and understanding.

Then a rumour arose that far away a new doctrine had sprung up that was even deeper than his knowledge. The old gentleman found this intolerable and decided that the issue had to be settled one way or the other.

In spite of his age he set out on the long journey. After months of hardship on the road, he arrived at his destination, introduced himself and told the purpose of his visit.

His host, who was a Master of the new Zen school, merely quoted, 'To avoid doing evil, to do as much good as possible, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas.'

On hearing this, the Confucian gentleman flared up: 'I have come here in spite of the dangers and hazards of such a long and rough journey and in spite of my advanced age. And you just quote a little jingle that every three-year-old child knows by heart! Are you mocking me?'

But the Zen Master replied, 'I am not mocking you, sir. Please consider that though it is true that every three-year-old child knows this verse, yet even a man of eighty fails to live up to it!'

Religion is not a question of knowing but of living up to it. Religion is life, and unless you live it, you will not know anything about what it is. And to live religion one has to drop all philosophizing and one has to start experimenting. One has to become a lab. The scientist's lab is outside; the religious person's lab is his own being - his own body, his own soul, his own mind. The scientist has to concentrate on the object on which he is experimenting, his work has to be done with open eyes.

The work of religion has to be done with closed eyes; one has to concentrate upon oneself.

And the complexity is great, because in the world of religion the experimenter and the experimented upon are the same. Hence the complexity, hence the strangeness, hence the incomprehensibility, hence the illogicality. The knower and the known are the same in the world of religion. In the world of science the knower is separate, the known is separate; things are clear-cut, demarcated. But in religion everything merges, melts into everything else - even the knower cannot remain separate.

Religion does not give you knowledge separate from the knower, it does not give you experience separate from the knower, but as the very essence of the knower.

To be a religious seeker one has to drop all philosophizing. One has to drop all A PRIORI knowledge, because all A PRIORI knowledge is a hindrance; it stops your inquiry. Inquiry becomes dishonest - from the very beginning it becomes poisoned. How can you inquire if you have already concluded?

To be a Christian and to be religious is impossible, or to be a Hindu and to be religious is impossible.

How can you be religious if you are a Hindu? Being a Hindu means that you have already concluded, you have decided what truth is. Now what is the point of inquiry? What are you going to inquire into? All that you will be doing is finding support, arguments, for what you have already concluded. And your conclusion may be wrong - nobody knows - because your conclusion is not yours, it has been handed to you by the society.

Society is very interested in giving you conclusions, society is not interested in giving you consciousness so that you can conclude on your own. Before you become conscious, before any inquiry starts, society stuffs you with all kinds of conclusions to STOP the inquiry, because the inquirer is dangerous to society. The non-inquirer is convenient, the non-inquirer is obedient. He simply takes the orders, the commands, and follows them. He is a conformist, he is conventional.

Once you have stuffed somebody's mind a bit with a belief, you have drugged him. Belief is a drug. He starts believing, he goes on believing. Slowly, slowly he starts thinking that his belief is his own, his own experience. Belief is a system of hypnosis. You go on suggesting to the child, 'You are a Hindu, you are a Hindu', you take him to the temple, you lead him through religious, so-called religious rituals, ceremonies, and by and by he becomes conditioned to the idea that he is a Hindu, that all that is Hindu is right and all that is non-Hindu is wrong.

And the same is being done in every kind of society. You have drugged the child. His very source of consciousness has been poisoned. And if you believe something, it starts appearing to be true. If you start believing something, you will find all kinds of supports for it, all kinds of arguments to help it. Your ego becomes involved. It is not only a question of truth, deep down it is the question, 'Who is right, me or you? How can I be wrong - I have to be right.' So you choose all that supports you; and life is so complex, you can find all kinds of things in life - whatsoever you choose, whatsoever you decide. If you are a pessimist, you will find all kinds of arguments in life which support pessimism. If you are an optimist, there are all kinds of arguments available to you.

Life is dual, life is paradoxical, life is multi-dimensional. Hence so many kinds of philosophies, 'isms', theologies exist in the world. And every theology lives confined by its own conclusions and feels perfectly right.

It is only in this age that the believers and finding a little difficulty. And this is a great blessing because they have become aware of other believers too. Now the Hindu is not so complacent, he cannot be; he knows that there are Christians. And the Christian cannot go on believing that he has the sole copyright for truth, because he knows that there is the Mohammedan, and there is the Taoist, and there is the Buddhist. And who knows? This age is very confused - it has never been so before.

But remember, this confusion is a great blessing; something is on the way, something tremendously important is going to happen. This chaos in the mind is the beginning of a new dawn. In the future people will not be Mohammedans and Hindus and Buddhists, people will be inquirers. Belief is disappearing and the darkness of belief is disappearing. Nobody in the future is going to believe.

People will inquire, and when they find, they will trust. Belief is borrowed; trust comes from one's own experience.

What I am teaching you here is that kind of religion which is going to happen more and more in the future. I am bringing the future to you in the present. I am making you pure inquirers, with no belief system, ready to go into experimentation but with no conclusion, open and ready to accept the truth whatsoever it may be - but only ready to accept the truth.

The man who believes is a closed man. His windows and doors are closed; he lives in a kind of prison. He has to live in a kind of prison - if he opens the windows and doors and the sun comes in and the wind comes in and the rain comes in, it is possible that his belief systems may be disturbed.

If the truth enters from every side, it will be impossible for him to protect his belief. He has to hide from truth, he has to live in an enclosed world, windowless, so nothing can disturb him, so he can go on believing undisturbed. This is good for the society, but very hazardous for the health of the individual.