Tai Chi
The leader of the ashram's Tai Chi group says to Osho, "I wrote to you about the group."
Yes.
A few things I would like to say to you. Music can be
very distracting in T'ai Chi, because the whole point of
T'ai Chi is to be centred, to be aware, to remain with your
energy, and remain very soft. When there is music, music has
tremendous power over the mind. There is nothing else like
music. Once there is music, you start being pulled and
pushed by it. Then you lose that softness, that slowness
that is the very base of T'ai Chi, and you tend to forget
your centring. You become more and more aware of the music,
and less and less aware of your inner movement of energies.
And it is so subtle that a small distraction is enough. You
may enjoy it more - that is not the point. You may enjoy it
more; the T'ai Chi people may enjoy it more. It will be less
boring, there will be more entertainment, but you miss the
central thing. And T'ai Chi is not to be an entertainment.
So first let me tell you something about boredom.
Boredom is part of many eastern methods. Nobody ever says it
because people simply become afraid the moment you say that
boredom is part of it. But boredom is part of many eastern
methods; almost all the eastern methods are based on
boredom. In a zen monastery the monk lives a very boring
life. The same routine - exactly the same every day: year
in, year out - no change. Even to avoid outer changes they
have made rock gardens, because trees will change. The whole
atmosphere of a zen monastery has to remain absolutely the
same - no changes.
When a person is absolutely bored the mind starts dropping,
because the mind exists, feeds, on sensations. When there is
something new the mind is alert. When there is nothing new
the mind does not bother. If for years you live a boring
monotonous life, certainly the mind has nothing to do there.
By and by the mind disappears; the mind cannot exist. And
that is the root of all mantras, chantings - they also bore
the mind.
When you are doing a T'ai Chi class, it is a very boring
phenomenon. Even people who are watching it will feel sleepy
because the movement is so slow and the same and the same.
It functions like a lullabye on the mind, and the person who
is doing it also feels a little sleepy. He cannot fall
asleep because he has to move. So two things are there -
monotony, every possibility that he may fall asleep.... But
he cannot fall asleep because there is movement. So the
movement does not allow falling to sleep, and the slowness
of the movement does not allow the mind to get into some
entertainment. These both function against the mind. The
mind cannot fall asleep and cannot have any entertainment.
The mind has no exit, no way. By and by the mind disappears.
There is pure energy, just like the oceanic waves
continuously coming, knocking, shattering on the rocks.
Again coming, again coming, year in, year out, for millions
of years... a very monotonous process, but tremendously
beautiful.
So music will be an entertainment. People will enjoy it,
they will love it, but then the T'ai Chi is lost. So no
music right now. I can allow music only for very advanced
T'ai Chi practitioners. Then it can become a work for them -
and the work is that they have not to listen to the music.
They have to forget the music. The music will pull them but
they are not to listen to the music; they have to remain
centred. But that is only for a very advanced practitioner.
In the beginning the music is very powerful.
It is as if you are meditating and beautiful food is just
put before you, and you start smelling the fragrance of it
and the saliva starts flowing in your mouth; it will be
distraction. It can be used when a person is a very highly
evolved meditator; then it can be used as a test. Then the
food can be there, a beautiful nude woman can stand there,
but it doesn't matter. He will look not at the woman -
through the woman.
There is a story about Buddha. He was sitting under a tree
near Bodhgaya, and a few young people, rich people, had
brought a prostitute to the forest. They got drunk and they
took off the clothes of the prostitute. But seeing them
completely drunk, she escaped. Early in the morning they
became aware that the woman has left them so they started
searching. They came to Buddha.
They asked, 'Have you seen a woman - a very beautiful woman
and nude - going from here? She must have passed this place
because this is the only way to go to the town.' Buddha
said, 'Somebody passed. It is difficult to say whether the
person was a man or a woman. Very difficult to say whether
the person was dressed or not dressed. Very difficult to say
whether the person was beautiful or not beautiful. I looked
through... I was deeply in meditation. Somebody has
certainly passed - that much I can say. But who - man,
woman, beautiful, ugly, dressed, undressed - I cannot say
certainly.'
They said, 'You were sitting with open eyes?' He said, 'I
was sitting with open eyes, but I was not looking. The eyes
naturally reflected somebody passing by. The eyes noted that
somebody has passed, but I was not interested' - and when
you are not interested, then nothing distracts... but that's
a very high state of meditation.
So right now, don't introduce music. Later on, when a few
people have come to a very advanced stage, then I will tell
you - for those few people you can introduce music. But then
the point will be that the music remains in the background,
and they don't allow themselves to be distracted by it; they
remain with their energy. So the music will be not a
support, not a help, but just a test. Right now it will not
be good. And if you introduce music people will start almost
dancing. Music makes people dance... music has tremendous
power. It simply hits your energy and you feel like dancing.
And music helps people to abandon themselves, to forget
themselves. So there are two types of meditative techniques.
One is to forget yourself - then music is perfectly good.
That's what prayer is - so in prayer you can use music. But
in awareness you cannot use music, because that is
self-remembering; you have to remember yourself - that you
are, where you are. You have to remain there, continuously
rooted in your being; not going here and there.
So for T'ai Chi, centring, awareness, self-remembering, are
the right words to understand. For prayer, for sufi dancing,
for whirling, it is totally different - just the
diametrically opposite. You have to forget yourself. It is a
self-forgetfulness. You have to drown yourself and you have
to become drunk. And music is wine - nothing like it.
Nothing makes a person more drunk than music.
A very famous story about a Lucknow king...
He was a
great lover of music, and he invited a very great musician
to the court. But the musician was an eccentric person. He
said, 'I will play on my sitar but with only one condition -
that nobody should be allowed to shake his head. People have
to remain like statues. If somebody shakes his head, the
head has to be cut.'
The king was surprised but he was also a madman; he said,
'Okay.' He informed the whole town that only those should
come who were perfectly in control, otherwise they would be
playing with their life. Many thousands of people wanted to
come but they were afraid - but a few people came; a few
hundred people came. And the musician started playing. Half
an hour passed and ten, twelve persons were just drunk with
the music, shaking their heads; their energy moving. The
king was surprised - 'Can music be so powerful? These people
are risking their lives!'
After the programme those ten, twelve persons were caught,
brought before the musician, and the king said, 'Now what do
you say? Should we cut their heads?' The musician said, 'No.
These are the real people for whom I would like to give a
special programme. I wanted to know the real people. A
person who can risk his life - I would like to play before
him. These are the real drunkards!' People were sitting so
stiff because even sometimes you might move for some other
reason, and there might be some misunderstanding. People
were sitting just like stone statues, but ten, twelve
persons....
The king asked those twelve persons, 'Were you not aware?
Why did you shake? Why did you move? Why were you influenced
by the music when your life was in danger?' They said, 'We
don't know. We tried to keep ourselves completely in control
to a certain moment - beyond it, we were not there. So we
cannot say that we moved our bodies. The bodies moved, that
is certain, but we have not moved. We tried everything that
we could do not to move, but then a moment came and we were
helpless.... The music was so beautiful and so penetrating,
that in that moment all idea of life and death disappeared.
In fact the idea of self disappeared, so there was nobody to
control. It happened on its own accord. We are ready - if we
are to be killed, we are ready.'
Music has a tremendous power. It is alcoholic; through sound it intoxicates you. Through subtle vibrations of sound it makes you abandon yourself. So it is good for whirling, for sufi meditations, for bhakti devotion, prayer - perfectly good - but not for T'ai Chi. T'ai Chi is a taoist method. Music has no relationship with it. So right now you drop that idea.
(Osho - God is not for Sale (a darshan diary)