And The Flowers ShoweredTalks on ZenTalks given from 31/10/74 am to 10/11/74 amEnglish Discourse series11 ChaptersYear published: 1974And The Flowers ShoweredChapter #1Chapter title: Flower shower31 October 1974 am in Buddha HallArchive code: 7410310ShortTitle: FLOWRS01Audio: YesVideo: NoLength: 87 minsSUBHUTI WAS ONE OF BUDDHA'S DISCIPLES. HE WAS ABLE TOUNDERSTAND THE POTENCY OF EMPTINESS -- THE VIEWPOINT THATNOTHING EXISTS EXCEPT IN ITS RELATIONSHIP OF SUBJECTIVITY ANDOBJECTIVITY.ONE DAY, WHEN SUBHUTI WAS SITTING UNDER A TREE IN A MOOD OFSUBLIME EMPTINESS, FLOWERS BEGAN TO FALL AROUND HIM. 'WE AREPRAISING YOU FOR YOUR DISCOURSE ON EMPTINESS,' THE GODSWHISPERED TO HIM. 'BUT I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS,' SAIDSUBHUTI. 'YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF EMPTINESS, WE HAVE NOT HEARDEMPTINESS,' RESPONDED THE GODS. 'THIS IS TRUE EMPTINESS.'AND BLOSSOMS SHOWERED UPON SUBHUTI LIKE RAIN.Yes, it happens. It is not a metaphor, it is a fact -- so don't take this story metaphorically.It is literally true... because the whole of existence feels happy, blissful, ecstatic wheneven one individual soul achieves the ultimate.We are part of the whole and the whole is not indifferent to you, cannot be. How can amother be indifferent to a child -- her own child? It is impossible. When the child growsthe mother also grows with him. When the child is happy the mother is also happy withhim. When the child dances, something in the mother also dances. When the child is illthe mother is ill. When the child is miserable the mother is miserable... because they arenot two, they are one. Their hearts beat in a rhythm.The whole is your mother. The whole is not indifferent to you. Let this truth penetrate asdeeply as possible in your heart, because even this awareness that the whole feels happywith you will change you. Then you are not alienated, then you are not a foreigner here.Then you are not a homeless wanderer, then this is a HOME. And the whole mothersyou, cares about you, loves you. So it is natural that when somebody becomes a buddha,when somebody reaches the ultimate peak, the whole existence dances, the whole
existence sings, the whole existence celebrates. Literally true it is. It is not a metaphor,remember; otherwise you will miss the whole point.Blossoms shower, and then they go on showering -- they never stop.The blossoms that showered for Buddha are still showering. The blossoms that showeredfor Subhuti are still showering. You cannot see them, not because they are not showeringbut because you are not capable of seeing them. Existence goes on celebrating infinitelyfor all the buddhas that have happened, for all the buddhas that are happening, and for allthe buddhas that will happen -- because for existence, past, future and present don't exist.It is a continuity. It is eternity. Only the now exists, infinite now.They are still showering, but you cannot see them. Unless they shower for you, youCANNOT see them; and once you see them showering for you, you will see that theyhave been showering for every buddha, for every enlightened soul.The first thing: existence CARES what happens to you. Existence is continuously prayingthat the ultimate should happen to you. In fact you are nothing but a hand extended by thewhole to reach the ultimate. You are nothing but a wave coming from the whole to touchthe moon. You are nothing but a flower opening, so that the whole is filled with fragrancethrough you.If you can drop yourself, those flowers can shower this very morning -- this verymoment. Gods are always ready, their hands are always full with flowers. They simplywatch and wait. Whenever somebody becomes a Subhuti, empty, whenever somebody isabsent, suddenly the flowers start showering.This is one of the basic facts. Without it there is no possibility of trust; without it there isno possibility of your ever reaching the truth. Unless the whole helps, there is nopossibility for you to reach -- how can you reach? And ordinarily, our minds think justthe opposite. We think of the whole as the enemy, not as the friend, never as the mother.We think about the whole as if the whole is trying to destroy us. We look at the wholethrough the door of death, not through the door of birth. It looks as if the whole is againstyou, fighting you, not allowing you to reach your goals and aims, not allowing you to befulfilled. Hence you go on constantly warring with it. And the more you fight, the moreyour misconception proves to be true -- because if you fight, your own fight is reflectedthrough the whole.The whole supports you, remember. Even when you fight, the whole supports you; evenwhen you fight and you are wrong, the whole supports you. This is a second truth to beunderstood well. If you don't understand, it will be difficult for you to proceed further.Even if you fight with the whole, the whole supports you -- because the whole cannot doanything other than support. If you go wrong, still the whole cares about you. Even if yougo wrong, the whole moves with you. If a child goes wrong, the mother still cares. If thechild becomes a thief and is ill, the mother will still care. She cannot give poison to thechild. If the child goes completely wrong, astray, the mother will still pray for him. Thatis the meaning of Jesus' story of the two brothers.One went away -- and not only away but astray -- from the father, and wasted his part of the heritage and became a beggar, a gambler, a drunkard. The other remained with thefather, helped the business, worked on the farm and the gardens, increased the heritage,helped in every way, served in a surrendering spirit to the father. And then suddenly thenews came that the other brother had become a beggar, that he was begging on thestreets, and the father's whole heart started aching for him, and all his prayers were for
him. He completely forgot the one who was near; he remembered only the one who wasdistant. In his dreams at night the other was present, but not the one who was close andworking for him, who was good in every way.And then one day the beggar son came back and the father arranged a big feast. The goodson was coming home from the farm and somebody told him, 'Look at the injustice of your father! You love him, you care for him and serve him and you have remained withhim, been absolutely good, moral, never done anything against his wish, but never was afeast arranged for you. The fattest lamb has been murdered for your brother who has goneastray. He is coming like a beggar, and the whole house is celebrating!'The son, the good son, felt very hurt: this was absurd! He went back home angry. Hetalked to his father: 'What are you doing? Never has a feast been given for me -- and Ihave been serving you, and what has this other son done for you? Just wasted theheritage, gambled everything, and now he has come home a beggar!'The father said, 'Yes, because you are so close and you are so good and you are so happy,I need not worry about you. But the one who has gone astray -- my prayers follow himand my love follows him.'And Jesus used to tell this story again and again to his disciples, because, as he said, Godcan forget the saints, there is no need to remember them, but God cannot forget thesinners.If he is a father -- and I tell you he is not a father, he is a mother; a father is not such adeep phenomenon as a mother. That's why Hindus call him the mother -- God is mother,a mothering. And Jesus said whenever it happens that a shepherd is coming back homeand a sheep is lost, he leaves all the sheep in the forest, in the dark night, and goes tosearch and seek for the lost one. And when the lost sheep is found, he carries the lostsheep on his shoulders and he rejoices and he comes back home feeling very happy,because one who was lost has been found. Whenever it happens -- we are all lost sheep --whenever a sheep is found again, the shepherd rejoices. Flowers start showering.Deities, gods, are not persons in the East, they are natural forces. Everything has beenpersonified just to give a heart to it, a heartbeat -- just to make it more caring. So Hindus,Buddhists, they have converted all the natural forces into gods, and they are right! WhenSubhuti attained to emptiness, gods started showering.And the meaning is very beautiful: the sun is a god for Hindus and Buddhists, the sky is agod; every tree has its own god, deity. The air is god, the earth is god. Everything has aheart -- that is the meaning. Everything feels -- that is the meaning. Nothing is indifferentto you -- that is the meaning. And when you attain, everything celebrates. Then the sunshines in a different way; the quality has changed.To those who are ignorant everything remains the same. The sun shines in the old waybecause the change of quality is very subtle and only one who is empty can feel it. It isnot gross, the ego cannot feel it; the gross is the field of the ego. The subtle can be feltonly when there is no ego, because it is so subtle that if you are there you will miss it.Even your presence will be enough disturbance.When one is totally empty the quality of the sun immediately changes. It has awelcoming poetry about it. Its warmth is not only warmth, it has become a love -- aloving warmth. The air is different, it lingers a little more around you, it touches you withmore feeling, as if it has got hands. The touch is totally different; now the touch has a
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