Experiencing Objective
Art
Question: While in an art museum I entered
one room with statues and carvings of Buddha. I was surprised to feel a very
strong energy current, similar to what I feel here in the lecture. Was I
imagining things?
The first thing to be
understood: you will be surprised to know that the Buddha statues have nothing
to do with Gautam Buddha. They are all false, they don’t resemble Buddha at
all, but they have something to do with buddhahood. Not with Gautam Buddha, the
person – they have something to do with buddhahood.
You can go into a Jain temple
and you will see twenty-four statues of twenty-four teerthankaras, the founders
of Jainism, and you will be unable to make out any difference between them;
they are all alike. To make a distinction, Jains make small symbols on them to
know who is who, because they are all alike. If those symbols were hidden, not
even a Jain could make any demarcation. Whose statue is this? Mahavir’s?
Parswanatha’s? Adinatha’s? And you will also be surprised to know that they are
exactly like Buddha – no difference.
In the beginning, when the West
became acquainted with Mahavir, they thought it was nothing but the same story
of Buddha, because the statue is the same, the philosophy is the same, the
understanding is the same, the teaching is the same – so it was just the same
thing; it was nothing different from Buddha. They thought Mahavir was another
name for Buddha. And of course both were called Buddhas – ‘Buddha’ means ‘the
awakened one’ so Buddha was called Buddha and Mahavir was also called Buddha,
so they thought that they were just the same person.
And the statues were a great
proof: they look absolutely alike. They are not photographic, they don’t
represent a person, they represent a certain state. You will have to understand
it, then the thing will be explained.
In India, three words are very
important: one is tantra, which we are talking about, another is mantra, and
the third is yantra.
Tantra means techniques for
expanding your consciousness. Mantra means finding your inner sound, your inner
rhythm, your inner vibration. Once you have found your mantra, it is of
tremendous help: just one utterance of the mantra and you are in a totally different
world. That becomes the key, the passage, because once uttering that mantra,
you fall into your natural vibe. And the third is yantra. These statues are
yantras. Yantra means a certain figure which can create a certain state in you.
A certain figure, if you look at it, is bound to create a certain state in you.
When you watch something, it is
not only that the figure is outside – when you watch something, the figure
creates a certain situation in you. Gurdjieff used to call this ‘objective
art’. And you know it: listening to modern pop music, something happens in you
– you become more excited sexually. There is nothing but sound outside, but the
sound hits inside – creates something in you. Listening to classical music, you
become less sexual, less excited. In fact, with great classical music you
almost forget sex, you are in a tranquility, a silence, a totally different
dimension of your being. You exist on another place.
Watching a Buddha statue is
watching a yantra. The figure of the statue, the geometry of the statue,
creates a figure inside you. And that inside figure creates a certain vibe. It
was not just imagination that happened to you, those Buddha statues created a
certain vibe in you.
Watch the state of Buddha
sitting so silently, in a certain yoga posture. If you go on watching the
statue, you will find something like that is happening within you too.
The outer is not the outer, and
the inner is not just the inner; they are joined together. So beware of what
you see, beware of what you listen to, beware of what you read, beware of where
you go – because all that creates you.
Those Buddha statues you saw in
the museum are the states of inner silence. When a person is absolutely silent,
he will be in that state. When everything is still and quiet and calm inside –
not a thought moves, not a small breeze blows; when everything has stopped,
time has stopped – then you will also feel to sit like a Buddha. Something of
the same geometry will happen to you. It is objective art – less concerned with
the reality of Buddha, more concerned with those people who will be coming and
will be seeking Buddhahood. The emphasis is different: what will happen to
those who watch these statues, and will kneel down before these statues, and
will meditate on these statues.
It was not imagination, it was
objective art which you stumbled upon unknowingly.
The Tantra
Vision, Vol 2, Chapter #6 - Osho