I HAVE HEARD about a very great Zen Master who had become very old and almost blind at the age of 96... and he was no longer able to teach or work about the monastery. YAMAMOTO was his name.
The old man then decided it was time to die because he was of no use to anybody; he could not be of any help. So he stopped eating.
When asked by his monks why he refused his food, he replied that he had outlived his usefulness and was only a bother to everybody.
They told him, 'If you die now" – it was January – "when it is so cold, everybody will be uncomfortable at your funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance... so please eat!' This can happen only in a Zen monastery, because DISCIPLES LOVE THE MASTER SO DEEPLY – THEIR RESPECT IS SO DEEP THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY FORMALITY.
Just see what they are saying: they are saying, 'If you die now and it is January... See, it is so cold, everybody will be uncomfortable at the funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance... so please eat!' He thereupon resumed eating. But when it became warm again, he stopped... and not long after... quietly toppled over and died.
Such compassion! One lives then for compassion... one dies then for compassion. One is even ready to choose a right time to die... so that nobody is bothered and one need not be a nuisance.
I have heard about another Zen Master who was going to die. And he said, 'Where are my shoes? Bring them!'
Somebody asked, 'Where are you going? Because the doctors say you are going to die.'
He said, 'I'm going to the cemetery...'
'But why?'
He said, 'I don't want to trouble anybody. Otherwise, you will have to carry me on your shoulders.' And he walked to the cemetery and died there!
Tremendous compassion! What manner of man... not to give even that much trouble to anybody! AND THESE PEOPLE HELPED THOUSANDS! AND THOUSANDS WERE GRATEFUL TO THEM. THOUSANDS BECAME FULL OF LIGHT AND LOVE BECAUSE OF THEM. Yet they would not like to bother anybody.
- Osho
The old man then decided it was time to die because he was of no use to anybody; he could not be of any help. So he stopped eating.
When asked by his monks why he refused his food, he replied that he had outlived his usefulness and was only a bother to everybody.
They told him, 'If you die now" – it was January – "when it is so cold, everybody will be uncomfortable at your funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance... so please eat!' This can happen only in a Zen monastery, because DISCIPLES LOVE THE MASTER SO DEEPLY – THEIR RESPECT IS SO DEEP THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY FORMALITY.
Just see what they are saying: they are saying, 'If you die now and it is January... See, it is so cold, everybody will be uncomfortable at the funeral and you will be an even greater nuisance... so please eat!' He thereupon resumed eating. But when it became warm again, he stopped... and not long after... quietly toppled over and died.
Such compassion! One lives then for compassion... one dies then for compassion. One is even ready to choose a right time to die... so that nobody is bothered and one need not be a nuisance.
I have heard about another Zen Master who was going to die. And he said, 'Where are my shoes? Bring them!'
Somebody asked, 'Where are you going? Because the doctors say you are going to die.'
He said, 'I'm going to the cemetery...'
'But why?'
He said, 'I don't want to trouble anybody. Otherwise, you will have to carry me on your shoulders.' And he walked to the cemetery and died there!
Tremendous compassion! What manner of man... not to give even that much trouble to anybody! AND THESE PEOPLE HELPED THOUSANDS! AND THOUSANDS WERE GRATEFUL TO THEM. THOUSANDS BECAME FULL OF LIGHT AND LOVE BECAUSE OF THEM. Yet they would not like to bother anybody.
- Osho
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