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Buddhas's Silence and Bliss Needs Zorba's Song and Dance 

By Swami Anand Kul Bhushan

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On the night of the Full Moon of the Buddha whose name means the enlightened one is when the Buddha was born, when he became enlightened and when he died.

He walked this earth about 2,500 years ago and such is the strength of his wisdom that even today, there are millions and millions who go to him for refuge for this is the first of his three jewels with which all Buddhist prayers beginning:

“Buddham Saranam Gacchammi " means “I go to the Buddha (the Enlightened One) for refuge”,

"Dhammam Saranam Gacchammi " means “I go to the Dhamma (the Reality) for refuge”

"Sangham Saranam Gacchammi " means “I go to the Sangha (the Commune of Seekers) for refuge.”

Despite that fact that millions follow his Eight-Fold Path of inner peace, it is ironical that the lands where Buddha trod are exploding with violence and unrest today.

With frequent changes of its Prime Ministers, Nepal, where he was born, is usually embroiled in political crisis.

Sri Lanka, where Buddhism is the major religion, was enmeshed in a terrorist war for more than 30 years.

Myanmar, where Buddhism is the main religion, is also seething with unrest and denial of human rights. 

Thailand, where Buddhism is the supreme religion, has been troubled by terrorism and  political turmoil for so many years . 

Tibet, where Boddhidharma went to spread the message of the Buddha has been taken over by China and its heritage and religion crushed. 

China, where Buddhism, spread so rapidly, was a communist state without religion.  

The dictatorial regime of North Korea, part of Buddhist Korean peninsula, poses a mortal threat from nuclear weapons not only to South Korea but to other countries as well.

Instead of showing them  love and devotion, Buddha's statutes, carved in the Bamiyan mountains of Afghanistan, were blasted into pieces with explosives by the Taliban fanatics. Now they have been partly restored.

So what went wrong?

“When a Buddha moves the wheel of dharma, it takes two thousand five hundred years for it to stop completely,” says Osho. “The wheel that Buddha moved has stopped. The wheel has to be moved again. And that is going to be my and your life’s work – that wheel has to be moved again. Once it starts revolving it will again have twenty-five centuries’ life.”

Obviously, the seriousness of Buddhism and its renunciation has not worked. Perhaps the inner silence, meditation and stillness of the Buddha needs to be blended with the dance, song and celebration of the joy of outer life. 

Osho has created this unique and new combination of what he calls the ‘New Man’ or Zorba, the Buddha. This is the combination the celebration, dance and song of 'Zorba The Greek', the hero of the famous novel/movie of this name,  and the silence, stillness and meditation of the Buddha; the meditation of the East and the materialism of the West. 

Zorba the Buddha is a totally new human being who is aware, life-affirmative and free. The spirituality of the East has to be combined with the science of the West. High time we embraced it.