Walking the Buddhas path
April 2010
If It Could Happen To Buddha, Why Not You? Author: Vasant Joshi; Published by: Wisdom Tree; Pages: 2009; Rs. 145
Film-maker Shekar Kapur once said, “I wanted to see if I could tell the story of Buddha without words.”
However, Vasant Joshi, the author of this book, tells it metaphorically with many simple words. He was initiated into sanyas by Osho, whom he describes as ‘an enlightened mystic'. This practical workbook is a distillation of Joshi’s experiences on his spiritual journey, guided by Osho’s teachings. What is involved in each individual’s spiritual quest? Joshi crystallises it into one goal – the process of waking oneself up to the Buddha within, or the realisation of ‘appa deepo bhava’, realising the potential of one’s own light, or Buddha essence.
So how does one go about getting in touch with this inner Buddha? There are three components of the spiritual path that Joshi lays out – pointers, process and practice.
The ‘pointers’ are like a set of pathways that guide one through the essentials. They touch upon the truth of ‘human’ nature (and where it goes astray), four steps (karuna, maitri, mudita and upeksha) to healing the self, the tussle to get beyond false attachment to one’s ego and the distinction between religion and spirituality.
The ‘processes’ are like a smorgasbord of options for walking the spiritual walk. So there is yoga, love, awareness and zen (which is described as the pinnacle of awareness).
And finally, ‘practice’ touches on a variety of Osho meditation techniques to prepare oneself for rediscovering the self.
This is a practical, no-nonsense guide to getting closer to one’s spiritual core, though it may seem too overly reliant on Osho’s approach to some. The textbook style of presentation, with numbered lists and bullet points, is appealing because it helps one find a clear set of things to remind oneself (pointers), to select between approaches (processes) and to just do and experience (practice).
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