What happens is that the mind gets into a double bind.For example if a person is negative, she suffers. But by being negative, she enjoys a few things that a positive person cannot enjoy. For example a negative person will be thought to be very intelligent. A positive person will not be thought to be very intelligent because the positive person will not criticize anybody.The positive person will look shallow, and the negative person will look very deep.So if you become negative, you suffer,but there is some pay-off, and that is that people think you're very critical, very intelligent, very logical, this and that,and all nonsense! You suffer inside, but you cannot lose this profit that comes out of negativity.All critical people suffer, but they become great leaders, they
become great thinkers. They suffer, they want to get out of their suffering, but they don't want to drop that profit comes out of being negative.
OSHO
THE GREAT NOTHING.
DARSHAN DIARY.
Monday 20 September 1977.

Just watch your mind for a few days and see what is the thing that takes most of your energy: jealousy? Lust for power? Ego? Just watch whatever takes most of your energy, and you will find what is your chief characteristic, and that is your number one enemy; and you have always thought that that is your number one friend....Gurdjieff had his own ways to find it. He will force his disciples to drink as much wine as possible. He will go enforcing them. And by midnight every body was flat on the floor, and then he will go listen to what each is saying.And this will continue for days, and then he will figure it out, what is the chief characteristic of that man, because in his unconscious that chief characteristic will surface...With me things are easier....My method is so simple. Just put down in your diary for seven days, noting everyday what it is that takes most of youre time, what it is that becomes your fantasy most of the time, where your energy always moves readily. And just watching for seven days,noting in your notebook, you can find your chief characteristic. In this finding is half the victory. It gives you a great strength,that you know the enemy.And then the second part is very simple: now be aware of it. When the enemy attacks, don't react. When it comes,you just remain cool. Just watch it, as if something is passing on the screen, and you have nothing to do with it.If you can remain detached, unaffected, suddenly a great energy will be released which was contained in your enemy,which you were putting into that enemy every day.You were watering it, you were caring about it. If anybody pointed at it, you were very angry; you protected it in every possible way. You have all kinds of rationalizations. Now you are simply watching. All the energy is simply released. You will feel revitalized. Your whole being suddenly becomes new.And then go looking for the enemy number two, then enemy number three, because you have to finish all the enemies.The day you don't have any enemy left in your mind,you have a grace, beauty, and a great energy that blossoms in thousands of flowers.
OSHO
The Transmission of the Lamp.

It is one of the greatest crimes to claim enlightenment when you are not-because this is the greatest deception you can give to humanity. It is the ugliest phenomenon. You can be a con man, cheat people out of their money, their belongings, their houses, their wives, their husbands, anything; that is immaterial that does not matter much. But a con man as far as enlightenment is concerned is cheating you about your consciousness, about your very being. He is doing some kind of violence, which is invisible, but which is the worst that can be done by any criminal..... All kinds of cheats, thieves can be forgiven, but the people who are playing with your consciousness, with your being, cannot be forgiven... Any claim about inner realization that is false is the greatest crime in the world.
OSHO.
The Rajneesh Upanishad.

Remember, you're so-called saints have tried to be humble before God, but just in order to be higher in the eyes of people. But my idea of a religious man is that he does not even claim ordinariness-he claims not. He is simply ordinary, whatsoever he is. A Zen Master, Rinzai, was asked, "What did you do before you were enlightened?" He said, "I used to chop wood and carry water from the well." And the man asked, "Now, now that you are enlightened, what do you do?" He said, "The same thing-chopping wood and carrying water from the well." The man was puzzled. He said, "I cannot understand. Then what is the difference? Then what is the point of becoming enlightened? Before you used to chop wood and carry water, now you continue the same thing. Then what is the difference?" And Rinzai laughed. He said, "The difference is: before I was doing it because I had to do it, it was a duty. Now it is a joy. The quality has changed the work is the same." The small things of life have to be transformed by your inner transformation. This I call the religious quality; everything becomes sacred. Taking a bath, making love, eating food, going to sleep,everything becomes sacred.
OSHO.
Tarot in the Spirit of Zen.

It is easy to suppress: it is easy to express. We do both. We express if the situation allows, and if it is convenient and not dangerous for you. If you can harm the other, and the other cannot harm you, you will express the anger. If it is dangerous, if the other can harm you more, if your boss or whoever you are angry at is more strong, you will suppress it. Expression and suppression are easy, witnessing is difficult. Witnessing is neither; it is not suppressing, it is not expressing. It is not expressing because you are not expressing it to the object of anger. It is not being suppressed either. You are allowing it to be expressed-expressed in a vacuum. You are meditating on it. Stand before a mirror and express your anger and be a witness to it. You are alone, so you can meditate on it. Do whatsoever you want to do, but in a vacuum. If you want to beat someone, beat the empty sky. If you want to be angry, be angry: if you want to scream, scream. But do it alone, and remember your self as a point which is seeing all this-this drama. Then it becomes a psychodrama, and you can laugh at it and it will be a deep catharsis for you. Afterwards you will feel relieved of it and not only relieved of it, you will have gained something through it. You will have matured; a growth will have come to you. And now you will know that even while you were in anger, there was a centre within you which was undisturbed. Now try to uncover this centre more and more, and it is easy to uncover it in desire.
OSHO.
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

You are all full of wounds, and they all need to be exposed to the sun, to the open sky. Unless you allow yourself to be exposed completely, you cannot get rid of those wounds. The normal way in the world is to hide the wounds so that nobody knows about them-go on hiding them deeper and deeper in the unconscious so even you forget them. But to work on the consciousness, cleaning it from all the wounds, is absolutely necessary. Those wounds have to be brought into the open.
OSHO.
Joshu: The Lions Roar.

So you are feeling yourself an outsider. This is good. This is the transitory period. Now you have to be alert not to fill yourself with pain and misery. Now that God is no longer there, who is going to console you? You don't need any consolation. Humanity has come of age. Be a man, be a woman, and stand on your own feet... The only way to be connected with existence is to go inwards, because there at the centre you are still connected. You have been disconnected physically from your mother. That disconnection was absolutely necessary to make you an individual in your own right. But you are not disconnected from the universe. Your connection with the universe is of consciousness. You cannot see it, so you have to go deep down with great awareness, watchfulness, witnessing, and you will find the connection. The Buddha is the connection!
OSHO.
God Is Dead: Now Zen is the Only Living Truth

Why do people want power? Because whatever they are doing is not respected. A shoemaker is not respected like the president of a country. In reality, he may be better as a shoemaker than the president is as a president. The quality should be praised,if a shoemaker is a better shoemaker, then he need not be interested in being a president. His own art, his own craft, will bring him dignity and the respect of people.
OSHO.
The Rebel.

It actually happened-because Lincolns father was a shoemaker, and Lincoln became the president. The whole American aristocracy was very much shocked that they had to live under a shoemaker's presidency. In the Senate they were all aristocrats, super-rich people. The first speech that Lincoln delivered on the inauguration of his first term was interrupted right at the beginning. A man, very arrogant and egoistic, stood up and showing his shoes said, "Mr. Lincoln, by accident you have become the president. But never forget that your father was a shoemaker. In fact, in my family your father used to come to make shoes for everybody. The shoes I am showing you were made by your father." The whole Senate laughed; they thought they had humiliated Lincoln. But it is difficult to humiliate people like Lincoln. There were tears in his eyes and he said, "I am immensely grateful to you for reminding me of my father. He was a perfect shoemaker, and I know I cannot be that perfect a president. I cannot beat him. But I will try my best to at least reach close to his greatness." "As for your family and the shoes my father has made, I can inform the whole Senate that there may be other aristocratic families that my father used to make shoes for. He has taught me a little bit of the art of shoemaking too. If the shoes are not working well,if they pinch you, if they are too tight, or to loose,I can always mend them. I am my own father's son. Never feel embarrassed,just inform me. I can come and do my best. Of course, it will not be the same as my father, but he is dead." There was great silence... the senators could not believe it,what mettle is this man Lincoln made of? You cannot insult him. He can turn your insult into great respect. And he is so humble, how can you humiliate him? Only arrogant people can be humiliated.
OSHO.
The Rebel.

Meditation is a science, not a superstition. Meditation says you experiment with your mind-it is to full of thoughts; thoughts can be disbursed, the clouds can be disbursed, and you can attain to an empty sky of your inner being. And it needs no trust-just a little courage, a little effort, a little daring, a little persistence and perseverance. A little patience, yes, but no trust. You don't believe in God? That is not a hindrance to meditation. You don't believe in the soul? That is not a hindrance. You don't believe at all? That is not an obstacle. You can meditate, because meditation simply says how to go with inward. We don't make any condition that you have to believe. We say only that you have to experiment. Just try. Then it is not something like a dogma; it is not a creed, it is an experience-self evident..
OSHO.
Come Followed To You.

The moment you understand that you are a lunatic, you go beyond it; the first step toward sanity has been taken. People never realize that they are mad, and because they don’t, they remain mad. Not only do they not realize it, but if you say it to them they will defend themselves. They will argue and try to tell you it is you who is mad, not they. Once you realize that you are a lunatic, sanity has started; it is already on the wing. By the very realization that you are insane, you have dropped your madness." Everyday OSHO.
Number 327.

It is not a question of giving everything. On the contrary, it is a question of recognizing the fact that you have nothing. This idea of how to give everything is egoistic. What have you got to give? You are beggars-everybody is. You have nothing to give, and you ask how to give everything. Every evening people come to ask me how to share. And my problem is that I don't see anything that they are going to share. There is nothing. When you don't have anything, this question arises: "How to share?” This question keeps you happy that you have something to share but you don't know how to share. This keeps you unaware of the fact that you don't have anything to share. When you have it happens spontaneously; you cannot resist it, it is inevitable."
OSHO
Take It Easy.

Buddha says:
"Everything arises and passes away. When you see this, you are above sorrow This is the shining way."
OSHO says: "
Life is a flux, nothing abides. Still we are such fools, we go on clinging. If change is the nature of life, then clinging is stupidity, because your clinging is not going to change the law of life. Your clinging is only going to make you miserable. Things are bound to change; whether you cling or not does not matter. If you cling you become miserable: you cling and they change, you feel frustrated. If you don't cling they still change, but then there is no frustration because you were perfectly aware that they are bound to change. This is how things are, this is the such ness of life.
OSHO.
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Bhudda.

When you approach a person with the deliberate desire to get love from him, he shrinks back. He is afraid of your exploitation; he does not want to be trapped, he does not want to be exploited in any way whatever. So he starts shrinking and the more he withdraws, the more you jump, because you see that you are losing your victim. The more after the person you are, the more he will escape. When you go to give love, a totally different response arises. The person feels loving toward you because you have not come to exploit. You have come to share, to give, and you will feel thankful if he accepts. And if he does not accept, you will not feel rejected, because that is his freedom-to accept or not to accept. Up to now this has been your problem: you are hankering to get love from people and you are afraid of people because they will reject. If you are hankering for love, how to get it? You are going to be rejected; you are creating rejection yourself. Change this! Go and give and forget about getting anything in return. It comes, a thousand fold it comes, and then it's coming is beautiful because you were not even expecting it. Then it is a great joy, a surprise. Once you have learned the art of the giving, you will be getting so much love that you cannot contain it.
OSHO.
Gods Got a Thing about You.

Sex for pleasure is sin. Sex is right only for reproductive purposes. --That is the religious idea. If you reproduce children, then sex is right. If you are just having fun, then you are committing a crime against God. Because sex is sacred, and fun is not sacred. Now, who has decided that fun is not sacred? I say to you: FUN IS MORE SACRED THAN REPRODUCING IN AN OVERCROWDED WORLD. But these popes and these priests are all for reproduction. And then they want to save the dignity of the poor -- THEY CREATE POVERTY!
OSHO.
The Wild Geese & The Water.
#10

Ideals are imaginary-there is no way to fulfil them. Whatsoever you do, you will always fall short because you can always imagine better, that is the problem. Imagination has no limitation and action is limited. This is one of the basic problems of the human mind: imagination unlimited, action limited. Imagination gives you ideals-how things should be-and action is so limited that you can never fulfil that imagination, those ideals.
OSHO.
The Ninety -Nine Names of Nothingness.
Darshan Diary.
Friday 12 May 1978.

Society is afraid that when you drop into yourself you drop out of its grasp; that’s why it is against meditation. In this vast world, out of millions of people, only very rarely does somebody become interested in meditation. It is not an ordinary pursuit, it is extraordinary. That it happens at all is a miracle because in fact all the vested interests are against it. Society does not want you to meditate because a meditator starts falling out of society. Because a meditator becomes capable of seeing all the stupidities, all the superstitions of the society, he cannot be any more part of its nonsense. The meditator knows no distinction between black and white. All that seems to be so childish; deciding by the color of the skin is so foolish. An intelligent person can not do that. Hence politicians will be against meditation, the state will be against meditation because a meditator becomes very strong in his soul; it is impossible to enslave him. He becomes an individual and he asserts his individuality.
OSHO.
The Miracle.

It always happens that when you start new work, you are very creative, you are deeply involved, your whole being is in it. Then by and by, as you become acquainted with the territory, rather than being inventive and creative you start being repetitive. This is natural, because the more skilled you become in any work, the more repetitive you become. Skill is repetitive. So all great discoveries are made by amateurs, because a skilled person has too much at stake. If something new happens, what will happen to the old skill? The person has learned for years and now has become an expert. So experts never discover anything; they never go beyond the limit of their expertise. On the one hand, they become more and more skilful, and on the other hand they become more and more dull and the work seems to be a drag. Now there is nothing new that can be a thrill to them-they already know what is going to happen, they know what they are going to do; there is no surprise in it. So here is the lesson; It is good to attain to skill, but it is not good to settle with it forever. Whenever the feeling arises in you that now the thing is looking stale, change it. Invent something, add something new, delete something old. Again be free from the pattern-that means be free from the skill-again become an amateur. It needs courage and guts, to become an amateur again, but that's how life becomes beautiful.
Everyday OSHO.
Number two.

If you don't feel superior, you can't feel inferior. They both come together, they both go together. If you drop one, you cannot save the other. If you don't feel superior to anybody, how can you feel inferior to anybody? You simply feel yourself." "As far as existence is concerned, everybody has all the beauty of the world, of the universe; all the ecstasy and dance of the universe. Yes, in different ways it will express itself. There is no need to think that somebody who is expressing it through dance is better than the one who is expressing it through a song or one who is expressing it through his silence. What is being expressed is exactly the same ecstasy. And you will find it only when you have entered your world of aloneness where there is nobody else.
OSHO.
The Rajneesh Bible.
Volume 2.

Just now it is raining. You will be going back home. You can take it in an Aikido way, or you can take it in the ordinary way. The ordinary way is that you see that your clothes will become wet, or you may get cold, or this may happen, or that may happen. And you will be against the rains. You will be running towards home in a bad mood, antagonistic. This has happened many times. Now you try Aikido. You relax; you enjoy the falling drops of water on your face. It is tremendously beautiful. It is so soothing, so cleansing, so refreshing. What is wrong in your clothes getting wet? Why be so worried about it? They can be dried. But why miss this opportunity? The heaven is meeting the Earth. Why miss this opportunity? Why not dance it? Don't rush and don't run. Slow down,enjoy.Close your eyes and feel the drops falling on your eyelids, moving on your face. Feel the touch of it. Accept it.... a gift from heaven. And suddenly you will see it is beautiful, and you have never looked at it that way. Try it in ordinary life experiences."
OSHO.
The Discipline of Transcendence.