Osho's teaching on selfishness

as they relate to sexual abuse

Note: This page is a more complete and in-depth version of the Osho's teachings section of our page on sexual abuse. Much material from there is duplicated here for ease of reading. Some lengthy and substantially unchanged segments are presented within boxes, for ease of skipping by those who have just read the main abuse page before coming here.

This collection is not for the purpose of establishing an ideology or position. Since Osho has explicitly offered what appears to be contradictory advice on virtually any topic, such a course would be ill advised. It is for consideration and exploration. What we would like to do here is consider relevant material that is not often contradicted on matters such as freedom, love and sex and see how well it can be applied to our study of the sexual abuse that has happened in our midst. This, like some other sections, will take some time and be an ongoing project. It is not a simple, straightforward matter, as we will see. Input and feedback welcome!

Osho appears to have said very little about child sexual abuse directly, offering two reasons for its existence:

"In your monasteries the monks are all homosexuals. If they are not homosexuals, then they will be masturbating. Religions don't allow the monks and nuns to meet and have a little love affair, at least once in a while -- every weekend. One day in a week can be given as a holiday from your saintliness. But there is no holiday. So these people created homosexuality, these people created sexual abuse of children". ~ from From Bondage to Freedom, ch 16.

Following that, there is no further mention of sexual child abuse, just some words on AIDS and death related to homosexuality. Similarly limited passages can be found in a few other places. Then there is this:

"In a really human society there will be no sexual abuse of children. Such abuse exists only because children are kept in the dark; and they are curious, very curious, 'What is it all about?' Then they get caught in somebody's net". ~ from From Death to Deathlessness, ch 32.

This discourse is the only one where he considers it in any depth, the main theme being informing and empowering kids about sex by letting them be around while the parents are making love.

While these two ideas may shed some light on how child abuse arises, they are far from the whole story. And they are not useful in addressing the question of abuse in Osho's communes. There is, however, one occasion when he does address this question. Much can be learned and inferred from his brief answer, so we reproduce it here in toto. The question was from Tracy Berry, of KEZI TV in Eugene OR, and the Q&A appear in The Last Testament, Vol 1, ch 28, part of his series of interviews with the world's press. Q: THERE WERE THOSE CHARGES FILED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO REGARDING YOUR CHILDREARING TACTICS HERE IN THE COMMUNE. COULD YOU JUST BRIEFLY DEAL WITH THAT ISSUE? A: That is absolutely wrong, and the court has completely cleaned us. The charges were invalid. And now we are going to sue the woman who had put the case for child abuse. She has never been here; she know nothing about what is happening here to the children -- and she puts a case against us. And now she is defeated. This is insulting and disgusting. There is no abuse. Our children are the ones who cannot be abused. In the outside world, children can be abused, are abused. Here it is impossible because we are giving them all the information about sex -- not in a roundabout way. We are giving them actual facts -- that these are the facts of sex and these are the effects of sex, and until you are sexually mature don't get involved in any relationship which will destroy your whole life, may make you retarded, may make you perverted. And when you are of age, the medical center provides every contraceptive, pills. We don't prevent them, but first let them be ready. If a boy is fourteen and has the energy now to make love -- he has the greatest power to make love between fourteen and twenty-one, and that is the time which is wasted in universities. After that, he is on decline. By the time he gets married after his Ph. D, he will be twenty-eight, twenty-seven; he has already declined. By thirty-five he is becoming older, he loses interest, he make love but he is a spent cartridge. "Charges regarding childrearing tactics" evidently refers to sannyasins' communal lifestyle and apparent failure to protect children from abuse, as this is what Osho addresses. There are some glaring omissions in his answer which may shed some light on this failure. First, though, it must be pointed out that Osho is quite correct that the case was thrown out, and that the woman who brought the case had no evidence. In fact, no evidence emerged justifying the case after considerable investigation, the allegations were found to have been based on hearsay and the alleged victims declared they had not been abused. Regarding Osho’s omissions, the first and most obvious is his flat-out denial of the abuses, and even the possibility of their occurrence. So at the very least, he is wrong. Clearly, he did not know about the abuse and believed that the kids were actually being given all they would need to prevent being abused. We will explore the implications of this apparent unawareness on the Abuse issues discussion page, which already has a timeline of news clippings from that era about the abuse case above. Second, the clear guidance that sannyas kids were supposedly given to wait until they were sexually mature does not deal with issues of either emotional or legal maturity; he then complicates that by going on about a fourteen-year-old boy as if fourteen IS old enough. And third, after "We don't prevent them, but first let them be ready", everything he says is about the sexual potency and drive of boys and young men. Not one word concerns the fate or interests of girls-becoming-women. Just prior to that, he mentions "every contraceptive, pills", and that's it for anything that might remotely concern females. The take-away from all this may be too multifaceted to express concisely on this page, so please see Abuse issues discussion, where we consider the various ways of looking at it that might be useful. That's all that we can find so far that he has said explicitly about abuse. What might we gather from other aspects of his teachings? The strongest messages coming from Osho again and again concern love, freedom and awareness. There is also a lot about sex too of course but it mostly comes as a sub-category of freedom, which freedom does not include freedom of or encouragement to adults to abuse children. When he talks about children coming into sexuality, the message usually revolves around doing it with others their age, as an essential exploration. And with birth control. on selfishness Looking around though, we eventually come across a frequent teaching related to freedom with broad application which turns out to be highly relevant to this issue: "Be selfish". "Be selfish" is a stark message most often given as a sharp contrast to the prevailing service-oriented approach of organized religions. Especially when put as "Be absolutely selfish" or "Be totally selfish", it is intended to shock minds used to platitudes, but it was not always understood. Osho explains what he means by this, its implications and subtleties in varying ways, but sometimes not at all, and so there were possibly many sannyasins who could not absorb those subtleties and took it as a carte blanche to be as self-indulgent as they wanted, without self-examination and often at others' expense. All long-time sannyasins know people like this and have learned to accept that they will show up from time to time. More on them below(*2). As "thorns in sides" they could even be rationalized as great goads to awakening, but the potential for such people to prey on children (and not just on adults) appears to have been largely overlooked. The parallel with the Times article's "Bhagwan taught his disciples to act on impulse" purported teaching cited above can be seen too. They are not the same or even similar, but both have the potential to enable ignoble tendencies if not understood. And there can be no doubt that misunderstanding did happen. We will explore this teaching in some detail, with the aim of seeing how easily misunderstanding might have arisen and how the teaching may have been misused.

Speaking first generally, all languages, particularly Western European languages, suffer from an inability to express subtle religious truths. Words fragment the indivisible whole into this and that and then often have to do double and triple duty by carrying multiple meanings. In the case of "selfish" in English, the dualistic, in fact frankly Manichean stance of the predominant Western religion Christianity has given "selfishness" a highly negative spin. The only antidote to this toxic brew that the mainstream culture has evolved is in its way equally toxic, "looking out for Number One", usually invoked as a justification for exploiting others, especially in the context of laissez-faire "free market" economics. This is some serious baggage for the seeker to get beyond. So let's go into his words and see ....

"I want you to be absolutely selfish ... First try to know who you are: this is the first principle of selfishness. First try to love: this is the second principle of selfishness. Love yourself so that you can love others. And the third principle of selfishness: live the moment delightfully, celebrating". ~ from The Path of Love, ch 2.

This is one of the most succinct expressions of what he means by selfishness, while clearly indicating how his version of selfishness differs from the normal meaning. The spiritual quest is an exploration of who we are, or in other words, an inquiry into the nature of the self, and is thereby more or less tautologically "selfish", and a handy way for Osho to use and rebrand as his own a highly loaded word. Moreover, by questioning assumptions normally unquestioned by society and organized religion, any sincere seeker will also be labeled as "selfish". We "should" be taking these assumptions seriously, worrying about starving children, God's Commandments and so on. One more:

"Reduce the worries first to the minimum. That is, confine your worries to yourself, that's enough. Be absolutely selfish. Yes, that's what I say -- be absolutely selfish if someday you want to help others. If someday you want to be really altruistic, be selfish. First change your being. First create a light within your heart, become luminous. Then you can help others. ~ from The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1, ch 2.

All the quotes here have an angle or aspect of clarifying what Osho means by "Be selfish". This and the next one, to a visitor concerned that poor people are suffering while his much richer sannyasins are lying around, have similar themes, but there is also a new angle ....

"Live truly, authentically, sincerely -- that is the most fundamental thing. I teach you life! I don't teach you service. Service comes as a shadow. A really alive person is continuously sharing his energy -- whatsoever he has -- because he knows that the more you share, the more you have.

"So, that you have to decide, otherwise meditation will not be possible, because meditators are bound to be selfish people. A meditator is simply forgetting the whole world. There are so many problems in the world -- and he is sitting with closed eyes under his bodhi tree, meditating, watching his navel! [ ... ]

"So my suggestion is: first be selfish, then altruism will come on its own accord. Then it has a beauty... a totally different quality. Then you are not a do-gooder. You don't impose anything on anybody. You are a sharer, and to whomsoever accepts something from you, you feel grateful, because he has accepted something from you. Then there is no ego trip". ~ from Blessed Are the Ignorant, ch 5.

"I teach you to be totally selfish because I teach you that which is natural. But if you understand me well -- which is difficult, you may misunderstand me -- if you are really selfish then much flows out of your life which is absolutely unselfish. Because when a man is grounded in his own being he has so much to share, so much to give, there is no need to be altruistic. If you are centred you ARE altruistic because you have overflowing love, overflowing being, you HAVE to share". ~ from Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 3, ch 2.

Yes, we may misunderstand him. In fact, in the text that follows, the double meanings and dialectical twists and turns almost guarantee some degree of misunderstanding, possibly for many listeners. This metaphysically dazzling answer to a question explicitly about the selfishness of the Search is reproduced below(*3) in toto. It can be seen that many "understandings" are possible from it, while re-readings supply different understandings, giving this whole answer more the flavour of a koan than of a guideline.

"No, nobody is anybody's keeper. The only responsibility is towards yourself. This will look as if I am teaching selfishness. Yes, I am teaching it. If everybody in the world was selfish the world would be beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Just think -- everybody trying to be happy, everybody trying to be celebrating, everybody trying to be silent, meditative, prayerful, loving -- because these are the things which will make you happy; the world will be happy. But here, nobody is trying to be happy himself. People are trying to make others happy. And if you are not happy how can you make others happy? [...] A world absolutely selfish will be the best world possible. ~ from Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 4, ch 2.

The basic idea here is first make yourself happy, but some conflict with others trying to be happy may arise, and there are no guidelines on how that might get sorted out.

"Nonviolence, nonpossessiveness, no-theft, and authenticity in being give purity. These are not moralistic concepts for Patanjali; this has to be always kept in mind. In the West they have been taught as morals; in the East as inner hygiene, not as morals.In the West they have been taught as altruistic goals; in the East there is nothing of altruism in them -- it is absolutely selfish. It is your inner hygiene. [ ... ] If you are nonviolent because others should not be hurt, then you are not really nonviolent. Then, you are a good social citizen, civilized, but nothing of religion has happened within your being. Your nonviolence will work as a lubricant between you and others. Your life will be smoother, but not purer, because the goal changes the whole quality". ~ from Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 6, ch 3.

This is difficult stuff, may make caring for children harder.

"Patanjali is saying, 'Selfishness brings the absolute knowledge' -- svartha. Become selfish, that is the very core of religion. Try to see what your real self-interest is, where your real self is". ~ from Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 8, ch 7.

In this selection, Osho goes further on what he means to become selfish:

"Bring your concentration, dharana; your contemplation, dhyan; your ecstasy, samadhi; bring all the three to your self-interest, turn in. In the West people are turning 'on', then you turn out. Turn in. Just bring your consciousness to a focus, to who you are".

And he illustrates with lots of examples of "objects" or clouds that clutter the inner sky. But this kind of detail is often not provided. That at least some people have not understood is evidenced by this question, from Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 10, ch 4:

INTERDEPENDENCE IS A NICE CONCEPT, BUT HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE WHEN YOU URGE ALL OF US TO BE TOTALLY SELFISH?

"It is only possible if you are totally selfish. If you are totally selfish, you will come to see that if you want to be really happy, you have to make others happy -- because life is an interdependence. [ ... ] It is not possible that all around there is an ocean of misery, and you are like an island, happy -- impossible. You can be happy only in a happy world; you can be happy only in happy relationships; you can be beautiful only with beautiful people. So if you are really interested in being beautiful, create beauty all around you.

"A man who is really selfish becomes altruistic. To be really selfish is to go beyond self. To be really selfish is to become a Buddha, a Jesus. These people are absolutely selfish people because they think only of bliss. But in thinking of their bliss, they have to think of others' bliss also. I am absolutely selfish. I have never thought about anything else but my own self. But in that, from the back door, enters everything.

"I am interested in your happiness, in your bliss. I am interested to create a community of blissful people. I am interested to create a garden of beautiful people, because if you are happy and blissful and beautiful, I will become tremendously blissful and happy.

"Bliss increases in sharing. If you don't share your bliss it will die. If you don't share your ecstasy, soon you will find that your hands are empty. So when I say be absolutely selfish, I mean: that if you try to understand what is your self, what your selfishness is, you will see that everybody is implied, involved. And your involvement becomes greater and greater and bigger and bigger. A moment comes when you can see as a fact that the whole is involved".

The following two talks are both given to people taking sannyas whose names mean "helper of mankind", variations of Alexander/Alexandria. In the second, he elaborates on the process:

"So I don't talk about service, I don't talk about helping others -- in that way I teach you selfishness. I teach you to be blissful because I know, and I know absolutely, that if you are blissful you are bound to share it. Nobody can contain it. If you are blissful you are bound to serve people. And when service comes out of bliss it has a fragrance of its own, a beauty, a grace. It is something divine. Its very touch is healing. It transforms dust into gold. So first become a blissful person and then you can be Sandy!" ~ from Dance til the Stars Come Down from the Rafters, ch 25, and four days later ....

"A truly selfish person is one who tries in every possible way to be blissful, to be peaceful. The truly selfish person is one who first tries to find god for himself. His concern is absolutely selfish. He is not concerned with anybody -- the poverty in the world and the ill people and the old people and this and that -- he is simply concerned with one thing, his effort is one-pointed. Like an arrow he goes withinwards to find that still point from where life goes through a radical change". 

"Once that point is reached then it is going to be a simple phenomenon -- compassion, service, help. You can help then. It will be a joy to be shared. You won't feel any ego, that you are helping people, you won't feel holier-than-thou, you will be simply rejoicing. You won't gather any kind of ego out of your compassion. The ego is already gone, it is dead. It died in your meditation, now it cannot come back. And a man without the ego can be of tremendous help. Otherwise the so-called helpers of mankind and missionaries and servants of people, they are all mischievous people. They have created more mischief in the world than anybody else. Beware!" ~ from Dance til the Stars Come Down from the Rafters, ch 29.

The next is to a woman wondering whether to be alone or in a relationship. Not only is it a strong, clear message about being selfish, it comes with an unusual kicker, about which more below:

"The western mind goes on thinking that whenever one is alone something is wrong, and that one should move into a relationship. In the East people go on thinking about how they can move out of a relationship. They are both wrong. One should live where one is happy. One should be selfish. I teach you absolute selfishness. One should just think, 'In what am I happy?'"

"What psychologists and theologicians say, and what the East says, is all mumbojumbo. Drop it! Don't be concerned. Nobody has considered you. They may have considered other people but nobody has considered you. No theory exists for you as yet. And all theories are averages, just analysations of particular phenomena.

"You are rare -- no theory exists for you. Don't consult any psychologists or any priest. Simply look at yourself. In what you feel happy, blissful, tuneful, harmonious -- that is your way. If you were feeling good -- and you were, you were flowering.... Now suddenly this relationship and you are disturbed and the energy is flowing no more.

"If you drop out of it, it will be good. You can leave it to me, and when I see that now you are so happy alone and there is no need for a relationship, I will tell you to move into a relationship. When you are lonely enough I will get you a man (laughter)". ~ from Get Out of Your Own Way!, ch 7.

The "kicker" consists of the introduction of another interesting theme that may emerge: What Osho is saying to the woman is not just that she is special, but, "No theory exists for you as yet", and is a message possibly intended for all sannyasins, inasmuch as they are participating in a hybrid culture, a synthesis, of Eastern mysticism and Western psychology, and that what arises in this synthesis is not only new and untried but has differing effects on different people. Such uniqueness, in a new culture of uniqueness, may mean not only that all old theories do not apply but also old rules, mores and laws. Or at least such ideas may arise in the minds of some on their selfishness quests. We'll see if this idea can be developed more.

"YOU HAVE TOLD US MANY TIMES: BE SELFISH. WHAT IS IT TO BE SELFISH?

"Drop the self. Because that is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you. That will be the greatest contentment that can come to you.

"Drop the self, if you really are selfish. If you really want to be blissful, drop the self -- because self is creating all your miseries and all your hells.

"Difficult, because it looks like a paradox. But have you watched? All miseries come to you because of your self, because of the ego. You are hurt again and again, you suffer so much because of the ego. It is like a wound which remains always alive, and anything, even a breeze, a cool breeze, hurts you. Somebody smiles and it hurts, somebody laughs and it hurts, somebody is going on his way, maybe lost in his own thoughts, not looking at you, then it hurts". ~ from The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 1, ch 10.

Osho does not go on to connect the dots on this paradox. It's a clue, and that's about all for this quote.

"You have been programmed so criminally, such a deep harm has been done to you, that your priests, your prophets, your messiahs cannot be forgiven. They have spoiled millions of people's lives; just for the sheer joy of being a messiah or a prophet, they have crushed you all.

"I am teaching you to be selfish.

"Let me repeat it, because the word "selfishness" has been condemned so much that there is every possibility you will misunderstand me. But the word is really beautiful.

"To be selfish simply means to be yourself.

"I say to you: don't consider anybody else in the world, just consider yourself; and in that very consideration you will have considered the whole world. In being selfish you will find all the altruism that you have been seeking and seeking and not finding, because the whole thing was upside down". ~ from From Darkness to Light, ch 22.

Again, not much more exploration beyond this.

"Your love for yourself is a basic necessity for your growth. Hence, I teach you to be selfish -- which is natural.

"[Your priests and politicians] have manipulated you. But one thing is basic in that manipulation, that is, don't love yourself; hate yourself, because you are not worth anything.

"Everybody is full of hate for himself. And do you think if you hate yourself you can find someone who is going to love you? Even you are not ready to love yourself; it is impossible for anybody else to love you. You have accepted the idea that unless you follow certain rules, religious dogmas, political ideologies, you are not of any worth". ~ from From Death to Deathlessness, ch 8.

A useful elaboration of one of the key underlying points of "be selfish".

"Every partner in a couple is expecting the other to love him. The husband wants the wife to love him; the wife wants the husband to love her -- and both are unaware that they don't know the art of love, because they never loved themselves. They are going to quarrel, fight and destroy each other's life. I teach you clearly to be selfish.

"It is natural to be selfish. And the miracle is, if you are really selfish, out of your selfishness there will be so much abundance of intelligence, love, respect, that you are bound to share it with others. Because the economics of the inner world is: the more you share, the more you have. Naturally, you want to share it more and more". ~ from From Death to Deathlessness, ch 28.

Unfortunately, there is no more elaboration than this.

"I have been condemned by many sources around the world because I teach people selfishness. Yes, I teach selfishness. It is not a condemnation, this is my whole philosophy. I teach you to be selfish because unselfishness has been taught for thousands of years and it has not helped anybody.

"I teach you to be just self-oriented. Drop all the rubbish that is in you. Clean yourself and start living as if you are the first and the last man in the world. The first, so that you don't have to carry the burden of the past, because there is no past. And the last, so that you need not worry about the future, about what will happen to your children. They will take care of themselves.

"You think of yourself and live intensely at the innermost core of your being. That's what rebellion is: Let things be as they are. But you are not a thing, you are a being: Change yourself, transform yourself. Become a new man". ~ from From Misery to Enlightenment, ch 30.

This is the end of the book, but the preceding words clarify rebelliousness and its relationship to selfishness / self-orientation.

"I teach selfishness, because to me to be selfish is not wrong, it is natural. Everybody should be selfish, self-centered, not waiting for anybody's help. Declare your freedom individually. And that's my movement. You are here, not as a society, not as a community, you are here as an individual. There is nothing higher than an individual and his freedom." ~ from ;;From the False to the Truth, ch 23.

"You can call it a 'self-regarding cult' -- because I teach self-love. And you have been told that there is something wrong with self-love. You have been told, "Love others, but never love yourself." But how can you love others if you cannot even love yourself?

"Meditate on the great statement of Jesus: "Love thy neighbour as thou lovest thyself." But the fundamental is loving thyself.

"You cannot love anybody else -- because love has to well up within you first. And you are the closest to yourself: if you hate yourself, you will hate your neighbour. Whatsoever the priests and the leaders go on saying, it will not make any difference. You will hate your neighbour, you will hate humanity, you will hate the earth -- because you will hate yourself.

"Love yourself, and out of that love grows love for others. I teach you to be selfish, because only out of true selfishness is altruism born. A really selfish person cannot be against anybody, a really selfish person cannot hurt anybody -- because hurting somebody you have to hurt yourself first. You cannot create suffering for others without creating suffering for yourself. Before you are angry with someone, you have to be angry within yourself. Before you are violent with somebody, you have to go through many nightmares. The person who really loves himself, who is in tremendous love with himself, cannot do any harm to anybody -- because he cannot do any harm to himself". ~ from Philosophia Perennis, Vol 2, ch 8.

In a way, this may be the most thorough exposition on this theme, ie the aspect of loving yourself first and how that connects to selfishness.

BELOVED OSHO,

THE STRONGEST THING IN MY CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING WAS TO BE UNSELFISH, NOT TO THINK OF MYSELF. NOW, REMEMBERING MYSELF AND FOLLOWING THE URGE TO TURN INWARDS, I SEEM TO HAVE TO PUSH THROUGH A LAYER OF UNEASE, GUILT AND CONFUSION. I KNOW THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE. WOULD YOU SPEAK TO US ABOUT IT?

"Deva Vachana, all the religions have done immense harm to man's growth, but Christianity is at the top as far as harming humanity is concerned. They have used beautiful words to hide the ugly acts they are doing against you.

"For example, unselfishness: a man who does not know himself, to tell him to be unselfish is so outrageously idiotic that one cannot believe that for two thousand years Christianity has been doing that.

"Socrates says, 'Know thyself; anything else is secondary'. Knowing thyself, you can be unselfish. In fact you will be unselfish; it won't be an effort on your part. Knowing thyself, you will know not only yourself, but you will know the self of everyone. It is the same; it is one consciousness, one continent. People are not islands.

"But without teaching people how to know their own being, Christianity has played a very dangerous game, and one which has appealed to people because they have used a beautiful word, unselfishness. It looks religious, it looks spiritual. When I say to you, 'First be selfish', it does not look spiritual. Selfish?" ~ from The Razor's Edge, ch 4.

This is big. In fact, the chapter title is "First be selfish", and the whole of question 4 is devoted to this theme, so at least in this case, it would be harder to run with a superficial reading. Osho elaborates clearly and at length on a couple of themes: a) that the meaning of "be selfish" is to know thyself, and b) that it must precede sharing. Here the latter is not just a question of faith but of the failure of Christian conditioning. And here, a not-so-common addition to "be selfish" is the word "first", in three of the four hits. This "selfishness" is not to continue forever as the default setting. One more snippet:

"My approach is absolutely clear. First be selfish, and discover all that is contained in yourself -- all the joys and all the blissfulness and all the ecstasies. And then unselfishness will come just like your shadow follows you -- because to have a dancing heart, to have God in your being, you have to share it. You cannot go on keeping it, like a miser, because miserliness in your inner growth is a death".

And he is clear here about how unselfishness grows out of a conscious exploration of selfishness.

BELOVED OSHO,

SHOULD WE BE SELFISH?

"There is no other way. Nobody can be unselfish -- except hypocrites.

"The word 'selfish' has taken a very condemnatory association, because all the religions have condemned it. They want you to be unselfish. But why? To help others. [ ... ]

"The basic thing is to love yourself so totally that the love overflows you and reaches to others. I am not against sharing, but I am absolutely against altruism. I am for sharing, but first you must have something to share. And then you are not doing anything as an obligation to anybody -- on the contrary, the person who receives something from you is obliging you. You should be thankful, because the other could have rejected your help; the other has been generous.

"My whole insistence is that the individual should be so happy, so blissful, so silent, so content, that out of his state of fulfillment he starts sharing. He has so much, he is like a raincloud: he has to shower.

"If others' thirst is quenched, if the thirst of the earth is quenched, that is secondary. If each individual is full of joy, full of light, full of silence, he will be sharing it without anyone telling him, because sharing is such a joy. Giving it to someone is more joyful than getting it.

"But the whole structure should be changed. People should not be told to be altruistic. They are miserable -- what can they do? They are blind -- what can they do? They have missed their life -- what can they do? They can give only what they have got. So people are giving misery, suffering, anguish, anxiety to everybody else that comes in contact with them. This is altruism! No, I would like everybody to be utterly selfish". ~ from Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries, ch 2.

Pretty representative of the anti-altruism talks, also makes the point well and concisely, plus includes the h-word, hypocrites.

"One has to be selfish! All teachings about being unselfish and sacrificing to others and doing this and that are simply idiotic -- and they don't help anybody! You don't become unselfish, you remain selfish; it is just that you remain guilty. ~ from For Madmen Only, ch 2.

Yes, then there's the g-word.

"I teach you pure selfishness. Never sacrifice for anybody. Just live your life authentically and then you will never take revenge on anybody and you will never have any grudge against anybody. And a man who has no grudge against anybody is a loving man; compassionate, kind, sharing. And a man who has no grudge against anybody -- against his children, husband, wife, is tremendously beautiful. He creates a milieu of happiness around himself. Whosoever comes into his milieu shares his happiness.

"Be selfish". ~ from Tao: The Pathless Path, Vol 1, ch 7.

And showing effectively that grudge, another g-word, can be added to the baggage of unexamined ideological unselfishness.

counter-examples

Almost everything Osho has said, he has also contradicted in another context, so it is inevitable that some quotes can be found wherein selfishness is not so great a thing. He cannot be totally consistent lest people create an ideology. But it is impressive how few of these contrarian quotes there are, and how limited their application because of their narrow context. For the sake of completeness, we present them here.

First, a few that might be called "soft" or "generic", from a variety of contexts where Osho uses the word in the standard negative way:

"People who are engaged in meditation are the only people who will find a place where there is no self, and all selfishness disappears". ~ from Christianity: The Deadliest Poison and Zen: The Antidote to All Poisons.

Regarding the story of Buddha declining to enter the gate of Moksha, Osho has Buddha saying that it "will be a little selfish to enter the gate and forget all about those who are still groping in the darkness". ~ from Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master, ch 17.

"Meditation is the only way to get rid of the self. Meditation is the only possibility to create unselfishness in the world. Everything else is selfish. The Christian missionary serving the poor people, the crippled -- this is all selfish. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and all her work is absolutely selfish.

"Why do I call these works selfish? They are doing great service to humanity, but they are doing service to humanity as a means to reach to heaven. They are using the poor people and the blind people and the crippled and the lepers as ladders to reach to heaven". ~ from The Dhammapada, Series 10, ch 6.

This last gets particular in that Mother Teresa comes in for her usual blast from the master but the criticism holds for all "service"-oriented religions, which is to say most of them.

Other uses of "selfish" as a criticism below are more pointed and nuanced. The first three are unusual in their criticisms of meditators as selfish and insufficiently addressing the miseries of humanity. He even includes Buddha in one, quite a stretch!

"Only two things have to be remembered. One is meditation and the other is love. If these two things are fulfilled, nothing else is needed, no other religion. This is the whole of religion: meditation for yourself and love for others. Meditation to go in and love to go out. It is the same door; these are not two things. It is like a door: When you enter, on the door it is written 'entrance', and when you come out, on the same door is written 'exit'. When you go in the door is meditation; when you come out it is the same door, but now it is called love.

"And both have to be simultaneously grown, otherwise one becomes lopsided. That has happened for centuries: The people who have tried to meditate have become unloving; they become closed to the world; they become self-centered; their spirituality becomes very selfish. It seems they are not at all interested in anybody, only interested in themselves. It is a kind of morbidity, it is ill; it is not healthy, they are no more flowing. Their life has become static, undynamic, dead. Slowly slowly they become very cold, because without love you lose warmth.

"That's what happens to Jaina monks: They are absolutely concerned only with themselves, the world is not a concern. That is one of the basic causes of this country's fall because all the so-called spiritual people become so much selfish that nobody cared what is happening to the whole country, to the people. Everybody was concerned only for his own salvation and let all else go to hell. 'That is none of our business'. That's not really a spiritual attitude. It is very unspiritual". ~ from No Man is an Island, ch 8.

"I conceive of a world without poverty, without classes, without nations, without religions, without any kind of discrimination. I conceive of a world which is one, a humanity which is one, a humanity which shares everything -- outer and inner -- a deep spiritual brotherhood....

"So my function is not simply finished with my own enlightenment. In fact, my work began after my enlightenment. Gautam Buddha's work came to an end when he became enlightened; I started my work after my enlightenment.

"As far as I am concerned, I don't need to live a single moment more, because life -- either outer, or inner -- cannot give me anything more than I have already achieved.

"But to me it seems to be selfish. I would like millions of people to be aflame with the same light, with the same vision, with the same dream. I would like a new man to be born, a new humanity, where ugly discriminations disappear, where there are no wars, no atomic or nuclear weapons, no nations, no races; where man can share all the bounties of existence and all the experiences of his inner being.

"I want this whole humanity to be one ocean of consciousness. Whatever the buddhas in the past did was good, but not enough. They created for themselves the highest peak of consciousness. I would like to create that highest peak for everyone -- at least for those who are in search of it". ~ from The Rebellious Spirit, ch 3.

"You will find many sannyasins in the Himalayas who are stuck there with the eighth bull -- empty, silent. There is nothing wrong with them, at the most you can say nothing is wrong with them, but you cannot say that they have bloomed, you cannot say their fragrance is released to the winds. Their light is still burning only for themselves. It has a certain ugliness in it. One may not see it immediately, but if you ponder over it you will see that this is selfishness. In the beginning it is good to be selfish, otherwise you will never grow; but in the end, with the meditation coming to a real completion, crescendo, the ego must disappear, the selfishness must disappear. You should become one with the whole". ~ from The Search, ch 1.

There are truly not many of the above type. They are sobering and add some nuance and depth to the selfishness koan but are unable to dislodge the main message. The next one advises "Don't be selfish", but this is only in aid of tweaking the language, not altering the message.

"Love starts with self-love. Don't be selfish but be self-full -- and they are two different things. Don't be a Narcissus, don't be obsessed with yourself -- but a natural self-love is a must, a basic phenomenon. Only then out of it can you love somebody else.

"Accept yourself, love yourself, you are God's creation. God's signature is on you and you are special, unique. Nobody else has ever been like you and nobody else will ever be like you; you are simply unique, incomparable. Accept this, love this, celebrate this -- and in that very celebration you will start seeing the uniqueness of the others, the incomparable beauty of the others. Love is possible only when there is a deep acceptance of oneself, the other, the world. Acceptance creates the milieu in which love grows, the soil in which love blooms". ~ from The Revolution, ch 4.

And this last is so unusual, its context so unique, that it has no impact on the message whatsoever:

"Ramakrishna rushed to Vivekananda, shook his body and said, 'This is your last samadhi; you are not going to have any more of it. I am going to keep the key to your samadhi with me, which will be returned to you only three days before your death'.

"Vivekananda was shocked and he burst into tears, crying, 'Pray, don't deprive me of my SAMADHI'.

"But Ramakrishna said firmly, 'You have a great work to do; you are going to be my instrument and my messenger to the world. If you enter samadhi you will not be able to come back, and the great work will suffer. What I have known has to reach to every nook and corner of the earth. Don't be selfish; give up your attachments, and don't hanker for your samadhi. You have to build a huge temple sheltering millions of thirsty seekers from all over the world. That's why I am taking away the key to your samadhi'.

[ ... ]

"It is through Vivekananda that the world came to know of Ramakrishna. But Vivekananda had to sacrifice much. However, such a sacrifice is worth it, and it is very meaningful. Ramakrishna had to deliberately stop his further progress, because he thought if Vivekananda transcended the psychic state of samadhi, he could not be made into an instrument. Ramakrishna was not like Buddha who had both wisdom and the skill to express it; Ramakrishna has attained to the same wisdom as Buddha had, but he was not articulate. So he had to depend on Vivekananda for its transmission to the world". ~ from Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy, ch 15.

quotes on sex About sex, Osho has said so much, there is no way to consider it all here. Even to create a separate, somewhat thorough page as we did for selfishness here would be difficult. So here we will just sample a couple of quotes. The first explains how and why strictures on sexual expression are so universal in organized societies. The second outlines Osho's simple and relaxed approach to dealing with the baggage of repression, which must be dealt with if we are to inquire deeply into ourselves. "[Sex] is so powerful that if you don't repress it you won't know what to do with it. It will lead you into dangerous paths. And it is such a forceful energy that the whole society will become chaotic if it is allowed completely. No marriage could exist, no love could exist, everything could be just a chaos if it was allowed total freedom -- because then man would behave like an animal. If there were no marriage, no family, the whole society would be destroyed. Society depends on the unity of the family; the family depends on marriage; marriage depends on sex-suppression. Everything that is natural, forceful, has been inhibited, tabooed -- so forcibly that you feel guilty about it and you go on fighting with it. Society has not only created policemen outside, it has created inner policemen, your conscience -- a double arrangement so that you don't go astray so that you cannot be natural, you have to be unnatural. Now modern psychologists say that insanity is part of civilization -- no civilization can be without madness". ~ from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Second Series, ch 38. "No need to suppress, no need to try any methods to cripple the body -- no need. Be natural and go on working for your Buddhahood. Be natural and become more and more alert and aware. A moment will come when sex simply disappears. When it disappears on its own, it leaves behind it such a glow, such grace, such beauty. Don't force it to disappear otherwise it will leave behind many wounds and you will always remain with those wounds. Let it go by itself. Simply be a watcher and don't be in a hurry. Nature is good, nature is beautiful; you be natural. Unless you become supernatural, don't fight with nature. Let the higher come in. ~ from Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 4, ch 6. the dark side Any deep inquiry into our nature will come with difficulties. This section attempts to explore those which arise from Osho's emphasis on selfishness, especially as related to abuse. Osho often said he was a dangerous man. And he wanted his sannyasins to live dangerously. A typical quote: "As you live more dangerously, you really live. A few moments of dangerous living, as if you are walking on a razor's edge, are more precious than a long life without any danger, without any risk, comfortable and cozy, everything insured, everything secure. The way of the sannyasin is really the way to live life dangerously". ~ from The Golden Future, ch 38 For adults who understood what they were getting into, at least somewhat, and in theory, this was all very well. Osho made a good case for this life being an attractive one, and one could still choose to a large extent how much to risk and in what circumstances. And for those adults who didn't understand but jumped in anyway, they were already risk-takers. This covered a large proportion of those who came and said "Yes, I want some of that". The same cannot be said of the children who were brought by their parents. Whatever choices they made were without full autonomy and without the full set of life-tools for understanding the possible risks and consequences of their choices. In that, they were in a position similar to those born into any religion, and many certainly got some positives out of their sannyas experience, but .... But some of them did not fare well under Osho's open approach to sexual transcendence. Here we consider how his teaching of selfishness might have been a factor in that, looking at two broad areas: First, how in general sannyasins processed their dark sides, which would inevitably have to be dealt with somehow, and what might Osho have said about the dark side in connection with his teaching about selfishness? And second, what safeguards might there have been to prevent "excesses" in which real damage might have happened. What other teachings may have acted to balance or otherwise keep excesses in check? eg be conscious / respect others' rights, etc. processing the dark side This word "selfish" covers a lot of ground in how it might be understood, starting with its highly negative mainstream version, but the only "negative" variety of selfishness that Osho has actually addressed in his words on being totally selfish is the conventional opposite of the unselfishness that religions and do-gooder organizations promote, ie where one is thinking only of oneself and failing to make the world a better place to live in in some way. Many examples can be found. There are other, more egregious forms of selfishness which he does not address, where one is thinking of oneself in more aggressive ways that come at the expense of others. In one's journey of being selfish, some nasty examples can arise, where one can be fairly vicious or exploitive with someone else, even a lover. Osho does address many examples of this, but mostly in the earlier Darshan Diaries, not in his discourses on being selfish. Basically, these events too are phases of one's growth cycle that must be passed through. One expresses one's ignoble thoughts and passions and then, having done so relatively consciously, or at least in an atmosphere of consciousness, the "Buddhafield", one rises above or goes beyond them. This is the theory, and any older sannyasin can testify to the basic truth of it. Many did much of their processing of such things in Osho's therapy groups, in which relative strangers would serve as stimuli, catalysts and foils for the other group members' (often unconscious) psychic sore spots. Or many threw out their psychic garbage without interpersonal interaction, in Dynamic Meditation. For the ones who came early and could talk to Osho about, say, their relationship problems, he would just chuckle and say "very good" when a couple would describe their mutual abuses, and perhaps assign some process to finish it off. But there may have been many sannyasins who did not get past this stage, remaining selfish in a parasitic or egoistic sense, possibly due to their incomplete understanding, laziness, or determination to "be true to themselves". It is entirely believable that some such people could have been among the child abusers, or at least that the teaching of selfishness could have been supportive for their unconscious desires, even in those examining themselves in other parts of their lives. checks and balances Here we look at what processes, devices, systems, teachings, communal structures, etc may have been given by Osho to prevent or mitigate damage caused by potential abusers of his selfishness teaching, especially in regard to "innocents" who had less ability to protect themselves from others' selfish depredations, ie children vs their potential abusers. A couple of clear angles emerge easily: 1. Most sannyasins would agree that another "key teaching" of Osho's could be put as "Be conscious", ie be as alert and aware as possible at all times, especially of one's interiority. There were of course exceptions, when Osho might guide individuals to lose themselves in some activity or other, particularly dancing. But for the most part, one could almost say that "It goes without saying that" Osho champions awareness, consciousness .... Not that this is unique to him; many teachers offer the same advice. But the "goes without saying" part may have been literally so when Osho spoke on selfishness. There are precious few instances of this important guidance when Osho is recommending selfishness to all of us. It is so noticeably absent that one might even think it was by design. Of course we cannot speculate on Osho's intentions, but we wonder ... this is one key teaching that could have had more of a balancing effect on excesses of selfishness, or at least after some excess had occurred, provided some insight or empathy. Its absence is conspicuous, something to look at. This is not a universally held view of course. Most of the time, Osho speaks totally, giving full power to whatever theme he is expounding, so “checks and balances” are not often found in individual talks. Similarly, the message to “be aware” is so prominent in so many other talks that its absence in conjunction with “be selfish” may not be so noteworthy. One might even say it could be taken for granted. For a more thorough exploration of these matters, see Abuse issues discussion, a spin-off page for this kind of stuff, still in progress. 2. Individual freedom is a paramount principle in Osho's iconography. Many are the times when he pronounces freedom to have a higher value than love. Though there are exceptions, they are fairly limited in their scope and context. Freedom is not identical with selfishness but they have much in common and no significant conflicts, so much so that we can look at what he says about freedom and find it fairly applicable to his guidance on selfishness. One of the key "checks and balances" in his messages about freedom is that a respect for others' freedom is also implied. Which SOUNDS like it should have been helpful in regard to sannyas kids getting preyed on, especially by serial abusers. Here is one that is both relevant and universal in its scope: "A man of understanding will respect his freedom as much as he will respect others' freedom, because if nobody respects your freedom, your freedom will be destroyed. It is a mutual understanding: 'I respect your freedom, you respect my freedom, then we both can be free'. But it is a compromise. I have not to interfere with your being, I am not free to trespass on you". ~ from The Dhammapada, Series 9, ch 4 A similar example notes that his freedom to sing loudly in the shower at night ends with the neighbour's freedom to sleep. It is good that Osho establishes the general practical boundaries of otherwise unlimited freedom. But he doesn't do this much. In fact, there are significant gaps in the applicability of Osho's words on respect in this situation which would be good to understand. Most of the rest of what he is saying about respecting others' freedom is not useful to children being hit on. This happens in two ways. The commonest, largest gap stems from the usual context of such guidance, that of a couple in a long-term relationship, with one or both being told to allow the other more freedom to wander sexually. While great advice in its context, this is of no use whatsoever to our unfortunate children's freedom to be left alone. The other gap is more subtle: The context is not so limiting, and Osho's words clearly have general applicability, but, his words lack the practicality of the Dhammapada quote above; they are not actually guidance but just comments based on an assumption. For example: An intelligent person can never use another person as a means; he will respect the other. An intelligent person will be able to see the equality of all. Yes, he will see the differences too, but differences make no difference as far as equality is concerned. He will have tremendous respect for others' freedom -- he cannot exploit them, he cannot reduce them into things, he cannot make them stepping stones to the fulfillment of some absurd desire to be the first. ~ from Tao: The Golden Gate, Vol 1, ch 7. This may be so, but a number of horny guys appear not to have taken heed, and did use and exploit the other, and literally and precisely for the fulfillment of some absurd desire to be the first! And there was no lack of willing adult outlets for the expression and fulfillment of normal, healthy sexual needs. Were they just unintelligent? Insincere? Etc etc. We cannot know unless they share more than they have. But somehow, the concept of respecting the children's freedom seems not to have been an effective antidote to the exercise of the abusing adult's "freedom". This MAY be partly because Osho has not made it sufficiently clear that respect for others' freedom is a MUST, not just something that happens to the intelligent or advanced seeker. Mostly he leaves it to our own intelligence and/or caring to work it out for ourselves. And more than a few of us failed to do so. Yes, there have also been those who came to Osho's caravan only to prey on sannyasins, who were definitely not sincere, for example those who would steal money and passports from prostrated sannyasins after White Robe in Osho's final months in the body. Some similarly insincere people may have also been involved in some of the child abuse. Regarding them, we can only ask why we were not more aware of them, more alert about the possibility of their moving among us. But we are mainly concerned with less peripheral characters, those who came as sincere seekers and appeared motivated to "do the work", meditate, grow, and be part of the community. That some of the abusers were sannyasins we know (knew) and love(d) must compel us to consider deeper questions, including whether part of Osho's guidance may have been a factor, or at least inadequate in this area. More on this in the Abuse issues discussion page.

to be continued ....

Footnotes:

1. Search terms used for finding the selfishness quotes used above were, for the first pass, "absolute*" + "selfish*", where the "*" serves as a "wild card" to find any words beginning with "absolute" and "selfish" in the same paragraph. The second pass was simpler, using only the phrase "be selfish". The first pass generated 38 hits, of which eight were fairly irrelevant, eight more with selfishness used as a term of criticism for other paths, practices and masters and 22 all-in for Osho's brand of selfishness.

The second pass's phrase of course turned up "don't be selfish", among other things. Thus, counter-examples are included. But they are few. Of the 77 hits for "be selfish", fully 60 are unambiguously advocating a robust selfishness. Of the other 17, a few are of the koan / paradox type, a few consist of inter-religious arguments or social platitudes, a few are among the counter-examples above, and a few are too subtle to place in any value-category, not irrelevant but requiring a deeper study than would be appropriate here. All in all, this is a fairly impressive consistency for a man who prides himself on being inconsistent!

One more example of "selfish*" for the road, ie as a critical term, not already mentioned up above:

"Animal love does not care about the other at all. It is absolutely selfish; one uses the other only as a means. If you see animals loving each other you can observe it -- it is a well-known fact -- that once they have made love, they part without even saying a thank-you, without even looking at each other". ~ from The Miracle, ch 31

It can be seen that these quotes, all from the first pass, do not have the collective impact to significantly detract from Osho's theme of selfishness. It is thus clearly not a case of inconsistency arising because different kinds of people need different methods.

2. still to be composed (examples of self-indulgent exploiters)

3. The Three Treasures quote mentioned above:

IS NOT THE SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT A SELFISH SEARCH?

Yes, it is. And the most selfish. There is nothing like it, it is incomparably selfish.

And one has to be selfish, there is no other way to be. And all the teachings that go on telling you not to be selfish have not helped; rather, they have distracted your being, they have made you unnatural.

Self is your centre, and to be selfish is the only way there is to be. The more you try to be NOT SELFISH the more you become eccentric. (The word eccentric is beautiful; it simply means off-centre.)

Then you are rooted no more in yourself, then you are grounded no more in your being, and a man who is not grounded in his being lives a false life, lives an artificial life. His whole life is more like a dream than like a reality.

And deep down you cannot help. Deep down you remain selfish. At the most you become hypocrites.

You try to be unselfish, but that is an impossibility. Even in your effort to be unselfish you will remain selfish. So you create a duality, a conflict, and whatsoever you say on the surface deep down you go on denying it -- and you know it well because how can you deceive yourself.' The surface says one thing, the depth goes on broadcasting just the opposite.

It happened, there was a case against Mulla Nasrudin in the court and the judge asked: Did you sleep with this woman, Nasrudin.' Nasrudin said, No, your honour, not at all, your honour, not even a wink!

This is the situation. You say something and immediately your inner depth contradicts it. You become a contradiction. You become tense. Your life becomes a deep anguish, a suffering. I teach you to be totally selfish because I teach you that which is natural. But if you understand me well -- which is difficult, you may misunderstand me -- if you are really selfish then much flows out of your life which is absolutely unselfish. :Because when a man is grounded in his own being he has so much to share, so much to give, there is no need to be altruistic.

If you are centred you ARE altruistic because you have overflowing love, overflowing being, you HAVE to share. You are just like a flower, so full of fragrance it goes on sharing it with the winds. You are like a pregnant being, you carry so much within you that you have to give, to share, and by sharing it grows more -- but you share it from your centre. So I am not saying that when you become selfish you are not unselfish then, no, just the opposite. When you try to be unselfish you remain, deep down, selfish. When you become totally selfish a tremendously beautiful unselfishness happens in your life. But you are not even conscious about it because if you are conscious it is false.

Things which are natural and healthy need no consciousness. Are you conscious of your breathing? Yes, sometimes, when something goes wrong, when something is ill, when the breathing is not as it should be -- then you become alert, then you are alarmed, then you become conscious. Otherwise the breathing goes on day and night, twenty-four hours, whether you are asleep or awake, whether you are in love or in hate, whether you move or you sit, whatsoever you do the breathing continues. It does not depend on your being conscious of it -- and it is fortunate that it doesn't depend on your consciousness, otherwise you would have been already dead.

If you had to be careful about it, if you had to DO it, it would have stopped long before.

Unselfishness should be like breathing. You should be centred, then it happens. Unselfishness is not the opposite of selfishness, unselfishness is the by.product of being totally selfish. This is what I teach you. And all the churches and all the religions and all the priests and preachers, they have been teaching you just the opposite. They have corrupted humanity, they have poisoned your minds.

You cannot be centred and you are trying to help others, to be of service to them. The only help that you can give, the first and the very basic thing, is to be centred and rooted within yourself.

Yes, enlightenment is a selfish search.

This is half of the answer I would like to give you. Now the other half.

Because enlightenment is a selfish search, the most selfish, incomparably selfish -- that's why you cannot attain enlightenment through search. The search will make you a beautiful person, wise, compassionate, in a thousand and one ways, but not enlightened.

So, for me there exist three types of persons; one, the so called religious person, the moral, the puritan, the so-called good, who goes on trying to be unselfish and remains selfish. :Second, the person who knows there is no other way to be, that to be selfish is the only way there is, who becomes centred and becomes unselfish, who through selfishness attains to unselfishness, as a by-product, he makes no effort to attain it. :And the third person who is neither selfish nor unselfish. He is the enlightened person who goes beyond duality, who goes even beyond self.

"Hidden in yourself is no self. Hidden behind you is emptiness, nothingness, what Buddha has called SUNYATA, absolute nothingness.

So the second part of the answer: You cannot attain to enlightenment through search. All search fails there, because until the seeker is lost enlightenment is not possible, and how can the seeker be lost if there is search? How can the seeker be lost if there is self?

It is not possible. So what happens? How does a man become enlightened?

He searches and searches, and there comes a moment when he realizes the total absurdity of searching for it; because you can search for something which is not already within you, you can search for something which is in the future, but how can you search for that which is already the case? Through searching you will miss it.

How can you search for the seeker himself? The seeker can search for everything except himself. Trying to search for himself is absurd. How can the seeker seek himself? For search a distance is needed between the seeker and the sought.

When the distance is not there -- and it is NOT THERE -- the seeker is the sought. When this is realized... and this is realized after much search, remember -- don't drop searching, I am not saying that -- this is realized after many failures, when all hope is lost. This is realized only when you have searched in all the ways possible, when you have done all that you could, no stone has been left unturned, not even a single corner has been left unsearched, you have done all that can be done, nothing is left -- then you simply sit; the search drops from you; no hope, no possibility of ever gaining this goal; in a moment of absolute frustration you drop the search -- this is how it happened to Buddha, this is how it happened to me, this is how it always happens.

You make tremendous effort, that is needed! I'm not saying that right now you can drop the search, how can you drop it if you have not got it?

Search hard. Make all the efforts you can, bring your total energy to it, but I am not saying that through it you will attain. Without it you will never attain, through it no one has ever attained. You will have to pass through it.

Go in, and then a moment comes when you come out freed from all search and seeking. Suddenly you turn inwards, because search is always outward: seeking, you always look somewhere else, seeking, you run all over the space, seeking you go in all directions -- and there is within you something that is beyond all directions. You may call it the eleventh direction.

There is within you something which need not be searched for but only realized. It happens in a single moment, not even in a single moment, in a split second -- not even that; it doesn't happen in time.

Search stopped, seeker gone, suddenly it is there. It has always been there.

~ from Tao: The Three Treasures, Vol 3, ch 2