Prophets / Poets

The struggle of the poet, is to express the unseen and say the un-sayable.


The Buddhas / Enlightened Ones / Prophets by Osho

"The Buddha or The Christ cannot be created, because the Buddha is your intrinsic nature, it need not be created. It has not to be developed either, it is already there, it is already the case, it has only to be unfolded; it has to be discovered.

The treasure is there, you have to find the key to unlock the door. The treasure is not to be created, the treasure is not to be developed, only You have to find the right key. You have forgotten about the key; the key is also with You. God provides you with everything that is needed on the journey. You come absolutely prepared.

But, society disturbs every child, EVERY child, because a Buddha or a Christ are useless for the society. They don't serve any utilitarian purpose. What can you do with a Buddha? What purpose is he going to serve?

He will be a beautiful flower, but flowers don't serve any purpose. Flowers have to be enjoyed, appreciated, loved; you can dance around them, you can drink their beauty. But, they are not commodities in the marketplace. What can you do with the full moon? You cannot sell it. You cannot purchase it. You cannot be profited by it. You cannot have a bigger bank balance because of the full moon. Hence, the society is not interested in a Buddha or a Christ.

A Buddha is a full moon, a Buddha is a lotus flower, a Buddha is the bird on the wing, the Buddha is poetry, the Buddha is a song, the Buddha is a celebration. Because, they are utterly beyond utility, the society is not interested in them; it is really afraid of these people; it wants you to be slaves, to be cogs in the wheel of the society; it wants you, to be servants to the vested interests; it does not want you to be rebels and a Buddha is bound to be a Rebel.

A Buddha cannot follow a stupid commandment given by the politicians or the moralists or the puritans or the priests, and these are the people who are exploiting humanity, oppressing humanity. They start destroying every possibility of every human child of ever becoming a Buddha. They start poisoning, and they have learned many ways to poison down the centuries. It is a miracle that once in a while a child has escaped, somehow, must have been a mistake on the parts of the priests and the politicians; that a child has escape from the trap and has become a Buddha.

'Every man is Born to be a Buddha,
every man [woman] has the seed of Buddhahood in him [her].'

But, I can understand your question, you say it's not true. Yes, if you look at the society, if it was true there would be many Buddhas. But, one rarely hears about a Buddha. We only know, somewhere, 25 centuries before, a certain Siddartha Gautama became a Buddha. Who knows whether it is true or not? It may be just a myth, a beautiful story, a consolation, an opium for the masses; to keep them hoping, that one day they will also become Buddhas.

Who knows that Buddha is a historic reality? And, so many stories have been woven around the Buddha, that he looks [more] like a mythological figure, than a reality, when he becomes enlightened. Gods come from the heavens, play beautiful music, dance around him. Now, how can this be history? And flowers shower on him, from the sky, flowers of gold and silver; flowers of diamonds, emeralds. Who can believe that this is history?

This is not history, true, I agree, this is Poetry. But, it symbolizes something historical. Because something so unique has happened in Buddha, that there is no other way to describe it, than to bring poetry in. Not real flowers have showered on Buddha, but, whenever someone becomes enlightened, the whole existence rejoices. Because, we are not separated from it [anymore]. When you have a headache, the whole body suffers. And then the headache goes, your whole body feels good, a well-being."


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"Is it absolutely inevitable that the Buddha will always be misunderstood? Yes, it is absolutely inevitable, it can't be otherwise. A Buddha is bound to be misunderstood; if a Buddha is not misunderstood, then he is not a Buddha at all. Why is it so? Because, the Buddha lives in a state, which is beyond Mind and we live in Minds.

To translate something from The Behind to The Mind is the most impossible thing in the world; it can't be done, although every Buddha has tried to do it. That too is inevitable, no Buddha can avail it. The Buddha has to say the unsayable, he has to express the inexpressible, he has to define the indefinable, he has to do this absurd act because the moment he reaches beyond the mind, great compassion arises.

He can see people stumbling in the dark, he can see people suffering unnecessarily; creating their own nightmares, creating their own hell and drowning in their own created hells. How can he avail, not feeling compassion? And the minute compassion rises, he wants to communicate to them that this is your own doing; that, you can get out of it, that there is a way out of it, that there is a state beyond it, that life is not what you think it is. Your thinking about life is just like the thinking of a blind man about light; the blind man can go on thinking about light but he will never be able to come to a True conclusion; his conclusions may be very logical, but still they will miss the experience.

Light is an experience, you don't need logic for it, what you need is Eyes. Buddha has Eyes and eyes are attained only when you have gone beyond the mind, when you have become a witness of the mind, when you have attained to a higher state than psychology; when you know that you are not your thoughts, not your body, when you know that you are only Knowing. The energy that reflects, the energy that is capable of seeing that you are pure Seeing.

Once Buddha was asked, 'who are you', he was such a beautiful man and the Buddhahood has conferred such grace to him, that many times he is asked 'who are you'.

He looked like an Emperor or a God that has come from a Heaven and he lived like a Beggar. Again and again he is asked, 'who are you' and the men who are asking were great scholars. He [the scholar] said, 'are you from the world of gods, are you a god?'

Buddha said, 'No.'

'Then are you a... musician of the gods?'

Buddha had such music around himself. The music of silence. The sound of no sound. One hand clapping. That it was natural to ask him are you.... a celestial musician.

Buddha said, 'No'.

And the man goes on asking. There are many categories in Hindu mythology from Gods to Man. Then, finally he asks, 'are you a great king... one who rules over the world?'

And Buddha says 'No.'

Annoyed, the scholar asks, 'Are you a man? Or not even that?'

Buddha says, 'Don't be annoyed. But, what can I do? I have to state the truth as it is. I am not a man either.'

And now the scholar is too angry, enraged, he says, 'then are you an animal?'

The Buddha said, 'No. Not an animal, not a tree, not a rock.' '

THEN WHO ARE YOU?' the man asks.

Buddha said, 'I'm Awareness.'

Just pure awareness, just a mirror, reflecting all that Is.

When this moment arrives, great compassion happens.

Buddha has said that those who know are bound to feel compassion for those who don't know. They start trying to help and the first thing that has to be done is to communicate to people who are blind, that eyes are possible; that you are not really blind, but, only keeping your eyes closed. You can open your eyes, you are not born blind, you have only been taught to remain blind.

Your society teaches you to be blind because the society needs blind people; they are good slaves because they are always dependent upon the leaders, politicians, pundits, priests. They are very convenient people, they never create any trouble, they are never Rebels. They are obedient, always ready to submit, to any kind of nonsense, to any stupid politician, to any stupid priest. And, in fact, who else wants to be a politician, except stupid people and who wants to be a priest except stupid people. These are the dimensions for the mediocre, for the inferior, those who are suffering from inferiority complex, they become politicians. Just to prove that they are not inferior to the world and to themselves.

The society, the establishment wants you to be blind. From the very beginning it teaches every child that you are blind, it conditions every child that you are blind. Your whole educational system is nothing but a conspiracy against every child, to keep you blind. It does not teach you meditation because meditation is the art of opening your eyes. When somebody arrives to awareness, he naturally feels great compassion.

He sees, all around, people who have eyes, who have capacities to see the truth, who are, from their very birth, capable of becoming Buddhas.. enlightened ones, awakened ones, are suffering. And the whole suffering is ridiculous, it need not be so. Compassion happens and compassion starts communicating, but communication is difficult, impossible.

Buddha speaks from the hilltop and you live in the dark valleys where light never reaches. He talks in words of light. By the time they reach to you, their meaning changes. By the time your mind catches hold of them, it colors them into its own colors. It is not only so about Buddhas.

Even our daily communication seems to be impossible.

The husband cannot communicate with his wife.
The parents cannot communicate with their children.
The teachers cannot communicate with their students.

What to say about Buddhas?

People who exist on the same level, even they cannot communicate because words are tricky things. You say one thing, but, the moment it reaches to the other person, now it is in his power to interpret it however he wants."

~Osho