Are all ideals, including the ideal of attaining one's destiny, wrong?

Osho, you said that all ideals are wrong. But is the ideal of attaining one’s destination, one’s destiny, equally wrong?

An ideal is wrong; it makes no difference what you make an ideal of. “Ideal” means: it will happen in the future. “Ideal” means: tomorrow. “Ideal” means: it is not available today. An ideal is postponement—for the future. What is your destiny does not need to be made into an ideal; it is bound to happen—it has, in a way, already happened. Destiny means your intrinsic nature. That which is wholly available to you in this moment is your destiny. All ideals are anti-destiny. The very meaning of an ideal is that you want to be what, in your heart of hearts, you know you cannot be. A rose becomes a rose; a lotus becomes a lotus. Nowhere in the lotus’s heart is there an ideal, “I must become a lotus.” If the lotus tried to become a lotus, it would go mad—and fail. What you are, you already are—from…

Osho, you and Shri Krishnamurti seem very opposed to having ideals in life. It is true that ideals create a great deal of hypocrisy. But if we look from the other end, the danger appears that without the challenge of ideals, growth will become impossible. There will be no difference between human and animal. So is the mistake in choosing the wrong ideals? Would you be gracious enough to say something on this?

By “ideal” you mean: distant stars in the sky… to become this, to become that. In that race of becoming you forget how you are. What is, gets forgotten; what should be, fixes your gaze. But what is—that alone is real. A man has tuberculosis—that is the reality. He “should” be healthy, he should be a wrestler like Muhammad Ali or Gama—that is an ideal. So he hangs Gama’s picture at home, does a daily arati to it. And he has TB—rotting within—while his eyes are fixed on Gama’s picture! What will come of it? Will TB vanish? The truth is: because of it, the very means of release from TB is lost. Your eye is not on TB; it is stuck on Gama’s picture. Your eye should have been on TB—then something could be done, treatment could happen. A man is burning with anger and sits with the ideal…

Date-jitoku, a fine waka poet, wanted to master zen. With this in mind he made an appointment to see ekkei, abbot of shokokuji in kyoto.

JITOKU WENT TO THE MASTER FULL OF HOPES, BUT AS SOON AS HE ENTERED THE ROOM HE RECEIVED A WHACK. HE WAS ASTONISHED AND MORTIFIED: NO ONE HAD EVER DARED TO STRIKE HIM BEFORE, BUT AS IT IS A STRICT ZEN RULE NEVER TO SAY OR DO ANYTHING UNLESS ASKED BY THE MASTER, HE WITHDREW SILENTLY. HE WENT AT ONCE TO KOKUON, WHO WAS TO SUCCEED EKKEI AS ABBOT AND TOLD HIM THAT HE PLANNED TO CHALLENGE EKKEI TO A DUEL. 'CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THE MASTER WAS BEING KIND TO YOU?' SAID DOKUON. 'EXERT YOURSELF IN ZAZEN AND YOU WILL SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT HIS TREATMENT OF YOU MEANS.' FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS JITOKU ENGAGED IN DESPERATE CONTEMPLATION, THEN, SUDDENLY, HE EXPERIENCED AN ECSTATIC AWAKENING. THIS SATORI WAS APPROVED BY EKKEI. JITOKU CALLED ON DOKUON AND THANKED HIM FOR HIS ADVICE, SAYING: 'IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR YOUR…

The contemporary ideal of living completely within the present moment, no less than the classical mystical notion of living totally within the divine eternal, is as impossible as it is inhuman. It results in a diseased rather than a graceful present. Graceful existence integrates present, past and future.

Buddha is saying: To be in desire is to be miserable. He is not saying desire about what: desire as such creates misery -- because in desire you start moving from the present, you start thinking of the future. You start thinking of dreams -- you are going to do this, and this is going to happen; and if this happens you will be happy, and if that happens you will be very very miserable. The moment you start dreaming and desiring you have missed contact with life; you disconnected. You are no more living in those moments of desire. Those moments of desiring are death moments. Life has stopped flowing. You are frozen. Whenever you are in desire you are not alive. Life and desire can't exist together. They are two gestalts, you can have only one at one time. If you move into desire, life disappears; if you…

Osho, is sannyas a human possibility or an ultimate destiny? Please tell us.

Those great knowers said “it will happen, it is going to happen” and emphasized it strongly to wake you from sleep: if it is going to happen anyway, then let it happen now. Why delay? Why postpone it till tomorrow? If it is going to happen tomorrow, let it happen today. Why suffer till tomorrow? Why endure anguish till tomorrow? Let it be today. Accept it today. If it is going to be anyway, why erect obstacles? All your obstacles will break and the event will occur. The wise said: do not create obstacles—that was their purpose when they said sannyas is destiny. And they also said it so that, if you understand destiny, you will be freed from the past. The moment you see that someone abused you yesterday and that it was bound to happen, then the abuser bears no responsibility. It had to be. That abuse was…