Do you use your mind when you speak in discourse?

Question: OSHO, DO YOU USE YOUR MIND WHEN YOU SPEAK IN DISCOURSE? Prashant, WHAT DISCOURSE? You call this discourse? And what mind? One can easily see that whatsoever I utter is absolutely mindless. I am a madman. What mind? One madman came to the house of another madman and knocked at the door. The man opened the window from above and shouted down, "I'm not at home!" The madman below looked up and said, "Well, then I'm glad I didn't come!" And the last question

Beloved Osho, lord buddha kept on discoursing and giving sermons continuously for forty years, yet it is said that he never spoke a single word. The same way you are discoursing and giving sermons continuously for the past twenty years and it can be said that you do not speak even a single word. Is it true?

Sometime visit a madhouse: the doctor there seems to be crazier than the patients. The patients are mad without worries, but this poor man has to suffer the madness of so many of them. In treating all these mad people, the psychologists themselves reach to the same stage of madness. The qualities travel through the words too. So an intelligent person will listen only to the words that are coming out of an inner emptiness, an inner peace, that are born in the inner depths. If the words are coming from an inner dis-ease, then close your ears -- it is better to be deaf to them. This will protect you. And likewise, don't look at the wrong -- because by looking at it, it is entering you. And don't touch the meaningless, because the very touch of it will affect you. But we are not aware of all this.…

Osho, for forty years continuously Buddha gave discourses and sermons, and it is said that he did not speak a single word. Likewise, you too have been speaking and giving discourses for twenty years, and it could be said that you do not speak a single word. Is this true?

There is a sweet story about Mahavira. The Jains, in their rigidity, clung to the letter and missed the essence. The story is that Mahavira never spoke, and yet people heard. This is a difficult matter: Mahavira did not speak, yet people heard. Mahavira did not speak in any language that the ears can hear. The Jains say his speech is soundless—nishabd. There are no words in it. Yet people heard—those who could. If they too became wordless, sat near Mahavira in silence, they heard. Therefore there is another story in Mahavira’s life, important to note: wild animals heard him, gods of the sky came to listen, birds and beasts came, ghosts and spirits were present. The Jains have great difficulty explaining how birds and beasts can hear. Certainly, if Mahavira spoke in a language, then even among humans only those who knew that tongue could understand. If I am…

HYAKUJO: THE EVEREST OF ZEN, WITH BASHO'S HAIKUS Discourse #8 Title: October, 03, 1988, PM gautam the buddha auditorium, osho commune international, poona, india BELOVED OSHO A MONK ASKED, "ARE WORDS AND SPEECH ALSO MIND?" HYAKUJO REPLIED, "WORDS AND SPEECH ARE CONCURRENT CAUSES; THEY ARE NOT MIND." THE MONK CONTINUED, "WHAT IS THIS MIND WHICH LIES BEYOND WORDS AND SPEECH?" "THERE is NO MIND BEYOND WORDS AND SPEECH," RESPONDED HYAKUJO. THE MONK SAID, "IF THERE IS NO MIND BEYOND WORDS AND SPEECH, WHAT IS THAT MIND IN REALITY?" HYAKUJO SAID, "MIND IS WITHOUT FORM AND CHARACTERISTICS. IT IS NEITHER BEYOND NOR NOT BEYOND WORDS AND SPEECH. IT IS FOREVER CLEAR AND STILL, AND CAN PERFORM ITS FUNCTION FREELY AND WITHOUT HINDRANCE. THE PATRIARCH SAID, `IT IS ONLY WHEN THE MIND IS SEEN TO BE UNREAL THAT THE DHARMA OF ALL MINDS CAN BE TRULY UNDERSTOOD.

Osho, it seems Buddha put all his emphasis on knowing and understanding the mind. Is a human being made by the mind? Are all talks about the soul and God useless?

Pandits go on chattering; they have no idea what they are saying. The enlightened fall silent, because they know. How can the most sacred be said? Bring it to the lips and it becomes false. Words are too small. Can they contain the vast? They cannot. It is like trying to bind the sky in your fist—the fist will close, the sky will remain outside. In the same way words get bound, and God remains outside. The word “God” is not God. Your rote of “God, God” has nothing to do with God; it is a disease of your mind. We do know the truth of Paradise, but to console the heart, Ghalib, this fancy is pleasing. You know it well. Your heaven, your liberation, your God—you know very well the truth of them: this “God” of yours is nothing. It is overheard talk. A rumor. You heard it from…