According to Osho, there is nothing to find—you are already the silent, empty center. Stop seeking ‘something’ outside; turn inward and allow nothingness (nirvana) to reveal itself. Embrace being nobody: in the center of the cyclone you are silence, peace, freedom. Meditation is simply consenting to this nothingness; when the search drops, your own vast, unclaimed sky is present.
If you feel there’s nothing to find, relax—that nothing is your true self; stop searching and sit quietly so the peaceful emptiness inside can be felt.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, being near you, looking into your eyes, feeling you, I am losing my ground. And I feel what I am, what I am not. Osho, how can I find myself? There seems to be nothing to find.
You have found it! Yes, nothing is there to be found. But to say it from the very beginning is to destroy the whole business. So religions go on saying to you, "You will find God, and you will find the soul, and you will find this and that." The truth is: you will not find anything. And it is better that you don't find anything, otherwise there is going to be trouble. Just think: if you find God sitting inside you, what are you going to do stuck with the fellow for eternity? Nothingness is beautiful. It implies freedom, infinity. The whole sky is yours. And you don't find anyone, so there is no question of quarrel, no question of who is higher and who is lower; no question of how to coexist because to anybody who is there you will be a stranger -- red people in Oregon!…
Osho, you said that awareness created centering and crystallization, but I personally feel that awareness brings a feeling of deep void within me. Please explain the relationship between centering and inner void.
As man is, he is without a center -- without a real, authentic center. He has a center, so to speak, but the center is false. He only thinks he has a center. The ego is a false center. You feel that it is there, but it is not. If you go to find it, you will not find it at all. Bodhidharma reached China 1100 years after Buddha. He was a Buddha himself. The Emperor Wu came to receive Bodhidharma. When no one was there, he asked Bodhidharma, "I am very, very disturbed. My mind is never at ease. What can I do? Tell me. Make my mind at peace, at ease. I am in deep conflict; an inner struggle continues -- so do something." Bodhidharma said, "I can do something. Come early in the morning at four o'clock, but remember to bring your self." The Emperor felt: "Either…
Beloved Osho, in my meditations, as I try to look more and more inside, I often feel that there is nobody. It is like falling into an endless black gap. And I feel a lot of tension, and wanting to run away. If there is no me inside, then whom should I love? Please help me find that love for myself, and that totality that you have talked about so many times.
"If there is no me inside, then whom should I love?" There is certainly no me inside anyone. But there is something else far more important: there is something which can only be called your am-ness, your is-ness -- just your pure existence. You call it me, because outside you need to refer to yourself. Have you watched small babies? In the beginning they often refer to themselves by their name, "Johnny is hungry." They are far more accurate. But in a society they will be thought to be insane. "Johnny is hungry?" Why don't you say, "I'm hungry" "Johnny" gives the idea that somebody else is hungry. Johnny is your name to be used by others. You cannot use it when you are referring to yourself. Then you have to refer to yourself as `I', `me', but not your name." It happened in Thomas Alva Edison's life... he was…
Beloved Osho, I have hoped to become more sure of myself, stronger and more relaxed through meditation. On the contrary, although I am less anxious, I feel more and more empty, uncertain and vulnerable. Why does this happen?
Every desire leads not to the goal it has promised you; it leads to just the opposite of it. You want to be special? you have already accepted your ordinariness. One who is special does not want to be special; he's not even aware that he is special. Whatever you want, one thing is certain: you are not that. And from where are these desires and wants coming? -- imitation. All around, you see people: somebody is so rich, somebody is so intellectual, somebody is a wrestler, somebody is a boxer. And you are nothing -- it hurts. It hurts because of your wrong conceptions about life. So you have to note down a few things in your being: one, you cannot be anybody other than who you are. If you try to be somebody other than who you are, you will never be somebody else, but you will miss…
Why is it so difficult to find oneself?
You can do it anywhere, watching anything. Just remember one thing -- when the thought comes, put it aside, shove it aside. Again go on looking at the thing. In the beginning it will be difficult but after a period, intervals start happening. There will be no thought -- and you will find great joy arising out of that simple experience. Nothing has happened. Just thoughts are not there and the tree is there and you are there and between the two there is space. The space is not cluttered with thoughts. Suddenly there is great joy for no visible reason, for no reason at all. You have learned the first secret. This then has to be used in a subtler way. Things are gross, that's why I say start with a thing. You can sit in your room, you can go on looking at a photograph -- the only…