According to Osho, a true master is inevitably a friend: his 'friendship' is compassion-filled friendliness that shares truth without demanding obedience. He invites understanding, honors each seeker's uniqueness, and allows intimacy without creating spiritual slavery. Guidance comes as sharing living water, not issuing rules; follow your own understanding. One cannot claim friendship as a disciple until one rises to the master's height.
A real teacher is your loving friend who helps you see for yourself instead of bossing you, and you become a true friend only as you grow to his level.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, many of your sannyasins were happy to hear from you that you are our friend, but it was a great shock for me. My beloved master, will you say something about the master-disciple relationship?
He went, because Buddha promised him; but it was a trouble. Every day he had to be informed of what direction Buddha was in. And morning and evening he would bow down on the earth, tears of joy in his eyes -- just dust in his hands, but he would touch it as if he were touching the feet of Buddha. And people would say to him, "Mahakashyap, you yourself are now a master. It doesn't seem right for you to behave like a disciple." Mahakashyap's answer was, "As long as Gautam Buddha is alive I cannot be the master, I can only be the disciple. Because to be disciple is so beautiful; under the shade of the master it is so cool, it is so protected. When Buddha dies, of course I will be a master -- under the hot sun, there will no longer be any shade over…
Beloved Osho, what is the difference between the emptiness of the child before the formation of the ego and the awakened childlikeness of a buddha?
Whether you are for it or against it doesn't matter -- your concern shows where your ego is hanging. And I will include the capitalist in it also: his whole concern is how to gather money, hoard money -- because money has power over matter. You can purchase any material thing through money. You cannot purchase anything spiritual, you cannot purchase anything that has any intrinsic value; you can purchase only things. If you want to purchase love, you cannot purchase; but you can purchase sex. Sex is the material part of love. Through money, matter can be purchased, possessed. Now you will be surprised: I include the communist and the capitalist both in the same category, and they are enemies, just as I include Charvaka and Mahatma Gandhi in the same category, and they are enemies. They are enemies, but their concern is the same. The capitalist is trying…
Beloved Osho, every day you make a step descending from the pedestal of being a master to becoming a friend to us, the ultimate friend. And yet my reverence for you is increasing every day. How can this happen? Please explain.
The relationship between the master and the disciple is in a subtle way a kind of slavery. To cover it, the disciple reveres the master, adores the master. The master tries to be a fatherly figure to the disciple, but deep down the master is nothing but a politician. By increasing his followers he is increasing his power. He manipulates people. All the disciplines, rules, regulations -- they are meant for you as psychological chains. The disciple has hatred deep down in him, for the simple reason that he has to bow down to the master, because the master knows and he does not know. He is angry, enraged, but what can he do? To know as much as the master knows, he represses his feelings and creates a phony personality, hypocrisy, humbleness. You will have to understand one thing very clearly: in all cultures the love relationship between brother…
Beloved Osho, I love to hear you call us your friends. Why is it both exciting and challenging?
One thing is to be remembered: Gautam Buddha cannot come back. He has said, "I will be coming back." That's purely symbolic -- he cannot come back. A man of that stature, a being who has reached to the ultimate experience of existence cannot come back; it is just not possible in the very nature of things. He cannot take another form, another body. He cannot be born again in the womb of a mother; he cannot become again flesh and bones. Once you have reached the state of being where you realize yourself as pure consciousness, it is no longer possible for you to be born again. So when Buddha says, "Next time when I come back..." it has to be understood only symbolically. All the Buddhists of the world have been waiting -- they are waiting unnecessarily. They will never find Gautam Buddha back in the body again.…
Beloved Osho, for some time now you have been saying that you are our friend and we are friends. I'm having difficulty in truly getting it. Osho, to me you are my most beloved master. Please show me where I am missing.
The question is from Vivek. I can understand her difficulty. The same will be the difficulty of all those who have come close to me, loved me, received me in their hearts as a master. I have been saying that I am your friend, and you are my friend for a very strange reason that may not be obvious to you. There was another question from Milarepa -- why are a few sannyasins feeling very resentful towards you, angry with you? This has been an historical thing, that amongst disciples there are always a few who are accidental. The wind was blowing this way and they arrived. They saw a tremendous energy in the disciples, and they became greedy. But it was not a search for truth, it was not a search for love; it was simple greed. They also wanted to be spiritually powerful. They became sannyasins, they became…