According to Osho, nothing is inherently pure or impure; what tantra calls “impure” are teachings that impose such divisions. The only real impurity is a mind crowded with concepts that breed calculation and cunning. Drop rule-bound moralism and meet life as energy with alert awareness; then innocence and authentic purity arise by themselves, without effort.
Because nothing is good or bad by itself, the only real “bad” is the idea that splits life into good/bad—let go of those ideas and stay alert, and natural innocence appears.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
"the second sutra discussed yesterday says, `the purity of other teachings is an impurity to us. In reality, know nothing as pure or impure.' if nothing is impure, then how can the teachings of others be impure?"
Really, nothing is impure, but the teaching that something is pure and something is impure has to be discarded. Only in that sense does the sutra mean, "The purity of other teachings is an impurity to us." Nothing is pure and nothing is impure, but if someone teaches that something is pure and something is impure, tantra says that this has to be discarded. Only in this sense does the sutra say that "The purity of other teachings is an impurity to us." This is just a discarding. It is just saying don't make any distinctions, remain innocent. But look at the complexity of life. If I say remain innocent, and if you then try innocence, that innocence will not be innocent. How can it be? If you have "tried" it, it has become a calculated thing. Then it cannot be innocent. If you try it, it cannot be! So…
At the start of sneezing, during fright, in anxiety, above a chasm, flying in battle, in extreme curiosity, at the beginning of hunger, at the end of hunger, be uninterruptedly aware.
THE PURITY OF OTHER TEACHINGS IS AN IMPURITY TO US. IN REALITY, KNOW NOTHING AS PURE OR IMPURE. Because these techniques are so simple, they will not have any appeal to your mind. Remember, that which appeals to the ego cannot help your spiritual growth. Only that which has no appeal to your ego can be a help towards transformation. But this is what happens: if some teacher says that this or that is very difficult, very arduous, that only after lives and lives and lives will you have any possibility for any glimpse, your ego will feel good. These techniques are so simple that right now, here and now, the thing is possible. But then there is no contact with your ego. If I say that right now, here, this very moment you can achieve all that is possible to man, that you can become a Buddha or a…
What does tantra mean by purity?
Accept yourself. But then you will look like an animal. You will not look like a man because your concept of man is in your ideals. That is why we go on teaching others not to be like animals, and everyone is an animal. What can you do? You ARE an animal. Accept your animality. And the moment you accept your animality, you have done the first thing to go beyond animals -- because no animal knows that it is an animal, only man can know. That is going beyond. You cannot go beyond by denying. Accept! When everything is accepted, suddenly you will feel that you have transcended. Who is accepting? Who accepts the whole? That which accepts has gone beyond. If you reject, you remain on the same plane. If you accept, you go beyond. Acceptance is transcendence. And if you accept yourself totally, suddenly you are thrown…
When (in winter) still water by the wind is stirred, it takes (as ice) the shape and texture of a rock.
WHEN THE DELUDED ARE DISTURBED BY INTERPRETATIVE THOUGHTS, THAT WHICH IS AS YET UNPATTERNED TURNS VERY HARD AND SOLID. MIND IMMACULATE IN ITS VERY BEING, CAN NEVER BE POLLUTED BY SAMSARA'S OR NIRVANA'S IMPURITIES. A PRECIOUS JEWEL DEEP IN MUD WILL NOT SHINE, THOUGH IT HAS LUSTER. KNOWLEDGE SHINES NOT IN THE DARK, BUT WHEN THE DARKNESS IS ILLUMINED, SUFFERING DISAPPEARS (AT ONCE). SHOOTS GROW FROM THE SEED AND LEAVES FROM THE SHOOTS. HE WHO THINKS OF THE MIND IN TERMS OF ONE OR MANY, CASTS AWAY THE LIGHT AND ENTERS THE WORLD. INTO A (RAGING) FIRE HE WALKS WITH OPEN EYES -- WHO COULD BE MORE DESERVING OF COMPASSION? <q>A PRECIOUS JEWEL DEEP IN MUD WILL NOT SHINE, THOUGH IT HAS LUSTER.</q> SAYS SARAHA: MIND IMMACULATE... when the mind has no thoughts -- that is when the mind is pure consciousness, when the mind is a silent lake without…