All minds are piles of old memories covering your inner clarity; when you drop them and stay open, real intelligence appears.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Is all mind made out of the same material -- stupidity?
Yes. Mind is stupid. There is no mind which is intelligent. Mind cannot be intelligent; mind is stupidity. To say "stupid mind" is not right; it is repetitive because "stupidity" and "mind" both mean the same thing. Why is mind stupidity? Because mind is nothing but the past. the collected dust that you have gathered on the way -- layers and layers of dust. That hinders your intelligence. It is just like a mirror covered with dust: mind is dust; mirror is consciousness. When all dust is washed away, intelligence arises: when there is no mind you are intelligent; when there is mind you are stupid. Of course, there are two types of "stupid" -- ignorant stupids, knowledgeable stupids: people who don't know anything that are stupid and people who know too much and are stupid. And remember, the second type is more dangerous than the first because the second…Read the full discourse →
The nun chiyono studied for years, but was unable to find enlightenment. One night, she was carrying an old pail filled with water. As she was walking along, she was watching the full moon reflected in the pail of water. Suddenly, the bamboo strips that held the pail together broke, and the pail fell apart. The water rushed out; the moon's reflection disappeared -- and chiyono became enlightened. She wrote this verse: this way and that way I tried to keep the pail together, hoping the weak bamboo would never break. Suddenly the bottom fell out. No more water; no more moon in the water -- empti
A real seeker is never against anything. He is for something, but never against something. He is for God, but never against the world, because finally the world belongs to God. If I see your face in a mirror and it is beautiful, should I be against the mirror? Really, I should be thankful because it reflected you. But I will not focus myself on the mirror; I will be in search of you who was reflected in the mirror. I will have to leave the mirror, but not because I am against it. I will have to turn my face away from the mirror, but not because I was against it. I will be thankful to it because it mirrored something, and in the reflection it was so beautiful -- but now I must go to find the original source. <q>THE WATER RUSHED OUT; THE MOON'S REFLECTION DISAPPEARED --…Read the full discourse →
Are some people more stupid than others?
But the king forgot. So before asking, "How old are you?" he asked, "How long have you been the spiritual guide of this town?" Now, Nasrudin had fixed answers. He said, "Seventy years." The king looked a little puzzled because the man looks not more than seventy, so has he been a religious teacher from his very birth? Then he said, "I am surprised. Then how old are you?" Nasrudin said, "Thirty years." Because this was the fixed thing: that first he has to say "seventy years," then he has to say "thirty years." The king said, "Are you mad?" Nasrudin said, "Sir, we both are mad -- in our own ways! You are asking wrong questions -- and I have to answer right answers! This is the problem. I cannot change, because those people are here, those who have trained me. They are looking at me. I cannot change,…Read the full discourse →
Butei, the emperor of ryo, sent for fu-daishi to explain the diamond sutra. On the appointed day fu-daishi came to the palace, mounted the platform, rapped on the table before him, then descended and, still not speaking, left. Butei sat motionless for some minutes, whereupon shiko, who had seen all that had happened, went up to him and said, "may I be so bold, sir, as to ask whether you understood?" the emperor shook his head sadly. "what a pity," said shiko. "fu-daishi has never been more eloquent."
I have heard that Wittgenstein, a great Western philosopher, who comes nearest to the Zen attitude, used to say that he did not solve philosophical problems -- he dissolved them. And he used to say: "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are." Nothing can be done about things as they are. All that can be done is to help you to see them as they are. "We leave things as they are but perhaps for the first time we come to see them as they are." And again: "Philosophy simply puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces anything -- since everything lies open to view, there is nothing to explain." Yes, life is a mystery, and there is nothing to explain -- because everything is just open, it is just in front of you. Encounter…Read the full discourse →
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…Read the full discourse →