According to Osho, yes—it’s inevitable. A Buddha lives beyond mind, while we live within mind; translating the inexpressible into thought and language guarantees distortion. Yet out of compassion he must attempt the impossible, pointing like eyes to the blind: you can awaken, become pure awareness, and end self-created suffering—even if his words are misunderstood.
A Buddha sees what words can’t show; we don’t, so we mix up his message—but he still tries to help us open our eyes.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, is it absolutely inevitable that a buddha will always be misunderstood?
YES, IT IS ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE. It can't be otherwise. A Buddha is bound to be misunderstood. If a Buddha is not misunderstood then he is not a Buddha at all. Why is it so? -- because the Buddha lives in a state which is beyond mind, and we live IN minds. To translate something from the beyond to the mind is the most impossible thing in the world. It can t be done, although every Buddha has tried to do it. That too is inevitable; no Buddha can avoid it. The Buddha HAS to say the unsayable, he has to express the inexpressible, he has to define the indefinable. He has to do this absurd act, because the moment he reaches beyond the mind great compassion arises. He can see people stumbling in the dark, he can see people suffering unnecessarily -- creating their own nightmares, creating their own hell…
Beloved master, why are you being continuously misunderstood and misinterpreted by people?
Rajesh, it is absolutely inevitable, it is unavoidable. It has to be so. It is part of the destiny of those who speak the truth. They are bound to be misunderstood, misinterpreted. If they were not misunderstood, not misinterpreted, that would be a miracle. It has not happened up to now and there is no hope that it is ever going to happen. Buddhas have always been misunderstood for the simple reason that they speak from a totally different vision which is not available to the masses. They speak from a totally different experience. Their experience is such that it cannot be expressed through words, yet they try to express it through words -- they try to do the impossible. Saying it through words creates trouble. They use words in their own way, they give the words their own color, but when those words reach YOU they have lost all…
Why is there so much misunderstanding in the world?
Now the same sentence takes a new meaning, just the contrary to the first. The meaning is that man is free. That man can be whatsoever he chooses to be. That man is a kind of god. That nobody decides for man, man has to decide for himself. That man's decision has to come from his own soul. What he is going to write on the tabula rasa is his own writing, there will be his own signature. Man has individuality. No mango tree has any individuality. No peacock has any individuality -- all peacocks are alike, and all mango trees. But man has uniqueness, individuality. There is great hope. Now see? The meaning has turned just to the opposite polarity. I have come across a third interpretation too. For others it means: Everything is permissible to man. And with that they abandon all restraint, they become licentious. They say,…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, ONE DAY, WHEN MASTER KEIZAN GOT UP IN THE HALL TO SPEAK, A MONK CALLED GAZAN CAME FORWARD FROM THE ASSEMBLY AND ASKED, "WHY IS IT HARD TO SPEAK OF THE PLACE WHERE NOT A BREATH ENTERS?" KEIZAN SAID, "EVEN SPEAKING OF IT DOES NOT SAY IT." GAZAN HAD A FLASH OF INSIGHT, BUT AS HE WAS ABOUT TO OPEN HIS MOUTH, KEIZAN SAID, "WRONG." SCOLDED, GAZAN WITHDREW. AFTER THIS HIS SPIRIT OF DETERMINATION SOARED FAR BEYOND THAT OF ORDINARY PEOPLE. ONE NIGHT, AS KEIZAN WAS ENJOYING THE MOON ALONG WITH GAZAN, HE SAID, "DO YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE TWO MOONS?" GAZAN SAID, "NO." KEIZAN SAID, "IF YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THERE ARE TWO MOONS, YOU ARE NOT A SEEDLING OF THE `TO' SUCCESSION." AT THIS, GAZAN INCREASED HIS DETERMINATION AND SAT CROSS LEGGED LIKE AN IRON POLE FOR YEARS.
If you envision a buddha, a dharma or a bodhisattva and conceive respect for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. If you seek direct understanding, don't hold onto any appearance whatsoever, and you'll succeed. I have no other advice. ...don't cling to appearances, and you'll be of one mind with the buddha.
BUT WHY SHOULDN'T WE WORSHIP BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS? DEVILS AND DEMONS POSSESS THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION. THEY CAN CREATE THE APPEARANCE OF BODHISATTVAS IN ALL SORTS OF GUISES. BUT THEY'RE FALSE. NONE OF THEM ARE BUDDHAS. THE BUDDHA IS YOUR OWN MIND. DON'T MISDIRECT YOUR WORSHIP. BUDDHA IS SANSKRIT FOR WHAT YOU CALL AWARE, MIRACULOUSLY AWARE. RESPONDING, PERCEIVING, ARCHING YOUR BROWS, BLINKING YOUR EYES, MOVING YOUR HANDS AND FEET, IT'S ALL YOUR MIRACULOUSLY AWARE NATURE. AND THIS NATURE IS THE MIND. AND THE MIND IS THE BUDDHA. AND THE BUDDHA IS THE PATH. AND THE PATH IS ZEN. BUT THE WORD ZEN IS ONE THAT REMAINS A PUZZLE. SEEING YOUR NATURE IS ZEN. EVEN IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN THOUSANDS OF SUTRAS AND SHASTRAS, UNLESS YOU SEE YOUR OWN NATURE, YOURS IS THE TEACHING OF A MORTAL, NOT A BUDDHA. THE TRUE WAY IS SUBLIME. IT CAN'T BE EXPRESSED IN LANGUAGE.…