According to Osho, you’re not truly lazy if you can ask, but if no question arises, celebrate it—don’t invent one. The real work isn’t gathering answers; it’s dissolving questions until mind is empty. Rest in silence, let thoughts fall away; in that wordless awareness—samadhi—the answer is already present. The empty mind is the buddha mind.
If no question comes, don’t force one—be quiet and enjoy the silence, because that calm is the answer.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, I FEEL TOO LAZY TO THINK OF A QUESTION. WHAT TO DO? Anand Chinmaya, it cannot be true that you really feel too lazy; otherwise who has written this question? A man was lying down on the couch of a very famous psychoanalyst, and he was continuously talking about his failures in life, failures of all kinds in all directions. He was trying to prove that he was an utter failure, the ultimate in failure, that there was nobody in the world who was more of a failure than he was. The psychoanalyst listened to him silently as long as he could tolerate, and then he said, "Stop all this nonsense! You cannot be such a failure!" The man said, "Why?" The psychoanalyst said, "If you were a failure you would not be able to afford my fee!
Question: WHY DON'T I HAVE A QUESTION? It is from Vani. You are fortunate, Vani. Now don't bring the question from the back door, don't become worried about it -- 'Why don't I have a question?' You are fortunate, you are blessed, because not to have a question means you are getting ready to have the answer. A person who is too full of questions will never receive the answer, remember. Ordinarily people think 'How are you going to get the answer if you don't ask?' It is wrong. You only get the answer when there is no question. A non-questioning mind arrives; a questioning mind never arrives. If you ask -- yes, some answer will be given to you, but it will never be received.
Is it a very good sign that one has no questions to ask?
If really it happens that you have no questions to ask, it is a tremendous phenomenon. It is one of the most beautiful _ states of mind; because when there are no questions, that nonquestioning consciousness is the answer to all questions. Not that you get the answers, but, simply, questions dissolve. The mind becomes nontense, because each question is a tension, is a worry; it is an anxiety. And no answer is going to solve the question. The questioning mind is the problem, not the question. Your question can be answered, but from the answer your questioning mind will create a thousand and one more questions; you will reduce every answer into many more questions. It never helps. It helps only when all questions drop, when consciousness transcends questioning, when you understand that there is nothing to be asked, nothing to be answered. Life is a mystery, not a…
Osho, I am extremely lazy. I am frightened—how will liberation happen? Please guide me!
I saw his pictures in the newspapers. In every picture—now he is naked; no newspaper will agree to print that, and they themselves must feel shy, the devotees too must feel a little shame—so in all the photos he is sitting with a very large scripture on his knees to hide his nakedness. My dear fellow, a loincloth would have sufficed—what harm in that? A loincloth would be lighter than that huge book, simpler too! Tie a simple strap. Why sit with a massive volume—just to hide a small thing! But once we have a belief, we do not see the absurdity. In Jain homes, pictures of Mahavira hang. They paint them so that Mahavira stands in meditation and a tree branch serves as a loincloth. Why trouble the poor man! I was a guest in a house. The picture was beautiful, but that one branch spoils everything—dense leaves covering…
Osho, I have always wanted to ask a question, but no question ever takes shape. And the ones that do don’t seem worth asking. What should I do now?
You are fortunate that such a question is arising in you and refuses to be formed. It clearly means the hour to go within has arrived. You have asked a lot of questions outside and gotten many answers outside—now don’t create more wounds. Inquiry is good, as against mere curiosity—remember—but it is nothing compared to mumuksha. Understand these three words well. Curiosity asks anything and everything; it is like small children. A child is walking and he asks, “Why is this bush big? Why the dog’s tail? Why the sun in the sky?” He keeps on asking anything. If you don’t answer, it’s no big deal to him—he keeps asking anyway. He isn’t even much concerned whether you answered or not. Even while you are answering, he has another question ready. He doesn’t even hear your answer. You answer and you find he has no taste for it; his joy…