What do you mean by 'species'?

Beloved Osho, on one occasion, nansen said to joshu, "nowadays, it is best to live and work among members of a different species from us." joshu replied, "leaving aside the question of `different' let me ask you, what do you mean by `species'?" nansen put his hands on the ground. Joshu walked towards nansen from behind, trampling him into the ground, and then ran into the nirvana hall, crying, "I repent! I repent!" nansen sent his attendant to ask joshu what he was repenting for. Joshu replied, "I repent that I did not trample him twice over."

And secondly, if they can understand the mind, and can show their fear and worry and anxiety, they may in some way perhaps be speaking also, but we don't know their language. Perhaps their language sound range is either below us or above us. We can hear only a certain range of sound, and we can also see only a certain range. For example, the owl can see in the night, where we cannot see. His eyes have a bigger range than our eyes. It has always been known, and you can see it anywhere, in India particularly, that snakes dance with a flute player. The problem was that science could not find any ears in the snake. So how can they respond to sound? They cannot hear! But the research went on and on and now they have come up with a new idea which satisfies. The snake hears…

A friend has asked: Osho, Lao Tzu says we should be in harmony with nature; won’t we then become like animals?

Humanity can be renounced in two ways: by falling back, and by going ahead. Falling back is animality. Lao Tzu is not telling you to fall back. Lao Tzu is telling you to go forward. He is saying: come into harmony with nature consciously. Consciously become quiet, become silent. Consciously drop all distortion, all uproar, all conflict. Consciously bid farewell to the ego. Consciously do not sow the seeds of strife. Do not clutch dualities; become free of duality—in awareness, in wakefulness. So certainly, Lao Tzu will look just like an animal. Seat Lao Tzu beside a cow and it will be hard to tell the difference in their eyes—just as tranquil. But the cow does not know what Lao Tzu knows. Lao Tzu is aware now; he is drinking the very nectar of dissolving into nature. The friend who has asked whether becoming one with nature might make a…

Osho, many beings in this creation live a natural, spontaneous life in accordance with nature, but the human race is living a base life. Will human life turn toward spontaneity or not? What is our duty?

It is both man’s misfortune and his good fortune that he is not spontaneous. Misfortune—because the peace and ease available to plants and birds is not available to man. Good fortune—because if he wishes, man can become a Buddha, a Krishna, a Christ. Plants and animals cannot become a Krishna, a Buddha, or a Christ. Man’s defining trait is his freedom. Man is entitled to choose the order of his life. A dog is born a dog and dies a dog. A rosebush is born a rose and dies a rose. No revolution occurs in its life. Life remains confined within a fixed mold. There is dependence. There is peace, yes, but it is the peace of slavery. There is naturalness too—no cunning, no hypocrisy; a rose is simply a rose. It never cheats by posing as champa, nor does it contrive to be a lotus. It is content with…

Osho, deep down, what is the difference between plant life and animal life?

But not all human beings act. Very few are truly worthy of the name ‘human.’ Most only react. Someone loves you, and you love in return—that is reaction. If someone abuses you and you still love, that is action. When someone loves you and you love back, it is reaction—just like a dog wagging its tail when you throw it bread; there is no fundamental difference. But if someone abuses you and you can love, then it is action. So I am saying: some plants have begun to move; they are entering the direction of the animal. Some animals even act a little—very little; such animals are moving toward the human. Some human beings truly act; they are moving toward higher planes of consciousness. The difference is in freedom. The lower we go, the more dependent it is: stone the most dependent, plant less, animal less than that, the so-called…

Osho, you say that in the presence of a buddha even animals, birds, and trees are no longer what they were. Then is a foolish human being worse than trees and plants?

Certainly. No tree or plant is foolish; they don’t have that capacity. To be foolish, one has to be human. And no tree or plant is a buddha either; that too is beyond their capacity. You cannot call a tree sinful, nor can you call it virtuous. No tree is virtuous or sinful. For that, one must be human. If a human being rises, he can become divine; if he falls, he can become demonic. Trees and plants can neither rise to become divine nor fall to become demonic. They are fixed. That is their inertia; they lack freedom. There is no freedom to go from this shore to that, or from that shore back to this; they are bound. Look closely: a rock just lies there. It is even more dependent than a plant. It cannot make even a single flower bloom, not even a single leaf sprout. It…