According to Osho, a 'successor' is a political, bureaucratic idea alien to consciousness. He appoints none. Instead, through love, trust, and inner emptiness, a disciple becomes one with the master, absorbing his silence, insight, and dance. This is transmission, not hierarchy: no competition, no ranks. Many can equally carry his presence and message, being him rather than following him.
It's not about getting his job; it's letting your heart be so open that you share his love and wisdom as if they are your own.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Maneesha has asked: beloved Osho, you have often said you will have no successors. But won't all those who love you be your successors in that we carry you in our blood and bones and so you are part of us forever?
Maneesha, the concept of the successor is bureaucratic. The very idea of succession is not the right idea in the world of consciousness. That's why I have said, I will not have successors. But you are right in saying that you will carry in your bones and in your blood my love, my insight. But don't use the word `successor', rather use the words `you will be me'. Why be so far away, a successor, when you can be me? Be so empty that I can make a home in you, that your emptiness can absorb my emptiness, that your heart can have the same dance as my heart. It is not succession; it is transmission. The very idea of succession is political. Only one person can be a successor, so there is bound to be competition, ambition. There is bound to be a subtle struggle to be closer to…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, ON ONE OCCASION, ISAN, GOHO AND UNGAN, WERE ALL STANDING TOGETHER IN ATTENDANCE ON HYAKUJO. HYAKUJO SAID TO ISAN, "WITH YOUR MOUTH AND LIPS CLOSED, HOW WOULD YOU SAY IT?" ISAN SAID, "I WOULD ASK YOU TO SAY IT." HYAKUJO SAID, "I COULD SAY IT, BUT IF I DID SO, I FEAR I SHOULD HAVE NO SUCCESSORS." HYAKUJO TURNED TO GOHO. "WITH YOUR MOUTH AND LIPS CLOSED, HOW WOULD YOU SAY IT?" HE ASKED HIS SECOND DISCIPLE. GOHO SAID, "OSHO! YOU SHOULD SHUT UP!" HYAKUJO SAID, "IN THE DISTANT LAND WHERE NO ONE STIRS, I SHALL SHADE MY EYES WITH MY HAND AND WATCH FOR YOU." THEN HYAKUJO ASKED UNGAN, "WITH YOUR MOUTH AND LIPS CLOSED, HOW WOULD YOU SAY IT?" UNGAN SAID, "OSHO, DO YOU HAVE THEM OR NOT?" HYAKUJO SAID, "MY SUCCESSORS WILL BE MISSING.
Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, MA TZU HAD THREE OUTSTANDING DISCIPLES WHO ENJOYED A SPECIAL INTIMACY WITH HIM. THEY WERE NAN-CHUAN, CHIH-TSANG, AND HUI-HAI (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS HYAKUJO). ONE EVENING, AS THE THREE DISCIPLES WERE ATTENDING ON THEIR MASTER, ENJOYING THE MOON TOGETHER, HE ASKED THEM WHAT THEY THOUGHT WOULD BE THE BEST WAY OF SPENDING SUCH A NIGHT. CHIH-TSANG WAS THE FIRST TO ANSWER. HE SAID, "A GOOD TIME TO MAKE OFFERINGS." HUI-HAI SAID, "A GOOD TIME TO CULTIVATE ONE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE." NAN-CHUAN MADE NO ANSWER, BUT SHOOK HIS SLEEVES AND WENT AWAY. MA TZU TURNED TO CHIH-TSANG AND SAID, "THE SUTRAS WILL JOIN THE TSANG." (HE WAS MAKING A PUN ON CHIH-TSANG'S NAME, TSANG, WHICH IN CHINESE MEANS `BASKET', AS IN CARRYING THE WORD OF BUDDHA.) HE TURNED TOWARD HUI-HAI AND SAID: "DHYANA WILL RETURN TO THE SEA.
Eating out of one plate is dangerous if any single one of them is carrying AIDS, if in some way his saliva gets into the food by his hands. In the East people eat with their hands; the fingers can carry the saliva to the food, and the food is being eaten by everybody. When Mohammed gave that idea it was to give them companionship, friendship -- and even if a stranger passes by he should be invited. Now, this is absolutely dangerous. Jesus practiced this every day. He would drink from a cup, then he would pass the same cup to somebody else. He would drink from it and then it would go on being passed. It was thought to be a great blessing; wine touched by Jesus' mouth has become somehow divine. And that practice is still being continued.
Osho, have you now stopped giving initiation into sannyas and making disciples? Will I be left deprived of becoming your disciple?
A disciple is not made; one has to become a disciple. When you love someone, do you first ask, do you seek permission? Love happens. Love obeys no command, no permission, no method, no ordinance. What is discipleship? It is the highest, deepest name for love. If you want to love me, how can I stop you? If tears fall in love for me, how can I stop them? And if you wish to plunge into what I call meditation, how can I hinder you? One who is to be a disciple cannot be stopped by anyone. That is why I have dropped the formality of “making” disciples—because now I want only those who are coming toward me from their own being, for no other reason. Now the whole responsibility is yours. Just as in the first grade we teach children: aa for aam (mango), ga for Ganesh. It used…