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Osho on What does it mean to have no need?

What does it mean to have no need?

To have no need is to live from your pure being, where fulfillment arises from within and craving dissolves into the silence of existence.

— Osho
According to Osho, to have no need is to live from pure being rather than from lack; when you are present, whole, and trusting of existence, craving drops, comparison ends, and action becomes spontaneous. 'There is no need' points to a silence where fulfillment is intrinsic, not dependent on objects, people, or future outcomes.

It means feeling already complete inside, so you don’t chase things to feel okay.

In His Own Words

From the Discourses

Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.

Osho, what is the meaning of existence?

Buddha says: The inner emptiness is so beautiful, don't stuff it with junk, leave it as it is. And that's what meditation is all about, that's what Zen is. It means living out of emptiness, asking nothing from life, living moment to moment for no other reason, just enjoying being alive. It is more than you can ask for! What more meaning do you need? Is breathing not enough? Is this chirping of the birds not enough? Is the green and the red and the gold of the trees not enough? Is this vast existence with all its splendor not enough? You want some meaning? Yoka says: <q>THE MOON RISES ABOVE THE RIVER. ON THE BANK THE WIND PLAYS SOFTLY IN THE PINES ALL NIGHT LONG, PURE AND CALM. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THAT SERENITY? LOOK ON THE BUDDHA'S PRECEPTS OF NATURE. WINTER AND AUTUMN MISTS, DEW, CLOUDS, SPRING…

Beloved Osho, for years I have contemplated what seems to me to be the basic message for well-being: love yourself. When I was a therapist, all day hearing, "I hate myself; I feel sorry for myself; I am proud of myself; I want to destroy myself," I started wondering -- who is this self? I love when you say there is no self. That seems so freeing. Could you please say more?

The whole therapeutic movement has gone wrong on that point: Love thyself. Socrates used to say, "Know thyself." And there have been masters, particularly Sufis, who say, "Be thyself." But there is only one person in the whole history of man, Gautam Buddha, who said, "There is no self. You are an emptiness, utter silence, a non-being." His message was much opposed by all the traditions, because they all depended in some way or other on the idea of the self. There may have been differences on other points, but on one point they were all totally in agreement -- and that was the existence of the self. Even people like George Gurdjieff, who used to talk about a very novel idea -- that you are not born with a self, you have to earn it: "Deserve thyself" -- finally, he also ends up with the self. Gautam Buddha does…
The Buddha Disease · Discourse 3Para 29 1977-01-03 Chuang Tzu Auditorium English
The object can change, but just by changing the object the nature of the desire never changes. So one can want worldly power, somebody can want spiritual power, but both persons are worldly. One desires respectability, prestige; another desires moksha, nirvana, god -- but they are both the same. Their psychology is not different -- they desire. And desire means dreaming. Desire means motivation. Desire means you are not herenow -- and nirvana is always herenow. Desire means you are somewhere else -- and god is always herenow, so obviously you never meet: you remain in your desire and god remains just around you. He remains close-by, but you are never close to yourself -- you are projected into great desires. And nirvana is the greatest desire a man can have -- the last, the ultimate desire...

In his song of mahamudra, tilopa says: mahamudra is beyond all words and symbols, but for you, naropa, earnest and loyal, must this be said: the void needs no reliance, mahamudra rests on nought. Without making an effort, but remaining loose and natural, one can break the yoke -- thus gaining liberation.

Tilopa doesn't say, "Be moral," he says, "Be natural." And these are completely, diametrically opposite dimensions. A moral man is never natural, cannot be. If he feels angry he cannot be angry because the morality doesn't allow it. If he feels loving he cannot be loving because the morality is there. It is always according to the morality that he acts; it is never according to his nature. And I tell you: if you start moving according to moral patterns and not according to your nature, you will never reach the state of Mahamudra, because it is a natural state, the highest peak of being natural. I tell you: if you feel angry, be angry -- but perfect awareness has to be retained. Anger should not overpower your consciousness, that's all. Let anger be there, let it happen, but be fully alert to what is happening. Remain loose, natural, aware,…
The Heart Sutra · Discourse 5Question 1 1977-10-15 Buddha Hall English
Question: THEREFORE, O SARIPUTRA, IN EMPTINESS THERE IS NO FORM, NOR FEELING, NOR PERCEPTION, NOR IMPULSE, NOR CONSCIOUSNESS; NO EYE, EAR, NOSE, TONGUE, BODY, MIND; NO FORMS, SOUNDS, SMELLS, TASTES, TOUCHABLES OR OBJECTS OF MIND; NO SIGHT-ORGAN ELEMENT, AND SO FORTH, UNTIL WE COME TO: NO MIND-CONSCIOUSNESS ELEMENT; THERE IS NO IGNORANCE, NO EXTINCTION OF IGNORANCE, AND SO FORTH, UNTIL WE COME TO: THERE IS NO DECAY AND DEATH, NO EXTINCTION OF DECAY AND DEATH. THERE IS NO SUFFERING, NO ORIGINATION, NO STOPPING, NO PATH. THERE IS NO COGNITION, NO ATTAINMENT But there are other people... by and by the phoniness disappears and sannyasins become more and more true, authentic. Then somebody simply sits there and laughs. That's what is coming in that moment. He does not feel embarrassed, he does not feel that it is out of place. It is not. The prepared script is out of place.