According to Osho, connecting with the Tao dissolves the doer and ego, ushering effortless spontaneity, deep trust, and relaxation in the present. Life begins to unfold by itself; the 'herenow' is felt as God, and everything—sacred or ordinary—becomes holy. One lives in simple awareness, celebrating moment to moment as the flowering of consciousness naturally happens without cultivation or future-seeking.
When you connect with Tao, you stop trying to control, relax into this moment, and life takes care of itself while you find joy in ordinary things.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Do they simply have to be endured? They do have to be endured. So his freedom is not license. There is a deep check upon it. He is free in that he can act contrary to nature. But whatever consequences arise from acting contrary—painful ones—he will have to endure them.
This kind of man is not what we ordinarily call a “seeker.” The seeker we speak of is usually a reaction to the householder. If the householder runs a shop, the seeker does not; if the householder earns wealth, the seeker renounces it; if the householder marries, the seeker does not. But his rules are derived from the householder—he is only a reaction. Lao Tzu says, “I am no one’s reaction. It does not matter what others do. I neither follow anyone to do as he does, nor go against anyone to do the opposite. I let happen what arises from within.” Allowing nature to happen means not imitating anyone, not copying anyone, not building one’s personality in opposition to anyone. Whatever can happen from within, whatever wants to happen—we allow it. No obstruction, no condemnation, no opposition, no struggle, no conflict. Let what happens, happen. This means dropping notions…
Yes! Yes! Wake me up! This silly, multi-schizophrenic, leaking, watering can has been deeply affected by these lectures -- but one thing lately is, I am feeling more and more gross. Osho, I want my lotuses to bloom, to feel tao, be worthy of tao, to be tao. I want to fall into love! Will it, can it really happen? Can this real, beautiful soul inside burst into being?
Tao, that's why I have given you the name Tao: there is a message for you in it. Tao means spontaneity, nature. Tao is not a practice, it is not effort, it is not cultivation. It is patience, it is trust, it is waiting for things to happen, even if one has to wait for eternity. Tao needs no work on your part. All that you can do will be an undoing, because the moment the doer comes, nature disappears. The moment the doer takes hold of you, you are possessed by the idea of the ego. And then there is a wall between you and Tao -- or call it God. The doer has to dissolve, and you cannot do anything to dissolve it. How can you do anything to dissolve the doer? Whatsoever you do will go on feeding it. Just a simple understanding that all is taken…
[Osho gives sannyas:] Just raise your hands, close your eyes, and feel utterly open. These hands are the gestures of openness. Feel receptive, because sannyas has to be received; you cannot take it, you can only receive it. It is a gift: you can allow it to happen. There is no need to grab it. The only need is to give way, to let it happen. Feel great energy showering on you, as if you are standing under a waterfall. Energy is splashing on you and the body starts swaying, the body starts feeling drunk. Go into it, and if something starts happening in the body, allow it. Tao is the name for that which cannot be named, a name for the nameless -- just like god or dhamma or truth or logos. These are not really names, but human helplessness.
You have talked much on love, relationships, union, etc. Is there a merging between the tao and tantra?
For example, if you read a Tantra manual, an Indian Tantra manual, there is great ritual in it. Every step is very clearly indicated. It is not easy to practise Indian Tantra -- you will have to become adept at it. Don't fool around. Don't think that while you are making love to a woman you are practising Tantra. Tantra is difficult. It is a long process. And it takes years to get trained in it. The greatest training that is involved and the most difficult problem that arises is that Tantra allows a man to make love to a woman only when the man has lost all sexual attraction towards the woman. There is no sexual attraction at all. That is the whole process. The woman becomes almost a mother to you or a sister to you a goddess. She has to be worshipped. In Tantra ritual the woman…
Where does educating the subconsciousness conflict or harmonise with tao, as it implies discipline with self-effort from an external expression?
Once upon a time, the Duke of Lu went forward to meet a sea bird that had made its appearance in the confines of that country, and escorted it to his ancestral hall. This is a Taoist parable. There, an ox, a sheep and a pig were slaughtered, and a feast was spread before the sea bird, while the band was playing the celebrated music composed under the supervision of the Emperor Shuen. The bird, however, merely looked on, sad and doleful, refusing to relish a morsel of meat or drink a single cup. Thus it died of hunger after three days. The duke fed the bird as he would feed himself, and he failed to see that it should have been treated as a bird and not as a king. The music is meaningless to the bird, and the ox and the sheep and the pig are not his…