According to Osho, 'deciding' to be a bodhisattva is perilous if you still cling to this shore; it becomes a pious excuse to avoid inner renunciation. A true bodhisattva arises only after total unclinging and egolessness, then chooses to remain briefly—at most one life—to share freely. Inevitably this ripens into Buddhahood, helping from the other shore.
Don’t make a noble plan—first drop all attachment and ego; only then can you stay a little to share love, before naturally moving into full awakening.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you would like us all to become bodhisattvas. That means one has to make that firm decision to help others to the other shore. However, I do not feel able to make that decision. Sometimes I feel love towards others, sometimes I am just busy with myself. So should I wait or is the decision not such a thing as a statement but rather like a fruit that ripens by itself. And why then is buddha a buddha and not a bodhisattva?
First, these three things have to be understood. One, the ordinary state of human mind -- when you cling to the world, to this shore, and the other shore seems to be fictitious. You cannot trust the other shore. You cling so much to this shore that the only problem is how to help you to uncling from it. Right now, Sandeha, this is not going to help if you start thinking of being a bodhisattva. This is not going to help, this will be dangerous. This will only be a strategy to cling to this shore. You are not yet freed of this shore. This will be a new way to cling to the world again. And this is very tricky -- now it will be in the name of religion, compassion, love for people, service. Now it will have great ideology in it -- "I am here to…
What is all this stuff about bodhisattvas? I don't believe a word of it. There is no such thing.
Yes, Somendra, it is all nonsense. But you will have to understand the word nonsense. It is beyond sense. You need not believe it, you cannot believe it -- you can only experience it. It is a nonsense experience. But it is true, it is absolutely true. It happens. Till it happens there is no way to believe in it, and there is no need either. Buddha is never in favor of any kind of belief. Whatsoever he says, it is experience, it is existential. It is something beyond the mind. Ordinarily we use the word nonsense for that which is below mind. But there is something beyond mind too -- that too is nonsense. The mind cannot make any sense out of it. Unless your mind disappears you will not be able to see what this bodhi-being is. It is not a thing, true. It is an experiencing. You…
Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and patience?
If you sit to meditate to remove mental restlessness, you will keep looking back again and again: “Has it gone yet?” And the irony is that when you begin to meditate, restlessness will increase. Because what has been repressed will start surfacing; catharsis will begin. The rubbish you have kept hidden within and never allowed to express—meditation will break open those doors too. It will clean the house. Dust piled up for years, for births, will rise again; there will be gusts and storms. For a while even the little peace you had will be lost. Then you will panic: “I came for peace, and even what I had is gone.” Without patience, you could even become unhinged, because meditation brings such a great storm. The disease is not from a day or two; it’s from lifetimes. Meditation will break through all the layers to reach your innermost core. In…
Osho, I am eager to take sannyas, yet I have been hesitating for a year. I also have this doubt in my mind: what will happen by taking sannyas?
You are still living. Breath still moves. The heart still beats. The blood still runs. However many days may have been wasted, much is still left. The as-yet-unarrived is still there; the future remains. Live this future in a new way, Krishnaraj! Will you keep beating the same old track? Just as you think, “What will happen by taking sannyas?” now think this: what will happen by not taking sannyas? Until now you have not been a sannyasin. What has happened so far? One thing is certain: at least sannyas will be a new experiment. Whether anything happens or not, a new path will be cut. Who knows—what didn’t happen on the old path may happen on the new! Walk with at least that much curiosity. Who knows! The old path is familiar; will you keep circling on it? And not think even once that after so many rounds nothing…
Osho, cannot I wait a little before taking the jump into sannyas? I don't feel fully ready yet.
The great mathematician was getting old and his health was deteriorating every day. He went to his physician. After a complete check the doctor took a deep breath and began. "Dear sir, in a case like this it is better to be frank and tell you the whole truth." "Tell me, doctor, whatever it is." "It is difficult." "Tell me the truth, doctor. How long do I have to live? A year?" "Less." "Less? Well, better I should know. Six months, then?" "Less." "Okay, okay. I can take it. one month?" "I am sorry to have to say it but..." "It is okay, doctor, I accept." So saying he left the room. The doctor was very much impressed at the way the man had taken the news, and he went to the window to take a last look at him. He was standing on the pavement about to cross the…