According to Osho, Gandhi’s ‘fourth monkey’ is the missing, naked one covering his genitals—the symbol of transforming sexual energy upward to the third eye. Gandhi hid this statue out of sexual repression, keeping only “see, hear, speak no evil.” For Osho, avoiding isn’t liberation; conscious understanding and transmutation of sex into awareness is the real spiritual revolution.
It means the part everyone hides—sex—should be understood and turned into awareness, not suppressed, because that’s how real growth happens.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT GANDHI'S FOURTH MONKEY? In China, based on almost twenty-five centuries of the teachings of Lao Tzu, some sculptor made a statue of four monkeys. Lao Tzu used to say, "Don't see anything wrong, because even by seeing it, you become in some subtle way a participant. And moreover, just by seeing it, it leaves an impression in you which may become a seed and some day it may explode into action. It is better not to see it." It is not my philosophy, remember. My philosophy is to see it as accurately as possible from all sides, so you know it perfectly well and there can be no misunderstanding, and you are free of it -- not because you have not seen it, not because you are ignorant about it, but because you have understood it, that it is useless.
I have been surrounded since my childhood by people who wanted me to believe in god and to follow his commandments. Why are the god believers always trying to convert others?
Mahatma Gandhi interpreted them -- I don't agree with his interpretation. He interpreted that the monkey who is holding his hands on the ears says, "Don't listen to anything evil." And the monkey who is holding his hands on the eyes says, "Don't see anything evil." And the third monkey who has his hands on the mouth is indicating, "Don't say anything evil." Now, you can understand why the fourth monkey has been dropped -- in fact he should not have been dropped if Gandhi had really been a man of truth. The fourth monkey is the logical conclusion: "Hide the origin of all evil." But this is not my interpretation. Knowing the people, and knowing that Charles Darwin has this great idea that man has come from monkeys -- and there is every possibility, because your mind still functions like a monkey. My interpretation, when I went to see…
Question: Osho, One day Seihei’s disciple Suibi asked his master, “Master, what is the fundamental secret of Dharma?” The Master said, “Wait. And when there is no one here except the two of us, then I will tell you.” Many times that day there were moments when only the two of them were in the hut, and each time Suibi repeated his question—but before he could even finish, Seihei would place a finger on his lips, signaling silence. Evening came, and the Master’s hut was completely empty. The disciple wanted to ask again, but once more the finger on the lips came as the answer. Night descended, and the full moon rose high in the sky. Suibi said, “Now how much longer must I wait?” Then Seihei took him outside the hut and whispered in his ear, “These bamboo trees here are tall, and these bamboo trees here are short.
Osho, you said that in the courtyard of a hotel in Bombay, a nude statue of a Jain Tirthankara was made to wear underpants. I want to know: who put them on?
That is why people are angry with me. Because I want the temples of Khajuraho to be built again. I want aarti to be waved again in Khajuraho’s temples, lamps to be lit again. They should not remain merely as ruins. I want that men and women as wondrous as Mahavira and Lalla should again walk this earth. I want to make this country young again. But the old are angry—very angry! The pundits, priests, traditionalists are angry. They feel I am corrupting religion. They don’t even know their own culture. Morarji Desai says that my existence is very harmful to India’s image; news of me should not go out into the world—otherwise India’s image will fall. Open a little of India’s history! Just four or six days ago, newspapers reported that near Chitrakoot a small new Khajuraho has been found—buried in the jungle amid ruins. It is even more…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, BUDDHA USED TO TELL THE STORY OF A MAN WHO MET A TIGER IN THE JUNGLE. THE MAN RAN FOR HIS LIFE, AND THE TIGER CAME AFTER HIM. SUDDENLY THE MAN CAME TO A HUGE RAVINE AND FOUND HIMSELF STANDING AT THE TOP OF A SHEER CLIFF. IN DESPERATION -- THE TIGER HOT ON HIS HEELS -- THE MAN CLIMBED OVER THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF, AND CAUGHT HOLD OF THE ROOT OF A TREE SO THAT HE WAS JUST HANGING OVER THE ABYSS. ABOVE HIS HEAD WAS THE TIGER, PEERING OVER THE CLIFF'S EDGE AND WAITING.