According to Osho, learning is not accumulated knowledge but a state of receptive, vulnerable, open-ended not‑knowing. It flowers in spaciousness and innocence, like a child’s mind, refusing conclusions and ready‑made answers so growth never stops. Mechanical, parrotlike ‘zero learning’ isn’t real; better to be original (even wrong) than repetitive, because true learning awakens intelligence and leads beyond life and death.
Learning means staying open like a child, not clinging to past answers, and discovering for yourself instead of just repeating.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what is learning?
LEARNING, in the first place, is not knowledge. Let us start from negating, from eliminating; let us first say what learning is not. Learning is not knowledge. Learning has become too much identified with knowledge. It is just the opposite of knowledge. The more knowledgeable a person is, the less he is capable of learning. Hence children are more capable of learning than grown-ups. And if the grown-ups also want to remain learners, they have to go on forgetting whatsoever they have learned. Whatsoever has become knowledge in them, they have to go on dying to it. If you collect your knowledge your inner space becomes too heavy with the past. You accumulate too much garbage. Learning happens only when there is spaciousness. The child has that spaciousness, innocence. The beauty of the child is that he functions from the state of not-knowing, and that is the fundamental secret of…
What is the difference between waiting for godot and waiting for god?
It is as if the sun has risen in the morning and you are sitting in your room with closed doors and windows, in darkness. Open the doors, you become available to the sun. The sun was already available -- just the meeting happens. You cannot wait for God. All waiting is for Godot. Godot means the one who never comes, who CANNOT come, whose arrival is impossible. And the only impossible thing is that which has already happened -- how can it happen again? You are alive, and you are waiting for life, Now, this is ridiculous. The real man of religion does not think in terms of God. He thinks in terms of life or, even better, of living -- because life can again become an abstract idea. Living, moment-to-moment living. In that very living, one knows what God is, because one knows who one is. Your idea…
Are you still learning too?
Yes, because if learning stops, you are dead. Learning is life. You can ask me, "Are you still alive? " -- that will be the same question. The ego is a perfectionist and the ego thinks that when you have attained, when you have become enlightened, then there is no learning; then you know all. But if you know all, that 'all' will be finite. Just by being known it has become finite. You cannot know the infinite. The infinite simply means that you can go on learning and learning and learning and the end never comes, it is an eternal journey. It begins, but it never ends. But then the ego thinks: then what is the difference when we are also learning? The difference is that you are learning while fast asleep, unconscious, and a man who is enlightened learns consciously. Your learning is not knowing; your learning is…
Osho, you have said that stealing faces, trying to become like another, becoming a disciple and a follower is subtle theft. Then is taking inspiration from others, learning practices, going to the experienced and awakened—are all these also thefts? If these are thefts, then what would right education look like? Please explain.
Go to those who know, but do not take what they know on faith! Investigate it. Do not turn what they know into belief; turn it into inquiry. Do not clench your fists around it blindly; open your eyes to it, probe it. Inspiration does not mean accepting the other. Inspiration means accepting the other’s challenge. If you go to Mahavira, inspiration does not mean you set about becoming like Mahavira. Going to Mahavira, the meaning of inspiration is: if this light could blossom within Mahavira, why can it not blossom within me? That is the challenge! In English there is the word “inspiration.” It is a very precious word. One must pay attention to the “in” in inspiration. But we always take inspiration from the other; then the word is quite wrong. Inspiration means inner-spiration. The other can serve as a catalyst, but not as a foundation. The other…
Question: OSHO, HOW CAN I LEARN THE SECRETS OF LIFE? Zen people are right when they say: NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE. Unlearning is the process that can bring you to that beautiful space of not knowing. And then observe. Observe life without any knowledge interpreting it. You have become so accustomed to interpretation. The moment you see the sunset, immediately, habitually, you repeat words that you have heard from others: "What a beautiful sunset!" You don't mean anything by it; you are not even looking at the sunset. You have not allowed it to penetrate to your heart. You are not feeling any wonder. You are not in a state of awe. You have not fallen on your knees. You are not looking with unblinking eyes, absorbing. Nothing of that. Just a casual remark: "What a beautiful sunset!