According to Osho, the Buddha-Dharma’s cardinal principle is a wordless, direct transmission of awakening—entering your own innermost center, the no-mind, where truth is realized in silence, not through scriptures, debate, or concepts. It is heart-to-heart illumination, as with Buddha and Mahakashyapa, Bodhidharma and his successor, Rinzai—experience over explanation.
Stop chasing ideas and quietly look inside until you feel the silent light of awareness for yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, QUESTION: WHAT IS BUDDHA-MIND? ANSWER: YOUR MIND IS IT. WHEN YOU SEE THE SELFSAME ESSENCE OF IT, YOU CAN CALL IT SUCHNESS. WHEN YOU SEE THE CHANGELESS NATURE OF IT, YOU CAN CALL IT DHARMAKAYA. IT DOES NOT BELONG TO ANYTHING; THEREFORE, IT IS CALLED EMANCIPATION. IT WORKS EASILY AND FREELY, NEVER BEING DISTURBED BY OTHERS; THEREFORE, IT IS CALLED THE TRUE PATH. IT WAS NOT BORN AND, THEREFORE, IT IS NOT GOING TO PERISH, SO IT IS CALLED NIRVANA. QUESTION: WHAT IS TATHAGATA? ANSWER: ONE WHO KNOWS THAT HE COMES FROM NOWHERE AND GOES NOWHERE. QUESTION: WHAT IS BUDDHA? ANSWER: ONE WHO REALIZES THE TRUTH, AND HOLDS NOTHING THAT IS TO BE REALIZED. QUESTION: WHAT IS DHARMA? ANSWER: IT WAS NEVER PRODUCED, AND WILL NEVER BE REDUCED; THEREFORE, IT IS CALLED DHARMA, THE NORM OF THE UNIVERSE. QUESTION: WHAT IS SANGHA?
Osho, what is the essence of buddha dharma -- the religion of the buddha?
Mouna, <q>YOKA SAYS IF YOU REACH THE ZEN OF BUDDHA, AT THAT VERY MOMENT YOU ACCOMPLISH EVERYTHING.</q> <q>IN YOUR DREAM THERE ARE MANY PATHWAYS, BUT WHEN YOU WAKE UP, THEY ARE REDUCED TO NOTHING. NEITHER ERROR, NOR HAPPINESS, NOR LOSS, NOR GAIN. DO NOT TRY TO FIND ANYTHING IN THE ESSENCE OF YOUR BEING. IT IS A LONG TIME SINCE YOU WIPED THE DUST FROM YOUR MIRROR, NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO SEE ITS BRILLIANCY PERFECTLY.</q> <q>WHO CAN NOT-THINK, ALL IS HIS. IF YOU PRACTICE CHARITY IN ORDER TO BECOME BUDDHA WHEN WILL YOU SUCCEED? NEVER -- A THOUSAND TIMES NEVER. DRINK AND EAT ACCORDING TO YOUR TRUE NATURE. ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE ARE IMPERMANENT, AND THEREFORE ALL EXISTENCE IS VOID. THAT IS THE WHOLE UNDERSTANDING OF BUDDHA.</q> This is the essence of Buddha Dharma, the religion of the Buddha. First: it is not a philosophy that…
That which follows is witnessed on the way. It's beyond the ken of arhats and mortals.
WHEN THE MIND REACHES NIRVANA, YOU DON'T SEE NIRVANA. BECAUSE THE MIND IS NIRVANA. IF YOU SEE NIRVANA SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE THE MIND, YOU'RE DELUDING YOURSELF. EVERY SUFFERING IS A BUDDHA-SEED. BECAUSE SUFFERING IMPELS TO SEEK WISDOM. BUT YOU CAN ONLY SAY THAT SUFFERING GIVES RISE TO BUDDHAHOOD. YOU CAN'T SAY THAT SUFFERING IS BUDDHAHOOD. YOUR BODY AND MIND ARE THE FIELD. SUFFERING IS THE SEED, WISDOM THE SPROUT AND BUDDHAHOOD THE GRAIN. ...WHEN THE THREE POISONS ARE PRESENT IN YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF FILTH. WHEN THE THREE POISONS ARE ABSENT FROM YOUR MIND, YOU LIVE IN A LAND OF PURITY. ...THERE'S NO LANGUAGE THAT ISN'T THE DHARMA. TO TALK ALL DAY WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING IS THE WAY. TO BE SILENT ALL DAY AND STILL SAY SOMETHING ISN'T THE WAY. HENCE, NEITHER DOES A TATHAGATA'S SPEECH DEPEND ON SILENCE, NOR DOES HIS SILENCE DEPEND ON SPEECH. NOR…
Osho, life is contradictory, full of inconsistencies. Then why did Buddha show the path of logic, reason, order, and discipline?
Buddha aroused your suffering. He shouted, “Fire!” You ran. In that rush, some of you got outside. Linji is among those who made it out. Now he says, “He lied well! There was no fire, not even smoke. But in that fear we came out. Therefore I lay my head at his feet—had you not shouted, we would not have come out.” I too keep telling you many kinds of lies. I know—the fortunate among you will someday recognize them. But you will recognize them only when you are out. Then you will not be angry—you will feel blessed. Buddha spoke your language. To awaken you, he had to. He did not speak his own language to you. Yes—had there been an enlightened one present, Buddha would have spoken his own tongue to him. One morning he came with a flower. Such a thing had never happened before. He had…
The buddha said: my doctrine is to think the thought that is unthinkable; to practise the deed that is not doing; to speak the speech that is inexpressible; and to be trained in the discipline which is beyond discipline. Those who understand this are near; those who are confused are far. The way is beyond words and expressions, is bound by nothing earthly. Lose sight of it to an inch or miss it for a moment, and we are away from it forever more.
A doctrine is arrived at through logical thinking. A doctrine comes through the process of 'about-ism'. A siddhanta is arrived at not by closing your eyes, not by thinking too much, but by dropping thinking as such, in toto; by opening your eyes with no prejudice, with no a priori conceptions, and looking direct into reality, facing reality direct. It is already there, it needs only you to be there. And when you are absolutely without any thought, your mind is still, your memory is still, your thinking has completely ceased to be, then reality erupts, explodes. Then you become a receiver. Then siddhanta arises. <q>MY SIDDHANTA IS TO THINK THE THOUGHT THAT IS UNTHINKABLE....</q> The first thing, Buddha says, is to think the thought that is unthinkable. It is a contradiction, a paradox. Now, no logician will ever utter such nonsense. It is from the very beginning nonsensical. That's…