According to Osho, the first principle cannot be said; the moment it is spoken it becomes the second. It is the unsayable source, known only in silence before thought and doctrine. Rather than being taught, it must be realized directly through awareness and meditation, where all concepts drop and truth reveals itself without interpretation.
The deepest truth can’t be told—you have to be quiet and experience it yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Hakuju served as a distinguished lecturer at the tendai-sect college. As he was lecturing with his customary zeal on the chinese classics one hot summer's afternoon, he noticed that a few of the students were dozing off. He stopped his lecturing in midsentence and said, "it is a hot afternoon, isn't it? Can't blame you for going to sleep. Mind if I join you?" with this, hakuju shut his textbook, and leaning well back in his chair, fell asleep. The class was dumbfounded, and those who had been dozing were awakened by his snores. All sat up in their seats and waited for the master to awaken.
Remember, I am not saying "perfect". His each moment is TOTAL. What is the difference? A perfect man, maybe, will never be angry. That is the idea of a perfect man: he will never be angry. But a total man can be angry. You can only be promised one thing, that he will be totally angry. It cannot be said he will not be angry. Only one thing can be said, that he will be totally angry; if ever he is angry he will be totally angry. It happened a scholar came to Raman Maharshi, and he was arguing and arguing and arguing; and nobody had seen Raman Maharshi ever being angry. Raman was saying again and again, "I am not a philosopher, and I don't believe in proofs and arguments, and I don't know any logic. I say'God is' because I have experienced it so." But the scholar wouldn't…
Once a tyro asked a zen master, "master, what is the first principle?" without hesitation the master replied,"if I were to tell you, it would become the second principle "
That's why people don't look inside: a hope one may be there. The day you look in, you are not. The day you look in, suddenly there is vast emptiness... and it is tremendously blissful, beautiful, peaceful. You are not there; then there is no noise. That's what Hui-neng means when he says, "There is no mirror of the mind. Where can the dust gather? To know this is to know all." Look within. People think "We are bad" but you are not, so how can badness gather? People think "We are good," but how is it possible? You are not there; how can you be good? People think "We are moral and immoral and this and that," but everything hangs on the idea of "I". To be good the "I" is needed first, to be virtuous the "I" is needed first. To be a sinner or to be a…
Osho, what is the definition of God?
Words are very small. If you say God is light, then what of darkness? The scriptures have said that God is light. Suppose we accept this as a definition—then what about darkness? Where will darkness go? Darkness is too; in fact it is far more than light. Light sometimes is and sometimes is not; darkness is always, eternal. Where will you place darkness? If you say God is light, darkness is left out. If you say God is darkness, then light is left out. If you say God is both darkness and light, a contradiction arises: they cannot be together. Try to have both darkness and light in the same room. If you bring in light, darkness disappears; if you preserve darkness, you cannot have light. Then how can both be together? That becomes an impossibility. So you cannot say “both” either. Then the fourth device is to say: it…
Question: THERE ARE SOME BEAUTIFUL LETTERS CARVED OVER THE GATE OF THE OAKU TEMPLE IN KYOTO WHICH SAY: THE FIRST PRINCIPLE. PEOPLE COME FROM FAR AND NEAR TO ADMIRE THEM. THE ORIGINAL CALLIGRAPHY WAS DONE ON PAPER BY THE MASTER KOSEN. WHEN KOSEN WAS DRAWING THE CHARACTERS THERE WAS A PUPIL STANDING BY WHO HAD MIXED THE INK. 'NOT SO GOOD,' SAID THE PUPIL AT KOSEN'S FIRST TRY. 'THAT'S WORSE THAN THE FIRST ONE,' SAID THE PUPIL TO THE SECOND TRY. AND SO IT WENT ON. AFTER THE SIXTY-FOURTH TRY, THE INK WAS RUNNING LOW, SO THE PUPIL WENT OUT TO MIX SOME MORE. 'JUST A QUICK ONE WITH THE LAST OF THE INK,' THOUGHT KOSEN, 'WHILE THAT PUPIL IS OUT OF THE WAY.' WHEN THE PUPIL RETURNED, HE TOOK A GOOD LOOK AS THIS LATEST EFFORT, AND SAID: A MASTERPIECE!
Question: BELOVED OSHO THERE IS NO SECOND PERSON MASTER CHANG CHING SAID, "THE ULTIMATE TRUTH IS WORDLESS. PEOPLE OF THE TIME DO NOT REALIZE THIS: THEY IMPOSE THE PRACTICE OF OTHER THINGS, CONSIDERING THEM ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THEY DO NOT KNOW THAT INHERENT NATURE HAS NEVER BEEN SENSE OBJECTS, THAT IT IS THE GATE OF SUBTLE WONDROUS GREAT LIBERATION, AWARE OF ALL THERE IS WITHOUT BEING STAINED OR OBSTRUCTED. THIS LIGHT HAS NEVER STOPPED: FROM AGES PAST UP TO THE PRESENT IT'S BEEN STEADY, NEVER CHANGING. THE SUBTLE ILLUMINATION OF THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT DOES NOT DEPEND ON BEING CULTIVATED AND REFINED. SINCE THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND, PEOPLE GRASP THE FORMS OF THINGS -- IT'S JUST LIKE RUBBING THE EYES, FALSELY MAKING OPTICAL ILLUSIONS ARISE. But the moment you realize that there is nothing that separates you from anything in existence...