What is the nature of contradiction in teachings?

Osho, for some twenty years you have been speaking to us, and many of your statements contradict one another; yet, remarkably, to this day you have never taken back a single statement nor felt the need to revise any. And all your statements have now become public property. Are you doing this knowingly, and is there some secret behind it? And is there not the danger that, in time, people will doubt that all these statements could be from one and the same enlightened master?

That’s how a Muslim is a Muslim—he has grabbed the Qur’an’s statements. A Buddhist is a Buddhist—he has grabbed Buddha’s. A Jain is a Jain—he has grabbed Mahavira’s. I don’t want to leave statements behind for you to grab. I want to leave you in the statementless, the ineffable. I will say everything and take it all away. Give with one hand, remove with the other. One day you will understand that this empty state—when nothing remains in your hands—is the state of truth. The moment you grasp, you are grasped. The grasper is captured by what he grasps. The one who clings to statements becomes sectarian. The one who lives in the statementless is religious. Then he understands all statements and is possessed by none, defined by none. “Your many statements contradict one another. But surprisingly, you have never taken back a single statement.” There is no need to.…

Osho, whatever you say seems to be right from the point of view of what you are saying at that moment. But it may be contradictory. You draw the listeners in one direction confirming a particular point, and at the same time you go via the back door to the opposite point. It is a spiral -- the listener hardly realizes what may be happening. Is this not fooling the listener -- unless he realizes that the real answer lies beyond your spoken words?

One sannyasin has done well. He has called my path VIA CONFUSIVA -- that's right. That's perfectly right. It is neither VIA NEGATIVA nor VIA POSITIVE -- it is VIA CONFUSIVA. If you can be so much confused that you drop ALL belief, out of that confusion will come clarity. When do you feel confused? When exactly? Whenever one of your beliefs is attacked -- you become suspicious: Now what to believe in? Whenever a doubt arises... but how is a doubt possible if there is no belief? The man of no-belief cannot doubt either. There is nothing to doubt. 13y destroying your belief I am destroying the very pos-sibility of doubt. Can you see the point? Doubt is a shadow of belief. It looks like the opposite -- it is not. Only believers can doubt. If you believe in God, doubt can arise. But if you don't believe in…

Beloved Osho, by now, millions of people are confused by your contradictory actions and statements. But also we, your friends, tend to diminish or simplify your words. Osho, what is at the heart of your contradictions? How can we enter your wild dance of consciousness?

There are no contradictions -- only apparently so. Logically you can find hundreds of contradictions; but I am not speaking logically. Once that is understood you can see that all contradictions disappear. They are created by a certain system of logic, and if you have the glasses of that logic on your eyes, you will see contradictions. I am not speaking logically. I have no respect for logic. I have respect for life. And life is vast enough to have contradictions as complementaries. Life cannot exist without contradictions. Logic is dead. It can exist very clinically, without contradictions. But it is a dead system -- it is just a man-made system; it does not breathe. So there is a way to speak logically, which the philosophers have been doing down the ages. Their whole effort was not to get into any contradiction, into any inconsistency. Avoiding contradictions, avoiding inconsistencies, they…

Having listened to your talks continuously for two years now, I see that you contradict almost every single statement you make. Is there really anything one can do except watch and wait?

There is a Tibetan story about Marpa. His Master told him to make a house, alone, with nobody's help. It was difficult to bring the stones and bricks from the village to the monastery. It was four or five miles distant. Marpa carried everything alone; it had to be done. And it was to be a three storey house, the biggest that was possible in Tibet in those days. He worked hard, day and night. Alone he had to do everything. Years passed, the house was ready, and Marpa came back happy. He bowed down to the Master's feet and said, 'The house is ready.' The Master said, 'Now set it on fire.' Marpa went and burned the house. The whole night and the whole next day the house burned. By the evening there was nothing left. Marpa went, bowed down and said, 'As you ordered, the house has been…

Your contradictions used to throw me into such unhappy emotional states. Now I listen to you but without thinking, remaining tranquil. Have I escaped before the pot came to the boil?

First, one anecdote. A mother was examining a new mechanical toy at the corner shop and wondered if it were not too complicated for a small boy. "Oh, no," the salesman beamed, "it is an educational toy. It is especially designed to teach the child something about our current civilization: no matter how he puts it together, he's wrong." Don't try to put me together, otherwise you will be wrong. It is designed that way. To contradict myself is my way. To never allow you to settle anywhere is my way. To go on goading you on and on, is my way. But now, Parijat has learned the trick: listen in deep tranquility. Don't be bothered about whether I am contradicting something that I have said before. Listen to me this moment; don't bring the past in. If you don't bring the past in there is no contradiction. If you…