According to Osho, preparation is unnecessary; truth doesn’t need rehearsal. He only scans questions to spare the interviewer embarrassment, because he will frankly call a stupid question stupid. Real integrity is to answer what you know, and to say 'I do not know' when you don’t. Authentic presence, not prepackaged responses, is the right approach.
Don’t practice answers—just be honest: answer if you know, and say you don’t if you don’t.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
You once said that to the same question you can give a thousand different answers. So why do you want to prepare for an interview?
I never prepare for an interview. I simply want to see the questions to avoid you feeling embarrassed by my answers. If I see a stupid question I'm going to call it stupid. Not to hurt you, not to make you feel embarrassed I just look at your questions. There is no need for me to prepare. If I know I will answer; if I do not know I will simply say, "I do not know."
Beloved Osho,
EVERY DAY WHEN I SIT HERE, I TRY SITTING WITHOUT A QUESTION IN MY MIND, STAYING IN THE MOMENT WITH WHAT I M HEARING, NOT REHEARSING, AND TRYING NOT TO REHEARSE. THEN YOU SAY, "ANYTHING MORE?" AND IT'S AS IF A SHIELD COMES DOWN AND I CAN'T REACH YOU. I AM TALKING TO MYSELF, AND THE MIND IS ALWAYS MAKING THINGS SAFE FOR ME. My answers are not the real thing so they go on changing. People feel that I am inconsistent. I go on saying things - today something, tomorrow something else - they are irrelevant. I am not concerned with consistency; my answering is like music being played on a guitar. You never ask inconsistently; you play the same thing again and again. The musician goes on changing, and if you get absorbed into the music you will have some gaps of silence. In those gaps, you will…
Osho, seeing the ochre robe on my body and the mala around my neck, people keep throwing questions at me. They even demand credentials for my Master. Faced with such questions, what should I do—keep silent or say something?
There is no need to make a rule. It will depend on the situation. If someone asks out of idle curiosity, be silent; if out of sincere inquiry, say something. If out of a longing for liberation, then pour out everything you know. It depends on the situation. So I cannot give you a straight order to speak or to keep quiet. I can only give this guidance: look into the eyes of the one who asks. If you feel it is only curiosity, childish curiosity, then remain silent. Your silence will help. Curiosity is like an itch—scratching doesn’t end it; the skin gets scraped and a wound forms. Just stay quiet. But if someone asks with true inquiry—seems sincere, a seeker, asking because he may be looking for the path—then do speak. And if you feel he is a real mumukshu—not just intellectually curious, but searching with his whole…
Osho, when the world questions us, what should we answer? I have gone missing, my Lord; tell me my address. People ask me where I am from.
Buddha added a new chapter to human history: that which cannot be said, don’t say. Say it by silence. Let silence speak. Then leave it to the other. If he thinks you are ignorant, that is his affair. Why be disturbed? But I understand your hitch. If you cannot answer, people think: “Ah, so you are still ignorant! A sannyasi and still ignorant! Donning ochre and still ignorant!” Say: I am indeed ignorant. Make no claim to knowledge. And I tell you: this acceptance of ignorance will become the manure that cracks your seed. This acceptance will become rain upon you. After all, what does the effort to prove to others that “I know” really mean? Only this: that my ego depends on others’ recognition. Ego wants the prop of the other. You cannot be a knower alone; you can be a knower only if someone says so. Go sit…
Osho, questions arise—and for many of them the answers also come. What is all this?
Girls want people to tell them they are beautiful. A handful of fools to say it—that’s all it takes—and you’ll always find such fools loitering on the seafront; no matter what she looks like—even if she resembles Kali of Calcutta, motherly and forbidding—some fool will still exclaim, “Ah, what beauty!” It feels good when someone says, “You are intelligent!” You gather your self-image from others’ borrowed opinions. You ask their questions and paste on their answers. You call this your knowledge. All of it stale and borrowed... No—no one else can give you knowledge. No one else can answer your questions. The one who truly wishes you well, who truly wants you to become a flame of life, will tell you: the answer to every one of your questions is within you. Therefore the way is to sit silently and go inward. And a moment comes, as you keep finding…