According to Osho, priests and lawyers are parallel figures of unnecessary mediation: the priest inserts himself between you and existence (God), creating division and spiritual slavery; the lawyer inserts himself between people and justice, cloaking truth in jargon. Both convert living realities into systems and dependencies, obstructing direct experience and straightforward justice; remove the middleman—trust immediate being and an educated, fair judge hearing people directly.
Both priests and lawyers get in the way—meet life and justice directly, without middlemen.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved master, a priest sets himself up as a mediator between man and god. The lawyer's job is to mediate between man and justice. Aren't these professions essentially the same? Why do we need lawyers?
We do not need them. The priest is not needed. You are part of existence, you are already in it; there is no question of any mediation. Any mediator between you and existence will be a barrier, will not be a bridge. The bridge is already there. You cannot exist without the bridge. Your breath, your heartbeat, your very being is continuously nourished by existence in every possible way. The priest is absolutely not only unnecessary, but harmful, poisonous. He creates the division between you and the whole, and then he exploits you. His strategy is simple. He exploits, because he knows how he can help you to be bridged with existence, with the cosmos. You do not know, and he knows; naturally, you become spiritually enslaved to him. The priests are serving the devil, and all the churches and all the synagogues, all the mosques, all the temples are…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, AND AN OLD PRIEST SAID, SPEAK TO US OF RELIGION. AND HE SAID: HAVE I SPOKEN THIS DAY OF AUGHT ELSE? IS NOT RELIGION ALL DEEDS AND ALL REFLECTION, AND THAT WHICH IS NEITHER DEED NOR REFLECTION, BUT A WONDER AND A SURPRISE EVER SPRINGING IN THE SOUL, EVEN WHILE THE HANDS HEW THE STONE OR TEND THE LOOM? WHO CAN SEPARATE HIS FAITH FROM HIS ACTIONS, OR HIS BELIEF FROM HIS OCCUPATIONS? WHO CAN SPREAD HIS HOURS BEFORE HIM, SAYING, "THIS FOR GOD AND THIS FOR MYSELF; THIS FOR MY SOUL AND THIS OTHER FOR MY BODY"? ALL YOUR HOURS ARE WINGS THAT BEAT THROUGH SPACE FROM SELF TO SELF. HE WHO WEARS HIS MORALITY BUT AS HIS BEST GARMENT WERE BETTER NAKED. THE WIND AND THE SUN WILL TEAR NO HOLES IN HIS SKIN.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, AND WHEN HE ENTERED INTO THE CITY ALL THE PEOPLE CAME TO MEET HIM, AND THEY WERE CRYING OUT TO HIM AS WITH ONE VOICE. AND THE ELDERS OF THE CITY STOOD FORTH AND SAID: GO NOT YET AWAY FROM US. A NOONTIDE HAVE YOU BEEN IN OUR TWILIGHT, AND YOUR YOUTH HAS GIVEN US DREAMS TO DREAM. NO STRANGER ARE YOU AMONG US, NOR A GUEST, BUT OUR SON AND OUR DEARLY BELOVED. SUFFER NOT YET OUR EYES TO HUNGER FOR YOUR FACE. AND THE PRIESTS AND THE PRIESTESSES SAID UNTO HIM: LET NOT THE WAVES OF THE SEA SEPARATE US NOW, AND THE YEARS YOU HAVE SPENT IN OUR MIDST BECOME A MEMORY. YOU HAVE WALKED AMONG US A SPIRIT, AND YOUR SHADOW HAS BEEN A LIGHT UPON OUR FACES. MUCH HAVE WE LOVED YOU.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, OF THE PRIESTS AND ONE DAY ZARATHUSTRA MADE A SIGN TO HIS DISCIPLES AND SPOKE THESE WORDS TO THEM: HERE ARE PRIESTS: AND ALTHOUGH THEY ARE MY ENEMIES, PASS THEM BY QUIETLY AND WITH SLEEPING SWORDS!... THEY ARE BAD ENEMIES: NOTHING IS MORE REVENGEFUL THAN THEIR HUMILITY. AND HE WHO TOUCHES THEM IS EASILY DEFILED.... HE WHOM THEY CALL REDEEMER HAS CAST THEM INTO BONDAGE -- INTO THE BONDAGE OF FALSE VALUES AND FALSE SCRIPTURES! AH, THAT SOMEONE WOULD REDEEM THEM FROM THEIR REDEEMER!... OH, JUST LOOK AT THESE HUTS THAT THESE PRIESTS HAVE BUILT THEMSELVES. CHURCHES THEY CALL THEIR SWEET-SMELLING CAVES! OH THIS COUNTERFEIT LIGHT! OH THIS MUSTY AIR! HERE, WHERE THE SOUL MAY NOT FLY UP TO ITS HEIGHT! ON THE CONTRARY, THEIR FAITH COMMANDS: `UP THE STEPS ON YOUR KNEES, YOU SINNERS!'... WHO CREATED SUCH CAVES AND PENITENTIAL STEPS?
It is in the beginning, in the middle, and the end; yet end and beginning are nowhere else.
ALL THOSE WITH MINDS DELUDED BY INTERPRETATIVE THOUGHTS ARE IN TWO MINDS AND SO DISCUSS NOTHINGNESS AND COMPASSION AS TWO THINGS. BEES KNOW THAT IN FLOWERS HONEY CAN BE FOUND. THAT SAMSARA AND NIRVANA ARE NOT TWO HOW WILL THE DELUDED EVER UNDERSTAND? WHEN THE DELUDED IN A MIRROR LOOK THEY SEE A FACE, NOT A REFLECTION. SO THE MIND THAT HAS TRUTH DENIED RELIES ON THAT WHICH IS NOT TRUE. THOUGH THE FRAGRANCE OF A FLOWER CANNOT BE TOUCHED, 'TIS ALL PERVASIVE AND AT ONCE PERCEPTIBLE. SO BY UNPATTERNED BEING-IN-SELF RECOGNIZE THE ROUND OF MYSTIC CIRCLES. Tantra is NOT ordinary indulgence: it is extraordinary indulgence. It is not ordinary indulgence because it indulges in God Himself. But, Tantra says, it is through the small things of life that you have the taste. There are no big things in life; everything is small. The small thing becomes big and great…