What is the significance of an enlightened one giving themselves to a single disciple?

How is it that an enlightened one gives of himself to one only, as lord buddha did in the case of mahakashyap? Really, this buddhist tradition of one disciple receiving the light continued for eight generations. Was it not possible for a group to be its recipient?

No, it is never possible because the group has got no soul, the group has got no self. Only the individual can be the recipient, the receiver, because only the individual has the heart. Group is not a person. You are here, I am talking, but I am not talking to the group because with the group there can be no communication. I am talking to each individual here. You have gathered in a group, but you are not hearing me as a group; you are hearing me as individuals. Really, the group doesn't exist. Only individuals exist. "Group" is just a word. It has no reality, no substance. It is just the name of a collectivity. You cannot love a group, you cannot love a nation, you cannot love humanity. But there are persons who claim that they love humanity. They deceive themselves because there is no one like…

Beloved Osho, in many traditions the total transmission was passed from a master to only one disciple, such as from buddha to mahakashyapa, from bodhidharma to hui-ke, down to hui neng, whom you mentioned this morning. Do you have such a one right disciple to whom you plan to transfer total knowledge among your disciples? Is there a possibility that you will do this with a number of persons rather than only one? Why is it that the ultimate secret is usually transmitted to only one in many traditions?

Now, because this will be the last meeting, I would like to say something to you before you leave the campus. Firstly, this has been my observation -- that ninety percent of you, and this is a very great number, have been doing meditation very intensely. This is very hopeful but the intensity was more or less dependent on the group. It may be difficult for you to be so intense back at home. So do one thing: when you do the meditation at home, close your eyes first, feel me present just before you as I am here. Visualize me, visualize the group around you and then start meditation as you have been doing with the group. That will be very helpful. If you have a tape-recording, then put it on so that the whole atmosphere is created and you are not alone. It is very difficult to do…

Beloved Osho,

BUDDHA HAD MANY ENLIGHTENED PEOPLE AROUND HIM, YET HE FELT SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR THIS ONE ENLIGHTENED PERSON. IS THERE SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN ENLIGHTENMENTS? There were other enlightened persons, but the key could not be given to them; it had to be given to Mahakashyap, because he had an inner desire to help -- his past karmas. He could become a tirthankara; he could become a perfect master. And he did well. Buddha's choice was perfectly right -- because there was one other of Buddha's disciples who could have been given the key. His name was Subhuti. He was as silent as Mahakashyap, even more. It will be difficult for you -- how silence, how perfection, can be more -- but it is possible. It is beyond ordinary arithmetic. You can be perfect, and you can be even still more perfect, because perfection has growth, it goes on growing infinitely. Subhuti…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, NOTHING TO BE GIVEN THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING TO GIVE TO PEOPLE, ONLY FOLKS WHO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO POINT OUT THE ROAD FOR PEOPLE. AN ANCIENT WORTHY SAID, "HAVING SOME ATTAINMENT IS THE JACKAL'S YELP; HAVING NO ATTAINMENT IS THE LION'S ROAR." BUDDHA WAS SOMEONE WHO HAD MASTERED ADAPTATION: IN THE COURSE OF FORTY-NINE YEARS, IN MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ASSEMBLIES WHERE HE TAUGHT THE DHARMA, HE GUIDED PEOPLE ACCORDING TO THEIR INDIVIDUAL FACULTIES. THUS HE PREACHED WITH ONE VOICE THROUGH ALL REALMS, WHILE SENTIENT BEINGS EACH OBTAINED BENEFITS ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND. IT'S LIKE: "ONE GUST OF THE EAST WIND, AND THE MYRIAD GRASSES ALL BEND DOWN." THE DHARMA PREACHED BY THE BUDDHA IS ALSO LIKE THIS. IF HE HAD HAD THE INTENT TO CREATE BENEFIT IN ALL REALMS, THEN THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN PREACHING THE DHARMA EGOTISTICALLY.

Question: Osho, what you have said about the bodiless soul makes it seem that we need to reflect on it again independently. The reason is that it raises many questions for us. Many of our beliefs and convictions seem to get shattered. And the biggest thing—the belief that gets shattered—is our trust in the Buddha. The Buddha undertook such immense discipline to know the mystery of life and death and to become fearless in the face of both. But that very Buddha, in the form of the Dalai Lama, comes here fleeing the clutches of the Chinese merely to save his life! The same Buddha who said “abhaya bhava” (be fearless), “appa dipo bhava” (be a light unto yourself)—that same Buddha, appearing as the Dalai Lama, comes before us as a coward!