His books are like training wheels: use them to start, then take them off so you can see reality for yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, you say to drop all books—but what about your books?
When I say, “Drop all books,” that includes mine. My books are not some special exception. All books means all books. All words means my words too. And all doctrines means my doctrines as well. Your eyes must be utterly free, so they can come face to face with the real, directly.
I am new to your teaching but if I have understood you so far you say (approximately anyway) that knowledge obtained from books is mere information, and as such is useless and sterile -- what matters is an inner knowing derived from experience, and feeling rather than intellect. Why then do you publish books for sale?
I speak to seduce you into silence. I use words so that you can be persuaded towards the wordLESS existence. Books are there to lead you beyond, so don't cling to them. At the most they are bridges. But if you make your house on a bridge you are a fool. Pass through it! Right now, you cannot understand silence, you can understand only words. I will have to use words to give you the message of silence. Between the words, between the lines, sometimes, if you hang around me long enough, you may one day start hearing silence -- then there is no need, then burn those books with other Vedas, Bibles and scriptures. My books also have to be burnt. Everything has to be left behind. But right now you are not ready. When you are ready there is no need for any books. Those books are not…
The zen master mu-nan had only one successor. His name was shoju.
AFTER SHOJU HAD COMPLETED HIS STUDY OF ZEN, MU-NAN CALLED HIM INTO HIS ROOM AND SAID, "I AM GETTING OLD, AND AS FAR AS I KNOW YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL CARRY ON THIS TEACHING. HERE IS A BOOK. IT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM MASTER TO MASTER FOR SEVEN GENERATIONS, AND I HAVE ALSO ADDED MANY POINTS ACCORDING TO MY UNDERSTANDING. THIS BOOK IS VERY PRECIOUS, AND I AM GIVING IT TO YOU TO REPRESENT YOUR SUCCESSORSHIP." SHOJU REPLIED, "PLEASE KEEP THE BOOK. I RECEIVED YOUR ZEN WITHOUT WRITING, AND I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH IT, THANK YOU." MU-NAN REPLIED, "I KNOW THAT, BUT THIS GREAT WORK HAS BEEN CARRIED FROM MASTER TO MASTER FOR SEVEN GENERATIONS, AND IT WILL BE A SYMBOL OF YOUR LEARNING. HERE, TAKE THE BOOK." THE TWO WERE TALKING IN FRONT OF A FIRE, AND THE INSTANT SHOJU FELT THE BOOK IN…
Osho, how can one be free of scriptures and doctrines? They have such a grip that no way to be free seems visible.
Scriptures are not to be discarded. Where have I discarded them? Has anyone given as much respect to scriptures as I have? So how can I tell you to drop them? I am saying something else. I am saying that nothing of your purpose will be fulfilled by scriptures until your own samadhi happens. To give value to samadhi I say, “Drop scriptures,” otherwise you will cling to scripture and go on missing samadhi. I have heard: A young man went to America’s great millionaire, Morgan, and said, I have written this book. It is so astounding that millions of copies will sell and millions will benefit. Please publish it. Morgan asked—without even taking the book in his hand—What is the name of this book? The young man said: Its name is “A Hundred Ways to Make Money.” Morgan looked him up and down—shabby condition. He asked: How did you…
A friend has asked: Osho, according to your statements, all dharmashastras—the religious scriptures that express the ideas of Buddha, Mahavira, and so on—are useless. Then why shouldn’t the books through which your ideas are expressed also be considered useless? Why should a person not advance only through his own experience? What need is there to listen to you?
And in response there are Jain books that say the same: it is better to be crushed under a mad elephant’s feet than to take refuge in a Hindu Shiva temple. That is a great sin; death is better than that. I am against this mentality. This mentality has caused great harm. How could I be opposed to books, to ideas, to the experiences of those who have enriched life? But I am opposed to deadness, and to the insistence that whatever we are clinging to is the only truth. This is the sign of a violent mind. A nonviolent, loving heart does not make such insistences. It is always open to think and to inquire. Always impartial. I spoke to you about this the day before yesterday, so I will not go further into it now. Let me simply repeat: I am in favor of books; I am not…