What is the Zen perspective on the relationship between ends and means?

Question: Maneesha's first question: BELOVED OSHO, ZEN SEEMS TO BE OF THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE END ALWAYS JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. WOULD YOU PLEASE COMMENT? Maneesha, there is no beginning and there is no end. There is no means and there is no goal. Zen is this declaration. Your question has been discussed by the intelligentsia down the ages. What is important? -- the means or the end? Can one achieve the right end by wrong means? Or by achieving the right end, does it matter what kind of means you use to reach it? I can discuss your question only on the margin. It has nothing to do with the anecdote we are discussing. Nobody can reach the right end without right means, because the end is nothing but the ultimate flowering of the means. The goal is nothing but the road reaching to its fullness.

Question: Osho, today I would like to ask you about means and ends. Sir, in fact this issue has been very confusing for the world at large. Many scholars from the medieval period to the present have taken it up from many sides, giving different definitions and views. For instance, political philosophers have called it fundamental truth and diplomatic truth. Social philosophers have used it as ethical truth and social truth. Skeptical philosophers have spoken of actual truth and relative truth. Philosophers of science have framed it as scientific living and the art of living. But if I am not mistaken, sir, they all deal with the nine basic issues of living either subjectively or objectively, which are as follows: ...

Osho, what is zen?

He knows that all is illusory so there is no need to escape. It is unfounded, you need not be worried about it. It is a rope -- it appears to be a snake. So why escape? Why renounce? Let it appear to be a snake, let it be there as a rope. Whatsoever it is, the appearance is unfounded, hence there is no need to renounce. Zen does not teach renunciation. It teaches understanding, awareness, alertness, the capacity to see things as they are. And then there is no need to escape from anywhere. Wherever you are, Zen helps you to relax. And there is no need to search for God, to search for satori, samadhi, enlightenment -- the very search is a barrier. We search for things only if they are not within our being; if they are within our being, there is no need to seek and…

Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, SHOITSU SAID TO CHIZEN: IN THE SCHOOL OF THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS, WE POINT DIRECTLY TO THE HUMAN MIND. VERBAL EXPLANATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIVE DEVICES ACTUALLY MISS THE POINT. NOT FALLING INTO SEEING AND HEARING, NOT FOLLOWING SOUND OR FORM, ACTING FREELY IN THE PHENOMENAL WORLD, SITTING AND LYING IN THE HEAP OF MYRIAD FORMS, NOT INVOLVED WITH PHENOMENA IN BREATHING OUT, NOT BOUND TO THE CLUSTERS AND ELEMENTS OF EXISTENCE IN BREATHING IN, THE WHOLE WORLD IS THE GATE OF LIBERATION. ALL WORLDS ARE TRUE REALITY. A UNIVERSAL MASTER KNOWS WHAT IT COMES TO, THE MOMENT IT IS RAISED. HOW WILL BEGINNERS AND LATECOMERS COME TO GRIPS WITH IT? IF YOU DON'T GET IT YET, FOR THE TIME BEING WE OPEN UP A PATHWAY IN THE GATEWAY OF THE SECONDARY TRUTH. SPEAK OUT WHERE THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY; MANIFEST FORM IN THE MIDST OF FORMLESSNESS.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, ONCE A TAOIST, HAPPENING TO PASS BY HYAKUJO'S MONASTERY, ASKED, "IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE WORLD MORE MARVELOUS THAN THE FORCES OF NATURE?" HYAKUJO REPLIED, "THERE IS." "AND WHAT IS THAT?" THE TAOIST INQUIRED. HYAKUJO SAID, "THE POWER OF comprehending THOSE NATURAL FORCES." THE VISITOR ASKED, "IS COSMIC VITALITY THE TAO?" HYAKUJO RESPONDED, "COSMIC VITALITY IS COSMIC VITALITY. THE TAO IS THE TAO." THE TAOIST SAID, "IF SO, THEY MUST BE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS?" HYAKUJO SAID, "THAT WHICH KNOWS DOES NOT PROCEED FROM TWO DIFFERENT PERSONS." THE EXASPERATED TAOIST REPLIED, "WHAT IS WRONG AND WHAT IS RIGHT?" HYAKUJO REPLIED, "WRONG IS THE MIND THAT ATTENDS TO EXTERNALS; RIGHT IS THE MIND THAT BRINGS EXTERNALS UNDER CONTROL." Some take a little more time, some take a little less time; some are arduous, some are very relaxed... it is your choice. Move from anywhere towards your life source.