According to Osho, Buddhas and Christs appear as playful manifestations in the cosmic leela—not to 'save' anyone, but to embody salvation. They don’t rescue you; their presence invites you to drop seriousness, stop creating misery, and taste bliss. If you understand and partake of them, you discover your own freedom. They come as living reminders: be joyful, be playful—only you can save yourself.
They’re like happy players who show you how to enjoy the game of life; they can’t play it for you—you find the joy yourself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Through the ages, incarnations like jesus and buddha have accepted to come and help humanity. If life is no more than a joke, why do they take the trouble?
That too is part of this great cosmic joke. Buddha and Christ -- they are part of this great game, this play, this LEELA. Don't take them seriously, they are not serious people. They are playing a game. It is all a joke. When I say 'It is all a joke' I simply mean don't take it seriously and don't take it sadly. Let it be fun. Nobody is a saviour -- neither Buddha nor Jesus -- nobody is a saviour. I am included in it. Nobody is a saviour. Then what is a Buddha? A Buddha is just a salvation. Not a saviour, a salvation. If you understand him, if you look into him, if you partake of him, your life is no longer a misery. It is a bliss. Not that Buddha saves you, not that Jesus saves you. Nobody can save anybody. Only you can save yourself.…
When I arrived, they were embarrassed, then one laughed, then another. I asked, “What is the matter? You were so angry, so upset—why are you laughing?” They said, “You came and we remembered—oh, we are only playing! And here we are becoming so disturbed!” They turned all the stations over, the accounts, the houses—everything collapsed. They quickly stuffed everything into the box. I asked, “So soon? You were so angry, so disturbed, accusing each other of fraud. It seemed a big fight had occurred.” They said, “No, nothing—we were only playing.” Buddha has said: one evening some children were playing on the sand by the river, building houses. Then someone’s house—how long does a sand house take to fall—someone’s foot touched it and it fell. Then they seized one another’s throats, fought, shouted, struck each other. Each one protected his own house and said, “Walk carefully!
Osho, I love you. I also love your jokes. I am very serious these days. This whole enlightenment game is too heavy. Please tell more jokes.
My own experience is that only an enlightened person can tell jokes. What else is left? He has seen the greatest joke of it all: he has seen the whole absurdity of searching for enlightenment. One finds enlightenment not by searching, but by one day coming to such a point of desperation that one drops all effort. In that very moment one becomes aware of it. When searching stops, desiring disappears, you are left alone with your being; nowhere to go, you are in. The inward journey is not really a journey. When all journeys disappear -- nowhere to go, no interest in going, you have searched in every direction and every direction has failed you -- in UTTER desperation you simply stop, you collapse, but that very collapse is the moment of the transformation. Nowhere-going, you are in. Not seeking anything, only the seeker is left. Not trying to…
Question: YOU HAVE NO NAME AND NO FORM. WHY MISS WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE? THE SEEKER IS NOT SORRY. LOVE AND JOYFULLY FOLLOW THE WAY, THE QUIET WAY TO THE HAPPY COUNTRY. SEEKER! EMPTY THE BOAT, LIGHTEN THE LOAD, PASSION AND DESIRE AND HATRED. AND SAIL SWIFTLY. THERE ARE FIVE AT THE DOOR TO TURN AWAY, AND FIVE MORE, AND THERE ARE FIVE TO WELCOME IN. AND WHEN FIVE HAVE BEEN LEFT STRANDED ON THE SHORE, THE SEEKER IS CALLED OGHATINNOTI -- "HE WHO HAS CROSSED OVER." Buddha says: Teach people that the search for truth should not be a sad search. This is one of the things which has been very much misunderstood. Somehow the sad people have dominated the whole religious scene down the ages.
Beloved Osho, when I see you my heart explodes, when you dance I feel so joyous, when you speak I enjoy it immensely. So often these days, with all the blessings you shower upon us, I feel so overcome. Who needs to be enlightened, with such an exquisite, outrageous master like you around? I'm enjoying life more than ever before, and I don't care about enlightenment. Am I being irresponsible or dependent on you by not wanting enlightenment? Or should I just keep enjoying your beauty, your grace, and the immensity of your love?
Only those twelve fools, who Christians think are apostles -- they will be there. And none of them is capable of dancing. Somebody is a fisherman, somebody is a woodcutter -- all uneducated, illiterate. And of course, Jesus moved with this gay company his whole life. Somehow he seems to be the founder of the gay people. What the hell was he doing with these twelve stupid boys! No, I cannot believe that this man is enlightened. No enlightened person has said that he can save another person, because in saving somebody, you are making him dependent on you. And if I can save somebody, I can throw him back into his miserable world. It was my work.... It happened... I was sitting on the bank in Allahabad, where the Ganges is really beautiful and vast like an ocean. I saw a man jump. I thought he was enjoying a…