They had lots of money and sex, felt empty, and told everyone to give them up—but Osho says these aren’t bad; know them fully and then grow beyond.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, how is it that all the past buddhas expressed themselves against money and sex, which are the sources of worldly pleasures? You are perhaps the first buddha to stand by all of them together -- pleasure, happiness, and bliss -- which is causing so much misunderstanding and opposition in your case. Did the past buddhas try to compromise with tradition and to play for safety?
Naturally, Maitreya, those who are clinging to the old buddhas are going to be against me, because their whole point is that the world is sin and it has to be renounced. Pleasure is sin and it has to be renounced -- even simple pleasures like drinking a cup of tea are sins. In Mahatma Gandhi's ashram, people used to drink tea, hiding. And once in a while somebody was caught, and he was so condemned that Mahatma Gandhi would go on a fast. This is a special way of torturing people. And the whole ashram would torture the person: because you drank tea, Mahatma Gandhi has gone on a fast unto death. And he would never say that it is a punishment for you. He would say, "It is a punishment for myself, because it shows that my soul is not pure enough; that's why my disciples go on…
Osho, Buddha says: live on the minimum, only on what is absolutely necessary. You say: don’t live stingily or lukewarm; live to the maximum, in excess. How are we to reconcile the two?
Movement doesn’t happen like that. Movement is in one direction. Choose west—then west it is. Forget that the other three directions even exist. Granted, they exist. Granted, some people are walking there. But you have left those directions. Now you go west. Don’t let one hand go east, the other west, and one leg south. That “coordination” won’t set; in attempting it, you will be badly fragmented. This has become humanity’s condition. Earlier, when the world was not so close-knit—before the earth became a small village, before religions were mutually familiar—many realized the ultimate. As the earth shrank and people became acquainted with one another’s religions, religiosity declined. Why? Because all directions entered everyone’s mind. You read the Quran and you read the Gita. You drown in neither. When you read the Quran you remember the Gita; when you read the Gita you remember the Quran—and you keep trying to…
The buddha said: "there is nothing like lust. Lust may be said to be the most powerful passion. Fortunately, we have but one thing which is more powerful. If the thirst for truth were weaker than passion, how many of us in the world would be able to follow the way of righteousness?"
THE BUDDHA SAID: "MEN WHO ARE ADDICTED TO THE PASSIONS ARE LIKE THE TORCH-CARRIER RUNNING AGAINST THE WIND; HIS HANDS ARE SURE TO BE BURNT." THE LORD OF HEAVEN OFFERED A BEAUTIFUL FAIRY TO THE BUDDHA, DESIRING TO TEMPT HIM TO THE EVIL PATH. BUT THE BUDDHA SAID: "BE GONE! WHAT USE HAVE I FOR THE LEATHER BAG FILLED WITH FILTH WHICH YOU HAVE BROUGHT TO ME?" THEN, THE GOD REVERENTLY BOWED AND ASKED THE BUDDHA ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF THE WAY, IN WHICH HAVING BEEN INSTRUCTED BY THE BUDDHA, IT IS SAID, HE ATTAINED THE SROTAAPANNA FRUIT. This dullness has to be destroyed. And it can be destroyed only by becoming more aware. Walk with more awareness. Eat with more awareness. Talk with more awareness. Listen with more awareness. I have heard: Once there was a mother monkey who had a philosophic turn of mind. This would make her…
Osho, when sex ripens, one’s interest in it begins to wane. What happens when love ripens?
In this country this mishap has happened often. The reason it happened is the good fortune of this land—that many saints arose here. We turned that good fortune into our misfortune. We heard the ambrosial words of the saints. Their words appealed to us. Not only was their reasoning powerful, the weight of their presence was powerful too. In their presence we felt that what they said must be right. “Must be right.” But “must be right” is not the same as our own experience bearing witness that it is right. The dignity of their being, their luminous aura, their stream of consciousness moved us, influenced us: we followed behind, and our mind kept wandering in the world. From this a great deterioration has occurred here. People call themselves religious, yet inside they are so worldly as you will hardly find anywhere. Here people abuse money, and yet the grip…
Buddha, mahavira, krishna and rama -- they all talked of renunciation, but you say that wealth has to be increased. Why this contradiction?
It is true that I ask you to produce more wealth. It is now difficult to ascertain exactly what Buddha, Rama and Krishna had said But if they said that wealth need not be produced, then they were wrong. Talk of renunciation on the part of those who have no wealth is ridiculous. What would they renounce? Buddha could talk of renunciation because he was born in an affluent family. Buddha could afford to leave Yashodhara, his wife, behind, and move to the forest to live the life of an ascetic, because he knew that Yashodhara had a palace and every other means of security that one needs. But if a Buddha of the present times leaves his Yashodara a for twelve years, then at the end of twelve years he will find Yashodhara in some brothel and not in her home. Buddha could leave his son. Rahul, behind. because…