Will disciples attain enlightenment through sudden realization or gradual growth?

Beloved master, you say that enlightenment can happen any moment. To me it feels like a very slow process of learning and becoming aware of the unconscious parts of my being. Do you have something to say about this?

Enlightenment is not something like an achievement; one cannot achieve it. One has to disappear for it to happen. It is a happening and it happens only in the absence of the ego. And whenever you are doing something the ego becomes more and more strengthened. The ego is a doer, and enlightenment happens in a state of nondoing. It is simply the realization of who you are; it is not a question of achievement. You are already it! Just an awakening, just a turning in! Seeing the point, Buddha relaxed; he dropped all his methods. That is the only use of methods: you get tired of them, you feel utterly bored with them. One day out of sheer boredom you drop all the methods. That evening he dropped his whole spiritual search. He had dropped all worldly search six years before, but it is the same search whether you…

Do wisdom and understanding increase gradually or do they come as explosions?

UNDERSTANDING NEVER COMES, neither as a sudden phenomenon nor as a gradual one, because it is always there. You have it right now. It is not going to happen somewhere in the future. You are carrying it within you, just as a seed carries the tree, a woman carries a child. You are carrying it right now. Now it depends on you: if your intensity is total you will achieve it suddenly, if your intensity is not total you will achieve it by and by, in steps. But understanding never comes to you -- you are understanding. Enlightenment is not something that happens to you -- you are enlightenment. Remember this; then it is a choice, your choice. If you desire it totally, in that fire of total desire all that covers that understanding burns; suddenly the light is there. But it is up to you. It is not part…

"you said that either one sees the world or the brahman and that no gradually increasing perception of the brahman is possible. But in experience we feel that as we become aware and more silent and still, the feeling of the divine presence becomes gradually clearer and clearer. What is this gradual growth and clarity if the authentic experience is never gradual, but sudden?"

The second thing to remember: even hot water is still water. So even if you become more clear in your mind, more pure in your perceptions, more moral, more centered, you are still man, not a buddha, not enlightened. You become more silent, more still, calmer. You feel a deep bliss, but still you are a man, and your feelings are really negative, not positive. You feel calm because you are now less tense. You feel blissful because now you are clinging less to your miseries; you are not creating them. You feel collected. It is not that you have come to realize the one, but only because now you are less divided. Remember this: your growth is negative. You are just hot water. The possibility is there that at any moment you will come to the point where evaporation happens. When it happens, you will not feel calmness, you…

Osho, you say we cannot take full responsibility for ourselves until we are 'awakened '. The western growth movement says we cannot be awakened until we take full responsibility for ourselves. Is there a conflict?

For ninety-nine percent? Patanjali will be the way. So I don't discard Patanjali -- I don't discard anything. Everything is accepted and used. Use all the methods skillfully and you will be benefited by all. And don't become obsessed with a method. Don't say that "I believe in gradual growth." If you say, "I believe in gradual growth," then you are preventing the possibility of sudden enlightenment. Maybe you are the person -- who knows? -- you are Hui Neng! Even Hui Neng was not aware until he became enlightened. Who knows?! Somebody may be here who is a Hui Neng, a potential Hui Neng, and if he starts thinking that "No, it is not possible. I don't believe in sudden enlightenment," that very idea will prevent him. Then he will listen to the four lines of the Diamond Sutra and will not become enlightened because of his idea. I…

Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, TOZAN SAID: SUBTLY INCLUDED WITHIN THE TRUE, INQUIRY AND RESPONSE COME UP TOGETHER. COMMUNING WITH THE SOURCE AND COMMUNING WITH THE PROCESS, IT INCLUDES INTEGRATION AND INCLUDES THE ROAD. MERGING IS AUSPICIOUS. DO NOT VIOLATE IT. NATURALLY REAL, YET INCONCEIVABLE, IT IS NOT WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF DELUSION OR ENLIGHTENMENT. WITH CAUSAL CONDITIONS, TIME AND SEASON, QUIESCENTLY IT SHINES BRIGHT. IN ITS FINENESS IT FITS INTO SPACELESSNESS. IN ITS GREATNESS IT IS UTTERLY BEYOND LOCATION. A HAIRBREADTH DEVIATION WILL FAIL TO ACCORD WITH THE PROPER ATTUNEMENT. NOW, THERE ARE "SUDDEN" AND "GRADUAL" IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH ARE SET UP BASIC APPROACHES. ONCE BASIC APPROACHES ARE DISTINGUISHED, THEN THERE ARE GUIDING RULES. BUT EVEN THOUGH THE BASIS IS REACHED AND THE APPROACH COMPREHENDED, TRUE ETERNITY STILL FLOWS.