Osho's perspective on Emptiness
When Osho Spoke About Emptiness
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
I feel empty. I cry. What's next?
This emptiness is negative. Otherwise you will not cry; you will laugh. This emptiness is like loneliness, not like aloneness. This emptiness is not a deep presence; it is simply absence. This emptiness is only death, and there is no resurrection in it. That's why the crying comes. You are filling your emptiness by crying, by tears. That is a trick of the mind. And that's why the question arises: "What's next?" -- because when you feel negatively empty, you want to fill it with something. You are hankering for something to happen: some relationship, some achievement, some lottery... something to happen. "What next? " Emptiness, when it is negative, is never at ease with itself. It is thinking of the future. It is hoping that in the future this emptiness will not be there "and I will be fulfilled". Emptiness, when it is negative, creates future. Emptiness, when it…
In meditation, when the `I' drops temporarily and an emptiness is created within, after it a frustration is felt when that emptiness is not filled by the entry of the unknown. How can one learn to live with that emptiness?
Once you have known the inner treasure, once you have come in contact with your deepest core, then you can move in activity, then you can do whatsoever you like, then you can live an ordinary worldly life, but the emptiness will remain with you. You cannot forget it. It will go on inside. The music of it will be heard. Whatsoever you are doing, the doing will be only on the periphery; inside you will remain empty. And if you can remain empty inside, doing only on the periphery, whatsoever you do becomes divine, whatsoever you do takes on the quality of the divine because now it is not coming from you. Now it is coming directly from the original emptiness, the original nothingness. If then you speak, those words are not yours. That's what Mohammed means when he says, `This Koran is not said by me. It has…
Beloved Osho, for a few moments the other morning, while watching you, I saw that nobody was there. I saw the emptiness, the hollow bamboo. Why did I find this spooky and awesome when you have been speaking of the beauty of emptiness for years?
It is just because from your very childhood you have been told that the goal is not emptiness, but fullness. Emptiness symbolizes the beggar's bowl. In the West particularly, the word `emptiness' never achieved any positive meaning. In the East the case is different. We have two words for emptiness. One -- which will translate the English word `emptiness' -- is riktata. It simply means absence of something. And the other is shunyata for which, in the Western languages, there is no equivalent because that kind of experience has not happened in the West. Shunyata is emptiness from one side, and fullness from another side. For example, this room is full of people now, furniture, things. We can empty it -- all the people can leave the room, all the furniture can be removed -- and then somebody can come and see and can say, "The room is empty." He…
Live the emptiness... because whatsoever you do can never be greater than you. Whatsoever the mind is going to do is going to be part of the mind. Mm? It is going to be a game. Once you start feeling empty there is no need to do anything on your own. Let emptiness be lived, and things start happening. Not that you do them -- they happen. Emptiness is hard in the beginning, because one starts feeling a little depressed, sad, with nothing to do. For the whole life we have been occupied with this and that, improving ourselves, reaching for, achieving, some goal... excitement, misery, failure, success -- but one is occupied. Then suddenly one feels emptiness settling -- nothing to do, nowhere to go, nowhere to hide; no ambition that can give one excitement and can create fever.
"Emptiness and enlightenment are not separate; they are the same realization, and only in the light of awakening can you truly perceive the profound void that is existence."
"Emptiness is not a spectacle to be performed; it is the quiet focus of awareness that needs no embellishment."
"Embrace the emptiness of meditation, for in that stillness, the divine reveals itself; it is not a void to be filled, but an ecstatic fullness waiting to be uncovered."
"Emptiness is not an idea but a state of being porous, allowing existence to flow through you; when you drop your inner hardness and trust life, the 'you' dissolves into the whole, revealing the bliss of openness."
"Perfection is not something to be achieved; it is the emptiness within you waiting to be uncovered, not created."
How does the center exist in emptiness?
definition"The center exists in emptiness as a silent, unexplainable truth; it is not to be understood but experienced in the stillness of your being."
"The deeper you become in emptiness, the fuller you are with potential; true creativity arises from this positive void."
"Emptiness and fullness are not opposites but two names for one reality; when the mind dissolves, what remains is an overflowing presence that is utterly itself."
"In the state of great emptiness, the last obstruction falls away, revealing the supreme void where nirvana transcends all mind and body. Until then, we act out of compassion, for even in the dance of life, the essence remains one with the ultimate."
"Embracing emptiness dissolves the 'I', allowing the Whole to explode into being, where fear vanishes and you become effortlessly whole."
"When the vessel becomes truly empty, it transcends its boundaries and merges with the infinite, for in emptiness lies the essence of liberation."
"True emptiness is the disappearance of the separate 'you', where existence unfolds effortlessly as love, compassion, and beauty, free from attachment and ownership."
"When you feel empty and cry, remember that true emptiness is not a void but a space for love and meditation; embrace it fully, and you will discover the bliss of existence itself."
"Remembering your emptiness is not a practice, but a return to your essence; with each remembrance, the false identities fade, and your authentic presence blossoms effortlessly."
"When you practice non-action and empty the mind, real understanding dawns, guiding your life effortlessly and allowing transformation to arise naturally."
"Embrace emptiness, for in its vastness, the illusion of separation dissolves, revealing that to care for oneself is to care for the whole."
"True mastery arises from the depth of inner emptiness; in the silence of no-mind, awareness effortlessly embraces the many streams of existence."
"Spiritual discipline is not about attaining something new; it is the voluntary death of the ego, revealing the ocean of emptiness that is already your true nature."
What is the real experience of emptiness?
definition"Emptiness is not something to be sought or willed; it is the effortless arrival of reality when awareness is silent and imagination fades away. Be present, be receptive, and let the experience of emptiness come uninvited, deepening into a continuous state of being."
"Emptiness is not weakness; it is the source of true power, for only the hollow can draw in the breath of life and renewal. Embrace the rhythm of letting go, for in emptiness lies the capacity to receive and transform."
"Emptiness is the sacred space where truth flows freely, unencumbered by the distortions of authority and dogma, allowing the seeker to remain alert and available to the immediate reality of existence."
What is the value of emptiness?
definition"Emptiness is not a void but a womb of potential, where the truth can blossom in its own time, free from the constraints of will and effort."
"True bliss is not found in distractions, but in the courageous acceptance of our own emptiness, where the void transforms into a living paradise."
"Welcome your emptiness, for it is the door to the Whole; surrender to it, and let the darkness break into light."
"Emptiness is not a lack, but a profound spaciousness where existence plays its music; in the paradox of being and non-being, we discover the fullness that arises from nothing."
Profound Quotes on Emptiness
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