Famous People

What do you know about switzerland?

I have never been there. Only one thing I know: I have many Swiss sannyasins -- thousands -- and beautiful communes in Switzerland. I have seen my sannyasins from Switzerland: they are the cleanest...! Switzerland is a little piece of the Himalayas -- smaller mountains, but still the same quality and the same scenery. It must be a beautiful country; I have seen the beauty of its people. And I respect Switzerland: for one hundred and forty years they have not fought a single war. That shows they are not psychologically sick. They are living in an earthly paradise; if they can also learn how to live in the inner paradise, they will be the most happy people in the whole world. And I am going to go there. Every government is worried. Cabinet meetings for an entry visa? -- nobody has ever heard of it. And parliaments deciding whether…

[NOTE: This is a typed tape transcript and has not been edited or published, as of August 1992. It is for reference use only. The interviewer's remarks have been omitted where not relevant to Osho's words] INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN SIDEL, SONNTAGSBLICK, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Q:* I WANT TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT SWITZERLAND. YOU LOVE THE SWISS PEOPLE? A:* I hate all divisions in humanity -- Swiss, Italian, German, Indian. Mankind is one. The whole earth is one. The people are all lovable, everywhere. There is no need to discriminate. Of course I love people who live in Switzerland, but I will not call them Swiss people. Q:* THE SWISS PEOPLE THERE ARE FAMOUS BECAUSE OF THE CLEAN COUNTRY AND THEY ARE CALLING THEMSELVES A COMMUNE TOO. DO YOU THINK THERE IS A SIMILARITY BETWEEN YOUR COMMUNE AND SWITZERLAND, BECAUSE YOU ARE PREPARING YOUR COMMUNE VERY CLEAN TOO?

Switzerland is a rich and beautiful country, but there are so many people suffering for many reasons, and they even enjoy this. Why can't they use their freedom and prosperity to be happy?

Humanity can be divided into two parts: the first is sadist, the second is masochist. The sadist enjoys torturing others; the masochist enjoys torturing himself. This is a very ugly situation, but for centuries we have been cultivating this split. The people who are masochists have become great saints. Their only quality, their only genius, was that they tortured themselves. It was thought and propagated by the religions of the world that to torture oneself is the way to God. There is no logic in it because why, if there is any God, would he like his children to torture themselves? -- unless he himself is a sadist and enjoys people being tortured by others or by themselves. These philosophies of masochism have been predominant. The people who had no other talents, no other creative possibilities, easily chose to torture themselves -- fast, beat yourself, find out new ways of…

That is the reason that around the world the people who are remained somehow balanced, or attracted to me, because I am giving them a more balanced view of life. I want the new man to be Zorba the Buddha. He should be like a Zorba as far as body, matter and nature is concerned. And he should be a Buddha as far as spirit, intelligence, and flights of the inner being are concerned. And there is no conflict. Zorba can become a perfect base for Buddha to take over, to take off. Q: ISN'T IT A SORT OF FASCISM WHEN A GROUP DESCRIBES ITSELF AS A HAVEN FOUND THE ONLY AND REAL ANSWERS TO ALL QUESTIONS? A: It is fascist if the group says to you that we have found the real answer. Now you have only to believe it. You need not try to inquire.