Hassles

Osho, the path of simplicity is the second one. What is it?

The first path is to try to be simple, to make an effort, to practice it. Cultivated simplicity is always false. Because to practice, by its very meaning, is to practice against your own mind; otherwise, what is the practice against? If being naked is blissful for me, I will not call it practice. If wearing clothes is blissful for me and then I start practicing being naked, will nakedness be a “practice”? And if being naked is simply blissful—if wearing clothes never gave me the joy that comes from being naked—then no one would call it a practice. It is my joy. We practice only that which is contrary to us; practice means repression. Practice is inevitably repression. And wherever effort is required, against whom is that effort made—against oneself? No effort made against oneself can ever win. How could it win? Who would win? How can I win…

Chu'I the draftsman could draw more perfect circles freehand than with a compass.

HIS FINGERS BROUGHT FORTH SPONTANEOUS FORMS FROM NOWHERE. HIS MIND WAS MEANWHILE FREE AND WITHOUT CONCERN WITH WHAT HE WAS DOING. NO APPLICATION WAS NEEDED, HIS MIND WAS PERFECTLY SIMPLE AND KNEW NO OBSTACLE. SO, WHEN THE SHOE FITS, THE FOOT IS FORGOTTEN, WHEN THE BELT FITS, THE BELLY IS FORGOTTEN, WHEN THE HEART IS RIGHT, 'FOR' AND 'AGAINST' ARE FORGOTTEN. NO DRIVES, NO COMPULSIONS, NO NEEDS, NO ATTRACTIONS: THEN YOUR AFFAIRS ARE UNDER CONTROL. YOU ARE A FREE MAN. EASY IS RIGHT. BEGIN RIGHT AND YOU ARE EASY. CONTINUE EASY AND YOU ARE RIGHT. THE RIGHT WAY TO GO EASY IS TO FORGET THE RIGHT WAY AND FORGET THAT THE GOING IS EASY. Beautiful is Chuang Tzu, incomparable is Chuang Tzu, unique is Chuang Tzu! Because he says: Continue EASY and YOU ARE RIGHT. He doesn't say: Be non-violent, then you are right; be truthful, then you are right;…

It will be difficult; you will have to endure discomfort; you will need resolve—because old habits are easy. Even if they lead to sorrow, they are easy. To change them is arduous; suffering will be involved. But once they change, joy is attained. The results of honest self-observation must not be merely written down; live by them—that is tapas. And simplicity of heart together with purity of body and senses. In every aspect of life, give place to simplicity instead of complexity. Avoid whatever is complicated; establish whatever is simple. Ordinarily we do the reverse. Whatever is complicated attracts us. If a puzzle is set before us that is very tangled, we drop twenty-five tasks to solve it. The complicated attracts. Why? There is Everest. The mind wants to climb. Someone asked Edmund Hillary why he was so mad to climb Everest.

Examine the rich, those who have arrived at high positions. They all thought they were seeking happiness—and reached hell. Agreement does not make heaven. What is your direction? Those you call worldly also seek sorrow. To deceive themselves they have pasted labels of joy on boxes of misery. Those you call religious also seek sorrow—they have pasted labels of merit on their boxes of pain. That is the only difference—labels. Both seek sorrow. If in this world you ever meet a man who seeks happiness, he is a devotee. Then what will happiness mean? It can only mean this: sorrow fortifies my “I”; the search for happiness can only mean dropping that “I” which lives on sorrow, for which sorrow is essential; dropping sorrow itself. Renouncing sorrow is the greatest renunciation. That is what I tell my sannyasins—renounce sorrow. Your renunciates say: in the name of renunciation, choose suffering.