From Ignorance to Innocence - Osho - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 24. IMITATION IS YOUR CREMATION
as possible should be taken. The mother should not become angry, should not become sexual,
should not become worried, should not become irritated, annoyed. She should be kept in such a
way that the child is not affected at all by her emotions. She should be almost in a meditative state
for all those nine months.
That’s the recommendation of eastern psychology, that the mother for nine months should be
continuously in a meditative state; that’s the only way to save the child from becoming an imitator.
Otherwise neither the mother knows the child, nor the child knows himself, and he becomes an
imitator. This is the situation in the womb – what to say about when the child comes out of the
womb. Then, at every step everybody is determined to give a certain shape, a certain color, a
certain character, a certain career to you – and with all good intentions. The path to hell is paved
with good intentions.
Nobody is your enemy, but they all prove to be your enemies.
There is one statement of Gautam Buddha which Buddhists try to avoid because they don’t have
the understanding to explain it. And it is so clear, they cannot even explain it away. The statement
that Buddha makes is, ”unless you hate your father, your mother, your brother, you cannot follow
me.” Now, what kind of statement is this? – ”Unless you hate your father, your mother, your family,
you cannot follow me.”
The Buddhists don’t quote it. In no Buddhist monastery does anybody even give a sermon on it.
Monks just pass it by quickly. How to explain it? A man like Buddha who teaches love, non-violence,
is saying to hate your mother and father.
Then Jesus certainly seems to be far superior: ”Love your enemy; not only the enemy, love your
neighbor” – which is certainly far more difficult. The enemy is far away and once in a while maybe
there is some trouble, but the neighbor is a twenty-four hour trouble, and just a pain in the neck
continually, twenty-four hours a day. And Jesus says, ”Love your neighbor just like yourself.”
Naturally if you compare these statements Jesus will look far more religious than Buddha. But before
I say anything else, let me quote Bodhidharma, who defeated his own Master, Buddha, in every
possible way. And that is the only joy of a real Master, that he should be defeated by his disciple. Of
course, they were not contemporaries; there was at least eleven hundred years’ difference between
Buddha and Bodhidharma.
Bodhidharma says: ”First go and kill your father and mother, then come to me. First, be finished
with your father and your mother and then come to me. Otherwise go somewhere else – I am not
for you.” How you are going to explain it? And I say to you that what Jesus says is just hocus-pocus.
What Bodhidharma is saying is pure psychology. He is not saying that you should kill your father
and mother, but in a certain way you have to kill the father that has entered you, and the mother
that has entered you. That is your family inside, which is surrounding your being, which won’t allow
any ray of light to reach your innermost corner. The crowd has gathered there, and because of that
crowd the inner center is in darkness.
Bodhidharma brings Buddha’s statement to its logical conclusion. Why just hate? – be completely
finished! Because hating is again a relationship, just like love. If you love somebody, you remember
From Ignorance to Innocence 342 Osho