The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 9. MEANS AND ENDS
THE PURPOSE OF A FISH TRAP
IS TO CATCH FISH,
AND WHEN THE FISH ARE CAUGHT
THE TRAP IS FORGOTTEN.
The words of the Buddha were traps, Mahakashyapa caught the fish. Who bothers about the trap
now? Where the boat has gone, who bothers? He has crossed the stream. Mahakashyapa said,
”I don’t know what this fellow said. And you cannot rely on me, because with me it is difficult to
separate what he said and what I say.”
Of course it will be so. When Mahakashyapa has become a buddha himself, how can they be
separate? The two are not two. But Ananda said, ”I will relate his words,” and very authentically he
related. Humanity is in great debt to this fellow Ananda who was still ignorant. He had not caught
the fish so he remembered the trap. He was still thinking about catching the fish so he had to carry
the trap.
THE PURPOSE OF WORDS
IS TO CONVEY IDEAS.
WHEN THE IDEAS ARE GRASPED
THE WORDS ARE FORGOTTEN.
Remember this as a basic law of life – that the useless, the meaningless, the peripheral, looks so
significant because you are not aware of the center. This world looks so significant because you are
not aware of God. When the God is known, the world is forgotten. And it is never otherwise.
People have tried to forget the world so that they can know God – it has never happened and it will
never happen. You can go on trying and trying to forget the world, but you cannot. Your every effort
to forget will become a continuous remembering. Only when God is known is the world forgotten.
You can go on struggling to drop thinking, but you cannot drop thinking unless consciousness is
achieved. Thinking is a substitute. How can you drop the trap when the fish is not yet caught? The
mind will say, ”Don’t be foolish. Where is the fish?”
How can you drop the words when you have not realized the meaning? Don’t fight with the words,
try to reach to the meaning. Don’t try to fight with thoughts. That is why I insist again and again that
if thoughts disturb you, don’t create any struggle with them, don’t wrestle with them. If they come,
let them come. If they go, let them go. Don’t do anything, just be indifferent, just be a watcher, an
onlooker, not concerned. That is all that you can do right now – not be concerned.
Don’t say, ”Don’t come.” Don’t invite, don’t reject, don’t condemn and don’t appreciate. Simply remain
indifferent. Look at them, they come as clouds float in the sky – then they go, as clouds disappear.
Let them come and go, don’t come in their way, don’t pay attention to them. If you are against them
The Empty Boat 166 Osho