The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 10. WHOLENESS
SO A DRUNKEN MAN WHO FALLS OUT OF A WAGON
IS BRUISED, BUT NOT DESTROYED.
HIS BONES ARE LIKE THE BONES OF OTHER MEN,
BUT HIS FALL IS DIFFERENT.
HIS SPIRIT IS ENTIRE.
HE IS NOT AWARE OF GETTING INTO A WAGON,
OR FALLING OUT OF ONE.
LIFE AND DEATH ARE NOTHING TO HIM.
HE KNOWS NO ALARM,
HE MEETS OBSTACLES WITHOUT THOUGHT, WITHOUT CARE,
AND TAKES THEM WITHOUT KNOWING THEY ARE THERE.
IF THERE IS SUCH SECURITY IN WINE,
HOW MUCH MORE IN TAO?
THE WISE MAN IS HIDDEN IN TAO,
NOTHING CAN TOUCH HIM.
HOW DOES THE TRUE MAN OF TAO – WALK THROUGH WALLS WITHOUT OBSTRUCTION –
AND STAND IN FIRE WITHOUT BEING BURNT?
This is one of the most basic and secret teachings. Ordinarily we live through cunningness,
cleverness and strategy; we don’t live like small children, innocent. We plan, we protect, we make
all the safeguards possible – but what is the result? Ultimately, what happens? All the safeguards
are broken, all cunningness proves foolishness – ultimately death takes us away.
Tao says that your cunningness will not help you, because what is it but a fight against the whole?
With whom are you cunning – with nature, with Tao, with God? Whom do you think you are deceiving
– the source from where you are born and the source to which you will finally go? Is the wave trying
to deceive the ocean, is the leaf trying to deceive the tree, is a cloud trying to deceive the sky?
Whom do you think you are trying to deceive? With whom are you playing?
Once it is understood, a man becomes innocent, drops his cunningness, all strategies, and simply
accepts. There is no other way than to accept nature as it is and to flow with it. Then there is no
resistance, then he is just like a child who is going with his father, in deep trust.
The Empty Boat 173 Osho