The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
The newly rich man said, ”No, how can one do? One for hot baths, one for cold baths.”
His friend asked, ”And the third?”
He answered, ”For those who cannot swim. So the third swimming pool is going to stay empty.”
You can see if a man has newly acquired wealth – he will be showing it. A real aristocrat is one who
has forgotten that he is rich. A man of Tao is the aristocrat of the inner world.
If a person shows his religion he is not yet really religious. The religion is still like a thorn, it is not
natural, it hurts, he is eager to show it. If you want to show your simplicity what type of simplicity is
this? If you exhibit your gentleness, then it is simply cunning, nothing gentle exists in it.
A man of Tao is an aristocrat of the inner world. He is so attuned to it, there is no exhibition – not
only to you, he himself is not aware of it. He does not know that he is wise, he does not know that
he is innocent – how can you know if you are innocent? Your knowledge will disturb the innocence.
A follower of Hazrat Mohammed went with him to the mosque for early morning prayer. It was
summer, and on the way back they saw many people still asleep in their houses or just on the
street. It was early morning, a summer morning, and many people were still asleep. The man very
arrogantly said to Hazrat Mohammed, ”What will happen to these sinners? They have not been to
the morning prayer.”
Today was the first time he himself had gone to prayer. Yesterday he was also asleep like these
sinners. The newly rich man wanted to exhi-bit, to show off to Mohammed: ”Mohammed Hazrat,
what will happen to these sinners? They have not been to the morning prayer, they are still lazy and
asleep.”
Mohammed stopped and said, ”You go home, I will have to go back to the mosque again.”
The man said, ”Why?”
He replied, ”My morning prayer is wasted because of you; keeping company with you has destroyed
everything. I will have to do my prayer again. And as for you, remember please never to come again.
It was better for you to be asleep like the others; at least they were not sinners then. Your prayer
has done only one thing – it has given you the key to condemn others.”
The so-called religious person is religious only to look at you with a condemning eye so he can say
that you are sinners. Go to your saints, so-called saints, and look into their eyes. You will not find the
innocence that should be there. You will find a calculating mind looking at you and thinking about
hell: You will be thrown in hell and I will be in heaven, because I have been praying so much, five
times a day, and I have been fasting so much. As if you can purchase heaven...! These are the
coins – fasting, prayer – these are the coins one is trying to bargain with.
If you see condemnation in the eyes of a saint, know well that he is a newly rich man; he is not yet
an aristocrat of the inner world, he has not yet become one with it. He may know it – but you know
something only when it is separate from you.
The Empty Boat 38 Osho