The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
When you are really attuned, really rich in the inner world, you are not concerned with exhibition.
When you first go to a temple, your prayer is a little louder than others. It has to be. You want to
show off.
The showmanship is part of the ego, what you show is not the problem. You show, you exhibit. Then
the ego is there, the boat is not empty – and a man of Tao is an empty boat. He is gentle, not aware;
he is innocent, not knowing; he is wise, that’s why he can move as a fool, not worried. Whatsoever
he does makes no difference, his wisdom is intact, he can afford to be foolish. You cannot.
You are always afraid that somebody may think you a fool. You are afraid that if others think you to
be a fool, you will start suspecting it. If so many people think you a fool your self-confidence will be
lost. And if everybody goes on repeating that you are a fool, sooner or later you will come to believe
it.
Only a wise man cannot be deceived, he can appear as a fool.
I have heard about one wise man who was known as The Madman. Nobody knew anything else
about him, his name or anything, he was just known as The Madman. He was a Jew, and Jews have
created a few really wise men, they have something of the inner source. That is why Jesus could be
born amongst them.
This madman behaved in such a foolish way that the whole community became disturbed because
nobody knew what he was going to do next. On the religious days, Yom Kippur or other festivals,
the whole community was afraid, because it could not be predicted what this rabbi would do, how
he would appear there, how he would behave. His prayers were also mad.
Once he called the court, the Jewish court, all the ten judges of the court. The court came, because
the rabbi called, and he said, ”I have a case against God, so decide how to punish this fellow God. I
will present all the arguments to prove that God is unjust and a criminal.”
The judges became very much afraid but they had to listen because he was the rabbi, the head of
the temple. And he made out his case like a lawyer in court.
He said, ”God, you created the world, and now you send messengers telling us how to renounce
it. What foolishness! You gave us desires and now all your teachers keep coming and saying: Be
desireless. So what do you think you are doing? And if we have committed any sins it is really YOU
who are the culprit, because why did you create desire?”
What should the court decide? He was right, but the court decided that this man had gone
completely mad and should be expelled from the temple.
But this man is really telling the truth. He loves God so much that it is an I/thou relationship, so
intimate. He asks, ”What are you doing? Enough, now stop, no more fooling.” He must have loved
the divine so much that he could behave in that way.
And it is said that God immediately stopped when he called. He had to listen to this man.
And the angels asked, ”Suddenly you stopped, what happened?”
The Empty Boat 40 Osho