The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
He said, ”That madman is praying. I have to listen, because whatsoever he says is true, and he
loves me so much that there is no need for formality....” In love, in hate, everything is permitted,
everything is allowed.
This madman was passing and a woman came to him. She asked, ”I have been longing and longing
for a child for forty years now. And if within three or four years a child does not come, then it will not
be possible. So help me.”
The madman said, ”I can help, because my mother had the same trouble. She waited and waited
for forty years and no child came. Then she went to Baal Shem, a mystic; she told him, and he
intervened. My mother gave him a beautiful cap. Baal Shem put the cap on his head, looked up
and said to God, ’What are you doing? This is unjust. There is nothing wrong in the demand of this
woman, so give her a child.’ And after nine months, I was born.”
So the woman said, beaming and happy, ”I will go home and I will bring you a more beautiful cap
than you have ever seen. Then will the child be born to me?”
Said the madman, ”You have missed the point. My mother never knew the story. Your cap won’t do,
you have missed. You cannot imitate religion, you cannot imitate prayer. Once you imitate you have
missed.” So whenever people came to this madman, he would say, ”Don’t imitate, throw away all the
scriptures.”
When this madman died he had all the books that had been written about him burned. And the last
thing he did was to say to his disciples, ”Go around the house and search, and tell me that nothing
is left, so that I can die at ease. Not even a single letter written by me should be left; otherwise after
I die people will start following, and when you follow, you miss.” So everything was gathered and
burned. Then he said, ”Now I can die easily, I am not leaving any traces behind.”
This type of wise man is not afraid. How can a wise man be afraid of anybody? He can to all
appearances be a fool, he need not exhibit his wisdom.
Have you observed yourself? You are always trying to exhibit your wisdom, always in search of a
victim to whom you can show your knowledge, just searching, hunting for somebody weaker than
you – then you will jump in and you will show your wisdom.
A wise man need not be an exhibitionist. Whatsoever is, is. He is not aware of it, he is not in any
hurry to show it. If you want to find it, you will have to make efforts. If you have to know whether he
is gentle or not, that is going to be your discovery.
HE DOES NOT STRUGGLE TO MAKE MONEY,
AND HE DOES NOT MAKE A VIRTUE OUT OF POVERTY.
Remember this. It is very easy to make money and it is also very easy to make a virtue of poverty.
But these two types are not different. A man keeps on making money, and then suddenly he gets
frustrated. He has achieved, and nothing is gained – so he renounces. Then poverty becomes the
virtue, then he lives the life of a poor man and then he says: This is the only real life, this is religious
The Empty Boat 41 Osho