The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 2. THE MAN OF TAO
the ego exist? The man of Tao remains unknown. That means that he is not seeking people to know
him. If they want to know, they should seek him.
PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING.
This is one of the basics of Taoist life.
Perfect virtue produces nothing, because when you are perfectly virtuous nothing is needed. When
you are perfectly virtuous there is no desire, there is no motivation. You are perfect. How can
perfection move? Only imperfection moves. Only imperfection desires to produce something. So a
perfect artist never paints a picture, and a perfect musician throws away his sitar. A perfect archer
breaks his bow and throws it away, and a perfect man like Buddha is absolutely useless. What
has Buddha produced – poetry, a sculpture, a painting, a society? He seems to be absolutely
unproductive, he has done nothing.
PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING, because it needs nothing. Production comes out of
desire, production comes because you are imperfect. You create something as a substitute because
you feel unfulfilled. When you are absolutely fulfilled, why should you create, how can you create?
Then you yourself have become the glory of creation, then the inner being itself is so perfect, nothing
is needed.
PERFECT VIRTUE PRODUCES NOTHING. If the world is virtuous, all utilitarian goals will be lost.
If the world is really virtuous there will be play and no production. Then the whole thing will just
become a game. You enjoy it, but you don’t need it. A perfect sage is absolutely useless.
NO SELF IS TRUE SELF.
When you feel that you are not, for the first time you are, because the self is nothing but a synonym
for the ego. That is why Buddha, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, they all say there is no self, no ATMAN. Not
that there is not – they say there is no atman, there is no self, because your ego is so cunning it can
hide behind it. You can say, AHAM BRAHMASMI, I am Brahman...ANA’L HAQ, I am God, and the
ego can hide behind it.
Buddha says there is nobody to claim, there is no self within you. Buddha says you are like the
onion: you peel, you go on peeling the layers, and finally nothing remains. Your mind is like an
onion, go on peeling. This is what meditation is – go on peeling, go on peeling, and a moment
comes when nothing is left. That nothingness is your true self. NO SELF IS TRUE SELF. When the
boat is empty then only for the first time you are in the boat.
AND THE GREATEST MAN IS NOBODY.
It happened that Buddha renounced the kingdom. Then he went searching from one forest to
another, from one ashram to another, from one master to another, walking. He had never walked
before without shoes but now he was just a beggar. He was passing along the bank of a river,
walking on the sand, and his footprints were left.
While resting in the shade of a tree an astrologer saw him. The astrologer was returning from Kashi,
from the seat of learning. He had become proficient in astrology, had become perfect, and now that
The Empty Boat 44 Osho