The Empty Boat - Osho.pdf - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 3. THE OWL AND THE PHOENIX
The secretary said, ”Of course I believe in my rabbi and I believe in his prayer. But he has only seen
the woman’s petition, I have seen her face. Her husband cannot EVER come back.”
One who has seen the face of ambition, one who has seen the face of desire, one who has seen
the face of lust, will never come back to them. It is impossible, the face is so ugly.
Chuang Tzu has seen the face of ambition. That is why he says: Your power, your position, your
prime-ministership, is just a dead rat to me. Don’t screech, and don’t get dismayed.
”THIS UNDYING PHOENIX ARISES OUT OF THE SOUTH SEA
AND FLIES TO THE SEAS OF THE NORTH,
NEVER ALIGHTING EXCEPT ON CERTAIN SACRED TREES.
HE WILL TOUCH NO FOOD
BUT THE MOST EXQUISITE RARE FRUIT,
AND HE DRINKS ONLY FROM THE CLEAREST SPRINGS.
”ONCE AN OWL
CHEWING AN ALREADY HALF-DECAYED DEAD RAT
SAW THE PHOENIX FLY OVER.
LOOKING UP HE SCREECHED WITH ALARM
AND CLUTCHED THE DEAD RAT TO HIMSELF
IN FEAR AND DISMAY.
”PRIME MINISTER,
WHY ARE YOU SO FRANTIC,
CLINGING TO YOUR MINISTRY
AND SCREECHING AT ME IN DISMAY?”
This is the fact, but only once you know it...only then can you understand. Listening to a Buddha, or
to a Jesus, or to a Zarathustra, you have always been told: Drop desiring and bliss will be yours. But
you cannot drop it, you cannot understand how bliss can happen when you drop desire, because
you have tasted only desire. It may be poisonous, but it has been your only food. You have been
drinking from poisoned sources, and when someone says, ”Drop it,” you are afraid that you will die
thirsty. You don’t know that there are pure, clear springs and you don’t know that there are trees with
rare fruit. You look only through your desire, so you cannot see those fruits and those trees.
The Empty Boat 59 Osho