Osho speaks on Chuang Tzu’s parable of ‘The Empty Boat’ and makes a reference about his vision of teaching particularly children.
If this earth is ever going to be really religious
then we will not teach Christianity,
Hinduism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism:
that is one of the greatest crimes committed.
We will teach prayer, we will teach meditation, but not sects.
We will not teach words and beliefs, we will teach a way of life,
we will teach happiness, we will teach ecstasy.
We will teach how to look at the trees,
how to dance with the trees,
how to be more sensitive, how to be more alive
and how to enjoy the blessings that God has given…
but not words, not beliefs, not philosophies, not theologies.
No, we will not lead them to a church or to a temple or to a mosque,
because these places are the sources of corruption.
They have corrupted the mind.
We will leave the children to nature; that is the temple, the real church.
We will teach children to look at the floating clouds,
at the rising sun, at the moon at night.
We will teach them how to love,
and we will teach them not to create barriers
against love, meditation, prayer;
we will teach them to be open and vulnerable,
we will not close their minds.
And we will of course teach words
but simultaneously we will teach silence,
because once words get into the base,
silence becomes difficult.
Osho, The Empty Boat, Ch 9 (excerpt)
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