Osho speaks on ‘Religion’; ” All religious people are explorers, all religious people are adventurers.”
The world is not religious because religion is imposed upon us. The parents are in a hurry to impose; the church, the state, the country — everybody is in a hurry to impose a certain religion on the child. How foolish! How stupid! Religion needs maturity, great understanding, before one can choose.
Nobody is born a Hindu or a Mohammedan or a Parsi. Everybody is born clean, innocent, a tabula rasa, and then everyone has to seek and search. This is the beauty of life because life is an inquiry. And don’t be settled too early; there is no need.
It is possible that no existing religion may satisfy you. But that is good; that means a new religion is born in you. The world becomes richer: one more religion, one more flower, one more tree — a new phenomenon.
Buddha brings a new religion into the world; the world was poorer before Buddha because it was missing Buddhism. Buddha could have followed the religion of his parents; then the world would have been still poor. The world would have missed something immensely valuable, a new door to God. Buddha opened a new door, a new vision, a new insight. He was not convinced by his parents’ religion; otherwise, he would have remained a Hindu. He rebelled. All religious people are rebellious people.
He went on an individual search — all religious people are explorers, all religious people are adventurers. It would have been easy and convenient and comfortable to believe in the religion that had been believed in by the parents and the parents’ parents, and for centuries. It would have been more convenient because you need not inquire, you need not go through the whole effort of finding the truth. It has been found by some seer in the past — you can simply borrow it. But a borrowed truth is not a truth at all. A borrowed truth is a lie.
Buddha went on a search; arduous was the inquiry. He risked all — his kingdom, his life. But when you risk so much, life showers new treasures on you. A new religion, a new insight, a new vision, was born into the world.
Mohammed could have followed his parents’ religion. Jesus could have followed Judaism. Become a Jesus, become a Buddha, become a Mohammed! Don’t be a Mohammedan and don’t be a Buddhist and don’t be a Christian — explore! Don’t waste life in imitating, because then you will remain pseudo. And a pseudo person cannot be religious. Great authenticity, sincerity is needed.
Osho, The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1, Ch 4
Quote published in The Book: An Introduction to the Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
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