‘If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him immediately!’ – What about you? How do I both love you and kill you?’
Do the same to me. First try to find me and then when you have found me – kill me immediately. Because that’s how you will attain to your own perfection.
Even if I am there the duality will remain. An object in the mind is a disturbance. Drop that object also. When you have killed me you have completely followed me. When I have disappeared only then will you be grateful to me. […]
Buddha used to say that once it happened:
Five idiots were traveling. They came to a big river. They purchased a small boat. They crossed the river.
Then they thought, “This boat is wonderful. It has helped us to come across the river, otherwise it would not have been possible for us to cross it. So we should be grateful to it.”
So they carried the boat on their heads into the marketplace.
People inquired, “What is the matter? Why are you carrying this boat?”
They said, “We are very grateful. This boat helped us to cross the river otherwise we would still have been on the other shore. Now we can never leave it!”
Buddha said, “Always remember that the Master is a boat. Cross the river, but don’t carry the boat on the head otherwise one who was going to free you will become your bondage.”
That’s how when a boat is carried, the boat of Christ is carried, you become a Christian, not a Christ. If you drop the boat you become a Christ; if you carry the boat you become a Christian. If you drop the boat of Buddha you become a Buddha yourself; if you carry the boat you become a Buddhist. Which is foolishness.
So don’t be one of those five idiots.
Love me only to drop me one day. And love me so deeply that you can drop without any grudge without any clinging without any complaint. […]
Osho, Tao: The Three Treasures – Talks on Fragments from Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Vol 4, Ch 2, Q 7 (excerpt)
Series compiled by Shanti
All excerpts of this series can be found in: 1001 Tales
Featured image: commons.wikimedia.org
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