Don't Take Enlightenment Seriously

Individual Talk

From:The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 07

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Osho,
How did you become enlightened?

"One never becomes enlightened – one is enlightened. One simply remembers it. It is not an achievement, but only a recognition. You are as much enlightened as..."
Don't Take Enlightenment Seriously
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Osho,
How did you become enlightened?

"One never becomes enlightened – one is enlightened. One simply remembers it. It is not an achievement, but only a recognition. You are as much enlightened as..."

Osho continues:
"You are only asleep, not unenlightened. You have to be awakened. So remember it: never think in terms of becoming. Becoming is desire, and desire is a hindrance, desire is a dream. If you want to become enlightened you will never be enlightened. Don't make it a goal, an object for desire, because all goals bring future in. And when the future comes in you are in a turmoil. That is what your so-called unenlightenment is. When there is no goal there is no future. When there is no desire, there is no possibility of dreaming. And the moment dreaming stops, sleep disappears.

"The state of that no sleep, no desire, no dreaming, no goal, is enlightenment. Suddenly you find yourself utterly perfect. And one starts laughing, because one was searching for something which was never lost; one was seeking something which one has already been. How can you find that which you already are? It is impossible to find it. That's why enlightenment seems to be such a difficult process – because it is not a process at all, hence the difficulty.

"The masters down the ages have simply been devising methods to wake you up, to shake you up, into enlightenment. They have used all kinds of methods, all kinds of devices. But all those devices are arbitrary; they have no intrinsic value of their own. Their value depends on the master and his artfulness, his skill. If somebody else is going to try those devices they won't work. It is not a science, it is an art, a knack.

"The Zen master may slap you, may throw you out of the door, may jump upon you and beat you, but it works only in the hands of a Zen master. If you do it you will find yourself beaten, that's all, or in jail. A Zen master has a totally different vision of life, and slowly, slowly he creates a certain energy field around himself where the device starts functioning. It cannot function anywhere else.

"The Sufi master uses his own devices, they were great device-makers. The most important Sufi tradition is called Naqshband; Naqshband means the designers, the devisors. And strange devices they have invented."
More Information
Publisher Osho International
Duration of Talk 93 mins
File Size 26.72 MB
Type Individual Talks