"The Zorba in Buddha knew the highest and the deepest parts of the outside world. Knowing it all, now he was ready to go on an inner search. The world is good, but not good enough; something more is needed. It gives momentary glimpses; the Buddha wants something eternal. And all these joys will be finished by death. He wants to know something which cannot be finished by death.

"If I have to write Gautam Buddha′s life, I will start it from Zorba. And when he is completely acquainted with the outer and whatever the outside can give, and still finds the meaning missing, he goes in search – because that is the only direction that he has not looked in. He never looks back – there is no reason to look back, he has lived it all! And he is not just a religious seeker who has not known the outer at all. He is a Zorba – he goes towards the inner with the same zest, with the same strength, the same power. And, obviously, he finds in his innermost being the contentment, the fulfillment, the meaning, the benediction that he has been seeking.

"It is possible you can be a Zorba and stop there. It is possible you may not be a Zorba and start looking for the buddha – you will not find him. Only Zorba can find the buddha; otherwise, you don′t have the strength: you have not lived in the outside world, you have avoided it. You are an escapist.

"To me, to be a Zorba is the beginning of the journey, and to become a buddha is reaching the goal. And it can happen in the same individual – it can only happen in the same individual. That′s why I am insisting continuously: don′t create any split in your life, don′t condemn anything of the body. Live it – not unwillingly – live it totally, intensely. That very living will make you capable of another search.

"That′s why I don′t say my sannyasins have to be ascetics, that my sannyasins have to leave their wives, their husbands, their children. All that nonsense has been taught for centuries, and how many people – out of millions of monks and nuns – how many people have blossomed? Not even a single one. I want you to live life undivided. And first comes the body, first comes your outer world.

"The moment the child is born he opens his eyes, and the first thing he sees is the whole panorama of existence around him. He sees everything except himself – that is for more experienced people. That is for those who have seen everything of the outside, lived it, and are freed from it.

"Freedom from the outside does not come by escaping. Freedom from the outside comes by living it totally, and then there is nowhere to go. Only one dimension remains, and it is natural that you would like to search in that remaining dimension. And there is your buddha, your enlightenment.

"You are saying, ‘Is it possible that Zorba and Buddha can meet? ’ That is the only possibility. Without Zorba there is no Buddha. Zorba, of course, is not a full stop. He is the preparation for the Buddha. He is the roots; Buddha is the flowering.

"Don′t destroy the roots; otherwise there is not going to be any flowering. Those roots continuously supply the juice to the flowers. All the color in the flowers comes from the roots, and all the fragrance in the flower comes from the roots. All the dance of the flowers in the wind comes from the roots.

"Do not divide. Roots and flowers are two ends of one phenomenon." Osho