Zorba The Buddha... ~OSHO~

“Zorba is the foundation and Buddha is the palace. Buddha is the peak, but the foundation stones are laid by Zorba. It will be foolish to choose to be a Buddha without having the foundation stones.

“I am absolutely mathematical about it: Zorba should be there and the stronger a Zorba is there, the better a Buddha is possible. So I can become Buddha any moment, Zorba is absolutely needed as the basic energy out of which the Buddha is going to be carved. Zorba is the marble rock out of which the Buddha statue has to be carved. I choose the rock...and Buddha is easy. “It is just a question of opening your eyes. I don’t bother about Buddha; I am worried about people who are not Zorbas. How will they become Buddhas? They don’t have the basic material out of which a Buddha is made.

“And this poverty has been given to people by our religious leaders. They have been told not to be materialists. They have been told to be celibate. They have been told to live in poverty. They have been told that life is out of sin. All these things have destroyed their Zorbas. Otherwise, every man is a born Zorba the Greek.

“And if everything goes according to me, every man will die as Zorba the Buddha. Between the Greek and the Buddha there is not much distance, but first you must be the Greek.”

Osho, The Last Testament

=======================================

=======================================

“No, I will not be happy with this, that the West becomes poor and the East becomes rich. It does not make any difference whether the West is rich and the East is poor, or the East is rich and the West is poor: man remains half.

“I want the whole world to be rich.

“I want once and for all to get rid of the idea of East and West.

“In my vision the whole world is one.

“We should stop this pendulum. And the only way to stop this pendulum is to spread meditation to the West — but don’t forget the East. Spread meditation to the East too, because that can be the only common joining factor: spiritual growth. Otherwise they will go on moving like night and day for eternity.

“And as I see it, half of the world in some way represents half of man. If the old way is followed then the same split will continue, and the same changes. But I am talking about Zorba the Buddha. I am talking about a world, a man, who is meditative but who is not against riches, who is for spiritual growth but who does not think poverty is spirituality. Poverty is simply poverty. And if you can have both worlds together, why not have both worlds together? Why choose?

“I have lived in comfort — I have never done anything in my life — but that has not disturbed my meditation. So when I say it, I say it with authority: you can live in comfort and in meditation.

“Meditation is inner comfort, and comfort is outer meditation. Let them become one. A man perfectly fulfilled outside and perfectly fulfilled inside will be the total man, and less than the total man is not going to be of much help for more evolution of humanity.”

Osho, The Path of the Mystic