Osho – The first thing: to ask the Buddha to help us is foolish, for three reasons. First, he cannot. Second, even if he could he would not. Third, we do not need to be helped since we are all Buddhas already.
Zen people say: Because of these three reasons, to ask for help from the Buddha is foolish. First, he cannot. Why can he not help? Because from his standpoint you don’t need any help at all. From his standpoint your whole situation is ridiculous. Your whole misery is false! Rather than being kind to you, he would like to laugh at you – although he does not laugh. He goes on showing his kindness to you, just not to offend you unnecessarily.
But the basic thing is, from the standpoint of a Buddha all your misery is so stupid. It is as if you are in a house which is on fire – doors are open, windows are open, you can jump out from anywhere, and you are just sitting there and shouting, ”Help me! How am I to get out of this house? My house is on fire! Bring me maps, guidebooks; teach me techniques, methods, to get out.” And the house is on fire and you are just standing in the middle of it. And the doors are open and the windows are open – you can get out immediately, not even a moment has to be lost. The whole situation is ridiculous.
A Buddha knows that you are all Buddhas. The day a man becomes enlightened, for him the whole world becomes enlightened. Then he can see through and through: he can see your eternity, he can see your eternal purity, he can see hidden inside you the source, the God. And you are crying, and weeping, and he can see your treasure and your empire. And you are begging, begging for help.
The Buddha cannot help you, because he can see your misery is self-created, illusory. And he cannot help you for another reason too: the master himself has disappeared as an ego, as a self. There is nobody who is inside; a Buddha is pure emptiness. Who is there to help you? You can take all the help that you need, but nobody is there to help you. Let it be very clear: you can partake of the energy of a Buddha, you can eat as much of his energy as possible, you can drink him and you can become intoxicated with him – but he cannot do anything on his own. The door exists no more.
A Buddha is simply an availability. The master remains available in SATSANGA; his presence, or his absence, is there. You can take in as much as you want, you can allow that presence to penetrate you as deeply as you open your heart. But all depends on you. Yes, you can help yourself through the Buddha, but the Buddha cannot help you. There is no activity possible on the part of Buddha.
Sometimes when you come to me and ask, ”Osho, will you help me?” you create a problem for me. If I say I will, I am false. If I say I will not, you are hurt – I am unkind, unloving. The situation is: I am available. You can help yourself through my presence; I cannot DO anything.
The master is a catalytic agent. His presence can trigger a process in you, but he cannot be a doer. He cannot take any initiative, he cannot be a manipulator, he cannot impose any discipline or character on you, he cannot force you to change – all that violence is gone. Violence is a shadow of the ego; the day the ego disappears, all violence disappears.
That’s why I say a do-gooder is not a good man. And the man who is after you and is trying to change you is not the man to be with. The man who is hankering to change you is an egoist, he wants to make you according to his ideas. He is dangerous, he will destroy you; he will not be helpful to you. He will cut from you this part and that part, he will change things in you. He has a blueprint with him, he has a certain idea that has to be implemented. He will not be bothered about you. His whole concern is with his idea; you are just a plaything.
That’s what your so-called mahatmas go on doing. They go on giving you patterns of life, they go on forcing things upon you: ”Do this, don’t do that. If you do this you will be rewarded, if you don’t do this you will be rewarded. If you obey, the paradise is yours. If you disobey, then you fall into hell.”
These people are dangerous people. These are politicians, not religious people at all. Their whole effort is to change people; they enjoy it. But people are not things. A man is not a canvas, you cannot paint him the way you want. The man is God, the woman is God, each person is divine. Who can change a person? Just the very idea of changing a person is sacrilegious, is a sin.
Many people come to me and they say, ”Why don’t you give discipline to your sannyasins?” Who am I to give discipline to my sannyasins? I am available. Whatsoever they want, they can have; that is their choice and their freedom. I am here to teach a single thing: Freedom. No interference in it. If they choose to remain in the world, fine. If they choose to get out of it, fine. With me, all is good. But the greatest value is freedom.
A Buddha cannot be asked to help you. He is help – but a passive help, just a presence, a door. You can pass through it, but the door cannot drag you through itself. Be aware of the fact: if you are with a real master he will not drag you anywhere. He will shower his presence on you, he will remain available in a thousand and one ways, but he will give you freedom to choose, freedom to be. His presence is not active, cannot be; all action is violent. His presence is passive. So, for three reasons, it is not possible.
Source – Osho Book “Take It Easy, Vol 2″