The first question:

Osho,
I am here only for a very short visit. I have come to try to understand what you have here that the rest of the world does not. Can you help me?

I have nothing to offer to you – only nothing. But that is the greatest thing that can be given as a gift. My only advice to my people is to be nothing, to be nobodies, to be utterly nude of all the clothes that the society has given to you – of thought, of religion, of philosophy – utterly empty of all the conditionings that have been forced on you by others, utterly devoid of all the inhibitions and taboos that time has gathered around you like dust.

If you can be an empty mirror, then godliness is. In that empty mirror, godliness reflects – and there is no other way.

I have nothing substantial to give to you, because all that is substantial is mundane. I have something intangible to give you, non-substantial, something that you cannot grasp with your hand, something that cannot be measured or weighed. It is called nothing, it is called meditation, it is called a state of consciousness without content.

But I can only point the way. I cannot give it to you. because it is untransferable. It is not a thing – how can it be transferred? You cannot purchase it, you cannot steal it – you can only allow it to happen. I am just a certain space, a certain context, in which this immensely potential nothing can happen. But all depends on you, not on me. All depends on you: if you allow it to happen, it will open doors into the divine, it will reveal to you the mysteries of life. It is not going to answer your questions, because life is not a question-answer thing, it is not a problem. It will dissolve your questions, certainly, although it will not solve them – but you will be transformed. It is not knowledge that you will gain but knowing, eyes, insight.

But you say: ‘I am only here on a very short visit….”

In such a hurry it is not possible. In such a hurry, you will not be able to relax, to imbibe. An ancient Zen story says:

A young man came to a Zen master to learn about meditation. The Zen master said, “Are you capable of waiting?”

The young man, of course, asked, “How long?”

The Zen master said, “That is enough for me to reject you. To ask ‘how long?’ means you are not ready to wait. If you can simply wait without asking ‘how long?’ then you are capable of waiting.”

The young man understood the point. He bowed down, remained with the master.