Osho - When the Shoe Fits: Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chuang Tzu

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Osho defies categorization. His thousands of talks cover everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. Oshos books are not written but are transcribed from audio and video recordings of his extemporaneous talks to international audiences. As he puts it, So remember: whatever I am saying is not just for you... I am talking also for the future generations. Osho has been described by the Sunday Times in London as one of the 1000 Makers of the 20th Century and by American author Tom Robbins as the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ. Sunday Mid-Day (India) has selected Osho as one of ten people along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha who have changed the destiny of India. About his own work Osho has said that he is helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being. He often characterizes this new human being as Zorba the Buddha capable both of enjoying the earthy pleasures of a Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of a Gautama the Buddha. Running like a thread through all aspects of Oshos talks and meditations is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of all ages past and the highest potential of todays (and tomorrows) science and technology. Osho is known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, with an approach to meditation that acknowledges the accelerated pace of contemporary life. His unique OSHO Active Meditations are designed to first release the accumulated stresses of body and mind, so that it is then easier to take an experience of stillness and thought-free relaxation into daily life.

Two autobiographical works by the author are available:

Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic (St Martins Press 2000, NY)
Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (Osho International Foundation 1985, NY)

Originally published as: When the Shoe Fits: Commentaries on the Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chuang Tzu

This edition was published in the uK in 2016 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited,

19 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ

1974 OSHO International Foundation

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Osho is a registered trademark of Osho International Foundation

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This book is a transcript of a series of original talks When the Shoe Fits by Osho givento a live audience. All of Oshos talks have been published in full as books, and are also available as original audio recordings. Audio recordings and the complete text archive can be found via the online OSHO Library at www.osho.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by anymeans, electronic or mechanical, without prior permissionin writing from the Publishers.

Throughout this book Osho comments on originalTao sutras from the following source:The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas MertonNew Directions Books published for James Laughlinby New Directions Publishing Corporation333 Sixth Avenue, New York 10014Simultaneously in Canada by the Abbey of GethsemaniFirst Published as ND Paperback 276 in 19695th printing

Also London unwin Books:

George Allen & unwin Ltd., Ruskin HouseMuseum Street, London W1Published 1970 under Berne Convention

1965 the Abbey of Gethsemani

5 7 9 10 8 6 4

Designed and typeset by Jerry GoldiePrinted and bound in Finland

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-84293-085-4

www.watkinspublishing.com

Chui the draftsman could draw more perfect circles freehand than with a compass.

His fingers brought forth spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind was meanwhile free and without concern with what he was doing.

No application was needed, his mind was perfectly simple and knew no obstacle.

So, when the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten; when the belt fits, the belly is forgotten; and when the heart is right, for and against are forgotten.

No drives, no compulsions, no needs, no attractions: then your affairs are under control.

You are a free man.

Easy is right.

Begin right and you are easy.

Continue easy and you are right.

The right way to go easy is to forget the right way and forget that the going is easy.

C huang Tzu is one of the rarest of flowerings, rarer even than a Buddha or a Jesus. Because Buddha and Jesus emphasize effort and Chuang Tzu emphasizes effortlessness. Much can be done through effort but more can be done through effortlessness. Much can be achieved through will but much more can be achieved through will-lessness.

And whatsoever you achieve through will, will always remain a burden to you; it will always be a conflict, an inner tension, and you can lose it at any moment. It has to be maintained continuously and maintaining it takes energy, maintaining it finally dissipates you.

Only that which is attained through effortlessness will never be a burden to you, and only that which is not a burden can be eternal. Only that which is not in any way unnatural can remain with you forever and forever.

Chuang Tzu says that the real, the divine, the existential, is to be attained by losing yourself completely in it. Even the effort to attain it becomes a barrier then you cannot lose yourself. Even the effort to lose yourself becomes a barrier.

How can you make any effort to lose yourself? All effort is born out of the ego, and through effort ego is strengthened. Ego is the disease. So all effort has to be left completely, nothing is to be done; one has to lose oneself completely in the existential. One has to become again like a small child, just born, not knowing what is right, not knowing what is wrong, not knowing any distinctions. Once distinctions enter, once you know this is right and that is wrong, you are already ill, and you are far away from reality.

A child lives naturally he is total. He does not make any effort, because making an effort means you are fighting with yourself. A part of you is for and a part of you is against hence the effort.

You can achieve much, remember. In this world, particularly, you can achieve much through effort because effort is aggression, effort is violence, effort is competition. But in the other world nothing can be achieved through effort, and those who start with effort finally also have to drop it.

Buddha worked for six years, continuously meditating, concentrating he became an ascetic. He did all that can be done by a human being, not a single stone was left unturned he staked his whole being. But it was an effort, the ego was there; he failed.

Nothing fails like the ego in the ultimate; nothing succeeds like the ego in this world. In the world of matter nothing succeeds like the ego; in the world of consciousness nothing fails like the ego. The case is just the opposite and it has to be so because the dimension is just the opposite.