One day, Mulla Nasrudin came to me and I said to him: Nasrudin, many people say that you are effeminate. He said: They are right, in comparison to my wife, I am.

We think in terms of comparison. If somebody says to everybody: You are beautiful; to us the meaning of that word 'beautiful' is lost. Because if you don't tell anybody that they are ugly, what do you mean by your word 'beautiful'? If somebody says: Everything is good, nothing is bad, then what is the meaning of his word 'good'? To us the word 'good' carries meaning only in comparison to 'bad'.

An Enlightened person has to use your words with the different quality of his consciousness. He doesn't compare.

-Rajneesh

There is a saying in Zen that before you are Enlightened, rivers are rivers and mountains are mountains. When you start meditating, rivers are no longer rivers and mountains are no longer mountains; everything is topsy-turvy. Then you attain; again everything falls into line - rivers are rivers again, mountains are mountains again. Just in the middle everything is disturbed, then everything settles again. Of course, it settles on a totally different plane.

-Rajneesh

Zen doesn't believe in renouncing the world. If you renounce, it is okay; if you don't renounce, it is also okay. It is up to you, both are good. The basic thing is not the world or renouncing the world; the basic thing is to be alert and aware wherever you are. Even a layman, a householder, can attain to the perfect Enlightenment. In this, Zen is very, very liquid. It gives you total freedom. Your style of life in this world doesn't matter.

Hindus have insisted that you have to renounce the world. Jains have insisted that you have to renounce the world. Even Buddha insisted. Buddha in fact had no householders as his disciples.

The whole Indian tradition is for renouncing the world. But Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, they lived in the world; they lived fully aware.

-Rajneesh

If you have many faces, then when and how will the original face surface? Allow the original face to come; drop all postures, drop all faces. For a few days you will feel dizzy without a face. You will feel very uncomfortable, without your old pattern and habits. For a few days you will feel that you have lost your identity. That's okay, that's how it should be. One has to lose one's identity in order to regain the real identity; one has to lose all faces to gain the real face - that which you had before you were born, and that which you will have after you have died. When you are no more, the original will be with you. Never pose.

-Rajneesh

In the East it is believed that you have millions of lives: there is no hurry, time is not short, no need to be worried about it; enough to waste and even enough always there is reserve - it is eternal.

You will be born again and again, again and again - it is a circle; you go, you come again, you go, you come again, so there is no need to be worried about time. That's why in the eyes of the West the East looks lethargic, lazy, not doing anything. Nobody is worried, people can relax under the trees - no hurry; but this no-hurry helps religion. The mind which is too time-conscious may create many materialistic miracles but it will miss the inner dimension. Because the inner dimension is approached only when you are absolutely patient. You will miss many things if you are patient, that is right, but you will never miss yourself.

-Rajneesh