Bribery

 

 

The priests have been telling people, “Pray to God, praise the Lord, and you will be forgiven.” What is praise? It is a kind of bribery!

 

Hence, in a country like India where people have been praising God for centuries, bribery is very simple. Nobody thinks it is wrong – it is something religious! If even God can be bribed, what about the poor policeman? If even God can be bribed and persuaded to do things in your favor, what about the poor magistrate? And if God is not wrong, why should the magistrate be thought wrong?

 

In the East, bribery is not thought wrong; it is a Western concept that bribery is wrong. In the East it is just a simple thing, it has always been done.

 

The priests are nothing but agents between you and God: they take bribes from you, and on your behalf they plead with God. Of course, in things like bribery, agents are needed because to give a bribe directly you will feel afraid. The person may not feel right; he may be offended, his sense of dignity may be offended. He may feel hurt, thinking, “What do you think of me? That you can purchase me?” Or, even if he wants to take it, he may say no, he may deny it. He may say, “I never take any bribes.” His sense of pious ego may take possession of his being. An agent is needed, a go-between who knows both the parties so you need not encounter the person directly. Everywhere agents are needed.

 

Priests have been agents between man and God. “You commit sin? Don’t be worried,” priests say. “Just give the right amount of bribes and you will be forgiven. And God is very compassionate.” If you don’t bribe, then of course you have to suffer.

 

Buddha removed God completely. He removed God because he wanted to remove the priest. Unless God is removed the priest cannot be removed; he is just a shadow of God, a by-product. God is his invention! Hence the whole priesthood of India was against Buddha, because he was destroying their very trade, he was revealing their very trade secret, he was cutting their very roots.

 

And India has the longest, the oldest priesthood in the world: the brahmins. For ten thousand years they have been exploiting people. They have lived on exploitation, they have not done anything else. They have not toiled, they have not worked. Their whole function has been just to act as a go-between.

 

Buddha was really cutting the very roots of the priesthood, the whole establishment that goes with it, and the exploitation in the name of religion. He says:

 

MISCHIEF IS YOURS.

SORROW IS YOURS.

 

There is no God to give you punishment, each act of mischief intrinsically brings sorrow to you. If you put your hand in the fire you will be burned. Not that a judge is needed to declare that now you have to be punished by the decree of God or the decree of the judge; you have to be punished because you have put your hand in the fire. There is no need for anybody to declare any judgment. The moment you put your hand in the fire you are burned -- immediately, instantly! In Buddha's vision, the action brings its own result; no judge is needed.

 

-Osho, “The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 5, #7”