Evolution

 

 

Evolution is not something discovered by Charles Darwin. Evolution is an Eastern concept discovered by the mystics – and in the East they have really gone deeper. Charles Darwin is only superficial; he thought that man has come from the monkeys, and he was laughed at all over the world. The idea looks strange... but the mystic’s idea does not look strange. He does not say that man has come from the monkeys; he says that the essence of consciousness has passed through many forms, and it has passed through the forms of monkeys too.

 

According to me, not every man has come to be a man from being a monkey; different people have traveled different lines of evolution. All are coming from different animals, and that is one of the reasons why they are so unequal. A man who is coming from monkeys is bound to carry some traits, some characteristics, of the monkeys. Another man coming from horses will have different characteristics.

 

There are millions of animals in the world, and every person has moved through different forms. It is not a highway, with the whole of humanity coming from the same source. If that were the case, all people would have been equal. Somebody is a genius, somebody is a born idiot – certainly they are coming from different sources. [....]

 

A person who is coming from the body of an elephant into the body of a man will have a tremendous memory. In the same way, all the animals have their own special talents. I am saying this for the first time – that every human being has come from a different animal. Charles Darwin’s idea that all have come from the monkeys is wrong. If it were so, then all would show the same characteristics – which is not so.

 

A dog can be born as a human being, or may go through a few other life forms – may become a lion, may become a deer and then come as a human being. But if he comes from a lion, then he will have tremendous courage; then he will have the courage to be a rebel. If he is coming from a sheep, he will become a Christian – particularly a Catholic – because a sheep cannot do anything else. You cannot say that Jesus Christ was wrong when he said, “I am the shepherd and you are my sheep” – he must have recognized that all these guys have come from sheep.

 

Charles Darwin’s idea is right, but not in the details; in the details he has not been able to work it out. I agree with him on this essential point that man has evolved out of animals, but I don’t agree with him that all human beings have evolved from the same animal – monkey, ape, or chimpanzee. Human beings have come from all different directions. It is a gathering of all kinds of animals, and if you watch people you can find from where each person is coming. Just a little watchfulness is needed, alertness, and you can feel that this man seems to be related to a certain species.

 

-Osho, "The Great Zen Master Ta Hui, #18"