Osho on Imitate - Don't imitate

 

 

 

"Don't imitate: imitation creates falsity, pseudo-ness, inauthenticity. Just feel your own way and don't bother about what others say. It is nobody else's business. Don't bother about what churches say, organizations say -- listen to your own heart."

 

-Osho, "The Beloved, Vol 2, #9"

 

 

 

 

"The real religion is not imitation of anybody else, it is a search to find out your own authentic self, who you are. So just outer discipline will not help; outer discipline can be used as a means, but it is not the goal."

 

-Osho, "Dang Dang Doko Dang, #1"

 

 

 

 

"Never imitate. The mind is an imitator, because imitation is very easy. To be someone is very difficult. To become someone is very easy -- all that you need is to be a hypocrite, which is not much of a problem. Deep down you remain the same, but on the surface you go on painting yourself according to some image.

The Christian is trying to become like Christ -- that's what the word Christian means. You would love to be like Christ. You are on the way, maybe far away, but moving slowly. A Christian means a person trying slowly to become a Christ, a Mohammedan means a person trying to become Mohammed. But unfortunately this is not possible; this is not in the very nature of the universe. It only creates unique beings. It has no idea at all of carbon copies, duplicators, cyclostyled material; existence has no idea -- just the original. And each individual is so unique and original that if he tries to become Christ, he is committing suicide. If he tries to become a Buddha, he is committing suicide.

So the second request is: Don't imitate. If you want to know who you are, please avoid imitation, that's a way of avoiding knowing yourself."

 

-Osho, "From Unconciousness to Consciousness, #28"

 

 

 

 

"You are all great imitators. It is easier to imitate than to be authentic, because imitation is just on the surface. Authenticity needs your center, needs you in your totality. That is too much. You get involved just on the surface, deep down you remain out.

 

Imitation is very easy, and the whole culture and society depends on imitation. Everybody is telling you how to behave, and whatsoever they are teaching you is nothing but imitation. Religious people -- the so-called religious people, the priests, the theologians -- they are also teaching you, "Be like Jesus, be like Buddha, be like Krishna." Nobody ever tells you, "Just be yourself" -- nobody. Everybody is against you, it seems. Nobody allows you to be yourself, nobody gives you any freedom. You can be in this world, but you must imitate somebody."

 

-Osho, "No Water, No Moon, #4"

 

 

 

"You have to be just yourself and nobody else. And in fact that's what buddhahood means: to be yourself. That is what christ-consciousness means: just to be yourself. Buddha was not an imitation of somebody else. Don't you think there were many many great men who had preceded him? He must have been told, "Be a Krishna! Be a Parshvanath! Be an Adinatha!" He must have heard beautiful stories, mythologies. He must have read the PURANAS, ancient stories about the great men, Rama, Krishna, Parasuram. He must have heard all that, he must have received the heritage. But he never tried to be somebody. He wanted to be himself, he wanted to know who he is. He never became an imitator; that's why one day he became awakened.

 

Jesus never tried to be Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel. Jesus simply tried to be himself. That was his crime, that's why he was crucified. The same people who crucified Jesus would have worshipped him if he had simply been an imitator, a carbon copy of Moses. If he had been just a gramophone record repeating the Ten Commandments, the Jews would have worshipped him. But they had to crucify the man -- he was just himself."

 

-Osho, "The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 1, #6"

 

 

 

 

"When you are following an idea, an ideology, an ideal, a goal, you are bound to imitate others -- bound to. You are bound to follow others, because from where will you get the cues? Then you are bound to follow Christ, Buddha, Mahavir. And never has there been a man like you or a woman like you. You are simply unique.

You cannot follow a buddha, you cannot follow me. You can watch me, but you cannot follow me. You can love me, but you cannot follow me. You can understand me, but you cannot follow me. Once you follow me, you will become more blind. You are already blind.

All beliefs lead to blindness. All following leads you away from you.

If you try to become a buddha, one thing is certain -- you will not be able to become yourself. One thing only is certain -- that you will not be yourself. And then follows the next thing: you can never be a buddha, because you are you and a buddha is buddha. If you try to become a buddha, you cannot be a buddha; at the most you can be an imitation -- a plastic flower, not a real rose.

You can imitate, you can become an actor. You can follow. You can completely follow Buddha and you can make a character exactly like him, but remember -- a man like Buddha has no character. He lives spontaneously. He has awareness, he has no character. Each moment he responds to life. He does not follow any character. He does not follow the past. He does not follow any routine that he decided in the past, yesterday. He is herenow responding.

A man of character is always a dead man. A man of character means that he has created an armour around himself. He has taken a vow that he will never speak a lie; that's why he never speaks a lie. He wants to speak lies but he cannot because of the character, the ego involved in it. He suppresses. He can never be authentic and true, and he can never be flowing and open. He is always closed. A man of character carries his tomb around himself. He is not alive. The dead layer of character never allows him to meet life -- to meet life herenow.

 

Buddha has no character, but if you follow him you will have to follow his character as you understand it. You cannot see his consciousness, you can only see how he behaves, and through that behaviour you can find some cues. You will miss.

The only way to become a buddha is to be yourself."

 

-Osho, "Nirvana - The Last Nightmare, #1"

 

 

 

 

"People are imitative and imitation is bound to be unintelligent. They want to do exactly the things which others are doing. That destroys their freshness. Do things in your own style; live your life according to your own light. And even if the same situation arises, be alert to find a new response.

 

It is only a question of a little alertness, and once you have started enjoying... and it is really a great joy to respond to old situations always in a new way, because that newness keeps you young, keeps you conscious, keeps you non-mechanical, keeps you alive.

 

Don't be repetitive. But when I am saying don't be repetitive, I don't mean in the ordinary life, in the marketplace; there, repetition is the rule. But in the inner world, the freshness of your response is the law."

 

-Osho, "The Golden Future, #15"

 

 

 

 

"Just be yourself. There is no other service to me.

Just be yourself; that's how you can serve me. That's how you have already served me -- if you are yourself. My whole effort is to help you to be yourself. If you are centered, rooted, grounded, if you have come to a point where you are not worried to become somebody else, where the ambition to become somebody else has dropped -- when there is no desire to move into the future, when the present is enough unto itself; when you are deeply contented as you are; when you can thank God, when you can be grateful and there arises no complaint; when your whole heart is simply full of gratitude -- you have served me. There is no other way.

Of course it would have been easier if I had given you some other ways to serve me, because those things you can do. You can come and massage my feet. That won't help; that is not of much use. That is not going to lead you anywhere. You may feel happy, but that happiness is not bliss.

My whole effort is: fall back on yourself. Don't move into the future and don't be motivated by the future. If THIS moment becomes your total reality, you have come close to me, the closest that one being can come to another. By being yourself, you will be near me; by trying to be something else, you will go far away.

Don't be imitators. The mind is an imitator, because it is easier to play the game of imitation than to become authentically true. Many ideas have been given to you: become like a Buddha, become like Jesus. become like Krishna -- as if you have to become everybody else EXCEPT yourself. As if God is only against you. He's for Krishna, for Christ, for Mahavir, for Buddha -- only against you. Then why does He create you? Then He seems simply foolish. Why does He go on creating you? If He's interested in Buddha, Hc can create Buddhas. Why you?

It would be simpler. He can go on creating Buddhas... like Ford cars. They go on coming through the assembly line: one car after another: one Buddha after another. That will be good. But God is not interested in it. He never creates Buddha again, have you observed? He never creates, He never bothers to create, a Jesus again. Why?

There is no need to repeat. All repetition is dead. He goes on creating the new, the novel. He creates you! He's more interested in you than in creating more Buddhas or more Christs. And remember, He will not repeat you either, so while you are here, be true and authentic. Be your.self."

 

-Osho, "Come Follow To You, Vol 2, #8"

 

 

 

 

"Imitation is a substitute for understanding, and a very poor substitute. If understanding is there, there is no question of imitating or of following: you will follow understanding. Keep this very clear: if you follow your understanding, you will be following me. By and by you will see that your path and my path are running parallel. By and by you will see that you are following me if you follow your understanding. If you follow me and forget your understanding sooner or later you will see that I am gone and you are left in darkness. The real way to follow me is not to follow me but to follow your understanding -- then even when I am gone you will be following me. It looks paradoxical but Zen is paradoxical."

 

-Osho, "Dang Dang Doko Dang, #4"

 

 

 

 

"The characteristic of the first sort of religion is imitation. It insists on imitation: imitate Buddha, imitate Christ, imitate Mahavir, but imitate. Imitate somebody. Don't be yourself, be somebody else. And if you are very stubborn you can force yourself to be somebody else. You will never be somebody else. Deep down you cannot be. You will remain yourself, but you can force so much that you almost start looking like somebody else.

 

You will never be somebody else. Deep down you cannot be. You will remain yourself, but you can force so much that you almost start looking like somebody else.

Each man is born with a unique individuality, and each man has a destiny of his own. Imitation is crime, it is criminal. If you try to become a Buddha, you may become an imitation Buddha. You may look like Buddha, you may walk like Buddha, you may talk like Buddha, but you will miss. You will miss all that life was ready to deliver to you. Because Buddha happens only once. It is not in the nature of things to repeat. God is so creative that He never repeats anything. You cannot find another human being in the present, in the past, or in the future, who is going to resemble you exactly. It has never happened. Man is not a mechanism. He is not like Ford cars on an assembly line; you can produce millions alike, exactly alike. Man is a soul, is individual. Imitation is poisonous. Never imitate anybody, otherwise you will be a victim of the first sort of religion, which is not religion at all."

 

-Osho, "The Beloved, Vol 2, #5"

 

 

 

 

"If you live with alertness, you live rightly. If you live in imitation, you live wrongly.

To me there is only one sin: And that is not to be yourself.

And to me there is only one virtue: And that is to know yourself.

 

All these religions have prevented this happening. It is time that we got rid of all this nonsense which the past has left over our heads.

If you can become Adam and Eve again -- no Moses, no Mahavira, no Mohammed, no Jesus, no Confucius, no Lao Tzu.... If you are Adam and Eve, just born, just getting out of the garden of Eden -- nobody to ask what to do, nobody to ask what discipline is right, no priest, no rabbi, no pope is available -- what are you going to do?

Do that!"

 

-Osho, "From Ignorance to Innocence, #12"

 

 

 

 

"Each individual's way is going to be different. Never follow anybody. That is the greatest calamity that can happen to a man. Once you start following somebody else, you become a carbon copy. You become an imitation. You loose originality. So whoever asks you, "What vision your master has given to you?", tell them that he has given freedom to us. And he has provoked and challenged us to find our original face.

And that is possible only if you do not imitate."

 

-Osho, "The Last Testament, Vol 6, #13"

 

 

 

"People are continuously living their lives of imitation, competition, jealousy... Who is bothered about his original face -- and what is one going to do with the original face? But the only people who have known anything worthwhile, who have lived in the authentic sense of living, are the people who have searched for their original face.

 

Certainly you have to get out of this rut of jealousy, competition, imitation, otherwise they won't leave you any time. Somebody is doing something, somebody else is doing something else, and your whole business is to imitate everybody -- they have better clothes, somebody has a better house, somebody has a better garden. People say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and it is true; it looks greener."

 

-Osho, "The Great Zen Master Ta Hui, #22"

 

 

 

 

What you imitate is immaterial; the important thing is that you imitate. If you imitate you become a carbon copy. If you imitate you have betrayed your authentic being. If you imitate you are no more your being, you are no more your soul, you are no more yourself. You have committed suicide -- and this suicide is far more suicidal than when you destroy your physical body. This is destroying your very psychology.

 

Imitation means you will not live according to your own spontaneity, you will live according to somebody else as your image; you will follow somebody else's character, behavior, way of life. You will have to impose. What will you do if you want to follow Christ; if you want to imitate Christ, what will you do? You will act like Christ! What else can you do? It will be a drama, it will not be a real, true life.

 

What will you do if you want to become a Buddha? You can take a begging bowl, you can use the same type of clothes he used, you can even walk like him -- these are simple things, they can be learned -- but you will be just a showpiece, not a Buddha. You will be just doing it on the surface, but you will remain the same deep down, deep behind it. Your reality will not be affected by it; it will be just a painted face, a mask, a personality. It will not touch your essence.

 

I am against all kinds of imitation because I respect the individual. Learn from everywhere. Learn from Jesus, learn from Buddha -- they have something great to share with you. Participate in that sharing, but never imitate.

 

-Osho, "The Secret, #18, Q2"