There’s an ancient story, from the time of Confucius and Lao Tzu. Both were contemporaries. Confucius was younger than Lao Tzu but more popular as a philosopher. It has been reported that Confucius went to see Lao Tzu and asked, “What do you say about morality? What do you say about how to cultivate good character?” Lao Tzu laughed loudly and said, “If you are immoral, only then the question of morality arises. And if you don’t have any character, only then you think about character. A man of character is absolutely oblivious of the fact that anything like character exists. A man of morality does not know what the word “moral” means. So don’t be foolish! And don’t try to cultivate. Just be natural.”
Osho loves Lao Tzu: And this man (Lao Tzu) had such tremendous energy that Confucius started trembling. He couldn’t stand him. He escaped. He became afraid. When he came back to his disciples, who were waiting outside under a tree, the disciples could not believe it. This man had been going to emperors, the greatest emperors, and he was trembling . They couldn’t believe it — what had happened? What had this man Lao Tzu done to their teacher? They asked him and he said, “Wait a little. Let me collect myself. This man is dangerous.”
There is another significant Taoist story of that time: An old follower of Lao Tzu, who was 90 years old, was busy pulling water from the well, together with his young son. Confucius happened to pass by. He went up to the old man and said: “Do you not know, you foolish fellow, that now we harness horses or oxen to do this job? Why are you unnecessarily tiring yourself and this young boy?”
The old man said, “Hush! Pray speak softly lest my son hears!” Confucius was perplexed. When the youth left, he asked the old man, “Why would you not let your son hear what I said?” He replied, “I am 90 and yet I have the strength to work side by side with a youth of 30. If I engage horses, my son will not have the same strength at 90 that I have now. So I pray to you, do not talk of this before my son. It is a question of his health. We have heard that in towns horses pull water from the well. We also know that there are machines that do this job as well. But then, what will my son do? What will happen to his health, his constitution?” Osho concludes: Work and rest are interdependent. He who wishes to sleep soundly needs to work hard.
Swami Chaitanya Keerti, editor of Osho World, is the author of Osho Fragrance
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