Once a king came to Gautama Buddha. He was a devotee, a great devotee, and he had come for the first time for his darshan — for his audience.
In one of his hands, in his left hand, he had a beautiful golden ornament, priceless, with many jewels in it. It was the most precious that he had — a rare piece of art. He had come to present it to Buddha just to show his devotion.
He came near. In his left-hand was that priceless jewelled ornament; he was going to present it.
Buddha said, “Drop it!”
He was disturbed. He never expected this. He was shocked. But because Buddha was saying “Drop it”, he dropped it.
In his other hand, in his right hand, he had brought a beautiful rose. He thought that Buddha might not like stones. He might just think that this was a childish thing that he had brought. But it was good to have an alternative, so he brought a beautiful rose. A rose is not so gross, not so material. It has spirituality; something of the unknown is there. And Buddha might like it because he says life is flux, and the flower is in the morning and in the evening it is no more. It is the most flux-like thing in the world.
So he put his other hand in front of Buddha and he wanted to present the flower.
Buddha again said, “Drop it!”
Then he felt very disturbed. Now he had nothing to present. But when Buddha again said to drop it, he dropped it.
Then suddenly he became aware of the “I.” He thought, “Why am I presenting things when I can present myself?”
When he became aware, with both his hands empty he presented himself.
But Buddha again said, “Drop it!”
Now he had nothing to drop — just empty hands — and Buddha said, “Drop it!”
Mahakashyapa, Sariputta, Ananda and his other disciples were there, and they started laughing.
The man became aware that even to say that “I present myself to you” is egoistic. Even to say, “Now I am here and I surrender to you” is not surrender.
So he himself fell down.
Buddha smiled and said, “You understand well.”
Osho – The Book of Secrets
Image: India postage stamp commemorating 2550 years of Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha, May 2007. Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons – Stamps of India
Acharya Rajneesh (1931-1990), known later as Osho, was an Indian godman, philosopher, mystic and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controversial religious leader during his life. He rejected institutional religions, insisting that spiritual experience could not be organised into any one system of religious dogma. He advocated meditation and taught a unique form called dynamic meditation. Rejecting traditional ascetic practices, he asked his followers to live fully in the world but without attachment to it. Pic courtesy: https://www.sannyas.wiki/