Osho,
Is the meeting of Zorba and the Buddha really possible? If it is so, then why have other religious leaders never thought about it?

The first thing to be understood: I am not a religious leader. A religious leader cannot think, cannot see the way I can – for the simple reason that he has immense investment in religion; I have none.

Religions are necessarily splitting man, creating a duality in the human mind; that is their way of exploiting you. If you are whole, you are beyond their control. If you are cut in fragments, all your strength is destroyed, all your power, your dignity abolished. Then you can be a Christian, a Hindu, a Mohammedan.

If you are left just the way you are born – natural, without any interference from the so-called religious leaders, you will be a man of freedom, independence, integrity. You cannot be enslaved. And all your old religions are doing nothing but enslaving you. To enslave you, they have to create a conflict within you so you start fighting with yourself. And when you are fighting with yourself, two things are bound to happen. First, you will be miserable, because no part of you can ever be victorious, you will be always defeated. Second, a guilt is produced in you that you are not worthy enough to be called a real, authentic human individual.

This is what the religious leaders want. A deep feeling of unworthiness within you makes them leaders of men. You cannot depend on yourself because you know you cannot do anything. You cannot do what your nature wants, because your religions prevent it. You cannot do what your religions want, because your nature is against it. You find yourself in a situation where you cannot do anything; somebody else is needed to take your responsibility. Your physical age goes on growing – your mental age remains retarded, just nearabout thirteen. These retarded people are in great need of somebody to guide them, somebody to lead them to the goal of life, to the meaning of life. They themselves are incapable.

Religious leaders could not have thought of the meeting of Zorba and Buddha, because that would have been the end of their leadership and the end of their so-called religions. Zorba the Buddha is the end of all religions. It is the beginning of a new kind of religiousness which needs no labels – Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism. One is simply enjoying oneself, enjoying this immense universe, dancing with the trees, playing on the sea beach with the waves, collecting seashells for no other purpose – just for the sheer joy of it. The salty air, the cool sand, the sun rising, a good jog – what more do you want?

To me, this is religion – enjoying the air, enjoying the sea, enjoying the sand, enjoying the sun – because there is no other God than existence itself.