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it has created are very serious, sad, somber people, people with long faces. They cannot dance, they cannot sing -- because it is a question of life and death. God has to be obeyed word for word: a little mistake and you fall from grace.
But in the East there is no idea of God as a dictatorial force: he is just a player. And he is not outside you, he is inside you; he is inside everybody. The whole of life is taken as a game; hence Eastern religion has the quality of sportsmanship. There is no question of original sin, there is no question of sin at all. Yes, mistakes are possible in a game but you cannot commit sins. Errors are possible but you cannot be condemned for errors and mistakes -- they are human. Hence the Eastern God is tremendously compassionate.
The Old Testament God says: "I am a very jealous God." That is impossible for the Eastern mystic to understand -- that God can say such a thing: "I am a very jealous God." If God too is jealous, then what to say about man and his jealousies?
In the East a man becomes divine only when he is no longer jealous, a man is thought to be enlightened only when he is no longer jealous. Jealousy is a by-product of the ego and when the ego disappears jealousy disappears. You cannot offend a buddha. Whatsoever you do you cannot offend him.
In Japan they make a particular doll; the doll is called a daruma doll. Daruma is the Japanese name of one of the greatest buddhas of the world, Bodhidharma; from dharma comes daruma. The doll has a beauty about it: you can throw it any way but it always lands up in a buddha posture. Its bottom is heavy so you cannot topple it. You cannot put it sideways -- it will sit up again. You can throw it upside down but it will always come rightside up. That doll is a beautiful message. It says that that's how a buddha behaves: you cannot offend him, you cannot topple him. Whatsoever you do he is always okay. He is always in his stillness, in his silence.
This is possible only if life is taken as a leela, a play. Your name means goddess of play. Let it become a reality, let it become your very lifestyle.
OSHO (TO INGE): Close your eyes!
LOVE, THE
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