The Empty Boat: An Anecdote on Anger Management from Osho

What do we do when hatred for someone or something rises, or when love develops for someone? We project it onto that person. If you feel hatred towards me, you completely forget yourself in hatred; I will be your only target. If you feel love for me, you forget yourself completely; the target is only me. You project your love or hate or whatever it is onto me. You completely forget the inner center of your own being; the center becomes the other…

I love you. The normal feeling is that you are the source of our love. Actually, it is not. I am the source, you are only a veil on which I reflect my love. You are only a veil; I project my love on you and say you are the source of my love. This is not true, this is fictional. I collect my love energy and project it onto you. In that energy of love directed at you, you become lovable. You may not be lovable to another person, you may be completely unattractive to another. Why? If you are the source of love, why does not everyone else feel love towards you; If someone projects hatred, then you become repulsive. And another does not reflect anything, indifferent; He may not even have looked at you. What’s happening? We project our own moods onto others.

Stay centered. Remember that you are the source and don’t go to the other, go to the center. When you feel hate, don’t go to the goal. Go to the point where the hate originates. Don’t go to the person you hate, go to the center where the hate comes from. Go to the center, go inside. Use your hate, love, anger, or anything as a journey towards the inner center, towards the source. Go to the source and stay centered there.

Try! This is a very, very scientific psychological technique. Someone insulted you. You suddenly become angry, you become heated. Anger flows towards the person who insulted you. Now you’re going to project all that anger onto him. He did nothing. If he insulted you, what did he do? He just nudged you and helped the anger rise. But the anger is yours. If he goes and insults Buddha, he will not be able to create anger in him. Or if he goes to Jesus, Jesus will turn the other cheek to him. Or if he goes to Bodhidharma, he will laugh out loud. So it depends on the person.

The source is not the other, the source is always you. The other is hitting the source, but anger cannot rise if there is no anger in it. If you hit a Buddha, only compassion will rise, because there is only compassion. Anger does not rise because there is no anger there. If you drop a bucket into a dry well, nothing will come out. You drop a bucket into a well full of water and the water comes out, but the water is from the well. Aquarius only helps him get out. That’s why when someone insults you, they just drop a bucket in it, and then the bucket fills with anger, hatred, or fire. You are the source, remember.

For this technique, remember that you are the source of everything you keep projecting onto others. And whenever there is a mood for or against, jump right into it and go to the source of this hatred. Stay focused there; go to target. Someone gave you a chance to become aware of your own anger… Thank him right away and forget about it. Close your eyes, move within, and now look at the source of this love or anger. Where does it come from? Get in, move inside. You will find the source there because the anger comes from your source.

Hate or love or anything is coming from your source. And the moment you get angry, love, or hate it, it’s easy to go to the source because then you’re hot. Then it’s easy to go inside. The wire is hot and you can take it, move inward, towards that warmth. And when you reach the cool spot inside, you will suddenly see a different dimension, a different world opening up before you. Use anger, use hate, use love to go inside.

We always use it to go to the other and get very angry when there is no one to reflect it. Then we project them even onto inanimate objects. I’ve seen people get angry at their shoes, throwing them in anger. What are they doing? I saw people pushing the door in anger, throwing their anger at the door, battering the door, and using dirty words against the door. What are they doing?

I will end this topic with a Zen view. Lin Chi, one of the greatest of the Zen masters, said: “When I was young, boats fascinated me. I had a small rowboat and I sailed to the lake alone. I would stay there for hours.

“Once, on a beautiful night, I was meditating in my rowboat with closed eyes. An empty boat came downstream and crashed into mine. My eyes were closed, so I thought: “Someone came with his boat and crashed into my boat.” Anger rose within me. I opened my eyes, and as I was about to say something to the man in anger, I realized that the boat was empty. Then there was no direction left to move. To whom would I express my anger? The boat was empty. It was just swimming downstream and it came and crashed into my boat. So there was nothing to do. I couldn’t direct my anger onto an empty boat.”

Lin Chi says: “I closed my eyes. The anger was there, but I couldn’t find a way out so I closed my eyes and swam back into the anger. And that empty boat became my realization. That quiet night, I came to a point in me. That empty boat was my master. And now when someone comes and insults me, I laugh and say: “This boat is also empty.” I close my eyes and go inside.”

Use this technique. It can work miracles for you.

Osho – “Book of Secrets 1”