The Goose Is Out – A Norwegian Spiritual Story by Osho

Nansen is a rare man.

THE OFFICIAL, RIKO, ONCE ASKED NANSEN TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THE OLD PROBLEM OF THE GOOSE IN THE BOTTLE.

The problem is very ancient. It is a koan; it is given to a disciple, that he has to meditate on it. It is absurd; you cannot “solve” it. A koan is something which cannot be solved. Remember, it is not a puzzle. A puzzle has a clue; a koan has no clue. A koan is a puzzle without any clue. Not that more intelligence will solve it. No, no intelligence will ever solve it. Even if it is given to God, it will not be solved. It is made in such a way that it cannot be solved. This is a koan.

“IF A MAN PUTS A GOSLING INTO A BOTTLE,” SAID RIKO, “AND FEEDS HIM UNTIL HE IS FULL GROWN, HOW CAN THE MAN GET THE GOOSE OUT WITHOUT KILLING IT OR BREAKING THE BOTTLE?”

Don’t break the bottle — and the goose has to be taken out — and don’t kill the goose. Now, these are the two conditions to be fulfilled. The koan becomes impossible. The bottle has a small neck; the goose cannot come out from it. Either you have to break the bottle or you have to kill the goose. You can kill the goose, and piece by piece you can take the goose out, or you can break the bottle, and the goose can come out alive, whole. But the condition is the bottle has not to be broken and the goose has not to be killed. The goose has to come out whole and the bottle has to remain whole. Nothing has to be destroyed; no destruction allowed.

Now, how are you going to solve it? But meditating on it, meditating on it… one day it happens that you see the point. Not that you solve the problem, suddenly the problem is no more there.

NANSEN GAVE A GREAT CLAP WITH HIS HANDS AND SHOUTED,

“RIKO!”

“YES, MASTER, “SAID THE OFFICIAL WITH A START.

“SEE, “SAID NANSEN, “THE GOOSE IS OUT!”

Now, it is tremendously beautiful. What he is saying is that the goose has never been in, the goose has always been out. What is he saying, the moment he said, “Riko!”? What happened? Those seven layers of ego disappeared and Riko became aware. The shout was so sudden, the sound was so unexpected. He was expecting a philosophical answer.

That’s why sometimes the Zen Master will hit you on your head or throw you out of the window or jump upon you or threaten you that he will kill you: he will do something so that those seven layers of ego are immediately transcended and your awareness, which is the center of all, is alert. You are made alert.

Now, shouting “Riko!” so suddenly, for no reason at all — and he has brought a small puzzle to be solved and this Master suddenly shouts “Riko!” — he cannot see the connection. And that is the whole clue to it. He cannot see the connection, the shout startles him, and he says, “Yes, Master.”

“See,” said Nansen, “the goose is out!”

Those seven layers of the bottle are crossed.

“Yes, Master” — in that moment Riko was pure consciousness, without any layer. In that moment, Riko was not the body. In that moment, Riko was not the mind. In that moment, Riko was just awareness. In that moment, Riko was not the memory of the past. In that moment, Riko was not the future, the desire. In that moment, he was not in any comparison with anybody. In that moment, he was not a Buddhist or a Mohammedan or a Hindu. In that moment, he was not a Japanese or an Indian.

In that moment, when the Master shouted “Riko!” he was simply awareness, without any content, without any conditioning. In that moment, he was not young, old. In that moment, he was not beautiful, ugly. In that moment, he was not stupid, intelligent. All layers disappeared. In that moment, he was just a flame of awareness.

That is the meaning when the Master says, “See, the goose is out — and I have not broken the bottle, I have not even touched the bottle.” The bottle means the ego, those seven layers. “I have not broken the bottle, it is there, and I have not killed the goose. And the goose is out.”

Osho – “The First Principle”

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What Is the Spiritual Meaning of “The Goose Is Out” Story by Osho?

The goose in a bottle story is about the awakening of consciousness beyond the confines of mind and intellect.

The paradoxical Koan of the goose and the bottle is a riddle that transcends the limitations of reason. It's not a puzzle with a clue to be deciphered; it's a riddle without a solution. It's absurd, confounding the intellect and evading resolution. This is the essence of a Koan—it is not meant to be solved intellectually, but to be meditated upon until the mind surrenders, and a sudden realization dawns.

The Koan poses an impossible scenario—retrieve a grown goose from a bottle without harming either the bird or the vessel. The conditions set are incongruous, creating a deadlock where breaking the bottle or harming the goose seem the only logical options. It's a puzzle that appears unsolvable, urging the seeker to dive deeper into contemplation, beyond the confines of rational thinking.

The Zen Master's response to the query is unexpected—an abrupt shout that startles Riko. This jolt is not to give an intellectual answer but to transcend Riko's layers of ego, to shake his consciousness from its habitual patterns. This abrupt interruption serves as a catalyst to awaken awareness, making Riko acutely present in the moment.

Through this sudden shout of “Riko!” the Zen Master unveils a profound truth—the goose was never confined; it was always free. In that spontaneous exclamation lies the essence of Zen teaching—an invitation to break through the layers of conditioning and awaken to a reality beyond concepts and limitations.

This sudden shout, seemingly unrelated to the Koan, is a reminder that true understanding lies beyond intellectual reasoning. It's a direct experience that transcends the mind's limitations and awakens one to a higher truth.

The ultimate message of the “Goose Is Out” story is not the extraction of a goose from a bottle but the liberation from the confines of the egoic mind. It's an invitation to transcend the layers of conditioning, to awaken the inner consciousness, and to recognize the freedom that has always been present. Through this tale, one glimpses the possibility of liberation—a liberation that transcends the constraints of the mind and opens the door to a boundless existence.