Showing results by author "OSHO" in All Categories

The Dhammapada is a collection of sayings of the Gautama the Buddha in verse form and one of the best-known Buddhist scriptures. This is volume nine of a 12-volume series of Osho Talks, bringing Buddha's Dhammapada into the 21st century and opening them for a new understanding for contemporary people.

Here Osho reminds us that the world is a cosmos not a chaos. Then why do we experience it as chaotic? Because we experience the world through our mind, and the mind is by its very nature chaotic. The way out of this chaotic mess is through meditation. It is through meditation that you can experience life in all its mystery without the filters if the mind. Through cathartic meditation techniques in particular you can dissolve the chaos and create space for more celebration.

Today, humanity is caught up in the mad complexity of the mind and there is an urgent need to rediscover simplicity and innocence. Here, the contemporary mystic Osho brings to life the inherent and timeless wisdom of traditional Zen stories, showing that Zen is a way of dissolving philosophical problems, not of solving them - a way of getting rid of philosophy, because philosophy is a sort of neurosis.

More than 2,500 years ago, Gautama the Buddha walked the earth, teaching to all who would listen. Buddhist lore has it that shortly after he passed away, his disciples met to recall all that they were able of the truths that Buddha had spoken. These sayings were complied into The Dhammapada, an anthology of 423 verses containing the essence of his principles. Osho is one of the most provocative mystics of our time, who inspires millions of people worldwide in their individual search for meditation and transformation.

Every child is born ecstatic - with a high level of happiness. Ecstasy is natural. It is something that everybody brings naturally into the world; everybody comes with it. It is part of being alive. Life is ecstasy. Every child brings it into the world, but then society jumps on the child, starts destroying every possibility of ecstasy, starts making the child miserable, starts conditioning the child, and the child comes to know that to be miserable is right, to be happy is wrong. That becomes the deep association. 

Osho describes how our goal orientation can never be satisfied. After power and sex, fame and fortune we can move on to enlightenment, finding God, whatever. How can we get out of the trap of desire and enjoy being alive?

Based in a deep understanding Osho responds to a very personal question related to issues of suicide. "In this neurotic world, if you are sane, sensitive, intelligent, either you have to go mad, or you have to commit suicide – or you have to become a meditator, a seeker." This new audiobook provides a sample of how difficult appearing issues, which usually create a kind of helplessness in people, can be turned around to an incredible opportunity for personal growth.

Osho speaks about the great harm that all organized religions have done to humanity by dividing man against himself, by creating a division between head and heart. Man has become a split personality fighting with himself and projecting his fight onto the outside world. Osho's meditations are designed to heal these wounds and bring about a return to a natural state of self-integration.

Osho illuminates the Chinese Zen master Hyakujo’s concept of sudden enlightenment, showing that everyone is already a buddha. No master, he says, can give you anything; he can only take your false beliefs away.  

Zen says that if you want to find truth, you have to seek. Zen also says don’t seek, because then you won’t find. This is why Zen is called “the path of paradox.” Zen: The Path of Paradox explores this paradoxical world, this distinctive approach to life. Through his commentaries, Osho illustrates how the Zen anecdotes are not just ancient stories, but that their message is intensely relevant to our own concerns: corruption in politics, truth and lies, mindfulness, dying gracefully without fear.

Being loose and natural will give you a spontaneous awareness, rather than making an effort to reach a certain goal. No effort is going to succeed because the cause of all misery is the doer, the ego, our idea of self. Osho only teaches awareness. Suppression is not the way to buddhahood. Simply relax and be whatsoever you are - and awareness will come by itself.

Osho responds to questions on "Relaxing and Waking Up" and "The Difference Between Instinct and Intuition". "In meditation you are not going anywhere. You are simply being here, relaxed, utterly centered in yourself. Everything stops. For this, no 'how' is needed."

Osho addresses and beautifully explains a common issue - the need for attention - that is taking so many eccentric shapes and forms in today’s global media-mania-dominated world. The need for attention is a human reality, and almost everybody is a beggar for attention. The root cause of why one seeks attention is because one does not know oneself. Attention is nourishment for your personality - which is not your real being but just a fake "persona" created by society. Your real power is in your individuality, which you have to discover. 

On finding the “original man” within yourself, says Osho, you will find everything worth discovering. In these talks, Osho traces Zen from its early days with Bodhidharma in China through a succession of masters and poets. He tells anecdotes about the Zen masters, showing how their seemingly absurd statements and actions are actually devices to jolt people out of their spiritual sleep. And he asks you not to take his word for it, but to experience it for yourself - these talks are not about Zen, they are Zen. 

By now most people understand or are beginning to understand that this earth, this humanity is facing an enormous crisis. Stress created by a pandemic in addition to ongoing political issues, economic issues, and climate change issues are taking a toll on the minds and well-being of many people. Such times are dangerous for those who have no courage to explore new dimensions of life. But times of crisis are of tremendous significance for those daring souls who have never bothered about what others think about them but have in a certain way always been rebellious, individualistic.  

Man has come of age, and does not need old, superstitious religions which are not relevant to contemporary people anymore. Yet, religious establishments try everything to revive and keep these religions alive on artificial life support—we see fundamentalist movements reborn all over the world. People do realize that religion is an empty box. Today's times need a more scientific approach for exploring our inner beings. That will be possible only if we get rid of our old habits.

Existentialist come to the conclusion, well no there is no meaning in life so what’s the point? Osho in his genius way again looks at the question put before him from a very different point of view. See for yourself…

People are usually very happy, if their prejudices are met with agreement and their expections fulfilled. When you find Osho, a different approach to life is uncovered, as he speaks on something we have always been looking for—a way to be alive. His vision of becoming alive is expressed in this series THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT. This series continues with these next ten talks in Part 2. Osho lays out his vision of a balance between the primary need for personal transformation, as the foundation and at the same time, not ignoring contemporary political and social issues.

In this talk Osho takes his audience into the world of Zen. "There are a few essential things which make Zen absolutely different from any kind of teaching. The most important of these essentials is that Zen is a revolution. All other religions are servants to the vested interests. The rich people and the powerful people, the politicians, have dominated all the religions. The priests have been nothing but servants to these criminals. It is such a worldwide conspiracy that no one recognizes it."

Service to the poor is embraced by charities all over the world and here Osho exposes this model as one that makes the givers feel good – if not less guilty - about themselves while giving only a temporary respite to the poor and downtrodden.