Osho

1931-1990. Has done a voluminous amount of lecturing, which has all been published in book, tape or videotape form. Besides lecturing, he apparently established a community of international followers. He claimed that governments perceived him as a threat. His aim (or one of his aims) was to establish a community of enlightened people, which would eventually influence the composition of society in general. He seemed to have been well-read, incorporating a very wide variety of both "Western" and "Eastern" material into his talks. He often made references to specific names in either complimenting or criticizing. He is critical of organized religion and of Christianity, especially (though he speaks of Jesus in a positive light). His style was often humurous, irreverent, unconventional. He held views which would be offensive to large sections of the population. He sometimes including casual jokes or anecdotes, which might considered "dirty" or obscene. Although he claimed no divinity or other such supernatural status, he seemed to accept himself as being enlightened. His published talks suggest that he believed in reincarnation.

"Science is the ultimate value. And there are only two kinds of sciences: one, objective science, that decides about the outside world; and two, subjective science, which up to now has been called religion. But it is better not to call it religion. It is better to call it the science of the inner, and to divide science into a science of the outer, and a science of the inner -- objective science and subjective science. But make it one solid whole, and science remains the ultimate value -- nothing is higher than that."

• Christianity (and other organized religions) do nothing for the inner transformation of the individual. Neither does objective science.
• Attentiveness in the here and now, in all activities (even the smallest) of our lives is essential. Life moves from a flow of unconscious activities to conscious activities.
• Humor is an indispensible ingredient of life.
• The unknown, the imperfect are the basis of life.
• Enlightenment doesn't come without the teacher providing an example.
• The ego must be emptied to accept the teachings of the master.
• Meditation is not a matter of concentration.
• The true self is covered in layers of conditioning.
• Inner suffering is caused by the unawareness of one's true self.
• Basic human development is inherent, much like the growth parameters of a plant is encoded in the seed.
• There must be some form of catharsis for the laughter and tears, which have been restrained by society.
• Our being is beyond the mind.
• Existence is a unitary whole.

  Links

  Osho Homepage
  To their credit, the creators of this official site put up enough free material to about equal a book or two. The material consists of both lengthy and brief exerpts of Osho's talks. There are a variety of other things (meditation methods, online magazine, etc.), which some of you might be interested in.