Osho Rocks!

[Yoda]

Who here recommended Osho recently? As I was reading up on Cayce's history of Atlantis in the Barnes and Noble an Osho book caught my eye and he blasted my brain in 5 minutes. Amazing shit. I'm maxed out on HT and Bodri angles but still want more practice related reading and I found a good source that should hold me for a few months.

 

-Yoda

[BobD]

That would have been me.

 

I have always found his books to be very well written. He clearly knows his stuff and can convey his meaning very well. One of my favourite authors of this kind of material.

 

Which book was it that caught your eye?

[Yoda]

THE BOOK OF SECRETS ROCKS MY WORLD!!!

 

I've maxxed out on Chia, Winn and Bodri but hunger for more and I felt painted into a corner.

 

It's like I found Merlin's spell book!!

 

IOU-1

 

-Yoda

[Yoda]

Bob,

 

Just curious, what did Osho say re: afterlife??

 

-Yoda

[Yoda]

So here's some Osho thoughts:

 

Exercise till you drop! He got his students to exercise vigorously 1 hour, 3 times a day. You gotta drain your daily energy supply, then your backup emergency supply in order to learn how to tap into your cosmic supply. (very ninja, very jedi...) He said that this is hard to do on your own as you'll quit too soon, but in groups with the collective mind effect, it's much easier.

 

Practices: Silently say the sound Ahhh with the exhale--it extends the exhalation and teaches non-possessiveness, makes peace with death, paying attention to the exhale and really exhale you will learn about death and find that it is your friend. Exhale deeply for 15 minutes a day, let the body handle the inhalation automatically. Life is the ripples on the lake, death is the lake itself, is peace, is the very source of life. Draw your life from the depths and you shall not fear death. It is those who do not live fully that fear death (very Frolov, Sonon, etc)

 

Some systems center the mind on the hara, genitals, third eye, big toe, etc. The point is to have a center! It's good to use the sex center as a center of meditation. Your mind is naturally going there anyways, why not harness that? (hadn't considered that one)

 

the peace of ejaculation is a false, deceiving peace. It is only on a physical level and cir cum vents real progress. (working on it!) From the root text: "in sexual union keep attentive on the fire in the beginning, and so continuing, avoid the embers in the end"... attain real bramacharya, don't blow your wad, and thus heal your confusion and learn to be energized and passionate.

 

Energy has to be taken away from the physical eyes and allowed to move through the third eye... the whole eye/yang thing... examples of hunting in nature where the prey makes eye contact with the predator and is immobilized... Rasputin, and some psychics and hypnotists and fighters have this thing going on... they pump their energy to their eye center for dominance... sort of a black magic approach, the white magic is to forget about dominating others and to master your own self... evens out the chiflow to the rest of the system...learn to still and relax the eyes. (same death/wisdom/peace connection as with the breathing)

 

Lots about feminine/masculine, life/death, light/dark, inhale/exhale. Why Mahavira and the Buddha couldn't help women attain enlightenment, etc. Lots of references to other teachers and systems of thought. Some references to Taoism.

 

Nuf said. If you like the above get the book!

 

1134 pages of yummies!

 

Aside from being brilliant, I've heard that Osho was nuts. Any thoughts?

 

-Yoda

[BobD]

Really glad you are enjoying him Yoda. I've actually not got round to that book yet (it's on my list though, especially now that you've reviewed it!)

 

Just curious, what did Osho say re: afterlife?? 

Well, the thing with Osho is that he writes books on many philosophies, so he has Zen, Taoism, Yoga and Buddhist books. When discussing one he tends to stick with the underlying structure and beliefs, and just explain & expand on them. So, from the books I have read, it is not always possible to get a straight answer as to what he actualy believes personally.

 

I take that as a good thing, since although it seems strange, it kind of leans towards a sort of "all beliefs are valid if you just live in the right way" kind of thing.

 

He has expressed a view that the heaven spoken about in some beliefs is just living life to the full now (ie being in the moment, living as if each minute is your last etc); a view that it is the place you reach once you have accumulated enough good karma/good efforts/deep enough meditation etc and left the Wheel; a view that after death there is just a state of bliss waiting; etc etc

 

Often, one book will seemingly contradict another on a particular topic. For instance, I posted here a section from one of his books that says that you should not look to posture to get the right mind state, but in the last book I read by him (one about Yoga), he says the exact opposite! Both books are awesome, but you would be hard pressed to reconcile the two completely.

 

Aside from being brilliant, I've heard that Osho was nuts. Any thoughts?

Certainly brilliant, and who can be brilliant without being a little nuts?

[Yoda]

Here's a cool quote, paraphrased from p. 438:

 

when you are climbing stairs and you feel tired and breathless simply do this: just exhale, do not inhale. Then you can climb up any number of steps and you will not be tired. By emphasizing the exhale, you are ready to let go and die, you are not afraid of death and that opens you up to energy b/c you are not afraid.

 

-Yoda

[sean]

[peter falk]

That once you call a consistent relating you do with someone a relationship it's on it's way to being dead. Because you are trying to to turn Love into a noun. blink.gif

 

 

funny you should say this. i never referr to what mrs. columbo and i have as a "relationship." it just turned me off and i never knew why. maybe yer onto something.....

[BobD]

Sean, what are your fave Osho books, and Yoda, what two books have you just ordered? Just interested, cos I'm by no means sure that I've even come across all of them, let alone read them.

 

On a slightly related note, I have also found the books of Thich Nhat Hanh to be very good. No Death, No Fear was one of the first of his I read (which I got just after my Dad passed away, when trying to cope with it all, and it did help somewhat, as much as anything can). He has several "current moment awareness" books, as well as general Buddhist topic books.

[sean]

Sean, what are your fave Osho books, and Yoda, what two books have you just ordered? Just interested, cos I'm by no means sure that I've even come across all of them, let alone read them.

I only have "Book of Secrets", but frequently when I am in a book store I will pick up anything I see of his and flip through it.

[Yoda]

I just ordered 6 or 7 more titles. The boy has written a lot of books!! I ordered his commentary on Patanjali's Yoga sutras and his "meditation" book and autobiography of a politically incorrect guru. Maybe a sex one, there's a recent done that offers remedies for various physical and psychological issues. I forget the others, if any.

 

From what he says about Mahavira, I'm not sure if Osho ever got into sungazing. I'd be curious on that point. I'm optimistic that darkness meditation will compliment SG.

 

-Yoda

[sean]

I'm optimistic that darkness meditation will compliment SG.

3033[/snapback]

Are you aware of Mantak Chia's darkroom meditations Yoda?

[Mitch]

You can find OSHO's

 

VOLUME ONE-THE BOOK OF THE SECRETS

VOLUME TWO-112 TANTRA MEDITATIONS

 

Free with audio meditions at www.otantra.net/oTantra.html

[thelerner]

Taken from Otantra.net by Osho

 

Yoda you spend time standing, sitting, staring, here's something for on your back

 

 

IN SUMMER WHEN YOU SEE

 

THE ENTIRE SKY

 

ENDLESSLY CLEAR,

 

ENTER SUCH CLARITY.

 

Meditate on the sky; a summer sky with no clouds, endlessly empty and clear, nothing moving in it, in its total virginity. Contemplate on it, meditate on it, and enter this clarity. Become this clarity, this space-like clarity.

 

If you meditate on open unclouded sky, suddenly you will feel that the mind is disappearing, the mind is dropping away. There will be gaps. Suddenly you will become aware that it is as if the clear sky has entered in you also. There will be intervals. For a time being, thoughts will cease -- as if the traffic has ceased and there is no one moving.

 

In the beginning it will be only for moments, but even those moments are transforming. By and by the mind will slow down, bigger gaps will appear. For minutes together there will be no thought, no cloud. And when there IS no thought, no cloud, the outer sky and the inner become one, because only the thought is the barrier, only the thought creates the wall; only because of the thought the outer is outer and the inner is inner. When the thought is not there, the outer and the inner lose their boundaries, they become one. Really, boundaries never existed there. They appeared only because of the thought, the barrier.

 

To meditate on the sky is beautiful. Just lie down so you forget the earth; just lie down on your back on any lonely beach, on any ground, and just look at the sky. But a clear sky will be helpful -- unclouded, endless. And just looking, staring at the sky, feel the clarity of it -- the uncloudedness, the boundless expanse -- and then enter that clarity, become one with it. Feel as if you have become the sky, the space.

 

In the beginning, if you only meditate on the open sky, not doing anything else, intervals will start appearing, because whatsoever you see enters you. Whatsoever you see stirs you within; whatsoever you see is pictured, reflected.

 

You see a building. You cannot simply see it; something immediately starts happening within you. You see a man, a woman; you see a car -- you see anything. It is not just outside, something has started within, the reflection, and you have started reacting to it. So everything you see moulds you, makes you, modifies you, creates you. The without is constantly related with the within.

 

To look into the open sky is good. Just the expanse is beautiful, with no boundaries there. Your own boundaries will disappear, because the no-boundary sky will reflect within you. And if you can stare without blinking your eyes it will be good. If you stare without blinking your eyes... because if you blink your eyes your thought-process will continue. Stare without blinking the eyes. Stare in the emptiness, move into that emptiness, feel that you have become one with it, and any moment the sky will enter within you.

 

First you enter into the sky and then the sky enters you. And there is a meeting: the inner sky meeting the outer sky. In that meeting is realization. In that meeting there is no mind, because the meeting can happen only when the mind is not there. In that meeting you are for the first time not your mind. There is no confusion. Confusion cannot exist without the mind. There is no misery, because misery also cannot exist without the mind.

 

Have you observed this fact anytime or not -- that misery cannot exist without your mind? You cannot be miserable without your mind. The very source is not there. Who will supply you with this misery? Who will make you miserable? And the same is true from the opposite direction also: you cannot be miserable without your mind and you cannot be blissful with your mind. The mind can never be the source of bliss.

 

So if the inner and outer sky meet and mind disappears, even for a moment, you will be filled with a new life. The quality of that life is absolutely different. It is life eternal, uncontaminated by death, uncontaminated by any fear. In that meeting you will be here and now, in the present -- because past belongs to thoughts, future belongs to thoughts. Past and future are part of your mind. Present is existence -- it is not part of your mind.

 

This moment doesn't belong to your mind. The moment that has gone belongs; the moment that has to come belongs to your mind. This moment never belongs to you. Rather, you belong to this moment. You exist here, right now here. Your mind exists somewhere else, always somewhere else.

 

Unload yourself.

 

I was reading one Sufi mystic. He was travelling on a lonely path, the way was deserted, and he saw a farmer with his bullock-cart. The cart was stuck in mud. The road was rough. The farmer was carrying a big load of apples in his bullock-cart, but somewhere on the rough road the tailboard of the wagon became unfastened and the apples were scattered. But he was not aware of it; the farmer was not aware of it.

 

When the cart got stuck in the mud, first he tried to bring it out somehow, but all efforts were in vain, so he thought, `Now I must unload my cart, then maybe I can pull it out.' He looked back. Hardly a dozen apples were left -- the load was already unloaded. You can feel his misery. The Sufi reports in his memoirs that that exasperated farmer made a remark. He said, `Stuck, by heck! Stuck! -- and not a damn thing to unload!' The only possibility was that if he could unload the cart it could come out; but now -- nothing to unload!

 

Fortunately you are not stuck in such a way. You can unload -- your cart is too much loaded. You can unload the mind, and the moment the mind is not there, you fly; you become capable of flying.

 

This technique -- to look into the clarity of the sky and to become one with it -- is one of the most practised. Many traditions have used this. And particularly for the modern mind it will be very useful, because on earth nothing is left. On earth nothing is left to meditate on -- only the sky. If you look all around, everything is man-made, everything is limited, with a boundary, a limitation. Only the sky is still, fortunately, open to meditate on.

 

Try this technique, it will be helpful, but remember three things. One: don't blink -- stare. Even if your eyes start to feel pain and tears come down, don't be worried. Even those tears will be a part of unloading; they will be helpful. Those tears will make your eyes more innocent and fresh -- bathed. You just go on staring.

 

The second point: don't think about the sky, remember. You can start thinking about the sky. You can remember many poems, beautiful poems about the sky -- then you will miss the point. You are not to think `about' it -- you are to enter it, you are to be one with it -- because if you start thinking about it, again a barrier is created. You are missing the sky again, and you are again enclosed in your own mind. Don't think about the sky. Be the sky. Just stare and move into the sky, and allow the sky to move in you. If you move into the sky, the sky will move into you immediately.

 

How can you do it? How will you do it -- this moving into the sky? Just go on staring further away and further away. Go on staring -- as if you are trying to find the boundary. Move deep. Move as much as you can. That very movement will break the barrier. And this method should be practised for at least forty minutes; less than that will not do, will not be of much help.

 

When you really feel that you have become one, then you can close the eyes. When the sky has entered in you, you can close the eyes. You will be able to see it within also. Then there is no need. So only after forty minutes, when you feel that the oneness has happened and there is a communion and you have become part of it and the mind is no more, close the eyes and remain in the sky within.

 

 

Simple, natural, I'll have to try this one

 

Peace

 

Michael

[Yoda]

Yep, that is the Book of Secrets! No investment required! The best way to sample the goods is to find cool topics through the list of meditations. That boy has a lot of transcripts online here and there. I've had good luck googling Osho plus topic of choice.

 

Sky meditation does look cool.

 

Haven't heard of Chia's darkroom meditations.

 

-Yoda

[sean]

Haven't heard of Chia's darkroom meditations.

3043[/snapback]

http://www.universal-tao.com/dark_room/

[Yoda]

Cool! Can you order DMT online I wonder... So Taoists believe that we come from and return to the stars... and the big dipper stars correspond to chakras... and that darkness practice helps make sexual practices easier. (Osho says the same thing re: sexual practices--maybe I'll try some melatonin)

 

Since sungazing, I've been ghastly about sexual practices--I'm not inclined to do them, when I do I suck at them, etc. I thought I could use sunchi to outrun the effects of jing loss. This might help.

 

Sounds fun.

 

I'll continue to mess with sitting in the dark to see what's up.

 

-Yoda

[BobD]

You can find OSHO's

 

VOLUME ONE-THE BOOK OF THE SECRETS

VOLUME TWO-112 TANTRA MEDITATIONS

 

Free with audio meditions at www.otantra.net/oTantra.html

3037[/snapback]

 

Thanks for this. Even though I still intend to buy the book, I've been reading some of these pages, and I agree with Yoda, this thing rocks. The webpages are hard to read (from a colour point of view) but the content is superb!

[Yoda]

Here's a cool one from his meditation book:

 

inhale golden light from the universe through the head and then filling the entire body. Exhale and imagine cool blue-black darkness coming in throught the feet and fill the entire body.

 

After a few months, sexual energy will no longer pool at the bottom of the spine.

 

Also, he reminded me of tonglen meditation--breathe in negativity from the world and breathe out love to the world.

 

He says to play around with different techniques until you find a few that really click and do those.

 

He did lots of darkness meditations during his schooling years and had a very hard time making it to class--they make you very lazy and accepting. Light meditations have the opposite effect.

 

-Yoda

[sean]

inhale golden light from the universe through the head and then filling the entire body.  Exhale and imagine cool blue-black darkness coming in throught the feet and fill the entire body.

Nice one. I like this.

Also, he reminded me of tonglen meditation--breathe in negativity from the world and breathe out love to the world.

Just FYI, Winn warns against this. Says it's very hard on your lung spirit and can actually cause real lung issues.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

I actually used to do a fair amount of tonglen. The meditation is very beautiful and it generates a spirit of resourcefulness and invincibility and softness, etc. This meditation only works with certain philosophical mindsets. Works with Trungpa's, works with Osho's, would definitely not work with Winn's nor the standard taoist quest for immortality paradigm. Nor does it work with a samsara/negativity based worldview as is found in much of Buddhism in my humble opinion.

 

The bone crushing *samsara* of Buddhism is very hard on the lung spirit, kidney spirit, etc.

 

Doing tonglen while feeling depressed by samsara or the belief that life is bad might be bad if you dwell on the fact that you are not helping the zillions of folks being reborn in the lower realms very much. That will work against the spirit of the meditation. You are tugging in two different directions. The successful Buddhists--the ones that have found real joy and happiness in the world are the ones who have won this battle.

 

Tough fight.

 

Interesting point, though. Many of Osho's meditations and philosophies would be rejected by most systems. The darkness stuff isn't too popular, nor is his tonglen, nor is his general rave reviews that life is good and selfishness is good, etc.

 

Doing darkness meditations or tonglen with the view that life is good, that we don't have to resist evil and that we don't have to change ourselves or the world and suddenly those practices aren't dangerous anymore. Otherwise, they are devil's food!

 

According to Osho, that is the essence of tantra--there is no badness... it's all goodness.

 

-Yoda

 

PS--now that I'm grocking the darkness thing, these cloudy days aren't bumming me out anymore/as much. Dark is good... Of course, I'll still hope for a clear sunrise!! I guess I'm hoping that darkness meditation will allow me to take in more sungazing--still parked at 15 minutes.

[sean]

[Yoda]

A number of interesting points. Winn always has a cool nugget or two on every topic...

 

I love Winn's many positive insights and often ignore his many mini-warnings.

 

Reading Peter's Blog, I'm getting a better feeling for the plasticity of energy practices and systems that seem to thrive on certain fundamental principles but don't seem to exactly fit any one system's spell book. Peter has really benefitted by cultivating such an open mindset.

 

Too many mini-warnings might could hamper this kind of creativity. If you keep your practice fun-based, you'll naturally stay away from practices that can undermine your health and well-being.

 

-Yoda

[sean]