Osho's Meditation Method — Doesn’t Work

Xuefeng

March 27, 2012

Without a doubt, Osho is a great enlightener of thought. His ideas are like a bomb, shattering the mental cages that have confined us for centuries, allowing us to see beyond those confines. Osho is a liberator. He frees our minds, enabling us to face facts with greater clarity and reason, no longer confused or deceived, thus freeing our thoughts.

However, Osho does not understand the principles and mysteries of life, nor does he comprehend what time and space are. Therefore, he can only enlighten people but not guide. He knows where the problems lie but does not know the ways and methods to solve them. None of the methods he advocates are ultimate or final. If someone follows his methods completely, it will inevitably be futile.

Osho's meditation methods are just scratching the surface and indulging in unrealistic fantasies. Despite there being thousands of groups practicing meditation according to Osho's methods with claimed good results, in my view, it's a form of ostrich psychology, self-deception, and deceiving others. Whether it's awareness, observation, breathing, etc., they are all illusions and fundamentally cannot solve the problem.

Osho’s definition of meditation as “surpassing the mind and entering unknown dimensions” is itself erroneous and ambiguous. Meditation methods built on such a flawed and ambiguous foundation are inevitably disorderly and chaotic, making it increasingly difficult to achieve tranquility through practice.

So, what is tranquility?

Tranquility is when the mind dwells nowhere, not bound by form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or Dharma, reaching the state of "No sensation, thought, or consciousness, no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind, no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or phenomena, no realm of sight, no realm of consciousness. No ignorance, and also no end of ignorance, no old age and death, and also no end of old age and death. No suffering, origination, cessation, path, no wisdom and also no attainment.”

Zhuge Liang is the embodiment of wisdom. He believed that "Nothing can go far without tranquility." I can add that without tranquility, there can be no health, no order, no efficiency, no harmony, and no elevation. Tranquility is having a calm mind.

So, how does one achieve tranquility?

Start by solving problems.

When your stomach is growling from hunger, first find something to eat and satisfy your hunger. Otherwise, any meditation techniques will struggle to calm your mind. If there's a gas leak at home, resolve that issue first; it's impossible to meditate with a leaking gas. If your child is crying nearby, soothe and make them happy first, resolving their crying issue. Otherwise, it's impossible to get tranquility. If you have a pile of worries and unfinished tasks, even if you go to a remote cave in the mountains to meditate, your mind will never settle. Therefore, solve real-life problems first, face them directly, to find peace. Otherwise, attempts at peace are just deceiving yourself. When there's a pile of troubles, how can you get tranquility? Troubles in your mind follow you everywhere, can you really escape them? If troubles cannot be avoided, can you achieve peace of mind?

Some people try to achieve peace through meditation, sitting quietly, or retreating into solitude, but this approach is ineffective if the fundamental issues of the mind remain unresolved. How can the mind be calm when its core issues are not addressed? Any semblance of calmness achieved in such a state is artificial, self-deception. Injecting oneself with morphine or heroin may induce temporary tranquility, but once the effects wear off, the mind remains tangled and disturbed. Therefore, the essence of tranquility lies in having a mind free from worries — when the mind dwells nowhere, free from afflictions, attachments, concerns, sorrow, and fear. Even in the midst of activity, the mind can remain tranquil.

Without addressing the fundamental issues of life such as sustenance, shelter, health, aging, sickness, and death, all attempts at achieving tranquility are merely scratching the surface.

Of course, there is also a more profound method of achieving tranquility, which is to attain a state of "no-mind." Laozi teaches, "Favor and disgrace are like alarming dangers, wealth and status are like great calamities. What does it mean that favor and disgrace are like alarming dangers? Favor is degrading; one is alarmed at gaining it, alarmed at losing it — this is what is meant by favor and disgrace are like alarming dangers. What does it mean that wealth and status are like great calamities? Why do I have such great calamities? Because I have a self. If I no longer had a self, what calamities would I have?" The reason there are "great calamities" is because there is a "self." If there were "no self," what "calamities" could there be? Tranquility arises because there is a mind. If there were "no mind," where would the need for tranquility come from?

So, how can one achieve a state of "no-mind"?

By reading "Chanyuan Corpus" and "Xuefeng Corpus" and living in the Second Home community established by Lifechanyuan, one can achieve "no-mind."

2012/3/27