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OSHO Singles
20 Difficult Things to Accomplish in this World: life's challenges according to Buddha
"The Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters" is a succinct summary doctrine by which Buddhism was introduced to China. Each of the 42 sutras begins with “the Buddha said”. This particular sutra deals with “20 Difficult Things to Accomplish in this World” and Osho takes us through each verse, and dissects it line by line, never omitting to explain--in clear modern terms--the real meaning of the verses.
41 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 1976
45 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Osho
4,296 books6,800 followersRajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 11, 2017
It takes a Buddha to understand a Buddha
As always, Osho draws from his own experience to illuminate the teachings of Masters from the past. This is a delightful book of Buddha's sayings that Osho reveals so effortlessly and profoundly. 5 stars for Osho.
As always, Osho draws from his own experience to illuminate the teachings of Masters from the past. This is a delightful book of Buddha's sayings that Osho reveals so effortlessly and profoundly. 5 stars for Osho.
September 11, 2020
My fav quotes (not a review):
-Page 29 |
"To know truth is to be transformed. Truth liberates, but it must be your own."
-Page 8 |
"The greatest surprise of Mary’s life was receiving half a dollar on her fourth birthday. She carried the coin about the house and was seen sitting on the steps admiring it. “What are you going to do with your half dollar?” her mother asked. “Take it to Sunday school,” said Mary promptly. “To show to your teacher?” Mary shook her head. “No,” she said, “I’m going to give it to God. He will be as surprised as I am to get something besides pennies.”"
-Page 9 |
"God and prayer are possible only when your love has succeeded. When you have become a great lover, then only prayer can arise.”
-Page 27 |
"One of the most arduous things in life is not to think of oneself as extraordinary. Of course, this is the most ordinary thing in the world to think because everybody thinks he is extraordinary."
-Page 28 |
“Whatsoever you know and you don’t do, that you don’t know at all. Drop it, throw it, it is rubbish! Watch your doing because that is your real knowledge."
-Page 28 |
"You say anger is bad and you don’t want to do it, but then somebody insults you and you become angry and you say, “What to do? In spite of me I became angry. I know very well that anger is bad, poisonous, destructive; I know it, but what to do? – I became angry.” If you come to me, I will say, “You don’t know that anger is poisonous, you have only heard about it. Deep down you know that anger is necessary; deep down you know that without anger you will lose your standing, everybody will be bullying you. Without anger you will not have any spine, your pride will be shattered. Without anger, how can you exist in this world of continuous struggle for survival?”"
-Page 34 |
"Don’t allow anybody to reduce you to just a mechanism."
-Page 29 |
"To know truth is to be transformed. Truth liberates, but it must be your own."
-Page 8 |
"The greatest surprise of Mary’s life was receiving half a dollar on her fourth birthday. She carried the coin about the house and was seen sitting on the steps admiring it. “What are you going to do with your half dollar?” her mother asked. “Take it to Sunday school,” said Mary promptly. “To show to your teacher?” Mary shook her head. “No,” she said, “I’m going to give it to God. He will be as surprised as I am to get something besides pennies.”"
-Page 9 |
"God and prayer are possible only when your love has succeeded. When you have become a great lover, then only prayer can arise.”
-Page 27 |
"One of the most arduous things in life is not to think of oneself as extraordinary. Of course, this is the most ordinary thing in the world to think because everybody thinks he is extraordinary."
-Page 28 |
“Whatsoever you know and you don’t do, that you don’t know at all. Drop it, throw it, it is rubbish! Watch your doing because that is your real knowledge."
-Page 28 |
"You say anger is bad and you don’t want to do it, but then somebody insults you and you become angry and you say, “What to do? In spite of me I became angry. I know very well that anger is bad, poisonous, destructive; I know it, but what to do? – I became angry.” If you come to me, I will say, “You don’t know that anger is poisonous, you have only heard about it. Deep down you know that anger is necessary; deep down you know that without anger you will lose your standing, everybody will be bullying you. Without anger you will not have any spine, your pride will be shattered. Without anger, how can you exist in this world of continuous struggle for survival?”"
-Page 34 |
"Don’t allow anybody to reduce you to just a mechanism."
January 20, 2019
20 difficult vthings to practice
One of the best books I have read
Don't miss this if you are a true
Spiritual seeker. Try to practise these.
One of the best books I have read
Don't miss this if you are a true
Spiritual seeker. Try to practise these.
March 5, 2025
Favorite quotes:
“You possess only that which you can give Only by giving do you become the possessor. If you cannot give, then you are not in pos-session, you are not the master. Then the thing that you think you possess is possess ing you. Then you are possessed by your possession.”
“God and prayer are possible only when your love has succeeded. When you have become a great lover, then only prayer can arise.”
“It looks absurd because our logic is this: that when we are happy, we never remember. We become completely oblivious.”
“All that can die, you are not. You are neither your body nor your mind nor your self. You are simply pure space - which is never born and never dies.”
“If it has come from the outside, it has to go outside, it cannot be kept. If it has arisen in your own being, if it has flowered within you, if it has existential roots in your own being, you can keep it a secret because it has not come from the out-side, there is no need for it to go outside.”
“To just be without any hankering to be something else; to just be herenow, with no desire for the future, no desire for any repetition of the past, with no projection.”
“You have not even been thoroughly aware of your life, which is the most important thing here. You have not even investigated it - what it is. You have taken it for granted on the surface. All your knowledge about your life is borrowed.”
“To know truth is to be transformed. Truth liberates, but it must be your own.”
“We go on unconsciously expressing our opinion about others. Do you know others? You don't even know yourself.
How foolish it is to express opinions about others. You may have known somebody for a few days: you know his name, you know how he walks; you have known him in a few situa-tions, how he acts, but do you know him? He is a vast continent. You have known only a fragment of it.”
“Yes, arduous is the path, dangerous is the path, but that is the only way one matures, grows and attains to life abundant.”
“You possess only that which you can give Only by giving do you become the possessor. If you cannot give, then you are not in pos-session, you are not the master. Then the thing that you think you possess is possess ing you. Then you are possessed by your possession.”
“God and prayer are possible only when your love has succeeded. When you have become a great lover, then only prayer can arise.”
“It looks absurd because our logic is this: that when we are happy, we never remember. We become completely oblivious.”
“All that can die, you are not. You are neither your body nor your mind nor your self. You are simply pure space - which is never born and never dies.”
“If it has come from the outside, it has to go outside, it cannot be kept. If it has arisen in your own being, if it has flowered within you, if it has existential roots in your own being, you can keep it a secret because it has not come from the out-side, there is no need for it to go outside.”
“To just be without any hankering to be something else; to just be herenow, with no desire for the future, no desire for any repetition of the past, with no projection.”
“You have not even been thoroughly aware of your life, which is the most important thing here. You have not even investigated it - what it is. You have taken it for granted on the surface. All your knowledge about your life is borrowed.”
“To know truth is to be transformed. Truth liberates, but it must be your own.”
“We go on unconsciously expressing our opinion about others. Do you know others? You don't even know yourself.
How foolish it is to express opinions about others. You may have known somebody for a few days: you know his name, you know how he walks; you have known him in a few situa-tions, how he acts, but do you know him? He is a vast continent. You have known only a fragment of it.”
“Yes, arduous is the path, dangerous is the path, but that is the only way one matures, grows and attains to life abundant.”
May 30, 2018
Where better can you spend your hour.
This books takes about an hour to read. If knew of another way to spend one hour which would help you grow that much as a person you wouldn't be reading reviews.
This books takes about an hour to read. If knew of another way to spend one hour which would help you grow that much as a person you wouldn't be reading reviews.
July 18, 2019
Another amazing work from OSHO, the Sadguru.
June 2, 2025
It is a short read with 20 hard hitting facts about life...
MUST READ!
MUST READ!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews