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The Art
სიცოცხლე და სიკვდილი
ოშოს ბევრი მიმდევარი ჰყავს , ზოგი რას ლაპარაკობს მასზე და ზოგი რას...მე კიხანდახან ვფიქრობ,რომ ეს ადამიანი ან მართლა არა ამქვეყნიური იყო,ან არადა წინასწარმეტყველი. ის,რაზეც „სიცოცხლესა და სიკვდილში“ ლაპარაკობს, გასული საუკუნის 50-იანი წლებისთვის სრულიად წარმოუდგენელი რამაა,სინჯარის ბავშვები,„ტრიდე“ ფილმები და ა.შ. თუ წლდები განმავლობაში ეს რეალობა გახდა,სულ რაღაც ერთ საუკუნეზე მცირე დროში,მაშინ სავარაუდოდ,მასში მოყვანილი სხვა ვარაუდებიც ახდება.
569 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2013
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1677 people want to read
About the author
Osho
4,354 books6,781 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 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 30, 2014
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
Osho discusses everything related to death such as the fear of death and how it may be overcome, assisting loved ones through the experience, Buddhist approaches to dying, and meditations that one may use to "die before death". Most of these perspectives were Eastern in origin and I had not read about or been exposed to them before this book.
Osho's writings reminded me a great deal of Eckhart Tolle's works (especially the lecture: Even the Sun Will Die) but while Tolle approaches existence and death always from the perspective of "now", Osho encourages the reader to think about death from the perspective of the dead. He asserts that death enters your life with your birth and that most if not all of our fears around the topic are caused by our reluctance to accept that it happens to everyone, ourselves included. I generally agreed with that. He goes into some Eastern vs Western attitudes about death and sex, and although I'm not an expert about such things, which seemed to be astute observations about how the different cultures have developed.
My biggest takeaway from this book was Osho's wisdom about noticing how you are a witness in your own body, mind, and life. He believes that our essential consciousness is like a mirror, reflecting life without judgment or attachment. Through your own transcendental meditative experiences, you can discover (or remember) that there is an immortality to you beyond this life while still living. The part of you that was not born, will not die. But, you don't have to just take Osho's word for it- hit the meditation mat and witness this for yourself. It's an empowering, practical, and possibly transformative message.
Fans of Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, and Deepak Chopra may really enjoy the teachings of Osho.
Osho discusses everything related to death such as the fear of death and how it may be overcome, assisting loved ones through the experience, Buddhist approaches to dying, and meditations that one may use to "die before death". Most of these perspectives were Eastern in origin and I had not read about or been exposed to them before this book.
Osho's writings reminded me a great deal of Eckhart Tolle's works (especially the lecture: Even the Sun Will Die) but while Tolle approaches existence and death always from the perspective of "now", Osho encourages the reader to think about death from the perspective of the dead. He asserts that death enters your life with your birth and that most if not all of our fears around the topic are caused by our reluctance to accept that it happens to everyone, ourselves included. I generally agreed with that. He goes into some Eastern vs Western attitudes about death and sex, and although I'm not an expert about such things, which seemed to be astute observations about how the different cultures have developed.
My biggest takeaway from this book was Osho's wisdom about noticing how you are a witness in your own body, mind, and life. He believes that our essential consciousness is like a mirror, reflecting life without judgment or attachment. Through your own transcendental meditative experiences, you can discover (or remember) that there is an immortality to you beyond this life while still living. The part of you that was not born, will not die. But, you don't have to just take Osho's word for it- hit the meditation mat and witness this for yourself. It's an empowering, practical, and possibly transformative message.
Fans of Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, and Deepak Chopra may really enjoy the teachings of Osho.
October 11, 2014
The immediate reaction of most Christians would usually be to go to war over who is right or wrong about God, Jesus, & the afterlife. But like Osho, I say such arguments are a wasted effort, because the fact is that we will not know until we die, & regardless of the outcomes of such battles, whatever the reality is will not be affected. It simply is what it is. Instead of all our fighting over details, we should unite in the common thread of almost all world religions, which is peace, love of neighbor, & kindness. Good book!
July 22, 2025
Bhagwan’s words cut me deep. I died several times while reading this book.
July 4, 2024
Through this book, Osho explores death perfectly. He analyzes the social perceptions of death in Eastern and Western cultures and the taboo it carries. He has many pages dedicated to anonymously submitted questions, which I found very insightful and curious. Osho's message on death is simple: death does not exist, at least in the light we believe it exists in. Life and death are one; he maintains throughout the book that the day you are born; you are dying. You have already started your journey towards death, and every day, one moves closer and closer to the end. And while many fret over this thought and view it as an "impending doom," it should not be stigmatized. Death is a friend, and life, in a sense, is death as well. They are one but with different identifications bestowed by humans. This leads to the next concept he explored: disidentification. Osho talked about the importance of moving away from our identities. We are not our bodies, we are not our experiences, we are not our emotions; we are only witnesses of all those things. We are witnesses of life, and one must strive to become a witness of life to attain the beauty of death fully. Because of identities, we have come to new things, categorize things, and either uplift or stigmatize the very natural parts of life. When we separate from our identities, the ones adapted through the outside gaze; our parents, friends, social environments, etc., that is when we become ourselves authentically and reach the "Man of No Title" - a being with no titles, just a being that exists and observes and witnesses life and embraces death, because one realizes they are one. If one is afraid of death, they are afraid of life - because they are one.
The fear of death comes from the fear of living, and I strongly agree with this point in this book. There is a tendency to postpone life, including the postponement of self and others and a true calling for a career instead; there are many examples. This postponing comes from the fact that we live as if death will not happen to us. We see death; we know death, and we have experienced the loss of another, but we do not grasp that we, too, will die. Osho frames it perfectly; he says that we think death will happen to others but not to us; there is a feeling of being exceptional, the chosen to "escape" death. And with this mindset, there comes the issue of postponing life. We do not go after what we wish to go after, live through the lenses of others, and please others at the cost of our happiness; we go on living as if we have second chances in this specific reality we are crafting. Then we face death, and we realize that the life lived was not a life that was ours; it was a life lived through the outside gaze. This creates fear and despair. This creates a possessive nature; we become possessive of life, but we have no real control of power over life; it is fleeting; it is a drama, and it must be realized that we are the witnesses of this drama.
Being a witness was beautifully explored in this book, and it is complex and one I have to ponder further. It is a lifelong journey to become authentically a witness of life, enter death with an open heart and mind, and reach the "essential mind" that will allow us to be transcendental and not a clinger to life.
The message of this book is to live totally. Live totally, be a witness of yourself and your life, transcend through disidentification, and see life in its true form past the crafted identity one carries as a product of others, ego, and society. Be. Death is a friend; in the same way, we are life; we are death. We exist in harmony and oneness with everything; there is no fear, there is no enemy; there is nothing when we strip ourselves of the accumulated beliefs that are not truly ours.
I did not agree with everything in this book, but that made it an even better read because it introduced new ideas and confronted my beliefs.
My favorite quotes:
"Everything is immaterial because everything else is on the outside; only love comes from the inside...We come naked but we come full of love. We come empty of everything else but we come full of love, overflowing. So when we give our love, then only do we give...So don't postpone love; you can postpone everything else but not love. And the man who never postpones love becomes love, and to become love is to know the divine."
"There are only three great events in life: birth, love, and death. Birth has already happened - you cannot do anything about it. Love is very exceptional: it happens to very few people, and you cannot know anything about it. Death happens to all, and you cannot avoid it."
"Zen says: Don't be identified with anything whatsoever. And then, naturally, transcendence happens. You see misery coming and you remain a watcher. You see misery arising, engulfing you, surrounding you like great dark smoke, but you remain a watcher. You see it, you don't judge. You don't say, 'This is me,' or 'This is not me.' You don't say anything at all, you remain non-judgemental. You simply see this is the fact, that there is misery."
"A crisis is a blessing; it brings you back to earth again and again. Otherwise, you start moving in your fantasy."
"Everything you say about everybody is basically about you, and every situation is your situation."
"Remain relaxed, remain non-possessive. If something is available, enjoy it. When it disappears, let it disappear with gratitude - gratitude for all it has done for you, with no grudge and with no complaint. And you will know the greatest joys of both life and death, of both light and darkness, of both being and non-being."
"Listen, but don't follow. Listen well, but follow your own insight, don't follow others' advice. Listen carefully, meditatively; try to understand what they want to convey to you...but if you start following blindly you will never attain your own intelligence."
The fear of death comes from the fear of living, and I strongly agree with this point in this book. There is a tendency to postpone life, including the postponement of self and others and a true calling for a career instead; there are many examples. This postponing comes from the fact that we live as if death will not happen to us. We see death; we know death, and we have experienced the loss of another, but we do not grasp that we, too, will die. Osho frames it perfectly; he says that we think death will happen to others but not to us; there is a feeling of being exceptional, the chosen to "escape" death. And with this mindset, there comes the issue of postponing life. We do not go after what we wish to go after, live through the lenses of others, and please others at the cost of our happiness; we go on living as if we have second chances in this specific reality we are crafting. Then we face death, and we realize that the life lived was not a life that was ours; it was a life lived through the outside gaze. This creates fear and despair. This creates a possessive nature; we become possessive of life, but we have no real control of power over life; it is fleeting; it is a drama, and it must be realized that we are the witnesses of this drama.
Being a witness was beautifully explored in this book, and it is complex and one I have to ponder further. It is a lifelong journey to become authentically a witness of life, enter death with an open heart and mind, and reach the "essential mind" that will allow us to be transcendental and not a clinger to life.
The message of this book is to live totally. Live totally, be a witness of yourself and your life, transcend through disidentification, and see life in its true form past the crafted identity one carries as a product of others, ego, and society. Be. Death is a friend; in the same way, we are life; we are death. We exist in harmony and oneness with everything; there is no fear, there is no enemy; there is nothing when we strip ourselves of the accumulated beliefs that are not truly ours.
I did not agree with everything in this book, but that made it an even better read because it introduced new ideas and confronted my beliefs.
My favorite quotes:
"Everything is immaterial because everything else is on the outside; only love comes from the inside...We come naked but we come full of love. We come empty of everything else but we come full of love, overflowing. So when we give our love, then only do we give...So don't postpone love; you can postpone everything else but not love. And the man who never postpones love becomes love, and to become love is to know the divine."
"There are only three great events in life: birth, love, and death. Birth has already happened - you cannot do anything about it. Love is very exceptional: it happens to very few people, and you cannot know anything about it. Death happens to all, and you cannot avoid it."
"Zen says: Don't be identified with anything whatsoever. And then, naturally, transcendence happens. You see misery coming and you remain a watcher. You see misery arising, engulfing you, surrounding you like great dark smoke, but you remain a watcher. You see it, you don't judge. You don't say, 'This is me,' or 'This is not me.' You don't say anything at all, you remain non-judgemental. You simply see this is the fact, that there is misery."
"A crisis is a blessing; it brings you back to earth again and again. Otherwise, you start moving in your fantasy."
"Everything you say about everybody is basically about you, and every situation is your situation."
"Remain relaxed, remain non-possessive. If something is available, enjoy it. When it disappears, let it disappear with gratitude - gratitude for all it has done for you, with no grudge and with no complaint. And you will know the greatest joys of both life and death, of both light and darkness, of both being and non-being."
"Listen, but don't follow. Listen well, but follow your own insight, don't follow others' advice. Listen carefully, meditatively; try to understand what they want to convey to you...but if you start following blindly you will never attain your own intelligence."
October 3, 2015
I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. After having heard good things about this book from a friend and reading the reviews, I was excited to delve into something that would be both philosophical and spiritual with well formed ideas. However, this book did not deliver. I felt the ideologies and lessons it was trying to convey were constantly in contradiction from one passage to the next in addition to many passages being incredibly redundant. This may be due to the fact that it was not expressly written by Osho, but rather pieced together from oral lectures which I can only assume left much to get lost in translation. Regardless, this is not something I would recommend to someone looking for substantial, thought-provoking literature on life/death or even eastern philosophy.
October 3, 2017
Everything from OSHO is just amazing, he goes too deep in his discussions.
"Death Can not be denied by repeating that death does not exist.
Death will have to be known, it will have to to be encountered,
it will have to be lived.
you will have to be acquainted with it."
Though most of the book is just repetition of one idea that one can not enjoy the life without accepting the fact od depth, without getting acquainted with it, but even the repetition of the words is so deep that one gets just inside and inside the words as if they are lively.
Best chapters:-
Part 1 chapter 6
Part 3
Part 5
"Death Can not be denied by repeating that death does not exist.
Death will have to be known, it will have to to be encountered,
it will have to be lived.
you will have to be acquainted with it."
Though most of the book is just repetition of one idea that one can not enjoy the life without accepting the fact od depth, without getting acquainted with it, but even the repetition of the words is so deep that one gets just inside and inside the words as if they are lively.
Best chapters:-
Part 1 chapter 6
Part 3
Part 5
December 16, 2017
Osho is a Buddhist who has been regarded as ‘the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ.’ This is one that you read 50 pages and put down to process, what an introspective book.
The book starts by comparing western vs. eastern cultural habits, how the foundation of these habits originated, and how they are carried into our present day. In the east, people are sex against. In the West, people are the same when the topic being covered is death. The drastic difference in ideologies when comparing the fast paced, do-it-today philosophy of the western culture to the unhurried, lackadaisical philosophy behind the eastern culture is also evident. While each region has opposite beliefs, the basis of our beliefs stem from how we view life after death.
The book gets deep with opinions of what death is, if there is something named death, and/or if the idea of death is just shaped by where we are from. He then shares his experience (not belief) behind death, and how meditation can help you prepare for this pinnacle point of ones life. Death is the only thing that is a guarantee in our existence, and the author does a great job at highlighting his way of thinking about how death can be a transitional phase into eternal consciousness vs. what religions believe.
The book starts by comparing western vs. eastern cultural habits, how the foundation of these habits originated, and how they are carried into our present day. In the east, people are sex against. In the West, people are the same when the topic being covered is death. The drastic difference in ideologies when comparing the fast paced, do-it-today philosophy of the western culture to the unhurried, lackadaisical philosophy behind the eastern culture is also evident. While each region has opposite beliefs, the basis of our beliefs stem from how we view life after death.
The book gets deep with opinions of what death is, if there is something named death, and/or if the idea of death is just shaped by where we are from. He then shares his experience (not belief) behind death, and how meditation can help you prepare for this pinnacle point of ones life. Death is the only thing that is a guarantee in our existence, and the author does a great job at highlighting his way of thinking about how death can be a transitional phase into eternal consciousness vs. what religions believe.
May 18, 2021
It's pretty well written. A lot of clarity in those pages. I've marked out a few things which I'd be keen to go back and re read. Osho makes a lot of sense to me personally. Doesn't beat around the bush. Gets to it. Is mad and neurotic, and says it like it is. My favourite kind of "guru".
He regularly features in my "top 3/5 dead people you'd like to meet" (I'm making it sound like I'm a celeb, I just mean in my own interviews of myself)
Anyway - I think this is the first BOOK I read by him. The rest have been just like youtube videos. I highly recommend this one.
I also highly recommend this app which sends reminders every 4 hours saying "remember, you're going to die"
Morbid but essential methinks.
Dude, here's some perspective.
He regularly features in my "top 3/5 dead people you'd like to meet" (I'm making it sound like I'm a celeb, I just mean in my own interviews of myself)
Anyway - I think this is the first BOOK I read by him. The rest have been just like youtube videos. I highly recommend this one.
I also highly recommend this app which sends reminders every 4 hours saying "remember, you're going to die"
Morbid but essential methinks.
Dude, here's some perspective.
June 28, 2024
Read this book in czech version "O životě a smrti, oslava života a oslava smrti" and it's not quite an easy read, it's more deeper than what we think at the first sight and it's necessary to reread some parts. Wanted to read a spiritual book to understand some things and this did open my eyes. I don't know what to believe and what to not, but it really gave me an idea how life and death works. Sometimes I cried because some chapters were just so deep and found inspiration in them. Whether you're just curious or want to get deeper into all this spiritual stuff, this is a great book and everything is written so logically, it just makes sense!
April 25, 2019
I felt like this book is a collection of philosophies and ideas from a range of historical philosophers and Buddhist teachings so I can’t say it taught me a heap of new lessons, but there were a couple interesting ideas and it was packaged up as either a reminder of some philosophies, or an intro into spirituality and consciousness for someone who hasn’t already delved deeper. Contains some great insights but I don’t feel like Osho builds his arguments or rationale as well as other masters, and he’s sometimes a bit repetitive and gives off the ‘just trust me, I know’ vibe, rather than making his case so compelling you can’t deny it as other authors like Eckhart Tolle have done.
January 11, 2025
Repetitive. Mantra-like. There were a few helpful passages in here but I found the explanations half-baked and I felt like there were many conflicting ideas from chapter to chapter. Works best as a meditative experience. I read this while experiencing a loss of my own so I found a few parts in PART 4: Time to Say Goodbye, a bit helpful... That's about it.
Would recommend skipping this one or at least finding an online abridged list of chapters since the redundant nature of the book allows you to jump around.
Would recommend skipping this one or at least finding an online abridged list of chapters since the redundant nature of the book allows you to jump around.
July 4, 2025
Very good book. The profound belief with death is the absence of belief for it. It isn't necessarily a critique on different beliefs, but an acknowledgement of what belief is capable of doing to a person's mindset in a negative light when trying to come to terms with death. Both Jesus and the Buddha were mentioned in the book.
August 9, 2020
Completely took away my fear of death and that's a huge thing a book can do, but it did it for me. For that reason I regard this book as my 'bible'. Every time I feel fearful of life or whatever it may be, I go back to this and read some of the pages I've highlighted.
December 6, 2017
Not particularly dense
December 14, 2018
Juba poole peal tahtsin teist korda lugeda.
July 29, 2020
I loved many ideas but it was much repetitive at many instances
November 12, 2020
This was an interesting experience... I must say that I enjoyed the book more than I read about it in reviews.
July 26, 2022
life changing book. my entire perception of reality has been challenged, dismantled, and then somewhat rebuilt.
January 28, 2025
Ця книга допомогла мені в боротьбі зі страхом смерті й прийнятті смертності інших
November 12, 2025
“When you live fully, death becomes the most beautiful experience —
because it is the final surrender of all separateness
because it is the final surrender of all separateness
March 20, 2016
Quite a bit of original thought here (well original to my narrowly read mind, anyway).
If you are not attached to anything, death can come at this moment and you will be in a very welcoming mood.
If you have not lived rightly, you will not be able to die rightly. To live rightly, live with full awareness.
God is not the center of religious inquiry, death is. Without death there would have been no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the deathless.
Doubt is not a search for belief; it is simply groping for the mystery, making every effort to understand the un-understandable, to comprehend the incomprehensible - a groping effort.
Disbelief only comes in when belief has entered in; it is a shadow of belief.
"Don't consider others, or else you will never grow." - George Gurdjieff
Death is the final fruit of life, like the tree that bears fruit.
Whenever a society suppresses sex it becomes expressive about death; Whenever a society suppresses death it becomes expressive about sex. Because death and sex are the two polarities of life. Sex means life, because life arises out of it. Life is a sexual phenomenon and death is the end of it.
Death is a daily process, that began when you were born.
To grow old does not mean to grow wise. Attaining wisdom means you have realised that there is nothing worth achieving in this life and there is nothing worth saving.
Because of the theory of reincarnation India became lethargic, they have no time sense. How could you, when eternity is available?
A poor man is never bored, only the rich can afford boredom.
Buddhism is the first religion which brought the message that your religions, your philosophies, are more grounded in your linguistic patterns than in anything else. And if you can understand your language better, you can understand your inner processes better.
If reality is illogical, then something is wrong with your logic.
The only way out of misery patterns is to witness them.
Time consciousness is death consciousness. When you are afraid of death then time is short.
When you are time conscious accumulating stuff becomes a priority.
The fear of death is fear of time. And the fear of time is, deeply down, fear of unlived moments, of an unlived life.
So, live more, live more intensely. Live dangerously.
Meditation is nothing but a way to learn how to do a thing totally.
People are afraid of life and they are afraid of life because life is only possible if you are capable of being wild - wild in your love, wild in your song and dance. This is where fear is.
Whomsoever you allow to lead will do some harm to you because he will start doing something, forcing something, giving you a structure; and you have to live an unstructured life, a life free of all structure and character, free of all frames, references, contacts- free in this moment from the past.
Convictions can't help much, because conviction means somebody else silencing your doubts and repressing your doubts; somebody else becoming an authority for you.
Doubts still persist as an undercurrent.
The real friend is one who does not advise you buy helps you to become more alert, more aware and more conscious of life= its problems, challenges and mysteries - and helps you go on your own voyage, gives you courage to experiment, gives you courage to seek and search, gives you the courage to commit many mistakes.. because one who is not ready to commit mistakes will never learn anything at all. Real friends don't give fixed advice, because situations change.
The totality of existence: Don't possess, don't hold anything and don't cling. Let things come and pass. Allow things to pass through you, and you remain always vulnerable, available.
The more you have, the more afraid of death you are. A poor man is not afraid of death, what has he to lose? In poor societies the taboo is sex and in rich societies the taboo is death.
The more safe you are, the more dead you are. To be alive is to risk.
When death is far away we are miserly with love, because there is always tomorrow. The mind is afraid of love because love is too much and the mind cannot control it. So the mind goes on postponing it.
A man should be informed of his impending death, it is HIS death.
The more you search for happiness, the further you are from it.
Life is a verb, as is death. Both are processes.
Don't give answers to mysteries. We are very arrogant when we give answers, we lose all humbleness.
If you are not attached to anything, death can come at this moment and you will be in a very welcoming mood.
If you have not lived rightly, you will not be able to die rightly. To live rightly, live with full awareness.
God is not the center of religious inquiry, death is. Without death there would have been no religion at all. It is death that makes man seek and search for the beyond, the deathless.
Doubt is not a search for belief; it is simply groping for the mystery, making every effort to understand the un-understandable, to comprehend the incomprehensible - a groping effort.
Disbelief only comes in when belief has entered in; it is a shadow of belief.
"Don't consider others, or else you will never grow." - George Gurdjieff
Death is the final fruit of life, like the tree that bears fruit.
Whenever a society suppresses sex it becomes expressive about death; Whenever a society suppresses death it becomes expressive about sex. Because death and sex are the two polarities of life. Sex means life, because life arises out of it. Life is a sexual phenomenon and death is the end of it.
Death is a daily process, that began when you were born.
To grow old does not mean to grow wise. Attaining wisdom means you have realised that there is nothing worth achieving in this life and there is nothing worth saving.
Because of the theory of reincarnation India became lethargic, they have no time sense. How could you, when eternity is available?
A poor man is never bored, only the rich can afford boredom.
Buddhism is the first religion which brought the message that your religions, your philosophies, are more grounded in your linguistic patterns than in anything else. And if you can understand your language better, you can understand your inner processes better.
If reality is illogical, then something is wrong with your logic.
The only way out of misery patterns is to witness them.
Time consciousness is death consciousness. When you are afraid of death then time is short.
When you are time conscious accumulating stuff becomes a priority.
The fear of death is fear of time. And the fear of time is, deeply down, fear of unlived moments, of an unlived life.
So, live more, live more intensely. Live dangerously.
Meditation is nothing but a way to learn how to do a thing totally.
People are afraid of life and they are afraid of life because life is only possible if you are capable of being wild - wild in your love, wild in your song and dance. This is where fear is.
Whomsoever you allow to lead will do some harm to you because he will start doing something, forcing something, giving you a structure; and you have to live an unstructured life, a life free of all structure and character, free of all frames, references, contacts- free in this moment from the past.
Convictions can't help much, because conviction means somebody else silencing your doubts and repressing your doubts; somebody else becoming an authority for you.
Doubts still persist as an undercurrent.
The real friend is one who does not advise you buy helps you to become more alert, more aware and more conscious of life= its problems, challenges and mysteries - and helps you go on your own voyage, gives you courage to experiment, gives you courage to seek and search, gives you the courage to commit many mistakes.. because one who is not ready to commit mistakes will never learn anything at all. Real friends don't give fixed advice, because situations change.
The totality of existence: Don't possess, don't hold anything and don't cling. Let things come and pass. Allow things to pass through you, and you remain always vulnerable, available.
The more you have, the more afraid of death you are. A poor man is not afraid of death, what has he to lose? In poor societies the taboo is sex and in rich societies the taboo is death.
The more safe you are, the more dead you are. To be alive is to risk.
When death is far away we are miserly with love, because there is always tomorrow. The mind is afraid of love because love is too much and the mind cannot control it. So the mind goes on postponing it.
A man should be informed of his impending death, it is HIS death.
The more you search for happiness, the further you are from it.
Life is a verb, as is death. Both are processes.
Don't give answers to mysteries. We are very arrogant when we give answers, we lose all humbleness.
September 9, 2016
It was a very interesting read and had me look at life and death from a different perspective. Highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book through a GR giveaway.
I received a copy of this book through a GR giveaway.
July 22, 2016
In this book Bhagwan Osho points DIRECTLY to that which is beyond words. The teaching from this beloved Guru is very profound from the first word to the last. It strips you of all your misconceptions and beliefs on life and death and shows you something you already know deep down but usually never face until you are staring death directly in the face. Osho is compassionate and gentle but also has a very no nonsense approach to clearing your vision of all the clouds society has put on you regarding life and death. Amazing book, very close to my heart. I will always read it because there is something of the transcendent that comes over me just by reading the words of this beautiful Master.
April 6, 2025
Very good book in terms of the "proper way to die." The profound belief with death is the absence of belief. Expectations create anxiety making death feel like the antagonist, when its really the reality. What I like is that it isn't necessarily a critique on belief, but an acknowledgement of what belief is capable of doing in a negative light when coming to terms with death or in the middle of dying. Jesus and Buddha are some noteworthy examples of people of different beliefs who were both life affirming, yet able to die properly.
August 11, 2016
I haven't enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed the first book I read from Osho which was "The fish in the sea is not thirsty"...
It is good nonetheless, yet not the best :)
The English version of this book is "The Art of Dying" (which I didn't know when I added the book on Goodreads, so couldn't make a link sorry!) if you wish to have more reviews from different readers :)
It is good nonetheless, yet not the best :)
The English version of this book is "The Art of Dying" (which I didn't know when I added the book on Goodreads, so couldn't make a link sorry!) if you wish to have more reviews from different readers :)
July 2, 2018
Not super engaging
I find this book too repetative and thus it loses the essencse. It could be shorter. Though a useful read and definitely lessons to take away from.
I find this book too repetative and thus it loses the essencse. It could be shorter. Though a useful read and definitely lessons to take away from.
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September 26, 2017I love broadening my mind and challenging notions of life and death. By learning these important lessons it's helped me to bring up ideas and thoughts in conversations I wouldn't normally have. Feeling thankful for seeking advice and teachings like this.
October 24, 2017
very poetic
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