Excerpt: This was the first book by Osho I had ever read—and it shook me. Read my collection of Osho quotes from The Book of Understanding to see why.
“Meditation is not of the body, not of the mind, not of the soul. Meditation simply means your body, your mind, your soul, all functioning in such a harmony, in such wholeness, humming so beautifully… that they are in a melody, they are one. Your whole being – body, mind, soul – is involved in meditation.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (Page 268)
“Tomorrow never comes.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 262)
“Joy arises only in creating joy for others; there is no other way. The more people you can make happy, the more you will feel happy. This is the real meaning of service.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 238)
“Man creates what he is, man creates himself. The meaning has to be created. You have to sing your meaning, you have to dance your meaning, you have to paint your meaning, you have to live it. Through living, it will arise; through dancing, it will start penetrating your being. Through singing, it will come to you. It is not like a rock just lying there to be found, it has to bloom in your being.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 227)
“People wonder why there seems to be no meaning in life. Meaning does not exist a priori. There is no meaning existing in life; one has to create it. Only if you create it will you discover it. It has to be invented first. It is not lying there like a rock, it has to be created like a song. It is not a thing, it is significance that you bring through your consciousness.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 221)
“There are very few joys in life greater than spontaneity. Spontaneity means to be in the moment; it means acting out of your awareness, not acting according to your old conditionings.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 211)
“A man of understanding, a man who understands himself and others, always feels compassion. Even if somebody is an enemy you have compassion toward him because a man of understanding can understand the viewpoint of the other also. He knows why the other feels as he feels, he knows why the other is angry, because he knows his own self, and in knowing that, he has known all others.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 206)
“Only disciplined people become free, but their discipline is not obedience to others: their discipline is obedience to their own inner voice. And they are ready to risk anything for it.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 202)
Excerpt: The following story is about Abraham Lincoln and taking pride in your work—even if that work is perceived as foolish by others. Enjoy!
“Being is so significant that it is irreplaceable. You are just yourself. Do something that comes out of you – not to assert, but to express! Sing your song, dance your dance, rejoice in being whatever nature has chosen you to be.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 180)
“The desire to rule over others, the will to power, is one of the greatest crimes that man has committed.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 177)
“The mediocre mind has no capacity for understanding. It is stuck somewhere near thirteen years in its mental age, or even below it. The person may be forty, fifty, seventy years old – that does not matter, that is the physical age. He has been growing old, but he has not been growing up. You should note the distinction. Growing old, every animal does. Growing up, only a few human beings manage.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 177)
“Two identical things do not exist at all, so there is no need to be ‘somebody.’ You just be yourself, and suddenly you are unique, incomparable. That’s why I say that this is a paradox: those who search fail, and those who don’t bother, suddenly attain.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 171)
“You don’t feel empty because you don’t have much money. You feel empty because you have not yet encountered your real self, you have not come to your authentic individuality. Individuality makes you a light unto yourself.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 159) (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)
“When a poet writes a poem, meaning arises – because the poet is not alone; he has created something. When a dancer dances, meaning arises. When a mother gives birth to a child, meaning arises. Left alone, cut off from everything else, isolated like an island, you are meaningless. Joined together you are meaningful. The bigger the whole, the bigger is the meaning.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 155)
“Each person is born with a unique individuality, and each person has a destiny of his or her own. Imitation is crime, it is criminal. If you try to become a Buddha, you may look like Buddha, you may walk like him, you may talk like him, but you will miss. You will miss all that life was ready to deliver to you. Buddha happens only once.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 146)
“There is an intrinsic law: thoughts don’t have their own life. They are parasites; they live on your identifying with them. When you say, ‘I am angry,’ you are pouring life energy into anger, because you are getting identified with anger. But when you say, ‘I am watching anger flashing on the screen of the mind within me,’ you are not anymore giving any life, any energy to anger.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 117)
Excerpt: The following story about a lion and a sheep shares an empowering message that will help you find and unleash your “inner lion.” Enjoy!
“The outer is easier, and the outer is objective. For example, one man, Thomas Alva Edison, discovers electricity and the whole of humanity uses it; there is no need for everyone to discover it again and again. Inner growth is a totally different phenomenon. A Gautama Buddha may become enlightened, but that does not mean that everybody else becomes enlightened. Each individual has to find the truth for him or herself.”
Osho, The Book of Understanding (page 96)