Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh): teaching and sources

Teaching

Meditation as watching: he asks the meditator to remain a witness to whatever happens, also in his active meditations, which combine intense breathing, catharsis, stillness and dance. His talks range over Zen, Tantra, Sufism and many other traditions.^{2, 3, 4}

Who it is for

For readers who want to compare spiritual traditions through his commentaries or to try movement-based meditation, and who are ready to look at the history of his movement.

Life and places

From 1958 to 1966 he taught philosophy, mainly at the University of Jabalpur. ⁸
In the early 1970s he moved his headquarters from his Bombay apartment to the Shree Rajneesh Ashram in Pune. ⁸
In the United States he settled at the Big Muddy Ranch in central Oregon, where from the summer of 1981 until the late fall of 1985 several thousand sannyasins worked to create the communal city of Rajneeshpuram; after a world tour he returned to Pune in 1987. ⁸
He died on 19 January 1990 at his commune in Poona (Pune). ⁷

Where to start

Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing, ten talks of October 1974 on the Zen poem attributed to Sosan, free as a PDF from Osho World. The official description of Dynamic Meditation explains its five stages; it is not an effect study checked here. ^{1, 2, 3}

Public context

He himself pleaded guilty to immigration fraud in 1985, received a suspended sentence and a fine, and left the United States. ^{5, 6, 7}

Works

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol. 1

Book · 1972 · Osho World Foundation (online PDF)

His commentary on the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, a Tantra text in which Shiva answers Devi's questions with 112 meditation techniques. He presents Tantra as a matter of method rather than doctrine.

Open PDF · oshoworld.com ↗
Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing

Book · 1974 · Osho World Foundation (online PDF)

Ten talks on the Hsin Hsin Ming of Sosan, the third Zen patriarch, given in the mornings of 21 to 30 October 1974. He comments on Sosan's sutra.

Open PDF · oshoworld.com ↗

The short summaries are ours.

In their own words

Short passages in the words of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.

Make it a point: whatsoever – sadness, anger – whatsoever – depression, unhappiness – be with it. And you will suddenly become surprised that if you remain with sadness, sadness changes into a beautiful thing, sadness becomes a depth.

Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing · Chapter 3, Truth Cannot Be Sought, talk of 23 October 1974 in Buddha Hall, Pune; p. 47 of the Osho World PDF · oshoworld.com Recorded: Talk given in English; transcript as published by Osho World. According to osho.com his books are transcribed from audio and video recordings; the transcriber is not named.
It is concerned with method, with technique – not with principles at all. The word ‘tantra’ means technique, the method, the path.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol. 1 · Chapter 1, The World of Tantra, talk of 1 October 1972 in Woodlands, Bombay; p. 2 of the Osho World PDF · oshoworld.com Recorded: Talk given in English; transcript as published by Osho World. According to osho.com his books are transcribed from audio and video recordings; the transcriber is not named.

Documented teaching relationships

Personal teacher of Soham (formerly Samarpan)

Soham describes a long connection with Osho, from whom he received his former name Samarpan.

Self-reported · soham.one
Personal teacher of Miten

Miten describes becoming a disciple of Osho, who gave him the name Prabhu Miten, and living in his ashrams in India and Oregon, where he later coordinated the music for Osho's evening talks.

Self-reported · devapremalmiten.com
Personal teacher of Deva Premal

Deva Premal describes becoming Osho's disciple at the age of eleven, after seeing him on video; he gave her the name Deva Premal, and at seventeen she went to his ashram in India, where she studied under his guidance.

Self-reported · devapremalmiten.com
Personal teacher of Arjuna Ardagh

In an interview with BatGap, Arjuna Ardagh says he found another teacher in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), lived with him in Pune and moved with him to Oregon.

Self-reported · batgap.com

Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.

Sources

Osho World · Archive Archive of his talks run by Osho World Foundation in New Delhi; devotional; separate from OSHO International Foundation accessed 10 Oct 2026
OSHO Dynamic Meditation · osho.com Official English description of the method with quotations from his talks; read in the Internet Archive copy of 1 March 2024 because the live site blocks automated access accessed 10 Oct 2026
Hsin Hsin Ming: The Book of Nothing · Osho World (PDF) Transcript of ten talks he gave in English in Pune, 21 to 30 October 1974, published online by Osho World accessed 10 Oct 2026
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol. 1 · Osho World (PDF) Transcript of talks he gave in English in Bombay, 1 October 1972 to 1 March 1973, later also published as The Book of Secrets; published online by Osho World accessed 10 Oct 2026
Rajneeshees · Carl Abbott Historical account by a historian, Oregon Encyclopedia of the Oregon Historical Society, last updated 21 October 2024; read in the Internet Archive copy of 4 December 2024 because the live site blocks automated access accessed 10 Oct 2026
Guru pleads guilty and goes · UPI, 15 November 1985 Contemporary news agency report by Clyde Jabin from Portland; read through a summary because the page blocks direct download accessed 10 Oct 2026
Bhagwan Rajneesh Dies At 58 · The Seattle Times, 19 January 1990 Contemporary newspaper report on his death, with voices of followers and of former opponents in Oregon accessed 10 Oct 2026
Rajneesh · Marion S. Goldman, Encyclopedia of Religion (2005), Encyclopedia.com Reference article in the Encyclopedia of Religion (2005), read on Encyclopedia.com accessed 11 Oct 2026

Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 11 Oct 2026.

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