The Need for Chaotic Methods - osho

Traditional methods are systematic because the people in earlier times for whom they were developed were different. Modern man is a very new phenomenon. No traditional method can be used exactly as it exists, because modern man never existed before. So, in a way, all traditional methods have become irrelevant.

For example, the body has changed so much. It is not as natural now as it was in the days when Patanjali developed his system of Yoga. It is absolutely different. It is so drugged that no traditional method can be helpful.

In the past, medicine was not allowed to Hatha yogis, absolutely not allowed, because chemical changes will not only make the methods difficult but harmful. But the whole atmosphere is artificial now: the air, the water, society, living conditions. Nothing is natural. You are born in artificiality; you develop in it. So traditional methods will prove harmful today. They will have to be changed according to the modern situation.

Another thing: the quality of the mind has basically changed. In Patanjali’s days, the center of the human personality was not the brain; it was the heart. Before that, it was not even the heart. It was still lower, near the navel. Hatha Yoga developed methods which were useful, meaningful, to the person whose center of personality was the navel. Then the center became the heart. Only then could Bhakti Yoga be used. Bhakti Yoga developed in the Middle Ages because that is when the center of personality changed from the navel to the heart.

A method has to change according to the person to whom it is applied. Now, not even Bhakti Yoga is relevant. The center has gone even further from the navel. Now, the center is the brain. That is why teachings like those of Krishnamurti have appeal. No method is needed, no technique is needed — only understanding. But if it is just a verbal understanding, just intellectual, nothing changes, nothing is transformed. It again becomes an accumulation of knowledge.

I use chaotic methods rather than systematic ones because a chaotic method is very helpful in pushing the center down from the brain. The center cannot be pushed down through any systematic method because systemization is brain work. Through a systematic method, the brain will be strengthened; more energy will be added to it.

Through chaotic methods the brain is nullified. It has nothing to do. The method is so chaotic that the center is automatically pushed from the brain to the heart. If you do my method of Dynamic Meditation vigorously, unsystematically, chaotically, your center moves to the heart. Then there is a catharsis. A catharsis is needed because your heart is so suppressed, due to your brain. Your brain has taken over so much of your being that it dominates you. There is no place for the heart, so the longings of the heart are suppressed. You have never laughed heartily, never lived heartily, never done anything heartily. The brain always comes in to systematize, to make things mathematical, and the heart is suppressed.

So firstly, a chaotic method is needed to push the center of consciousness from the brain toward the heart.

Then catharsis is needed to unburden the heart, to throw off suppressions, to make the heart open. If the heart becomes light and unburdened, then the center of consciousness is pushed still lower; it comes to the navel. The navel is the source of vitality, the seed source from which everything else comes: the body and the mind and everything.

I use this chaotic method very considerately. Systematic methodology will not help now, because the brain will use it as its own instrument. Nor can just the chanting of bhajans help now, because the heart is so burdened that it cannot flower into real chanting. Chanting can only be an escape for it; prayer can only be an escape. The heart cannot flower into prayer because it is so overburdened with suppressions. I have not seen a single person who can go deep into authentic prayer. Prayer is impossible because love itself has become impossible.

Consciousness must be pushed down to the source, to the roots. Only then is there the possibility of transformation. So I use chaotic methods to push the consciousness downward from the brain.

Whenever you are in chaos, the brain stops working. For example, if you are driving a car and suddenly someone runs in front of you, you react so suddenly that it cannot be the work of the brain. The brain takes time. It thinks about what to do and what not to do. So whenever there is a possibility of an accident and you push the brake, you feel a sensation near your navel, as if it were your stomach that is reacting. Your consciousness is pushed down to the navel because of the accident. If the accident could be calculated beforehand, the brain would be able to deal with it; but when you are in an accident, something unknown happens. Then you notice that your consciousness has moved to the navel.

If you ask a Zen monk, “From where do you think?” he puts his hands on his belly. When Westerners came into contact with Japanese monks for the first time they could not understand. “What nonsense! How can you think from your belly?”

But the Zen reply is meaningful. Consciousness can use any center of the body, and the center that is nearest to the original source is the navel. The brain is furthest away from the original source, so if life energy is moving outward, the center of consciousness will become the brain. And if life energy is moving inward, ultimately the navel will become the center.

Chaotic methods are needed to push the consciousness to its roots, because only from the roots is transformation possible. Otherwise you will go on verbalizing and there will be no transformation. It is not enough just to know what is right. You have to transform the roots; otherwise you will not change.

When a person knows the right thing and cannot do anything about it, he becomes doubly tense. He understands, but he cannot do anything. Understanding is meaningful only when it comes from the navel, from the roots. If you understand from the brain, it is not transforming.

The ultimate cannot be known through the brain, because when you are functioning through the brain you are in conflict with the roots from which you have come. Your whole problem is that you have moved away from the navel. You have come from the navel and you will die through it. One has to come back to the roots. But coming back is difficult, arduous.

Kundalini Yoga is concerned with life energy and its inward flow. It is concerned with techniques to bring the body and mind to a point where transcendence is possible. Then, everything is changed. The body is different; the mind is different; the living is different. It is just life.

A bullock cart is useful, but it is no longer needed. Now you are driving a car, so you cannot use the technique that was used with the bullock cart. It was useful with the bullock cart, but it is irrelevant with the car.

Traditional methods have an appeal because they are so ancient and so many people have achieved through them in the past. They may have become irrelevant to us, but they were not irrelevant to Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali or Krishna. They were meaningful, helpful. The old methods may be meaningless now, but because Buddha achieved through them they have an appeal. The traditionalist feels: “If Buddha achieved through these methods, why can’t I?”

But we are in an altogether different situation now. The whole atmosphere, the whole thought-sphere, has changed. Every method is organic to a particular situation, to a particular mind, to a particular man.

The opposite extreme is that of Krishnamurti. He denies all methods. But to do that, he has to deny Buddha. It is the other aspect of the same coin. If you deny the methods then you have to deny Buddha, and if you do not deny Buddha then you cannot deny his methods.

These are extremes. Extremes are always wrong. You cannot deny a falsehood through taking an extreme position to it, because the opposite extreme will still be a falsehood. The truth always lies exactly in the middle. So to me, the fact that the old methods don’t work doesn’t mean that no method is useful. It only means that the methods themselves must change.

Even no-method is a method. It is possible that to someone only no-method will be a method. A method is always true in relation to a particular person; it is never general. When truths are generalized, they become false. So whenever anything is to be used or anything is to be said, it is always addressed to a particular human being: to his attention, to his mind, to him and no one else.

This too has become a difficulty now. In the old days there was always a one-to-one relationship between a teacher and a disciple. It was a personal relationship and a personal communication. Today it is always impersonal. One has to talk to a crowd, so one has to generalize. But generalized truths become false. Something is meaningful only to a particular person.

Any person who has been talking in general can be consistent, but then the truth becomes false, because every statement that is true is bound to be addressed to a particular person. Of course, the truth is eternal — it is never new, never old — but truth is the realization, the end. The means are always relevant or irrelevant to a particular person, to a particular mind, to a particular attitude.

As I see the situation, modern man has changed so much that he needs new methods, new techniques.

Chaotic methods will help the modern mind because the modern mind is, itself, chaotic. This chaos, this rebelliousness in modern man is, in fact, a rebellion of other things: of the body against the mind and against its suppressions. If we talk about it in yogic terms we can say that it is the rebellion of the heart center and the navel center against the brain.

These centers are against the brain because the brain has monopolized the whole territory of the human soul. This cannot be tolerated any further. That is why universities have become centers of rebellion. It is not accidental. If the whole society is thought of as an organic body, then the university is the head, the brain.

Because of the rebelliousness of the modern mind, it is bound to be lenient toward loose and chaotic methods. Dynamic Meditation will help to move the center of consciousness away from the brain. Then the person using it will never be rebellious, because the cause of rebellion becomes fulfilled. He will be at ease.

So to me, meditation is not only a salvation for the individual, a transformation for the individual; it can also provide the groundwork for the transformation of the whole society, of the human being as such.

Man will either have to commit suicide, or he will have to transform his energy.

Osho, The Psychology of the Esoteric, Talk #4

The Importance of Expression of Emotions and Osho’s Active Meditation: A Research Proposal

The Importance of Expression of Emotions and Osho’s Active Meditation:

A Research Proposal.

Abstract

Stress is one of the main psychological problems everyone faces around the globe. Meditation is one of the alternative treatment modality to reduce or cure it. However, people face difficulties in practicing meditation, particularly passive techniques. Therefore, Osho created a new method of meditation, active mediation techniques. This paper tries to compare these two different methods of meditation techniques and shows the importance of expression of emotions before sitting for a silent passive meditation.

Katya Rubia (2009), professor at King’s college in London, England, in reference to World Health Organization and other research studies such as Mathers and Loncar (2005), argues that in the next decade, the world is going to face more psychological and mental health problems. Already, people in all fields are affected by stress, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which are some of the important mental health issues the world now faces. Moreover, there are many life events which have negative impacts in their life. In addition to Counselling & Disability Services at York, the University Health Network (2010, 2011), The Canadian Mental Health Association (2011) and many other social services organizations are concerned about the issues related to stress. Therefore, all of these organizations and others promote at least six ways to reduce stress and raise relaxation. These are meditations techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, breathing exercises, yoga stretching, and imagery (Gillani & Smith, 2001). However, one of the most promoted is meditation for stress release and relaxation (Gillani & Smith, 2001; Shao & Skarlicki, 2009). There are many meditation methods which have many different techniques and most of them are either passive or active. However, not much is known in the academic field about Osho’s active meditation techniques and whether it is better than passive techniques. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the importance and usefulness of the expression of emotion which is part of Osho’s active meditation before sitting for a silence passive meditation in order to release stress and raise relaxation and awareness.

It is regret to see that there has not been much research done in Osho’s meditation except two. One exception is Anthony D’Andrea’s (2007) anthropological study about Osho’s active meditation method and Avni Vyas (2007) pilot study for his Phd. thesis. D’Andrea (2007) and Vyas (2007) state that Osho alias Rajneesh who is an Indian mystic created new method of active meditation by incorporating eastern and western philosophies and therapeutic techniques. Unfortunately, in the Western and Eastern therapeutic world, they have been following either active or passive methods separately without combing them. That is why, Osho (2003, 2010) argues that doing only traditional passive meditation is not very helpful because it is too difficult for most people who live now. However, he continues that it was suitable for people in those times when Buddha was alive. These traditional methods have been followed for a long time even before Buddha, Gowdhama Siddhartha. However, this method became popularized after his contribution to this work (Osho, 1974, 2010). Since then, it has been widely used even now in the academic field. 

There are many different traditional meditation methods and techniques used to reduce stress which have long and short term benefits (Weiss, Nordlie & Siegel, 2005). However, passive meditation methods such as Vipassana, Zen, Mindfulness or Transcendental Meditations (TM), are followed by most people who practice meditation or do study or research on it (Rubia, 2009; Osho, 1974, 2003). These methods usually involve sitting silently and watching one’s own breath and thoughts, or scanning the body with closed eyes without any judgment but it begins with concentrating on a particular word or thing (Rubia, 2009). Noori B. Gillani and Jonathan C. Smith (2001) also argue that TM by Mahes Yogi (Shao & Skarlicki, 2009) and Zen Meditation methods have been widely shown in academic research to reduce stress and to solve other psychological issues.   These traditional meditations, like mindfulness meditation, are also very helpful for identifying symptoms of stress in its beginning stages. Its conscious breathing helps distract the thought patterns and reduce their affects (Toneatto & Nguyen, 2007).

Osho (2003, 2010) however has criticized TM method because it is just like a mother helping a child to sleep by repeating a mantra and good for people who have sleep problems but not for reducing stress or other psychological problems. Rubia (2009) also says that this method is commercialized and just repeating any mantras like “ram…or rama”.  One hand, traditional methods are more disciplined and systematic which do not help to break the old disciplined and conditioned mind even though help some to relax (Osho, 2003, 2010). On the other hand, Osho (2003, 2010) argues that now people are not attached to and less aware of their bodies, and live a fast and mechanical life with more disciplined minds and lives. In addition, they have suppressed their emotions and feelings because of their social conditioning and culture. Also, people have full of unnecessary knowledge and thoughts because there has been an easy access to all kinds of information since the revolution in information technology. Therefore, it is difficult for them to sit, relax and watch their breath or thoughts because everyone is so tense (Osho, 2003, 2010). That is why there has been always a modification in meditation methods and techniques.

Gillani and Smith (2001) also argue that Zen meditation is not that useful for non-meditating participants. Therefore, the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) method was created by Kabat- Zinn. This new method incorporates different kind of techniques like yoga, breathing and other techniques including Zen for stress reduction and enhances performance (2001). Since this was created, it has been widely used to study, particularly in the academic field in North America and Europe, in order to reduce stress and also other psychological issues and have shown proven results. Therefore, this method has an accepted validity and reliability as well (2001).  Even though, these techniques are famous, whether these are useful for everyone or just only for particular gender and personalities is an ongoing study.

Shao and Skarlicki (2009) are some of the few who have studied the effects of MSBR on a group of MBA students to examine their performance. They found out that mindfulness meditation improved their performance. However, they found that there was a difference in results between genders because women improved more than men. They support their result based on neuroscience research studies because, mindfulness meditation activated both left and right hemispheres (Shao & Skarlicki, 2009).  fMRI showed females used both left and right hemispheres but males used only their left hemisphere. Therefore, they concluded that women do better in their performance. However, even though passive meditation helps men to activate both sides of their brain simultaneously, male brains inhibit their performance since they use one side of the brain which competes with the other side, therefore not improve their performance (2009). This shows that MBSR is also, like a traditional passive meditation techniques even though it incorporates different techniques, not much helpful for everyone.  Therefore, these passive meditations show some inadequacies in their techniques.

In addition, people who are new to meditation say that it is difficult to practice meditation because it is very hard to sit quietly and free the mind from thoughts.  Another reason is, during meditation, many people are aware of many thoughts, a lot of new thoughts than normally when they sit down and doing nothing (Osho, 2003, 2010).  Therefore, most of the people find it is difficult to reach a state of “no mind.” That is why Osho (2010) says that he had created a new modern method called active meditation. Osho (2003) argues, even though meditation itself is a passive state or method, there is something missing in practicing traditional meditation techniques for the current generation to prepare them to go into a meditative state; the active part. Therefore, he divided his meditation method into two parts with different techniques such as active and passive. Most of the first part of Osho’s meditation method is the active part which includes catharsis, fast and chaotic breathing through the nose or mouth, jumping, dancing, crying, laughing and gibberish (Osho, 2003, 2010; D’Andrea, 2007; Vyas, 2007).

Osho argues that, first, there is a need for the expression of suppressed emotions and feelings and the use of chaotic expression to free the mind of thoughts in order to connect with their own body again (Osho, 2003, 2010; D’Andrea, 2007; Vyas, 2007). It is important to combine the active parts like catharsis with anger, laughter and crying as an expression with the passive part and created as one method of meditation in order to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness (Osho, 2003, 2010). Leslie Greenberg (2008) also emphasizes in his studies the importance of emotional expression and awareness in order to have a healthy body and mind. Only then, can people go into a deep meditation or meditative state and can have an experience of it by watching their breath and thoughts. Therefore, Osho added a passive part as the second and last part for his meditation method which is the same as traditional meditation methods and gives meditative experience and helps to raise relaxation and awareness (2003).

            Osho (2003, 2010) argues that the emotional expression is important to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness. Since the emotions are deeply suppressed within, it is the basic cause for the stress or depression and other psychological problems.  In support to Osho’s argument, Ruth Davidhizar and Margaret Bowen (1992) argue that the emotional expression like crying helps to relax and otherwise it causes depression and can affect physically and psychologically such as PTSD symptoms after a traumatic event (Anderson,  Guajardo, Jennifer,  Luthra,  & Edwards, 2010). Hence, Antonio Pascual-Leone and Leslie S. Greenberg (2007) argue, it is difficult to categories emotions as positive or negative since both help to heal the person when they express it. Emotions transform from one to another for example when people either start to laugh or cry, the other emotion would follow in the middle of the process (Osho, 2003, 2010).  In the same way, anger might transform in to sadness (Pascual-leone & Greenberg, 2007). This shows that there is an interconnection among emotions and as result, when expressing one emotion might lead to another emotion which might be the primary emotion and the real cause of the present stress or depression (Pascual-leone & Greenberg, 2007; Osho, 2003, 2010). Therefore, what is important in the first place is as Osho (2003) and Pascual-leone and Greenberg (2007) argue that acceptance and being aware of own emotions whether it is positive or negative. They also argue that it is important to identify what kind of emotion the person has (2007). Only then, expression of emotions is possible and it will help to heal the physical and psychological problems of the participants (Osho, 2003). After expressing all of these so-called negative emotions, participants might feel relax but have low energy. Therefore they need some positive energy, coping skills and attitudes towards life in order to live a healthy life. This can be done through laughter and meditation.

Laughter has two functions. First, it helps to reduce stress and then it transforms negative emotions and energy into positive emotions, accumulates more energy within the participants and healthy relationship between the participants (Osho, 2003, 2010; Sutorius, 1995). Davidhizar and Bowen (1992) discuss that laughter as a tool reduces stress and raises relaxation. It is a natural part of human nature and is used to cure physical, psychological issues such as pain and stress (1992). Sutorius (1995) argues from his own experience that laughing everyday at least for some time, fifteen minutes, makes people relax and helps them to solve their day to day problems in a creative way. He says that he learned laughing meditation from Osho (2003, 2010) who says “laugh for no reason at all, just for the sake of the laughter, just laugh.” In addition, Sutorius (1995) says that anyone can laugh at their own problems and it makes them lighter and allows them to see the problems from a different perspective.  Melany Cueva, Regina Kuhnley, Anne Lanier and Mark Dignan (2006) also support these ideas about laughter based on the research study which they have done with First nation people in Alaska. In addition, Dacher Keltner and George A. Bonanno (1997) have done a study with the people who have lost their spouse or relatives and they found that there was an improvement in the participants’ life by practicing laughter. The participants had less sorrow and stress but had more happiness.

Osho (2003, 2010), Sutorius (1995), Keltner and Bonanno (1997) and Cueva et al., (2006) argue that even artificial laughter has its own effect because after all, it is laughter in the end ,while others such as Davidhizar and Bowen (1992) argue that artificial laughter is not that effective. Moreover, not only does it help the people who are close to laughing people, but it is infectious and spreads the laughter too. However, all of these researches agree on one point, that the laughter can be used to reduce stress and pain and raise relaxation. The reason is laughter stimulates the immune system which is cut short when a person has stress. Another reason is that laughter simulates the secretion of betaendorphines in the brain and thus affects pain-receptor sites of the nerve cells and reduces pain sensations and massages the muscles in the face and makes a state of relaxation (Davidhizar & Bowen, 1992, Martin, 2001). Nicholas A. Kuiper and Rod A. Martin (1998) take is argument one step further and posit that laughter functions as barrier to stop the stress in its beginning stages. People who laugh regularly do not have a stressful life but have a positive attitude towards life compared to people who do not laugh (Kuiper and Martin 1998; Cueva et al., 2006). After the expression of emotions and explosion of laughter, relaxation might happen by itself to the participants. Most of the Western therapies stop their treatment here and miss the meditative part as coping skills for the future. However, Osho’s added traditional passive techniques as a last part to his method. Most of the traditional Eastern Therapeutic and meditation followers begins this last part as the first step and miss the emotional expression.

The last part of the Osho’s active meditation is that doing nothing and just let go when the silence might happens itself within without any effort by the participants (2003, 2010). This is called as the meditative state of a participant which is called as no-mind in the meditative field (Osho, 2003, 2010) or mindfulness in the academic filed, but in the commercialized world, it is limited with relaxation. However, this is the ultimate goal of the meditation and this might happen within a short period by practicing Osho’s active meditation than the passive meditation.  The reason is that participants might feel themselves full of energy and experience of relaxation after the explosion of expressing all the suppressed emotions through catharsis and laughter by practicing Osho’s active meditation. Then silence happens by itself for the participants and that is the time to go deeper in to themselves by being aware of their thoughts and breathing or doing nothing (Osho, 2003, 2010). Rubia (2009) says that meditative part help the participants in four levels such as physical, cognitive, emotional and psychological levels. In addition, she says, there are several other internal functions happens within the body and brain such as neurophysiological activities (2009).  These all help to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness in the participants. 

Rubia (2009) also explains that the ultimate goal of meditation is to make the mind free of thoughts, relaxation and self-actualization. Dhvan Sutorius (1995) says that meditation is being aware of thoughts without thinking or judging anything or a state of “no mind.”  Moreover, meditation raises physical and mental relaxation and offers physical, psychological, and emotional balance (Zayfert, & Becker, 2007) and it does not give any side effects compared to other pharmaceutical treatments and it costs nothing (Rubia, 2009).  Besides, meditation is one the best natural treatments for reducing stress and other psychological problems, and gives many other positive results as by-products (Oman et al., 2008; Skevington & White, 1998).  Oman et al., (2008) supported their argument with many other research studies which have been done by Shapiro, Astin, Winzelberg and Luskin and Tloczynski and Tantriella. In addition, Osho (1974, 2003, & 2010) also emphasizes that the goal of meditation is to raise the consciousness, or conscious awareness, or awareness of the individual and be now-here, in the present.

It can be concluded that emotional expression such as anger, laughter, and crying are important parts for relaxation and reduction of stress. Therefore, this paper propose that  Osho’s active meditation methods can be used for a research study to know whether active meditation reduce stress or even PTSD symptoms and raise awareness or not. There are more than ten active meditation techniques which are one hour long are available to do a research study (osho.com). For example, doing catharsis for ten minutes, laughing for ten minutes, crying ten minutes and then being silent and doing nothing for thirty minutes as a passive part of the meditation. This method can be compared to passive meditation method, “Vippassana” which is being silent and watching and being aware of own breath and thoughts without any judgments with closed eyes for sixty minutes. In addition, Osho’s dynamic meditation, kundalini meditation and also laughing meditation can be used to do a research study.  Kuiper and Martin (1998) also recommended in their studies that in the future there is a need to find out that how laughter works with different genders and personalities. Therefore, it can be also purposed another study just comparing laughing for fifteen minutes and silent for fifteen minutes with thirty minutes silent meditation to know whether these techniques reduce stress or PTSD symptoms and raise relaxation or not. The hypotheses will be that active meditation is better than passive meditation in reducing stress or PTSD symptoms and raising relaxation.

If this research study has been done and find positive results, it could be used in Sri Lanka, particularly in North and Eastern province where people have been affected by war and violence for last 25 years and natural disaster like tsunami. They have to overcome their psychological affects of war and tsunami like stress, depression and PTSD, not only fight for their rights and freedom but also to live their day to day life. Therefore, they need all kind of supports from everyone. Only a healthier society can fight for their freedom in a healthy way.

Meerabharathy.

photos: osho.com

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Start and finish your day with Laughter - Osho

L A U G H T E R by OSHO
Osho Laughing Buddha Meditation in Video

When a child is born, the first social activity that the child learns — or maybe it is not right to say learns, because he brings it with himself — is smiling. The first social activity. By smiling he becomes part of society. It seems very natural, spontaneous. Other things will come later on — that is his first spark of being in the world, when he smiles. When a mother sees her child smiling, she becomes tremendously happy...because that smile shows health, that smile shows intelligence, that smile shows that the child is not stupid, not retarded. That smile shows that the child is going to live, love, be happy. The mother is simply thrilled.

Smiling is the first social activity, and should remain the basic social activity. One should go on laughing the whole of one’s life.



If you can laugh in all sorts of situations, you will become so capable of encountering them — and that encounter will bring maturity to you.

I am not saying don’t weep. In fact, if you cannot laugh, you cannot weep. They go together; they are part of one phenomenon: of being true and authentic.

There are millions of people whose tears have dried; their eyes have lost luster, depth; their eyes have lost water — because they cannot weep, they cannot cry; tears cannot flow naturally. If laughter is crippled, tears are also crippled.


Only a person who laughs well can weep well.

And if you can weep and laugh well, you are alive. The dead man cannot laugh and cannot weep. The dead man can be serious. Watch: go and look at a corpse — the dead man can be serious in a more skillful way than you can be. Only an alive man can laugh and weep and cry.

These are moods of your inner being, these are climates — enriching. But, by and by, everybody forgets. That which was natural in the beginning becomes unnatural. You need somebody to poke you into laughter, tickle you into laughter; only then do you laugh. That’s why so many jokes exist in the world.

Laughter brings strength. Now, even medical science says that laughter is one of the most deep-going medicines nature has provided man with.

If you can laugh when you are ill you will get your health back sooner.

If you cannot laugh, even if you are healthy, sooner or later you will lose your health and you will become ill.

Laughter brings some energy from your inner source to your surface. Energy starts flowing, follows laughter like a shadow. Have you watched it?


When you really laugh, for those few moments you are in a deep meditative state.

Thinking stops. It is impossible to laugh and think together. They are diametrically opposite: either you can laugh or you can think. If you really laugh, thinking stops. If you are still thinking, laughter will be just so-so, it will be just so-so, lagging behind. It will be a crippled laughter.

When you really laugh, suddenly mind disappears. As far as I know, dancing and laughter are the best, natural, easily approachable doors. If you really dance, thinking stops. You go on and on, you whirl and whirl, and you become a whirlpool: all boundaries, all divisions are lost. You don’t even know where your body ends and where the existence begins. You melt into existence and the existence melts into you; there is an overlapping of boundaries. And if you are really dancing — not managing it but allowing it to manage you, allowing it to possess you — if you are possessed by dance, thinking stops.

The same happens with laughter. If you are possessed by laughter, thinking stops. And if you know a few moments of no-mind, those glimpses will promise you many more rewards that are going to come. You just have to become more and more of the sort, of the quality, of no-mind. More and more, thinking has to be dropped.

Laughter can be a beautiful introduction to a non-thinking state.

The moment you feel that sleep is gone, first start laughing, then open the eyes — and that will set a trend for the whole day.


If you can laugh early in the morning you will laugh the whole day.

You have created a chain effect; one thing leads to another. Laughter leads to more laughter.

Almost always I have seen people doing just the wrong thing. From the very early morning they get out of bed complaining, gloomy, sad, depressed, miserable. Then one thing leads to another...and for nothing. And they get angry...it is very bad because it will change your climate for the whole day, it will set a pattern for the whole day.

Try it! Start and finish your day with laughter, and you will see, by and by, in between these two more and more laughter starts happening.
OSHO:A Sudden Clash of Thunder

LEARN TO LAUGH AT YOURSELF - Osho

People laugh at others, but never laugh at themselves. It has to be learned. If you can laugh at yourself, seriousness is already gone. It cannot make its abode within you if you are capable of laughing at yourself.

In Zen monasteries every monk has to laugh. The first thing in the morning to do is to laugh, the very first thing. The moment the monk becomes aware that he is no longer asleep, he has to jump out of bed, stand in a posture like a buffoon, like a circus joker, and start laughing, laughing at himself. There cannot be any better beginning of the day.

Laughing at oneself kills the ego and you are more transparent, more light, when you move in the world. And if you have laughed at yourself, then others' laughter toward you won't disturb you. In fact they are simply cooperating, they are doing the same thing that you were doing. You will feel happy.

To laugh at others is egoistic; to laugh at oneself is very humble. Learn to laugh at yourself-about your seriousness and things like that. You can get serious about seriousness. Then instead of one, you have created two diseases. Then you can get serious about that also, and you can go on and on. There is no end to it; it can go on ad nauseam.

So take hold of it from the very beginning. The moment you feel you are serious, laugh about it and look for where the seriousness is. Laugh, give a good laugh, close the eyes and look for where it is. You will not find it. It exists only in a being who cannot laugh.

A more unfortunate situation cannot be conceived, a poorer being cannot be conceived of, than the man who cannot laugh at himself. So start the morning by laughing at yourself, and whenever you can find a moment in the day when you have nothing to do, have a good laugh. For no particular reason-just because the whole world is so absurd, just because the way you are is so absurd. There is no need to find any particular reason, The whole thing is so absurd that one has to laugh.

Let the laughter be a belly laughter, not a head-thing. One can laugh from the head: then it is dead. From the head everything is dead; the head is absolutely mechanical. You can laugh from the head: then your head will create the laughter, but it will not go deep in the belly to the hara. It will not go to your toes, it will not go to your whole body. A real laugh is just like a small child laughs. Watch his belly shaking, his whole body throbbing with it-he wants to roll on the floor. It is a question of totality. He laughs so much that he starts crying; he laughs so deeply that the laughter becomes tears, tears come out of him. A laughter should be deep and total. This is the medicine that I prescribe for seriousness.

A laughter should be deep and total. This is the medicine that I prescribe for seriousness. You would like me to give you some serious medicine. That won't help. You have to be a little foolish. In fact, the highest pinnacle of wisdom always carries foolishness in it, the greatest wise men of the world were also the greatest fools.

It will be hard to understand. You cannot think that they can be fools because your mind always divides: a wise man can never be a fool, and a fool can never be a wise man. Both attitudes are wrong. There have been great fools who were very wise.

In the old days, in every king's court, there was a great fool-the court fool. He was a balancing force because too much wisdom can be foolish, too much of anything can be foolish. Somebody was needed who could bring things back to earth. A fool was needed in the kings' courts who would help them to laugh, otherwise wise people tend to become serious, and seriousness is an illness. Out of seriousness you lose proportion, you lose perspective. So every king's court had a fool, a great fool, who would say things and do things and bring things back to earth.

I have heard that one emperor had a fool. One day the emperor was looking in the mirror. The fool came, jumped, and hit him with his feet in the back. The emperor fell against the mirror. He was, of course, very angry and he said, "Unless you can give some reason for your foolish act which is more criminal than the act itself, you will be sentenced to death."
The fool said, "My Lord, I never thought that you were here. I thought the queen was standing here."
He had to be pardoned because he had given a reason that was even more foolish. But to find such a reason, the fool must have been very wise.

Every great wise man-Lao Tzu, Jesus-they have a certain quality of sublime foolishness. This has to be so because a wise man otherwise will be a man without salt, he will taste awful. He has to be a little foolish also. Then things are balanced. Look at Jesus-riding on a donkey and saying to people, "I am the Son of God." Look at it! He must have been both. People must have laughed: "What are you saying? Saying such things, and behaving in such a way...."

But I know that's how perfect wisdom appears. Lao Tzu says, "Everybody is wise, except me. I seem to be foolish. Everybody's mind is clear; only my mind seems to be murky and muddled. Everybody knows what to do and what not to do: only I am confused." What does he mean? He is saying that "In me, wisdom and foolishness meet together." And when wisdom and foolishness meet together, there is a transcendence.

So don't be serious about seriousness. Laugh about it, be a little foolish. Don't condemn foolishness; it has its own beauties. If you can be both, you will have a quality of transcendence within you.

The world has become more and more serious. Hence so much cancer, so much heart disease, so much high blood pressure, so much madness. The world has been moved, forced, towards one extreme too much. Be a little foolish also. Laugh a little, be like a child. Enjoy a little, don't carry a serious face everywhere, and suddenly you will find a deeper health arising in you-deeper sources of your health become available.

Have you ever heard about any fool who went mad? It has never happened. I have always been searching for a report of any foolish man who went mad. I have not come across one. Of course a fool cannot go mad because to be mad you need to be very serious. I have also been searching to see if fools are in any way prone to be more healthy than the so-called wise. And it is so: fools are more healthy than the so-called wise. They live in the moment and they know that they are fools, so they are not worried about what others think about them. That worry becomes a cancerous phenomenon in the mind and body. They live long, and they have the last laugh.

Remember that life should be a deep balancing, a very deep balancing. Then, just in the middle, you escape. The energy surges high, you start moving upwards. And this should be so about all opposites. Don't be a man and don't be a woman: be both, so that you can be neither. Don't be wise, don't be a fool: be both, so you go beyond.

[From Come Follow To You , Volume 1, #4]

Three types of Laughter -Osho

three types of laughter
It has to be understood that there are three types of laughter. The first is when you laugh at someone else. This is the meanest, the lowest, the most ordinary and vulgar when you laugh at the expense of somebody else. This is the violent, the aggressive, the insulting type Deep down this laughter there is always a feeling of revenge.

”The second type of laughter is when you laugh at yourself. This is worth achieving. This is cultured. And this man is valuable who can laugh at himself. He has risen above vulgarity. He has risen above lowly instincts – hatred, aggression, violence.

”And the third is the last – the highest. This is not about anybody – neither the other nor oneself. The third is just Cosmic. You laugh at the whole situation as it is. The whole situation, as it is, is absurd – no purpose in the future, no beginning in the beginning. The whole situation of Existence is such that if you can see the Whole – such a great infinite vastness moving toward no fixed purpose, no goal – laughter will arise. So much is going on without leading anywhere; nobody is there in the past to create it; nobody is there in the end to finish it.

Such is whole Cosmos – moving so beautifully, so systematically, so rationally. If you can see this whole Cosmos, then a laughter is inevitable. ”I have heard about three monks. No names are mentioned, because they never disclosed their names to anybody. They never answered anything.

In China, they are simply known as the three laughing monks. And they did only one thing: they would enter a village, stand in the market place and start laughing. They would laugh with their whole being and suddenly people would become aware. Then others would also get the infection and a crowd would gather. The whole crowd would start laughing just because of them. What was happening? The whole town would get involved. Then they would move to another town. ”They were loved very much. That was their only sermon, their only message; that laugh. And they would not teach; they would simply create a situation.

”Then it happened that they became famous all over the country. Three laughing monks. All of China loved them, respected them. Nobody had ever preached in such a way that life must be just a laughter and nothing else. They were not laughing at anyone in particular. They were simply laughing as if they had understood the Cosmic joke. And they spread so much joy all over China without using a single word. People would ask for their names, but they would simply laugh. So that became their name – the three laughing monks.

”Then they grew old. And while staying in one village. one of the three monks died. The whole village became very much expectant because they thought that when one of them had died, the other two would surely weep. This must be worth seeing because no one had ever seen these people weeping. The whole village gathered. But the two monks were standing beside the corpse of the third and laughing – such a belly laugh. So the villagers asked them to explain this.

”So for the first time, the two monks spoke and said, ’We are laughing because this man has won. We were always wondering as to who would die first and this man has defeated us. We are laughing at our defeat and his victory. Also he lived with us for many years and we laughed together and we enjoyed each other’s togetherness, presence. There can be no better way of giving him the last send off. We can only laugh.

”But the whole village was sad. And when the dead monk’s body was put on the funeral pyre, then the village realized that the remaining two monks were not the only ones who were joking, the third who was dead was also laughing. He had asked his companions not to change his clothes. It was conventional that when a man died they changed his dress and gave a bath to the body. So the third monk had said, ’Don’t give me a bath because I have never been unclean. So much laughter has been in my life that no impurity can accumulate, can come to me. I have not gathered any dust.

Laughter is always young and fresh. So don’t give me a bath and don’t change my clothes.’ ”So just to respect his wishes, they did not change his clothes. And when the body was put to fire, suddenly they became aware that he had hidden some Chinese fire-works under his clothes and they had started going off. So the whole village laughed and the other two monks said: ’You rascal, you are dead, but you have defeated us once again. Your laughter is the last.’

”There is a Cosmic laughter which comes into being when the whole joke of this Cosmos is understood. That is of the highest. And only a Buddha can laugh like that. These three monks must have been three Buddhas. But if you can laugh the second type of laughter, that is also worth trying. Avoid the first. Don’t laugh at anyone’s expense. That is ugly and violent. If you want to laugh, then laugh at yourself.

”That’s why Mulla Nasruddin, in all his jokes and stories, always proves himself the stupid one, never anybody else. He always laughs at himself and allows you to laugh at him. He never puts anybody else in the situation of being foolish. Sufis say that Mulla Nasrudin is the wise fool. Learn at least that much – the second laughter.

”If you can learn the second, then the third will not be far ahead. Soon you will reach the third. But leave the first type. That laughter is degrading. But almost ninety-nine percent of your laughter is of the first type. Much courage is needed to laugh at oneself. Much confidence is needed to laugh at oneself.

”For the spiritual seeker, even laughter should become a part of Sadhana. Remember to avoid the first type of laughter. Remember to laugh the second. And remember to reach the third.”

Laughter is eternal, life is eternal, celebration continues. Actors change but the drama continues. Waves change but the ocean continues. You laugh, you change--and somebody else laughs--but laughter continues. You celebrate, somebody else celebrates, but celebration continues.

Existence is continuous, it is a continuum. There is not a single moment's gap in it. No death is death, because every death opens a new door--it is a beginning. There is no end to life, there is always a new beginning, a resurrection.

If you change your sadness to celebration, then you will also be capable of changing your death into resurrection. So learn the art while there is still time.



I have heard about three Chinese mystics. Nobody knows their names now, and nobody ever knew their names. They were known only as the "Three Laughing Saints" because they never did anything else; they simply laughed.

These three people were really beautiful--laughing, and their bellies shaking. And then it would become an infection and others would start laughing. The whole marketplace would laugh. When just a few moments before, it was an ugly place where people were thinking only of money, suddenly these three mad people came and changed the quality of the whole marketplace. Now they had forgotten that they had come to purchase and sell. Nobody bothered about greed. For a few seconds a new world opened.

They moved all over China, from place to place, from village to village, just helping people to laugh. Sad people, angry people, greedy people, jealous people--they all started laughing with them. And many felt the key--you can be transformed.

Then, in one village it happened that one of the three died. Village people gathered and they said, "Now there will be trouble. Now we have to see how they laugh. Their friend has died; they must weep."

But when they came, the two were dancing, laughing and celebrating the death. The village people said, "Now this is too much. When a man is dead it is profane to laugh and dance."

They said, "The whole life we laughed with him. How can we give him the last send-off with anything else?--we have to laugh, we have to enjoy, we have to celebrate. This is the only farewell that is possible for a man who has laughed his whole life. We don't see that he is dead. How can laughter die, how can life die?"

Then the body was to be burned, and the village people said, "We will give him a bath as the ritual prescribes." But those two friends said, "No, our friend has said, 'Don't perform any ritual and don't change my clothes and don't give me a bath. You just put me as I am on the burning pyre.' So we have to follow his instructions."

And then, suddenly, there was a great happening. When the body was put on the fire, that old man had played the last trick. He had hidden many fireworks under his clothes, and suddenly there was a festival! Then the whole village started laughing. These two mad friends were dancing, then the whole village started dancing.

It was not a death, it was a new life.

Source: from Osho Book “Akshya Upanishad”


Osho
Source:
Osho - "202 Jokes of Mulla Nasrudin"