Osho

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"Rajneesh" Chandra Mohan Jain ( hindi रजनीश चन्द्र मोहन जैन) (born December 11, 1931 in Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh , India ; † January 19, 1990 in Pune , Maharashtra , India) was an Indian philosopher and founder of the Neo-Sannyas - Move. He called himself Acharya Rajneesh from the mid-1960s to the beginning of the 1970s , then Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh , or Bhagwan for short , until the end of 1988 , and Osho from 1989 until his death .

Names

Osho used different names throughout his life. The acceptance of such names corresponds to Indian customs and results in the local cultural area as a consequence of the start of a spiritual teaching activity. His names can be classified in his biography as follows:

  • His real name was Chandra Mohan Jain .
  • Rajneesh was a nickname Osho received in his childhood.
  • Acharya Rajneesh was his name from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. Acharya means "teacher", also "spiritual teacher" or - roughly - "professor".
  • He called himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Bhagwan for shortfrom the beginning of the 1970s to the end of 1988. The latter name is translated for sublime, blessed, lovable as well as venerable or general spiritual master. Shree (also Shri or Sri ) is used in India as an everyday salutation, similar to "Herr" in German.
  • Osho was he called his life last year, from early 1989 until his death on 19 January 1990. Osho is a title in Zen - Buddhism , which is actually " Monk means" or "teacher" and the dignity name of Bodhidharma was. The name was suggested to Osho by students because it had appeared in various Zen stories that Osho commented on. Osho himself once stated that the name refers to William James ' use of the word "oceanic". Another interpretation is represented in the literature of the Osho movement: The syllable “O” stands for love, gratitude and synchronicity and “sho” for a consciousness that spreads in all directions. All new editions of his books and other works are published today under the name Osho .

In the following, the name by which he was known at the time will be used in each of Osho's life periods.

Life

Childhood and Adolescence (1931–1950)

Chandra Mohan Jain was born in Kuchwada, a small village in Madhya Pradesh (India), as the eldest of eleven children of a cloth merchant and raised by his grandparents for the first seven years. His family, nicknamed him Rajneesh or Raja ("King"), belonged to the Jain religious community . Rajneesh was a bright child who performed well at school, but at the same time had a lot of trouble with his teachers because he was rebellious, often skipped school and incited all kinds of pranks on his classmates.

Rajneesh faced death early on. His beloved grandfather died when he was seven years old. When he was fifteen, his girlfriend (and cousin) Shashi died of typhus . Both losses struck him deeply; his late teens were marked by melancholy, depression, and chronic headaches. During this time he ran 15 to 25 km every day and often meditated until he was completely exhausted.

As a youth, Rajneesh became an atheist ; he became interested in hypnosis and was temporarily involved in communism , socialism and two nationalist movements that fought for India's independence: the Indian National Army and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh . He read a lot and became an excellent debater . His reputation was that of a selfish, arrogant, even rebellious young man.

Studies (1951–1960)

At the age of nineteen, Rajneesh began studying philosophy at Hitkarini College in Jabalpur . Because of violent quarrels with a teacher, he had to leave college and switched to D. N. Jain College, also in Jabalpur. While still a student in Jabalpur on March 21, 1953, while meditating in Bhanvartal Park on a full moon night, he had an extraordinary experience in which he felt overwhelmed by bliss - an experience which he later described as his spiritual enlightenment .

In 1955 he graduated from D. N. Jain College with a bachelor's degree ; In 1957 he was awarded a Masters Degree in Philosophy from the University of Sagar . He immediately got a job at Raipur Sanskrit College, but was soon so controversial that the rector asked him to look for another job within a year - he said he had a corrosive influence on his morality, character and religiosity Students. In 1958, Rajneesh moved to the University of Jabalpur, where he initially taught as a lecturer and from 1960 as a professor .

Lecture tours (1961–1970)

In the 1960s, whenever his teaching activity permitted, Rajneesh undertook extensive lecture tours through India in which he criticized Gandhi and socialism. Socialism and Gandhi, he said, both glorified poverty rather than reject it. India needs capitalism , science, modern technology and family planning in order to escape its poverty and backwardness. He was also critical of orthodox Hinduism : the brahmin religion was sterile, all political and religious systems were false and hypocritical. Such statements made him unpopular with many, but they also got him attention. It was around this time that he began to use the title Acharya . In 1966 he gave up teaching at the university and from now on devoted himself entirely to his career as a speaker and spiritual teacher.

Acharya Rajneesh gave his early lectures in Hindi ; therefore, they hardly attracted western visitors. Indian commentators attested that he had a charismatic aura, which even fascinated people who were hostile to his views. His speeches soon earned him loyal followers, including a number of wealthy businessmen. Rajneesh provided individual counseling and received donations in return - a common practice in India where people seek advice from scholars and saints, much like people in the West seek psychotherapists or life coaches. Judging by the rapid growth of his practice, he appears to have been an unusually gifted spiritual therapist. Several times a year he led meditation camps with active, cathartic elements, and the first meditation centers (Jivan Jagruti Kendras, life awakening centers) were established.

His "life awakening movement" (Jivan Jagruti Andolan) was mainly supported by members of the Jaina religious community in Bombay during this time . One of these had been an important donor to the Indian National Congress Party during the Indian struggle for independence , with close ties to leading politicians such as Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Morarji Desai .

Acharya Rajneesh claimed that people had to be shocked because that was the only way to wake them up. In fact, many Indians were shocked by a series of lectures in 1968 in which he sharply criticized the attitudes of Indian society towards love and sex and pleaded for a more permissive atmosphere. The basic energy of sexuality is divine, he said; sexual feelings should not be suppressed, but gratefully accepted. Man can only become free through recognition of his true nature. He did not believe in religions that advocated withdrawal from life; true religion, he said, is an art that teaches how to enjoy life to the fullest. This series of lectures was later published as a book under the title From Sex to Superconsciousness (title of the German edition: Vom Sex zum Cosmic consciousness ) and earned him the title “Sex Guru” in the Indian press. Despite the opposition of some high-ranking Hindus, he was invited to speak at the Second World Hindu Conference the following year. There he caused another scandal by taking the opportunity to criticize all organized religions and their priesthood, which enraged the chief priest of Hinduism.

Bombay (1970–1974)

Founding of the Neo Sannyas Movement

At a public meditation event in Bombay (now Mumbai), Acharya Rajneesh presented his Dynamic Meditation for the first time in the spring of 1970 . In July 1970 he took an apartment in Bombay, where he could receive visitors and give lectures in small groups. Although, according to his own teachings, he did not want to establish his own organization at first, he began to initiate his first students (" Neo-Sannyasins " or today mostly simply "Sannyasins") on September 28, 1970, during a meditation camp in Manali . Sannyasins received a new name from him - women e.g. B. "Ma Dhyan Shama", men z. B. " Swami Satyananda" - and until 1987 they wore orange or reddish clothes and a mala (necklace) with 108 wooden balls and his picture. (The adoption of a Sanskrit nickname was voluntary; those who wanted to keep their real nickname received a name like "Ma Prem Gudrun" or "Swami Deva Peter".)

Orange clothes and mala are attributes of traditional sannyasins (sacred ascetics) in India. The way in which the - deliberately provocative - adoption of this clothing style came about had a coincidental element: Laxmi, his secretary, had come to him one day, following a spontaneous idea, in orange. Acharya Rajneesh apparently liked the idea of ​​seeing his followers in clothing that, according to the Hindu concept of " sannyas ", symbolized a commitment to renunciation and spiritual search. His sannyas, however, should be a life-affirming, celebrating sannyas, centered around "the death of all that you were yesterday". The only thing that should be given up is what prevented people from fully living in the present moment. “To be initiated into sannyas,” wrote one biographer, “means that you have recognized that you are just a seed, a potentiality. It is a decision to grow, a decision to disconnect from all of your certainties and live in uncertainty. You are ready to take a leap into the unknown, the unknown, the mysterious. ”In 1971, the first students from the western industrial nations joined the movement. Among them was a young English woman who was named "Vivek" by Acharya Rajneesh and who subsequently came to believe that she had been his friend Shashi in her past life . Shashi had promised him on her deathbed that she would return to him. Vivek became his constant companion in the years to come.

Bhagwan

In the same year Rajneesh dropped the title "Acharya" and instead took the religious title Bhagwan (literally: Blessed) Shree Rajneesh . His appropriation of this title was criticized by many Indians, but Bhagwan seemed to be enjoying the controversy. He later said that the name change had the positive effect of driving away those who could not really get involved with him. At the same time, the focus of his activities also shifted. He was now less and less interested in giving lectures to the general public; instead, he said, his primary concern now is to transform individuals who have established an inner connection with him. As more and more students from the West joined him, Bhagwan also gave lectures in English. However, his health began to suffer in Bombay; his asthma was getting worse due to the poor air quality in Bombay, as was his diabetes and allergies . In addition, his apartment was now much too small to accommodate the large number of visitors. His secretary Laxmi started looking for a more suitable place to stay and found it in Poona (now Pune). The money for the purchase of the two neighboring villas and the associated 2.5 hectare area was raised by patrons and students, in particular Catherine Venizelos (Ma Yoga Mukta), the heir to a Greek shipping company.

Ashram in Poona (1974-1981)

Build up and grow

Location of Poona (now Pune) in India

Bhagwan and his followers moved from Bombay to Poona in March 1974 . His health troubled him for some time, but the construction of the ashram in Koregaon Park (map) went quickly. Sannyasins worked in the ashram and received board and, after a while, often also room. The next few years were marked by constant expansion; the number of visitors from the west grew more and more. In 1981 the Ashram u. a. has its own bakery, cheese production, cosmetic product production, clothing production, pottery, theater company and also its own health center with over ninety employees, including 21 doctors. The increased influx from the West was due in part to word of mouth from students returning from India, who in many cases established meditation centers in their home countries. Others reported that they had never come into contact with sannyasins; they would just have seen a picture of Bhagwan somewhere, felt an inexplicable connection to him and then knew that they had to go to him. Still others read a book by Bhagwan and felt drawn to him in this way. Bhagwan received a significant influx of feminist groups ; most of the ashram operations were run by women. In the German-speaking countries, the reporting in the Stern magazine and the bestseller Ganz relaxed in the here and now by the former Stern reporter Jörg Andrees Elten sparked great interest in Bhagwan.

Bhagwan, it is said in a description, “was a physically handsome man, with hypnotic brown eyes, a flowing beard, fine facial bones and an engaging smile; His extremely controversial behaviors and statements as well as his idiosyncratic , apparently fearless and carefree demeanor saw many disaffected people from the West as a sign that there was someone here who had found real answers. ”He was also not traditional, advocated modern technology and capitalism , had nothing against sex and was extremely well read - he quoted Heidegger and Sartre , Gurdjieff and Socrates , even Bob Hope , with the same ease with which he talked about Tantra , the New Testament , Zen or Sufism .

Therapy groups as a new source of income

The syncretic combination of Eastern meditation and Western therapy techniques also played an essential role. European and American therapists from the Human Potential Movement traveled to Poona and became Bhagwan's disciples. “They came to him to learn from him how to live meditatively. They found in him the only spiritual master who had fully understood the concept of holistic psychology and the only one who knew how to use it as a means to bring people to higher levels of consciousness, ”wrote one biographer. Therapy groups were soon an integral part of the ashram's offering and one of its greatest sources of income. In 1976 the offer comprised ten therapies, including Encounter , Primal and Enlightenment Intensive , a group in which the participants e.g. B. had to spend three days trying to answer the question "Who am I?" In the following years the number of forms of therapy offered rose to around eighty.

Visitors either asked Bhagwan which groups to attend or chose groups as they saw fit. In some groups such as Encounter and Tantra , sex with alternating partners was encouraged, according to Bhagwan's teaching that sexual blockages first had to be resolved before the authentic human being could unfold. In the encounter groups, violent confrontations between the participants were also allowed; According to press reports , there were even several rapes . After a participant suffered a broken bone, group violence was prohibited. Even so, many sannyasins and visitors felt that they were participating in something exciting and new. This feeling was also reinforced by Bhagwan: "We are experimenting with all possibilities here that can heal human consciousness and enrich a person," he said.

Daily events in the Ashram

A typical day at the Ashram started at 6 a.m. with the one hour Dynamic Meditation . At 8 o'clock Bhagwan gave a public lecture in the so-called "Buddha Hall" (Buddha Hall). Up until 1981, there were alternate lecture series in Hindi and English on a monthly basis. Many of these spontaneous lectures were commentaries on texts from various spiritual traditions; in others he answered questions from visitors and students. The lectures were peppered with jokes, anecdotes and provocative remarks, which regularly triggered outbursts of amusement in his audience. During the day, various meditations and therapies took place, the intensity of which was ascribed to the spiritual energy of Bhagwan's "Buddha Field". In the evening there were darshans in which Bhagwan had personal conversations with small numbers of individual followers and visitors. The reason for a darshan was usually the arrival of a student at the ashram or his imminent departure or a particularly serious problem that the sannyasin wanted to discuss with Bhagwan personally. Four days a year were specially celebrated: Bhagwan's Enlightenment Day (March 21st) and his birthday (December 11th) as well as Guru Purnima, a full moon on which Indians worship their spiritual masters, and Mahaparinirvana, the day on which all enlightened ones are remembered . For visitors, the stay in Poona was generally an intense carnival-like experience, regardless of whether they ultimately “took sannyas” or not. The ashram, as one student described it, was "an amusement park and a madhouse, a cathouse and a temple."

Bhagwan's teachings emphasized spontaneity, but the ashram was by no means devoid of rules. There were guards at the entrance, smoking and other drugs were prohibited, and certain parts of the site such as B. the Lao Tzu House, in which Bhagwan had his one-room apartment, were only accessible to privileged students. Whoever wanted to go to a lecture in the Buddha Hall (“Please leave your shoes and your mind outside”, it said on the sign at the entrance) first had to take a sniff test; Bhagwan was allergic to shampoos and cosmetic products , and anyone who smelled of them was refused entry.

Critical reports in the media

In the 1970s, the Western press first became aware of Bhagwan, the "sex guru". The reports focused on the therapy groups, Bhagwan's attitudes towards sex and his often mischievous, shock-oriented statements ("Even people like Jesus are a little bit neurotic"). The behavior of sannyasins has also been the subject of criticism. To earn money to extend their stay in India, some women regularly went to Bombay, where they hired themselves as prostitutes . Other sannyasins tried smuggling opium , hashish, and marijuana ; some were caught and ended up in jail. The ashram's reputation suffered. When the Welf Prince of Hanover (Swami Anand Vimalkirti), a cousin of Prince Charles and descendant of Kaiser Wilhelm II , died of a stroke in Poona in January 1981 , the concerned relatives made sure that his little daughter was not with her mother (also Sannyasin ) would grow up in Poona. Members of the anti-cult movement began to claim that sannyasins were being forced into therapy groups against their will, suffered nervous breakdowns, and were pushed into prostitution and drug-related crime.

The hostile attitudes of the surrounding society did not seem to mind Bhagwan when he was assassinated in 1980 - Vilas Tupe, an extremist Hindu , threw a knife at him during a morning lecture, but missed the target. The appearance of the film Ashram, which is banned in India and uncensored the events in the therapy groups, and Bhagwan's blunt criticism of the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai prompted the Indian state to take a harder line towards the Ashram. Among other things, the ashram's tax-exempt status was retroactively revoked, which resulted in a tax claim in the millions.

Intentions to move and start of Bhagwan's period of silence

In view of the increasing number of visitors and the hostile attitude of the city council, Bhagwan's students considered moving to Saswad, about 30 km outside of Poona, where they wanted to establish an agricultural commune. But arson and the poisoning of a well in Saswad made it clear that the ashram was not welcome there either. A subsequent attempt to acquire land for the ashram in Gujarat failed due to resistance from local authorities.

Bhagwan's health deteriorated in the late 1970s; his personal contact with sannyasins was reduced as early as 1979. The evening darshans became energy darshans: Instead of personal conversations, there was now an “energy transfer” during which Bhagwan pressed the student's “third eye” in the middle of the forehead with his thumb. On April 10, 1981, Bhagwan entered a phase of silence after an illness, and instead of the daily lectures he now gave satsangs (quiet sitting together, with short phases of readings from various works and live music). Around the same time, Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Silverman) succeeded Laxmi as Bhagwan's secretary. Sheela decided that Bhagwan, who at the time was suffering from a protracted and very painful disc problem, should travel to the United States to ensure better medical treatment . Bhagwan and Vivek didn't seem to think much of the idea at first, but Sheela prevailed.

Sheelas Commune in Oregon (1981–1985)

The meditation and assembly hall in Rajneeshpuram (140 × 65 m)
Masters Day Festival 1983 in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon
Bhagwan is greeted by sannyasins waiting for him on one of his daily drive-bys.

Arrival in America and planning of the new commune

On June 1, 1981, Bhagwan therefore traveled to America, initially to Montclair (New Jersey) . Shortly thereafter, Sheela bought the remote Big Muddy Ranch (see map) in Oregon for $ 5.75 million (former location of several western films with John Wayne ); she wanted to build a community there and turn the run-down ranch into an oasis.

Sheela's plan to set up such a commune posed considerable difficulties from the start. On the one hand, the project would devour large sums of money, and on the other hand, it was necessary to consider the reaction of the local population. Many Oregonians were fearful or extremely hostile from the start that an Indian spiritual teacher would settle with his students in their neighborhood. Another problem was that the ranch was classified as agricultural land and only a small number of houses were allowed under current land use regulations. The fourth problem was United States immigration regulations - most sannyasins, like Bhagwan himself, were neither US citizens nor permanent residents. The last problem was Bhagwan himself, who showed little enthusiasm on his first visit to the treeless landscape in August 1981. Still, for a while it looked as if Sheela's dream would come true. Sannyasins around the world were contacted and encouraged to invest money in the project with the prospect of being offered a place to live there.

In 1982 the city of Rajneeshpuram was established on the grounds of the ranch. Hundreds of sannyasins who had already arrived in Oregon worked to build the necessary infrastructure . The city soon had its own post office, school, fire department, shopping malls, restaurants and a public transport system with 85 buses. An airfield ( Big Muddy Ranch Airport ) with city-owned aircraft was available. A mandir served as a meditation and meeting hall. In addition, the Sannyasins had bought empty houses in the nearest town, Antelope (about fifty residents), and won a majority in the city ​​council there . The community welcomed thousands of visitors from around the world to the annual Master's Day Festival. In the following years a fleet of up to 93 Rolls-Royce , which Bhagwan had made available to him by his students, aroused much press interest . The importance of these cars is controversial. One interpretation is that the luxury cars symbolized Bhagwan's enthusiastic advocacy of internal and external wealth and were a deliberately provocative satire on America's obsession with automobiles. According to Sheela, Osho simply had "a childlike need for luxury".

Conflicts with the surrounding society

The sannyasins attempted to circumvent immigration laws in part by entering into fictitious marriages with American citizens, which was viewed with great suspicion by the American immigration authorities. Bhagwan himself also had visa problems, which Sheela wanted to solve by declaring Bhagwan to be the official head of a religion known as "Rajneeshism". This application was initially rejected by the authorities on the grounds that Bhagwan could not be a religious leader because he was in a permanent phase of silence and did not speak publicly. After a long legal battle, however, he was recognized as a religious leader three years later, in 1984. Bhagwan himself lived very secluded in Rajneeshpuram from 1981 to 1984 in a trailer complex surrounded by a zen garden with an attached swimming pool; most sannyasins only saw him when he drove slowly past them on his daily drive, or during silent darshans, since his silence continued. Daily events in the community were determined by Sheela and her management team, which was almost exclusively made up of women.

The expansion of the municipality led to escalating legal disputes with the authorities over building permits. Sheela's sometimes very harsh comments to the media exacerbated the situation. In July 1983, a bomb was detonated at a Sannyasin-run hotel in Portland . No guests or employees were injured, but the community leaders in Rajneeshpuram took this as an opportunity to buy weapons and train their own local police. Threats of violence from the Oregon population increased. Daily life in Rajneeshpuram became more authoritarian.

AIDS warning

In March 1984, Sheela announced that Bhagwan had said that about two-thirds of humanity would die in the coming years from the then recently known AIDS disease; As a result, sannyasins would have to observe special safety precautions during sex (no sex without a condom and disposable gloves , no exchange of body fluids, e.g. by kissing, etc.). Instead of unprotected promiscuity , the sannyasins were now advised to have responsible “safer sex”. Many observers considered this reaction to be exaggerated; the risk of infection with AIDS was not yet seen as a risk in heterosexual contact and the use of condoms was not yet widely recommended in this context.

The community leadership slips into crime

In September 1984 Sheela initiated a "Share-a-Home" program for the homeless . Buses were sent to major American cities and came back with several thousand homeless people who had been offered a new life in Rajneeshpuram. This did not fit in with Bhagwan's teachings at all - Bhagwan had always criticized Christian welfare measures in India as hypocritical and counterproductive - and since there was an important local election in Wasco County on November 6, 1984, in which the homeless would have been allowed to vote under Oregon's liberal electoral regulations , the action was seen by the public as a measure to increase the Rajneeshpuram vote. After a quick change in the electoral regulations by the authorities, which made it difficult to register the homeless as voters, many of them were simply driven to the next larger city and dropped off there.

In October 1984, Bhagwan announced that he would end his period of silence and that he would speak again from now on. The administration of Rajneeshpuram at this point appears to have been completely out of control. Sheela had secretly installed wiretapping systems in the Rajneeshpuram telephone system and even in Bhagwan's own home. Sannyasins who disagreed with their leadership style were isolated and pressured; many left Rajneeshpuram . The internal and external conflicts had sparked a spiral of desperation in Sheela and her management team, which eventually led to sociopathic and criminal behavior.

press conference

The true extent of this criminal behavior was not revealed until mid-September 1985 when Sheela and her leadership team fled the community. Bhagwan called a press conference two days later on Monday September 16. There he reported that Sheela and her team had committed various crimes, according to statements made by sannyasins since Sheela's departure from Vivek and his two doctors, and asked the authorities to investigate Sheela and her team. These investigations resulted in the arrest and sentencing of Sheela and several of her associates. It turned out that a year earlier, in September 1984, also in the run-up to the county elections, members of Sheela's team had deliberately introduced salmonella into the food of various restaurants in the small town of The Dalles , Oregon, to see if it would be possible to Making eligible voters sick and thus influencing the outcome of the elections. Around 750 people fell ill and 45 had to go to hospital. Bhagwan's personal physician Swami Devaraj, whom Sheela considered a competitor because of his direct access to Bhagwan, and two officials from the Oregon authorities had been poisoned on Sheela's behalf; Devaraj and one of the officers became seriously ill, but eventually recovered. Bhagwan said he was unaware of these crimes and was never prosecuted by the authorities for them, but his already controversial reputation suffered serious damage.

arrest

On October 23, 1985, a federal grand jury closed an in camera indictment against Bhagwan for alleged immigration crimes. On October 28, 1985, Bhagwan was arrested after a flight to North Carolina without a warrant (the charges had not yet been officially announced). The reason given by the American authorities was that he wanted to leave the USA. Bhagwan was then separated from his companions and transported in chains from one prison to the next for the next twelve days until he finally arrived back in Oregon. He was given a 10-year suspended sentence on condition that he leave the country and a $ 400,000 fine. Bhagwan then claimed that during the twelve days that he spent in various American prisons, he had been poisoned with an agent that was later undetectable.

World Tour and Poona II (1985–1990)

World Travel

After lengthy stays in Nepal , Crete and Uruguay and various random flights around the globe, during which he was denied entry almost everywhere at the massive instigation of the relevant agencies in the United States, Bhagwan finally returned to the ashram in Pune in early 1987 .

The multiversity

The ashram resumed its previous activities - Bhagwan's discourses were published and therapy courses were held, albeit in a less controversial style than before. The ashram was expanded and now presented itself as a “multiversity”, a place where therapy should act as a bridge to meditation. The flow of visitors increased again. Under his sannyasins, given the experiences in Oregon, the earlier preference for communal coexistence with other sannyasins had largely died down; most now preferred to lead an inconspicuous and independent life in society. The obligation to wear orange or red clothing and the mala was abolished at the end of 1985.

Bhagwan developed new meditation techniques, including the "Mystic Rose" technique, and began again to personally lead meditations. His daily lectures now took place in the evening and not in the morning as before. From April 1988 he dealt exclusively with Zen masters in them. In August 1988 Bhagwan reintroduced the red robes for his followers; these were now only worn in the ashram itself and without a mala. During the evening meeting, white robes were (and still are) worn. At the end of 1988 he declared that he no longer wanted to be called Bhagwan - the joke was now over: “I don't want to be called Bhagwan again. Enough is enough! The joke is over! ” After a few weeks without a name, at the suggestion of his students, he accepted the name Osho, which had appeared as a respectful salutation in some Zen stories that he had discussed in his lectures. In 1989 he announced that the ashram should be run as a vacation and meditation resort ("Club Meditation") in the future.

death

Osho's health was deteriorating; in April 1989 he gave his last public lecture. For the rest of the year, he sat in silence with his sannyasins in the meditation hall of the ashram. At the end of 1989, his companion Vivek died, apparently by suicide. Osho died six weeks later, on January 19, 1990, at the age of 58. Just hours later, his body was cremated in the presence of hundreds of shocked but celebrating sannyasins. Osho's ashes are in a white marble meditation room in the Ashram. On a memorial plaque there is a quote from Meher Baba : "Never Born, Never Died: Only Visited this Planet Earth between Dec 11 1931 - Jan 19 1990."

Teaching

Osho was against any belief system and emphasized the value of authentic religious experience versus belonging to a religion. He also insisted that the practices should not be understood as a ritual or religious practice, but that it was a form of therapy . According to the religious scholar Frank Neubert, the aim was "to gain knowledge oneself, to improve oneself religiously as an individual."

In his criticism of Christianity, for example, he said that Jesus was a rebel - he only existed outside the church walls, which dogmatically channeled his cause and thus made lifeless. God is nothing but an invention of man, opium for the people :

“It is absolutely necessary that God should be dead. But I want you to know my understanding: It was good of Friedrich Nietzsche to declare God dead - I declare that he has never been born. It is a created fiction, an invention, not a discovery. Do you understand the difference between invention and discovery? A discovery is about truth, an invention is manufactured by you. It is man-manufactured fiction. Certainly it has given consolation, but consolation is not the right thing! Consolation is opium. It keeps you unaware of the reality, and life is flowing past you so quickly - seventy years will be gone soon. Anybody who gives you a belief system is your enemy, because the belief system becomes the barrier for your eyes, you cannot see the truth. The very desire to find the truth disappears. But in the beginning it is bitter if all your belief systems are taken away from you. The fear and anxiety which you have been suppressing for millennia, which is there, very alive, will surface immediately. No God can destroy it, only the search for truth and the experience of truth - not a belief - is capable of healing all your wounds, of making you a whole being. And the whole person is the holy person to me. "

“It is absolutely necessary that God should be dead. But I want you to know my opinion: It was good of Friedrich Nietzsche to declare God dead - but I say that he was never born at all. It's a fiction , an invention, not a discovery. Do you understand the difference between invention and discovery? A discovery has to do with the truth, an invention has been fabricated by you. It's a man-made fiction. Of course she gives comfort, but comfort is not the right thing! Consolation is opium. It makes you unaware of reality, and life flows past you so quickly - seventy years will have passed quickly. Anyone who gives you a belief system is your enemy because the belief system becomes a barrier to your eyes, you cannot see the truth. Even the desire to find the truth disappears. But in the beginning it is bitter when all of your belief systems are stolen from you. The fear and anxiety that you have suppressed for millennia that is there, very much alive, will emerge immediately. No god can destroy them, only the search for the truth and the experience of the truth - not a belief - can heal all your wounds, make you complete beings. And for me the complete person is the holy person. "

- Osho

In his teaching, the path to an authentic religious experience lies in accepting life as a whole, loving it in all its facets and celebrating it daily. Any activity of any kind can serve internal growth. Meditation means to be a witness of all internal processes, to let the flow of thoughts and sensations go by without identifying with them. In this way one can recognize their provisional nature and sharpen one's sense of the reality behind the rationally or sensually perceptible, transitory world. The moment the meditator is only a witness, he will find out who he really is.

Osho drew individual elements of his teachings from humanistic psychology and a syncretistic view of religions. The Buddha field as a transcendent place where the believer can develop his qualities comes from Mahayana Buddhism, the karma teaching of Hinduism is taken up insofar as death is understood as a change into a new existence. Mystical elements come from Islamic Sufism , and the use of sexual energy to develop consciousness is taught in Tantrism . "Despite these similarities with classical Indian religions, the Osho movement is much more flexible than other neo-Hindu movements - such as the Hare Krishna movement."

Osho often contradicted himself, deliberately, because he wanted to convey that it is not about the words that matter, but rather about letting go of their meaning and content - if you are looking for the truth, you have to take the leap into the unknown. Reality points beyond the inadequate medium of rationality and thus also of language . Therefore every means was right for him to draw the attention of his listeners to the reality behind the medium “discourse” and to interrupt the identification with his words again and again by alienating rhetorical means. Ultimately, the contradictions in the multitude of God are also contained and eliminated:

“I am not trying to give you a philosophy, a doctrine, a dogma. A dogma has to be consistent, a creed has to be consistent. I am not trying to convert you to a certain belief; A belief has to be consistent. I am trying to give you a vision, not a belief. I am trying to help you to come to my window to see the sky, to see the truth. That truth cannot be described. And that truth cannot be made a dogma, and that truth contains all contradictions - because it is so vast. So I go on giving you glimpses, aspects of it: one aspect is contradictory to another aspect. But in the whole truth, all aspects meet and mingle and are one. "

“I'm not trying to give you a philosophy, a doctrine, a dogma. A dogma must be coherent, a religion must be coherent. I don't want to convert you to a certain belief; a belief must be coherent in itself. I want to give you a vision, not a belief. I'm trying to help you come to my window to see the sky, to see the truth. This truth cannot be described. And from this truth no dogma can be made, and this truth unites all contradictions in itself - because it is so huge. So I continue to give you glimpses, perspectives of her: one perspective is contradicting another. But in the whole truth all perspectives meet and mix and are one. "

- Osho

In his opinion, a sense of humor should form the cornerstone of future human religiosity. His lectures contained hundreds of partly hearty jokes - the only part of his discourses that he read off the paper. Osho's lectures and initiation talks were recorded and published in book form in practically unedited original wording and also as audio cassettes and video films. The lectures given in Hindi (after 1981 he spoke only in English) are gradually being translated into English. Over 400 volumes with an average of 250 pages have been created, without taking thematic recompilation into account. Many works have been translated into German and more than fifty other languages.

criticism

Various accusations are made in autobiographical reports by authors who spent their childhood in the vicinity of the Osho movement. So would psychotropic drugs mixed into the food, children of parents separately, and each must take a picture of Osho, in psychological seminars, participants have mutually beaten and seriously injured 13-year-old girls would of adult males abused . Members, including children, would have had to work till they dropped without adequate pay.

Osho was criticized for controversial statements in which he advocated the killing of handicapped children, genetic improvements in humans and the exclusion of homosexuals from society, or indirectly blaming Jews for the rise of Adolf Hitler. Among other things, he is said to have said:

“A child should be recognized as a human being when he is born - and then, too, I have some reservations.

If a child is born blind or crippled, if a child is born deaf, dumb, and we cannot do anything ... Just because life should not be destroyed, this child will have to suffer - because of your stupid idea - for seventy years, eighty years. Why create unnecessary suffering? If the parents are willing, the child should be put to eternal sleep. And there is no problem in it. Only the body goes back into its basic elements; the soul will fly into another womb. Nothing is destroyed.

If you really love the child, you will not want him to live a seventy-year-long life in misery, suffering, sickness, old age. So even if a child is born, if he is not medically capable of enjoying life fully with all the senses, healthy, then it is better that he goes to eternal sleep and is born somewhere else with a better body. "

“A child should be viewed as a human being the moment it is born - and even then I have reservations.

When a child is born blind or crippled, when a child is born deaf, dumb, and there is nothing we can do ... Just because life is not to be destroyed, that child will suffer - because of your stupid idea - for seventy years, eighty years . Why cause unnecessary suffering? If the parents want it, the child should be put to sleep forever. And there is no problem with that. Only the body returns to its basic building blocks; the soul seeks another bosom. Nothing is destroyed.

If you really love your child, you do not want them to live a 70 year life in misery, suffering, illness, old age. So even if a child was born: if it is medically unable to enjoy its life with all of its senses, healthy, then it is better if it goes to eternal sleep and is reborn somewhere else with a better body. "

- Osho

“We can fill the whole earth with geniuses, talented people, healthy people.

I suggest to create worldwide lobbies to help to understand genetic programs. Man has reached to the moon but he has not made much effort to understand genetic programs. The reasons are simple, because all the vested interests, all the religions are threatened; they know that once the program of the genes is understood, the old cannot exist any longer.

Much more emphasis should be how we can also change the program. We are learning about health, diseases, age, coloring. First we have to learn how to change the programs. A man, for example, may have the mind of a Nobel Prize winner, but the body may be sick. He may not be able to use the mind if the body cannot support it - unless we can change the program. Once we know how to change the program, thousands of possibilities open up. We can give every man and woman the best of everything. There is no need for anyone to suffer unnecessarily. Being retarded, crippled, blind, ugly - all these will be possible to change.

Criminals can be avoided - politicians can be avoided, priests can be avoided, murderers can be avoided, rapists can be avoided, violent people can be avoided. Or if they have some special quality in them, their genetic program can be changed. Their violence can be taken out, rather than teaching people not to be violent, not to be thieves, not to be criminals. "

“We can populate the whole earth with geniuses, talented people, sane people.

I suggest creating global lobbies to help understand genetic programs. Man has reached the moon, but has not made a great effort to understand genetic programs. The reasons are simple: because all personal interests, all religions are at risk. They know that once the program of genes is understood, the old one can no longer exist.

Much more focus should be on how we can change the program too. We learn about health, diseases, age, skin color. First we need to learn how to change the programs. For example, a person might have the mind of a Nobel Prize winner, but the body might be sick. He may not be able to use his mind if the body cannot support him - unless we can change the program. Once we know how to change the program, thousands of opportunities open up to us. We could give the best of everything to every man and woman. There is no reason for anyone to suffer unnecessarily. Backward, crippled, blind, ugly - all of that could be changed.

Criminals can be avoided - politicians can be avoided, priests can be avoided, murderers can be avoided, rapists can be avoided, violent people can be avoided. Or, if they have special qualities, their genetic program could be changed. Their violence could be taken away from them instead of teaching people not to be violent, not to be thieves, not to be criminals. "

- Osho

Osho said that only when Jews accepted Jesus as one of their own again, "They will be healthy and whole, and then there will be no need for Adolf Hitler."

Osho was increasingly hostile to homosexuality and homosexuals, especially after the commune moved to Rajneeshpuram. He believed that homosexuals, because of their "perversion", created AIDS and should be excluded from society.

“Homosexuals should be given different localities. They can live in their own world, in their own way, and be happy, but they should not be allowed to move in the wider society, spreading all kinds of dangerous viruses. "

“Homosexuals should be given their own space. They can live in their own world, in their own way, and be happy, but they shouldn't be allowed to move around in society at large, spreading all kinds of dangerous viruses. "

- Osho

When asked by homosexual sannyasins to explain his negative attitude towards homosexuals, he reiterated his refusal as follows:

“As a homosexual, you are not even a human being [...]. You have fallen from dignity. "

"As a homosexual you are not even a human being [...] you have lost your dignity."

Trademark rights

The trademark administration of his estate is still controversial. On the one hand, the right is claimed by a foundation, the Osho International Foundation (OIF), whose purpose is to disseminate Osho's religious teachings and messages. On the other hand, there are efforts that rely on his statements and the brand handling during his lifetime and that do not want to see the trademark rights assigned centrally. In 2009 there was a decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that deliberately left the trademark law there open for many meditations and therapy techniques and did not define them. Despite the lack of trademark law in the USA, a Facebook page was blocked in June 2013 due to trademark infringement. Although the OIF is mainly concerned with the correct naming of products in trademark law, therapists critical of the OIF were unloaded at the Osho Festival Riccione in Italy in June 2012. As an argument against the trademark revocation proceedings applied for, the OIF had submitted a will from Osho, but later withdrew it. External experts suspected a fake. The board of the OIF had to resign in June 2014 due to violations of Swiss foundation law. The application for the EU trademark revocation procedure was initially rejected in July 2014.

reception

Osho was highly controversial throughout his life. He has always had his admirers - the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, for example, called him a “ Wittgenstein of religions”, “one of the greatest figures of the century”. Theological faculties held seminars on his teachings; Theology professors went to Poona and reported on the spiritual liveliness of his students. The Indian author and journalist Khushwant Singh once wrote that “it is best to simply ignore Rajneesh”, but later said - after his death that he was “the most original thinker” that India has ever produced: the most educated, clear-sighted and innovative ".

Others saw in him a dangerous charlatan who knew how to exploit his followers and to induce them to give up their property and to do unpaid hard work. Many saw the long period of red clothing and mala customary for sannyasins as evidence of dangerous loss of identity and dependence on an authoritarian and narcissistic leader. Osho's sometimes polemical criticism of politicians and religious leaders as well as his unconventional views on sex , marriage and family created adversaries for him on a global level. Sociologists of religion such as Bob Mullan, Hugh Urban and Uday Mehta characterized Osho's teachings as cleverly marketed, contradicting mishmash of philosophical borrowings from the most diverse intellectual currents, which impressed the unsuspecting, but in reality contained many factual errors and lacked a really original or profound content.

Public media and church journalism

German press

The daily press and magazines such as Stern and Spiegel contained many, often sensational, reports about Osho. His many Rolls-Royce and his brilliant- studded wristwatches were frequent subjects, as was the violence in the encounter groups and the tantra groups that earned him a reputation as a "sex guru". On the occasion of Osho's death in 1990, Der Spiegel offered a representative retrospective: Osho would have “given the media a lot of fodder for ten years, first with his 'sex monastery' in Poona near Bombay, then until 1985 with the 'sex ranch' Rajneeshpuram in the US state of Oregon. It was food of the piquant kind, naked and cracked up in the picture, little stories about orgies, mass madness, brainwashing, beating retreats, Rolls-Royce pomp and sinister machinations flowed lavishly into the crevices. Because none of the mafia ranks of gurus and sect bosses was such a gifted entertainer as the well-read philosophy professor; no one lured so cleverly with the psycho-passe-partout for lust for life and love, and probably no one shaved their sheep so cleverly. "

Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauung questions

The Protestant Association for Religious and Ideological Issues (EZW) , an agency of the Evangelical Church in Germany , brought in an info sheet, for example, the life story of a young woman under the heading "The Red Utopia - the way inward - Under the spell of the Guru". In the materials department of the same institute, an author wrote on the subject of "Getting rid of the drug Bhagwan". The EZW was criticized for the fact that the headings already signaled that it was about proving the harmfulness of the "drug Bhagwan" and that the series of publications was polemical and clearly determined by apologetic interest.

The "Osho judgment" of the German Federal Constitutional Court

The movement brought into being by Osho received an extraordinarily controversial assessment in the 1970s and 1980s. In the Federal Republic of Germany it was variously referred to in state brochures at this time as " sect ", "youth sect ", "youth religion " or "psycho sect " ; in addition there were also the terms “destructive” and “pseudo-religious” as well as accusations of member manipulation . One such statements against the federal government and the Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health -related injunction by members of the Osho Movement was the Higher Administrative Court for North Rhine-Westphalia dismissed by judgment of 22 May 1990th The appeal against the non-admission of the appeal was rejected by the Federal Administrative Court by decision of March 13, 1991. However, a constitutional complaint directed against this by members of the Osho movement was partially successful.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled eleven years later, in a judgment of June 26, 2002, that it was constitutionally unobjectionable that the designations as "sect", "youth sect" and "psycho sect" were unobjectionable by the Higher Administrative Court and the Federal Administrative Court during the 1980s had been held. The judgment of the Higher Administrative Court violated the fundamental right of religious freedom , insofar as it also considered the use of the attributes “destructive” and “pseudo- religious ” as well as the accusation of member manipulation to be constitutional. These statements by the Federal Government were defamatory and not objectively justified; the Federal Government has thus violated the German Basic Law. In November 2008 Germany was sentenced to a fine by the European Court of Human Rights because of the lengthy duration of the judicial process, which had violated Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Aftermath in the Indian subcontinent

In the mid-1980s, the majority of the population in South Asia wanted nothing to do with Osho's commune. However, since his death, Osho has gained increasing recognition; his teachings have become part of the mainstream culture in India and Nepal . As early as 1991 he was named by an influential daily newspaper along with other figures such as Gandhi and Buddha as one of ten people who would have had the most decisive influence on the fate of India; in his case by having “freed the minds of future generations from the fetters of religiosity and conformity”. Two years after his death, the complete editions of his books were placed in the library of the Indian Parliament , an honor that had only been bestowed on Mahatma Gandhi before him.

Aftermath worldwide

The Osho International Meditation Resort, today probably the largest therapy and meditation center in the world

After nearly two controversial decades and a decade of adjustment, Osho's movement has established itself in the new religious movement market. Osho's followers have redefined his contribution, presenting the movement's core tenets in a way that makes them less controversial to outsiders. Aside from changes within the movement, Western society has also undergone a change that has led to greater openness to topics such as meditation, yoga and spiritual texts. His students lead stress management seminars for clients such as IBM and BMW , with sales in the millions in America.

Osho's works are now enjoying international popularity, with bestsellers in countries as diverse as South Korea and Italy. The movement he founded has around 300 meditation and information centers in 45 countries worldwide (status: 2000). His active meditation techniques, especially dynamic meditation and Kundalini meditation , have become known far beyond the movement he founded; they are practiced in many non-sannyasin-led self-awareness workshops and sometimes in schools and universities.

Osho's Ashram in Pune has developed into the Osho International Meditation Resort, one of the most popular travel destinations in India . According to press reports, the Meditation Resort receives around 200,000 visitors from 100 countries every year.

According to the religious scholar Frank Neubert from the University of Bern, it is estimated that there are 30,000 to 40,000 initiated Osho followers in Germany, who often came from the educated and better-earning classes. They continue to maintain spiritual centers and practice darshans. “What we are observing today: That we have a lot of very diffuse references to the person of Osho and to this long tradition. And at the same time we have a relatively open, loose network of sannyasins. But this network actually has no head and knows no central dogmas. So we have a more private practice and, in addition, very individual and very different forms of including the religious practices of Bhagwan in therapy. "

Prominent students in the German-speaking area

Well-known personalities in the German-speaking area who have approached Osho at some point in their lives or have become sannyasins:

  • Rudolf Bahro , philosopher and politician, spent several weeks in Rajneeshpuram in 1983 and made positive comments about Osho.
  • Joachim-Ernst Berendt , music journalist and author, became a sannyasin and later wrote the foreword to the Osho book “The Hidden Harmony”.
  • Elfie Donnelly (Ma Anasha), a youth author, came to Osho with her then husband, Peter Lustig , in the 1970s . Donnelly still names Osho as one of her role models today.
  • Georg Deuter (Swami Chaitanya Hari), New Age musician, composed the music for various Osho meditations in the 1970s.
  • Achim Eckert , alternative medicine practitioner and author who spent several years in Osho's Ashram, uses Osho's meditation techniques in his work.
  • Jörg Andrees Elten (Swami Satyananda), Stern journalist, went to Poona to write a report, but soon after became an Osho student and worked as a journalist and seminar leader in the Osho movement until his death.
  • Peter Lustig , TV presenter, went to Poona with Elfie Donnelly in the 1970s. Peter Lustig spoke positively of the "old man" and the experiences he had back then.
  • Nena , pop singer, confessed to being an Osho fan in 2009 and said she practiced his dynamic meditation methods.
  • Eva Renzi , actress, took part in therapy groups in Poona in the 1970s and then reported negatively in the tabloid press about her experiences there.
  • Barbara Rütting (Ma Anand Taruna), actress and politician, calls Osho the greatest therapist of the century.
  • Ralf Schmerberg , director, lived as a sannyasin on the ranch in Oregon for several years as a young man.
  • Peter Sloterdijk (Swami D. Peter), philosopher and television presenter, spent some time in Poona in the 1970s and describes the change of mind that he experienced as a sannyasin as "irreversible".
  • Mascha Rabben (Ma Hari Chetana), actress and photo model, translated several of Osho's books into German, retired from the movement in the 1980s.

Cultural reception

Rainer Erler's 1980 film A Guru is Coming (with Bruce Willis).

Marcus H. Rosenmüller's German feature film Summer in Orange from 2011 is about a sannyasin community that moves from Berlin to an Upper Bavarian village to open a therapy center. It is based on the childhood experiences of the author Ursula Gruber and the producer Georg Gruber, who grew up in a Bhagwan community south of Munich.

Works

Autobiographical

  • Glimpses of a Golden Childhood, Osho Viha, 1997, ISBN 81-7261-072-6
  • Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, St Martins Press, Gordonsville 2000, ISBN 0-312-25457-1
    • Autobiography of a spiritual provocateur, Ullstein, Munich 2001

Other works (selection)

  • The shoes on the head . Edition Lotos 1981
  • The alchemy of transformation . Bhagwan speaks about Jewish mysticism, Edition Lotos, Freiburg 1983 (The True Sage)
  • Looking . Bhagwan on the "Ten Bulls of Zen" (The Search)
  • Discourses on Vigyan Bhairav ​​Tantra, 5 volumes (Book of the Secrets)
  • Ecstasy, the forgotten language (about Kabir ), KI, Berlin 1980
  • Esoteric Psychology, Rajneesh, Munich 1979 (Psychology of the Esoteric)
  • The goose is out! (The Goose is Out)
  • I am the way. Rajneesh, Munich 1979 (I Am the Gate)
  • Intelligence of the heart. KI, Berlin 1979
  • The Sound of One Hand Clapping
  • Come and follow me / Jesus was silent / The Son of Man . Bhagwan talks about Jesus ( Come Follow Me, 4 volumes)
  • Meditation, The First and Last Freedom (Meditation: The First and Last Freedom)
  • Meditation, the art of ecstasy (Meditation: The Art of Ecstasy. On Meditation and Meditation Techniques)
  • My way, the way of the white cloud. KI, Berlin undated (around 1978) (My Way, the Way of the White Cloud)
  • Not before you die . Osho speaks about the way of the Sufis, Cologne 1982 (Until You Die)
  • The orange book. The Meditation Techniques of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Sambuddha, Stuttgart 1982 (The Orange Book)
  • Rebellion of the Soul (The Great Challenge)
  • Blasts the rock of unconsciousness. A Darshanta diary. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1979 (Hammer on the Rock: Evening Talks with a Modern Buddha)
  • Leap into the unknown (Dimensions Beyond the Known)
  • Tantra. The highest insight (about Tilopa's singing of the Mahamudra ), Sambuddha, Stuttgart 1980 (Tantra: the Supreme Understanding)
  • The hidden harmony . Lectures on the Fragments of Heraclitus (The Hidden Harmony)
  • From sex to cosmic consciousness (From Sex to Super-Consciousness)
  • The way of the Buddha . Osho speaks about a major Buddhist work, the Dhammapada ( Book of the Books, 12 volumes)

literature

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  • Amrito ( Jan Foudraine ): Bhagwan - Krishnamurti - C. G. Jung and psychotherapy. Synthesis, Essen 1983, ISBN 3-922026-20-6 .
  • Harry Aveling: The Laughing Swamis . Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi 1994, ISBN 81-208-1118-6 .
  • Dharm PS Bhawuk: Spirituality and Indian Psychology: Lessons from the Bhagavad-Gita. Springer, New York, NY / Heidelberg / London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4419-8109-7 .
  • Jeremy Carrette, Richard King: Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion . Routledge, New York, NY 2004, ISBN 0-415-30209-9 .
  • Lewis F. Carter: Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, ISBN 0-521-38554-7 .
  • Jörg Andrees Elten : Very relaxed in the here and now. Diary about my life with Bhagwan in Poona . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1979; Innenwelt Verlag, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-925205-94-2 .
  • Jörg Andrees Elten : Everything is very easy in Santa Barbara . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 978-3-455-08354-5 .
  • Frances FitzGerald: Cities on a Hill: A Journey Through Contemporary American Cultures . Simon & Schuster, 1986, ISBN 0-671-55209-0 (contains a very detailed chapter on Rajneeshpuram previously published in two parts in The New Yorker [issues Sept. 22 and 29, 1986]).
  • Judith M. Fox: Osho Rajneesh . Studies in Contemporary Religion, Signature Books, Salt Lake City 2002, ISBN 1-56085-156-2 .
  • Marion S. Goldman: Passionate Journeys - Why Successful Women Joined A Cult . The University of Michigan Press, 2001, ISBN 0-472-08844-0 .
  • Paul Heelas: The New Age Movement . Blackwell Publishers, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-19332-4 .
  • Fritz Erik Hoevels and Peter Priskil : Bhagwan or the dilemma of a philanthropic religion - a psychoanalytic study and Jesus - Bhagwan. A comparison . Ahriman, Freiburg im Breisgau 1987, ISBN 3-922774-04-0 .
  • Fritz-Reinhold Huth: The self- image of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in his speeches about Jesus (= Studia Irenica , Volume 36), Lang Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-631-45987-4 .
  • Nisha Jacobi: The masterpiece . Context, Bielefeld 1988, ISBN 3-926257-02-4 .
  • Vasant Joshi: The Awakened One: The Life and Work of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh . Harper & Row, 1982, ISBN 0-06-064205-X .
  • Gunther Klosinski : Why Bhagwan? In search of home, security and love . Kösel, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-466-30274-9 (Habilitation University of Tübingen 1984, 221 pages, 21 cm, Psychological and psychodynamic aspects of religious conversion to neo-religious movements using the example of the neo-sannyas movement. A comparative study of the neo-sannyas Movement and the Society for Transcendental Meditation through biographical interviews ).
  • James R. Lewis, Jesper Aagaard Petersen (Eds.): Controversial New Religions . Oxford University Press, New York, NY 2004, ISBN 0-19-515682-X .
  • Uday Mehta: Modern Godmen in India: A Sociological Appraisal . Popular Prakashan, Mumbai 1993, ISBN 81-7154-708-7 .
  • Bob Mullan: Life as Laughter: Following Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Routledge & Kegan Paul Books Ltd, London, Boston, Melbourne and Henley 1983, ISBN 0-7102-0043-9 .
  • Susan J. Palmer and Arvind Sharma: The Rajneesh Papers: Studies in a New Religious Movement . Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi 1993, ISBN 81-208-1080-5 .
  • Maroesja Perizonius: My mother's dream. My childhood in a Bhagwan commune (original title:  De droom van mijn moeder ), Bastei-Lübbe-TB, Bergisch Gladbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-404-61641-1
  • Joachim Süss: On the way to enlightenment. Neo-Sannyasin in Germany and their religion (= Marburg Studies on Africa and Asia Studies , Series C: History of Religion , Volume 2), Reimer, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-496-02531-X (Dissertation University of Marburg 1994, 321 pages, 21 cm).
  • Joachim Süss: Bhagwan's legacy, the Osho movement today . Claudius, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-532-64010-4 .
  • Fritz Tanner : Bhagwan. Crook - juggler - god? Panorama, Altstätten / Munich 1986, ISBN 3-907506-26-X .
  • Anna Thoden and Ingemarie Schmidt: The Myth about Bhagwan. The history of a movement (= rororo non-fiction book 1080), Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-499-17957-1 .
  • Hugh B. Urban: Zorba The Buddha: Capitalism, Charisma and the Cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. In: Religion Volume 26, No. 2, April 1996, pp. 161-182, doi: 10.1006 / reli.1996.0013 .

Documentary film

  • Ashram in Poona, documentary, 83 min, D 1983, script and director: Wolfgang Dobrowolny
  • Guru - Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard . Documentary with interviews with Ma Anand Sheela and Hugh Milne by Sabine Gisiger and Beat Häner. Switzerland 2010. Guru - Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  • Wild Wild Country , a 6-episode Netflix documentary series by Duplass Brothers Productions about the conflict over the settlement of Rajneeshpuram in Oregon 1981 to 1985, USA 2018.

Web links

Commons : Osho  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Osho  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Joachim Süss (1996), p. 30.
  2. ↑ Vasant Joshi (1982), p. 15.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Frances FitzGerald, The New Yorker September 22, 1986, p. 77.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 44.
  5. ^ Meyers Lexikon online ( Memento from December 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ a b Osho: Autobiography of a spiritual provocateur, appendix.
  7. ↑ a b Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 35.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 9.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 10.
  10. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 42.
  11. ↑ a b Joachim Süss (1996), p. 29.
  12. ↑ a b c Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 43.
  13. ^ Osho: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol. 2, Chapter 11; Excerpts here.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 11.
  15. ↑ a b c James R. Lewis (2004), p. 122.
  16. ^ A b Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 45.
  17. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 46.
  18. ↑ a b c d Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 47.
  19. ↑ a b c d Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 12.
  20. ^ Bharti: Death Comes Dancing, quoted in Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 12.
  21. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 48.
  22. ↑ a b c d e Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 13.
  23. ↑ a b c Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 14.
  24. ↑ Lewis F. Carter (1990), pp. 48-50.
  25. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 15.
  26. ↑ a b c d e Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 16.
  27. ↑ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 50, p. 114.
  28. ^ Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), p. 5.
  29. ↑ Joe Morrell: Growing up within the Family of Love, quoted in Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 16.
  30. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 22, 1986, p. 78.
  31. ^ A b c Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, Sept. 22, 1986, p. 80.
  32. ↑ Vasant Joshi (1982), cited in Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 16.
  33. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 17.
  34. ↑ a b c Janet Maslin : Ashram (1981) Life at an Ashram, Search for Inner Peace, Film Review in the New York Times, November 13, 1981.
  35. ^ Jörg Andrees Elten: Quite relaxed in the here and now, Cologne 2000, pp. 186–191.
  36. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 22, 1986, p. 83.
  37. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), pp. 48-49.
  38. ↑ a b c d e f g Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 18.
  39. ^ Bharti: Death Comes Dancing, quoted in Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 18.
  40. ↑ a b c d Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 19.
  41. ↑ Christopher Hitchens: Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume . Atlantic Books, Limited, December 15, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78239-141-8 , p. 189.
  42. ↑ a b c d Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 20.
  43. ^ A b c Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 22, 1986, p. 85.
  44. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 21.
  45. ↑ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 70.
  46. ↑ Article in the Times of India on November 18, 2002.
  47. ↑ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 63.
  48. ↑ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 64.
  49. ↑ a b c Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 22.
  50. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 22, 1986, p. 86.
  51. ↑ a b Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 23.
  52. ^ Article in the New York Times , Sept. 16, 1981.
  53. ↑ a b c d e f g h Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 24.
  54. ↑ a b c d Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 25.
  55. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 122.
  56. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 53.
  57. ↑ James R. Lewis (2004), pp. 129-130.
  58. ↑ Carsten Holm: Im Bann des Weißbarts , Spiegel-Online, May 26, 2012, and in Der Spiegel 22/2012, accessed on June 3, 2018.
  59. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 26.
  60. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 143.
  61. ↑ a b c Lewis F. Carter (1990), pp. 203 ff.
  62. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 29, 1986, p. 96.
  63. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 27.
  64. ↑ Susan J. Palmer, Arvind Sharma (1993), pp. 155-158.
  65. ^ A b c Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 29, 1986, pp. 98-102.
  66. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 29, 1986, p. 115.
  67. ↑ a b c Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 28.
  68. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 230.
  69. ↑ a b Article in Ashé magazine ( Memento from October 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  70. ↑ a b Lewis F. Carter (1990), pp. 234-240.
  71. ^ Frances FitzGerald, The New Yorker September 29, 1986, p. 116.
  72. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 224.
  73. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 29, 1986, p. 119.
  74. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 202.
  75. ↑ a b c PublishingTrends.com ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  76. ^ Frances FitzGerald: The New Yorker, September 29, 1986, p. 110.
  77. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 232.
  78. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 233.
  79. ^ Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 29.
  80. ^ Lewis F. Carter (1990), p. 237.
  81. ↑ a b c Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 36.
  82. ↑ http://www.pierreevald.dk/osho_files/OSHO-REW.doc
  83. ^ Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 33.
  84. ↑ a b c d e f Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 34.
  85. ↑ Judith M. Fox (2002), pp. 34-35.
  86. ^ Nisha Jacobi (1988), p. 431.
  87. ↑ a b c Harry Aveling (1994), p. 198.
  88. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 62.
  89. ↑ Osho: No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity, Chapter 1.
  90. ↑ a b c Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 37.
  91. ^ Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 2.
  92. ↑ a b c d Margarete Blümel: Oshos Erben - Interview with religious studies scholar Frank Neubert from the University of Bern, Deutschlandfunk, February 22, 2012.
  93. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 153.
  94. ↑ Osho: God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth, Chapter 1; Video available on YouTube .
  95. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 162.
  96. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 118.
  97. ↑ a b c Joachim Süss (1996), p. 120.
  98. ↑ a b c Joachim Süss (1996), p. 50.
  99. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 50; see also Interview with Jeff McMullen: 60 Minutes, Australia, available as a video on YouTube .
  100. ↑ Osho: The Beloved, Vol. 1, Chapter 6.
  101. ↑ Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 17; here's an example.
  102. ^ Osho Times, January 2006. ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  103. ^ A b c d e Maroesja Perizonius: My mother's dream - My childhood in a Bhagwan commune, Bastei Lübbe Verlag, 2008.
  104. ↑ a b c d e Katharina Wulff-Bräutigam : Bhagwan, Che and I - My Childhood in the 70s, Droemer Verlag 2005.
  105. ↑ a b Osho: The Greatest Challenge: The Golden Future, available at osho.com .
  106. ↑ Osho, The Mustard Seed, Discourse 12
  107. ↑ Osho, Hari Om Tat Sat - The Divine Sound That is the Truth, Discourse 6
  108. ^ Osho, From Bondage to Freedom, Discourse 16
  109. ↑ oshofriendsinternational.com
  110. ↑ http://www.osho.com/copyright.cfm
  111. ↑ Commercial register data for OIF, Switzerland
  112. ↑ What is it about?
  113. ↑ http://www.oshofriendsinternational.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=125
  114. ↑ www.oshouta.de ( Memento from February 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  115. ↑ http://www.osho.com/trademarks
  116. ↑ http://www.osho.de/2012/06/osho-festival-in-riccione-de/
  117. ↑ http://www.osho.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/OIF_submission_02012014.pdf
  118. ↑ http://www.osho.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Jacket-Cover-Report-Part1.pdf
  119. ↑ http://www.oshonews.com/2013/12/oshos-signature-will-forgery/
  120. ↑ http://www.osho.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Masshabenverfuetzung_gegen_OIF.pdf
  121. ↑ http://www.osho.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Urteil_OHIM.pdf
  122. ↑ a b c d e f Joachim Süss (1996), p. 27.
  123. ↑ a b taz interview from June 13, 2006 ; Excerpt from a conversation P. Sloterdijk with Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs in the cultural newspaper Lettre International
  124. ↑ Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), pp. 8-9.
  125. ↑ Dharm PS Bhawuk (2011), p. 37.
  126. ↑ Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), pp. 204-226.
  127. ↑ Vasant Joshi (1982), pp. 1-2.
  128. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 52.
  129. ↑ Bob Mullan (1983), pp. 48, 89-90.
  130. ↑ Uday Mehta (1993), p. 151.
  131. ^ Hugh Urban (1996), p. 169.
  132. ↑ a b Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), pp. 1-2.
  133. ↑ Died: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in: Der Spiegel, 4/1990, quoted in Huth (1993), p. 2.
  134. ^ Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), p. 3.
  135. ↑ a b Fritz-Reinhold Huth (1993), p. 4.
  136. ↑ BVerwG, decision of March 13, 1991, ( Memento of July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Az. 7 B 99.90, (Youth Sect - Osho-Rajneesh) full text.
  137. ↑ BVerfG, decision of June 26, 2002, Az. 1 BvR 670/91, full text Rn. 57, 60, 62, 91-94; BVerfGE 105, 279 - Osho; BVerfG, press release No. 68/2002 ( Memento of May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) of July 30, 2002.
  138. ^ Hubert Seiwert: Freedom and Control in the Unified Germany: Governmental Approaches to Alternative Religions Since 1989 . In: Sociology of Religion (2003) 64 (3): 367–375, p. 370. Online edition ( Memento of July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  139. ↑ Germany sentenced to Bhagwan movement for long proceedings on 123recht.net.
  140. ↑ Negative labeling of Osho movement on echrblog.blogspot.com.
  141. ↑ a b Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 41.
  142. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 36.
  143. ↑ a b Bombay High Court's judgment , ( September 27, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive ) Sections 12-14.
  144. ↑ a b Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 42.
  145. ↑ Article in LOGOS - The Journal of the World Book Community, Vol. 12, 2001, ( Memento of October 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) also here.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.atypon-link.com  
  146. ↑ a b c To you or in me, article in Weltwoche, edition 13/06.
  147. ↑ a b c James R. Lewis (2004), p. 120.
  148. ↑ Jeremy Carrette, Richard King (2004), p. 154.
  149. ↑ Paul Heelas (1996), p 63rd
  150. ^ Judith M. Fox (2002), p. 43.
  151. ↑ Joachim Süss (1996), p. 123.
  152. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, ( August 31, 2004 memento on the Internet Archive ) August 29, 2004 article.
  153. ↑ Rudolf Bahro: In America there are no cathedrals, in: taz interview from Rajneeshpuram from 29/30. August 1983.
  154. ↑ Interview ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) with Elfie Donnelly on womenweb.de
  155. ↑ biography
  156. ↑ heilendestao.at
  157. ^ Osho Times, ( Memento from January 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) hierjetzt.de. ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  158. ↑ Interview ( memento of August 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) with Peter Lustig on galore.de (Web Archive).
  159. ↑ Oma in Extase, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung ; Nena professes to be a fan of Bhagwan guru Osho, in: Die Welt , September 26, 2009.
  160. ↑ Stefanie Rüggeberg: Farewell to Eva Renzi - Cancer: Actress died at the age of 60 ( memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), obituary in the Hamburger Abendblatt, August 17, 2005, accessed on June 3, 2018
  161. ↑ Interview on the 70th birthday ( Memento from December 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  162. ↑ Susanne Kaloff: There were women who dismantled the kitchen every night, in: Die Welt , October 10, 2010.
  163. ↑ The Rosi, the Baghwans and a new movie, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 12, 2010, accessed on February 25, 2016.
  164. ↑ gurufilm.ch: Guru - Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard . Documentary 2010 - (Trailer)
personal data
SURNAME Osho
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain (maiden name); रजनीश चन्द्र मोहन जैन (Hindi)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian philosopher and guru, founder and leader of a controversial religious movement in India, temporarily in the USA
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Madhya Pradesh
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1990
Place of death Pune , Maharashtra