Awareness
True awareness unfolds in the present moment, free from the desire to attain it; when we relinquish our yearning for awareness, we awaken to a silent, choiceless presence that enriches our ordinary lives.
Explore Depth →Mindfulness
Mindfulness transcends the ego's will, inviting us to surrender to a state of pure observation where thoughts dissolve, allowing realization to unfold effortlessly, much like the Zen concept of the 'goose in the bottle,' revealing freedom without disruption.
Explore Depth →From the Discourses
Where Osho draws this distinction himself — each passage links to the complete discourse.
Question: what is the difference between awareness and witnessing?
Witnessing comes as a consequence of consciousness. You cannot practice witnessing; you can only practice consciousness. Witnessing comes as a consequence, as a shadow, as a result, as a byproduct. The more you become conscious, the more you go into witnessing, the more you come to be a witness. So consciousness is a method to achieve witnessing. And the second step is that witnessing will become a method to achieve awareness. So these are the three steps: consciousness, witnessing, awareness. But where we exist is the lowest rank: that is, in unconscious activity. Unconscious activity is the state of our minds. Through consciousness you can achieve witnessing, and through witnessing you can achieve awareness, and through awareness you can achieve "no achievement." Through awareness you can achieve all that is already achieved. After awareness there is nothing; awareness is the end. Awareness is the end of spiritual progress; unawareness is…
Osho, in the context of the practice of heedfulness (apramad), please explain the similarities and differences among the practices of witnessing, awareness, and tathata.
One more thought on tathata. A Zen fakir wrote a small song: “The geese fly across the sky. They have no desire that their reflections be formed in the still lake below. Yet the reflections form. The blue lake has no desire to catch the reflections of the geese. Yet the reflections are caught. Then the geese fly on and the reflections also fly away. The geese do not know they were caught in the lake; the lake does not know that the reflections aroused any curiosity, any stir, any disturbance in its bosom.” Tathata means such a being. Things happen. He is ready for all—wants to do nothing and has no complaint. That is why one of Buddha’s names is Tathagata. He loved that name. Even speaking of himself he would say, “The Tathagata passed through a certain village.” Tathagata means one who has attained tathata—thus come, thus gone.…
[NOTE: This is a partly edited tape transcript of an unpublished early dialogue. It is for reference purposes only.](Starts with Osho laughing) LADAK(?) WOMAN: MY QUESTION IS IN THREE STAGES: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TO WITNESS AND TO BE AWARE? AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AWARENESS AND CONSCIOUSNESS? AND THE SECOND QUESTION IS ABOUT THIS MEDITATION TECHNIQUE. IS THE FOURTH STAGE OF YOUR MEDITATION METHOD THE STATE OF AKARMA, THAT IS DUAL AWARENESS? AND THE THIRD ONE IS VERY PRIVATE; ABOUT MY SADHANA. IN MY MEDITATION KUNDALINI IS RISING WITH SHOOTS OF FIRE AND LIGHT. IF I FEEL THIS MOVEMENT HOW CAN I STILL BE IN AKARMA? I NEED YOUR BLESSING! A: There is much difference between awareness and witnessing. Witnessing is still an act, you are doing it, the ego is there. So the phenomenon of witnessing is divided between this subject and the object.
Osho: To think is the nature of the mind. And if you don't think then there is no mind. A state of no-mind comes, then you know. That is nature, this too is nature; that is not against this nature which creates ignorance, creates unknowing, creates conflict. We have not known the total mind, we have known only the mind which thinks. If you transcend it then you know the total mind -- which knows. Thinking is one thing, knowing is quite another. QUESTION: THE NATURE OF THE MIND IS TO THINK, AND THEN IT CEASES TO THINK. WHAT DO YOU DO IN ORDER TO CAUSE IT NOT TO THINK? DOES IT NATURALLY NOT THINK? Osho: If you become aware of your thinking process, then the process by and by is dissolved.
Osho, are “just awareness,” mere alertness, and tathata the same?
In fact, when we say “just awareness,” mere alertness, there is a slight difference between that and tathata. And there is also a slight difference between that and the witness. Think of “just awareness” as the link between the witness and tathata—when you pass from witnessing to tathata, this will be the link in between: just awareness. In witnessing, the sense that “I am and you are” is firm. In just awareness there is only “am”; the sense of “you” has been forgotten—only the sense of being. In tathata, it is not only the sense of being; my being and your being are one being. Because as long as there is just awareness, as long as there is only the sense of being, there will be a boundary outside that sense of being—something I am not, from which I am separate. In tathata there is no boundary. There is only…
The Synthesis
The Intersection: Both point toward the act of being present, conscious, and anchored deeply in the current moment rather than lost in thought.
The Divergence: Mindfulness has become a clinical, intellectual exercise of the West—watching thoughts to reduce stress or improve productivity. Awareness (Witnessing) is a much deeper existential shift—it is completely dis-identifying from the body-mind complex entirely.
Osho's Synthesis: Osho rarely uses 'mindfulness' as it implies the mind is still involved ('mind-full'). He speaks purely of Awareness—the watcher on the hill. It is not about managing the mind to live a better life; it is about completely stepping out of the mind to realize you are eternal consciousness.
Modern usage treats "mindfulness" and "awareness" as interchangeable, but Osho keeps a precise ladder: conscious attention can be practiced, witnessing arises from it as a by-product, and awareness is the summit where even the witness dissolves. What is popularly taught as mindfulness — deliberate, effortful attention to the present — is for Osho only the first rung, still an act of the ego, still divided between watcher and watched.
Beyond it he points to tathata, suchness, where the sense of a separate observer disappears entirely. The sections below trace that ladder in his own words, from practiced attention to the awareness that cannot be practiced at all.
Consciousness, Witnessing, Awareness — the Three Steps
Asked to separate awareness from witnessing, Osho lays out the sequence: only the first step can be practiced; the rest arrive on their own.
Witnessing comes as a consequence of consciousness. You cannot practice witnessing; you can only practice consciousness. Witnessing comes as a consequence, as a shadow, as a result, as a byproduct.— Meditation The Art Of Ecstasy, Chapter 14 →
Witnessing Is Still an Act
In an early dialogue, Osho marks the exact fault line: deliberate watching — the core of mindfulness practice — still carries a doer.
There is much difference between awareness and witnessing. Witnessing is still an act, you are doing it, the ego is there. So the phenomenon of witnessing is divided between this subject and the object.— Early Talks, Chapter 5 →
From Witness to Just Awareness to Suchness
Asked whether "just awareness," mere alertness, and tathata are the same, Osho draws the finest distinctions in the whole territory.
In witnessing, the sense that “I am and you are” is firm. In just awareness there is only “am”; the sense of “you” has been forgotten—only the sense of being. In tathata, it is not only the sense of being; my being and your being are one being.— Main Mrityu Sikhata Hun, Chapter 15 →
The Goal Beyond Practice: Tathata
Speaking on heedfulness, Osho describes where the ladder ends — a being to whom things simply happen, with no watcher left to comment.
Tathata means such a being. Things happen. He is ready for all—wants to do nothing and has no complaint. That is why one of Buddha’s names is Tathagata.— Jyon Ki Tyon, Chapter 13 →
Frequently Asked
No. What is taught today as mindfulness — deliberate attention to breath, body and thoughts — corresponds to what Osho calls practiced consciousness or witnessing, which he says is still an act with an ego behind it. Awareness in his sense is what remains when that effort ripens and drops: choiceless, effortless, no longer divided into watcher and watched.
According to Osho, no. You can only practice consciousness — bringing attention to your acts. Witnessing then arises as a by-product, and awareness as the by-product of witnessing. Trying to seize awareness directly keeps the doer alive, and the doer is precisely what has to dissolve.
Osho calls awareness the end of spiritual progress — but he distinguishes it from tathata, suchness, where even the boundary of 'my being' disappears and only one being remains. He treats 'just awareness' as the bridge between witnessing and tathata: first the other is forgotten, then finally the separation itself.