According to Osho, intellectual tension can lead to satori only if it is pushed to its utmost peak and suddenly releases in a flash of understanding; partial tension is a hindrance. Equally, satori can arise in totally relaxed, playful dialogue or from any ordinary encounter—flower, pebble, laughter—whenever you are fully present. It depends on your availability, not the situation.
Yes—but only if your mind gets totally tight and then lets go into a clear ‘aha’; otherwise, just relax and be present, because satori comes from your openness, not special events.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: you mean even intellectual tension can be a way to achieve satori?
It may be, it may not be. If you become intellectually tense during this discussion and the tension is not brought to the extreme, it will be a hindrance. But if you become totally tense and then suddenly something is understood, that understanding will be a release and satori can happen. Or, if this discussion is not at all tense, if we are just chitchatting -- totally relaxed, totally nonserious -- even this discussion can be an aesthetic experience. It is not only that flowers are aesthetic; even words can be. It is not only that trees are aesthetic; human beings can also be. It is not only when you are watching clouds floating by that satori becomes possible; even if you participate in a dialogue it becomes possible. But either a relaxed participation is needed or a very tense participation. You can either be relaxed to begin with or…
Q: Satori becomes possible for a great number of people because sometimes it needs no preparation. Sometimes it happens by the way. The situation is created but unknowingly. There are so many people, a great number of them, who have known it. They may have not known it as satori, may not have interpreted as satori, but they have known it. A great search in love can create it. Even through chemical drugs satori is possible. Through mescaline, LSD and marijuana it is possible. Because even through chemical change mind can expand into a glimpse. It is nothing irreligious, because after all we are chemical bodies -- our body, our mind is a chemical unit. So through chemistry too the glimpse can become possible. Sometimes a sudden danger can penetrate you so much that the glimpse becomes possible.
Beloved Osho, over the years, I have heard various sannyasins saying that they experienced a satori. What exactly is a satori, and how does it come about?
Satori is a glimpse of the ultimate... as if you are seeing the Himalayan peaks. But you are far away, you are not on the peaks, and you have not become the peaks. It is a beautiful experience, very enchanting, exciting, challenging. Perhaps it may lead you towards samadhi. Satori is a glimpse of samadhi. Samadhi is the fulfillment of satori. What was a glimpse has become now an eternal reality to you. Satori is like opening a window -- a little breeze comes in, a little light. You can see a little sky, but it is framed. Your window becomes a frame to the sky, which has no frame. And if you always live in the room and you have never been out of it, the natural conclusion will be that the sky is framed. It is only in this decade that a few modern painters have started painting…
During three years of severe training under the great master gizan, koshu was unable to gain satori.
AT THE BEGINNING OF A SPECIAL SEVEN-DAY SESSION OF DISCIPLINE, HE THOUGHT HIS CHANCE HAD FINALLY COME. HE CLIMBED THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE GATE, AND GOING UP TO THE ARHAT IMAGES HE MADE THIS VOW: EITHER I REALIZE MY DREAMS UP HERE, OR THEY'LL FIND MY DEAD BODY AT THE FOOT OF THIS TOWER. HE WENT WITHOUT FOOD OR SLEEP, GIVING HIMSELF UP TO CONSTANT ZAZEN, OFTEN CRYING OUT THINGS LIKE: WHAT WAS MY KARMA THAT IN SPITE OF ALL THESE EFFORTS I CAN'T GRASP THE WAY? AT LAST HE ADMITTED FAILURE, AND, DETERMINED TO END IT ALL, HE WENT TO THE RAILING AND SLOWLY LIFTED HIS LEG OVER IT. AT THAT VERY INSTANT HE HAD AN AWAKENING. OVERJOYED, HE RUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS AND THROUGH THE RAIN TO GIZAN'S ROOM. BEFORE HE HAD A CHANCE TO SPEAK, THE MASTER CRIED: BRAVO! -- YOU'VE FINALLY HAD YOUR DAY. Satori…
Question: OSHO, WHAT IS SATORI AND HOW TO ATTAIN IT? But everybody is being taught to be an idealist: "Become a Jesus" or "Become a Buddha" or "Become a Krishna." Nobody tells you just to be yourself! Why should you be a Jesus? One Jesus is enough and one Jesus is beautiful - he enriches the existence. Many Jesuses just carrying crosses, and wherever you go you meet them... It won't look beautiful, it won't add to the beauty of existence; it will make the whole world ugly. Wherever you go you meet a Mahavira standing naked.... It is because of this that God never creates the same person again. He never repeats; he is original. He always creates a new person. You have never been before, and there is no one who is like you, and there will never be anybody else like you again.