According to Osho, smoking doesn’t have to be dropped by moral command; he isn’t against it. What matters is consciousness: transform the mundane (even a smoking ‘temple’) into the sacred through awareness. Health or lifespan is secondary; one moment of total awareness liberates. When you become conscious, you yourself decide whether to continue or stop—no imposition, only understanding.
Don’t force quitting; wake up inside, and then you’ll naturally choose what’s right for you.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, I cannot drop the habit of chain-smoking. I have tried hard but I have failed always. Is it a sin to smoke?
Gurucharan, DON'T MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL! Religious people are very skillful in doing that. Now, what are you really doing when you are smoking? Just taking some smoke inside your lungs and letting it out. It is a kind of PRANAYAMA -- filthy, dirty, but still a PRANAYAMA! You are doing yoga, in a stupid way. It is not sin. It may be foolish but it is not a sin, certainly. There is only one sin and that is unawareness, and only one virtue and that is awareness. Do whatsoever you are doing, but remain a witness to it, and immediately the quality of your doing is transformed. I will not tell you not to smoke; that you have tried. You must have been told by many so-called saints not to smoke: "Because if you smoke you will fall into hell." God is not so stupid as…
Osho, gurdjieff had a beautiful waterpipe and did not hate cigarettes either. All his life baal shem had a clay pipe in his mouth. Does smoking really have to drop? And if so, how come the only temple in the ashram is the smoking temple?
Anando, MY WHOLE EFFORT HERE is to transform the mundane into the sacred. It is an alchemical school: we change base metals into gold. That's why the smoking place is called a temple; that is the only temple we have. I am not against smoking. I don't smoke myself because now there is so much smoke in the air that one need not bother carrying a clay pipe or a waterpipe in one's hand; just ordinary air is enough -- it is so polluted. In fact, ecologists say that it is a wonder how man is surviving because just fifty years ago scientists used to think that if air became as polluted as it has become today in New York, in Bombay, in Calcutta, in London, then people will die. But man has a tremendous capacity to adjust to any situation. Where so many cars are moving and trains are…
Why is it that the habits I judge bad for me -- smoking, overeating etc, are the most persistent?
That will be. If you judge them bad they will be persistent because you are creating a relationship with them. To call anything bad is to create a relationship with it. And whenever you call a thing bad, why do you call it bad? You call it bad because it defeats you. It is powerful. You call it bad because you are impotent before it; and by name-calling nobody is helped. So the first thing to do is: stop judging! If you want to smoke -- smoke! Smoke meditatively, forget what others say about it. Smoking can be such a beautiful meditation. Don't fight with it, smoke meditatively, create perfect rings, and enjoy the whole thing. And suddenly one day you will find the need has disappeared. The whole thing looks so foolish. Not that you judge, because when you judge then it is either good or bad. When you…
Question: BELOVED MASTER, I WANT TO GIVE UP SMOKING. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT IT? The man looked at Jesus and he said, "Don't you recognize me? I had died and you are the man who disturbed my death and you brought me back from my death. It is too much! I cannot bear this life any longer. Enough is enough! And please, you have come again... and I have made every preparation to kill myself. Don't do your miracle again -- I don't want any of your miracles!" This is a strange story, but of great significance. Man is such, so blind, that he will do something wrong if he is healthy, he will do something wrong if he is alive, he will do something wrong if he has eyes -- he will see something wrong. Unless you are conscious you are going to do wrong.
Osho, even when I understand everything theoretically, why does it not come into practice? Please explain.
Someone told Mulla Nasruddin, “Stop smoking, otherwise you’ll die early. Scientists say it takes a year off your life.” Nasruddin said, “We’ll live sixty-nine instead of seventy—but to live one extra year at the cost of a whole life without the joy of cigarettes, that I don’t understand.” That’s the double-talk. He accepts that scientists are probably right: a year less. A doctor told him—because his illness kept worsening—“Brother, stop drinking, stop smoking; now you’re old—stop running after women, or you’ll die soon.” Nasruddin said, “What you say is fine, doctor. But if I stop all that, what would be the point of staying alive? Tell me that too. Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t chase women—then sit like a dummy! What would I live for?” And it isn’t only with men. I read a story: A man died—must have been a Christian. He reached the gates of heaven; Saint Peter…