How can I improve my ability to sit silently in meditation?

(As Susana sits in front of Osho listening to the explanation of her new name, Anand Archano, her eyes close and her head slowly falls back. Moments later a tear plops off her cheek onto her lap.) I know only one prayer and that is being blissful. Nothing has to be said to god, one has simply to be blissful and all is said through one's bliss. People can pray but if they are sad, miserable, their prayer is only words, empty words with no content. If one is blissful then words are not needed at all; one can simply dance and sing or just sit silently, joyously -- and that's enough. That gratitude reaches to the ultimate source of light. So that is going to be your prayers no words but a silent joy pervading your whole being. -- How long will you be here? -- Forever.

So first: now, when we sit for meditation—our entire language is the language of doing. We even say, We will do meditation. It is wrong to say, for there is no possibility of doing in meditation. But our entire language—human language—is the language of doing; we have no language for non-doing. In Japan, about a hundred and fifty years ago, there was a great monastery, a vast ashram. Some five hundred bhikshus practiced there. The emperor became eager to see it and went. The ashram spread far and wide in the forest; cottages were scattered. The head monk began to show them: In this cottage our monks cook; in this cottage they study; in this cottage they sing—here they do this, there they do that; here they bathe. In the middle stood a large building—the monk said nothing about it.

Osho, for many years I have been making continuous efforts—nothing happened. I did this, I did that—nothing happened. But yesterday, when I simply sat holding awareness, I was astonished: What was that? What happened was beyond my imagination.

It will be; it is bound to be beyond imagination. You don’t even know—what will happen is utterly unknown and unknowable. You cannot make any expectation of it; you have no idea what it will be. What will happen in meditation cannot be said in advance, nor can it be imagined. What happens is unprecedented. It has never been known before. It is totally unknown, utterly unknowable. It will happen only when this entire known mind of yours becomes utterly quiet. And it will become quiet. Awareness stills the mind. When the mind becomes still, meditation descends. Meditation is not something you do; it descends. It surrounds you. Meditation is a state outside the mind-field. Meditation is the very nature of the soul. As soon as the mind-field is quiet, meditation begins to spread. So, very quietly, very effortlessly, without any tension, in silence; everyone sit with a little space…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, SITTING SILENTLY, DOING NOTHING, THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF... AND I FALL ASLEEP. SOMEHOW I ALWAYS FEEL ENVY FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN SIT SILENTLY FOR HOURS, BUT I REALLY CAN'T MANAGE IT, AND I HAVE BEEN TRYING HARD. I'M ONLY GOOD AT FIGHTING, AT CREATING TROUBLES, AT DANCING WITH CREATIVITY, AT SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS, AT SINGING LOUDLY. SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT THERE IS NO HOPE FOR ME? Sarjano, the haiku you are quoting is from a great master, Basho. I know him. I can tell him to change it a little just to save a poor Italian. And the change that I can suggest to Basho will not be such that he will feel any difficulty. The haiku is, "Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

Question: dynamic meditation is very active, very strenuous.can one not go into meditation just by sitting silently?

You can go into meditation just by sitting, but then be just sitting; do not do anything else. If you can be just sitting, it becomes meditation. Be completely in the sitting; nonmovement should be your only movement. In fact, the word zen comes from the word zazen, which means, just sitting, doing nothing. If you can just sit, doing nothing with your body and nothing with your mind, it becomes meditation; but it is difficult. You can sit very easily when you are doing something else but the moment you are just sitting and doing nothing, it becomes a problem. Every fiber of the body begins to move inside; every vein, every muscle, begins to move. You will begin to feel a subtle trembling; you will be aware of many points in the body of which you have never been aware before. And the more you try to just…