When you watch everything without thinking or guessing, your mind becomes a clean, quiet mirror—and that clear seeing is samadhi; practice it in daily actions or by sitting quietly each day.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, Patanjali and all the enlightened ones have spoken of samadhi. But Krishnamurti speaks of understanding. From samadhi it seems understanding can flower; but how can samadhi flower from understanding? Can the state of buddhahood be attained by understanding alone? Osho, please explain this properly.
Krishnamurti says there is no need to meditate separately. He is right. Those who said “do it separately” also know there is no real need to separate it. But they do not expect that you can be aware for twenty-four hours yet. Krishnamurti trusted you a little too much; Patanjali doesn’t trust you that much. Therefore Patanjali managed to take some of you to samadhi; Krishnamurti perhaps almost no one. He trusted you too much. You were crawling on your knees; Krishnamurti assumed you could run. Krishnamurti said what he had to say from his own standpoint; he did not take care of you. Patanjali speaks with your welfare in view—lifting you one step at a time. Patanjali has placed stairs; Krishnamurti speaks of a leap. You cannot gather the courage even to climb steps—what leap will you take! And it often happens that those who cannot muster the courage…
Osho, in meditation I experience light; I also experience peace and bliss. Is this the state of samadhi?
Not so fast. Call it the first glimpse of samadhi. The first waft of fragrance has arrived. Say, the first flower of spring has bloomed. But the blooming of spring’s first flower is not spring’s arrival. Spring is on the way; it will come. The first guest has arrived. Don’t take this to be the whole, otherwise you will get stuck, you will stop. Much is yet to happen. And the final understanding dawns only when no experience remains—not the experience of light, not the experience of peace, not the experience of bliss. You will be a little startled. Up to now you have known suffering; opposite to it comes the experience of happiness. As the meditative state in the mind deepens a little, happiness takes the place of sorrow. Then both happiness and sorrow depart. The duality is gone. Then a tremor of bliss arises. But that tremor feels…
The sutras say, "not to let go of wisdom is stupidity." when the mind doesn't exist, understanding and not understanding are both true. When the mind exists, understanding and not understanding are both false.
WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND, REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU. WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, YOU DEPEND ON REALITY. WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, THAT WHICH ISN'T REAL BECOMES REAL. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, THAT WHICH IS REAL BECOMES FALSE. WHEN YOU DEPEND ON REALITY, EVERYTHING IS FALSE. WHEN REALITY DEPENDS ON YOU, EVERYTHING IS TRUE .... THUS, THE SAGE DOESN'T USE HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR REALITY, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR HIS MIND TO LOOK FOR HIS MIND, OR REALITY TO LOOK FOR REALITY. HIS MIND DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO REALITY. AND REALITY DOESN'T GIVE RISE TO HIS MIND. AND BECAUSE BOTH HIS MIND AND REALITY ARE STILL, HE'S ALWAYS IN SAMADHI. ...THE SUTRAS SAY, "NOTHING HAS A NATURE OF ITS OWN." ACT. DON'T QUESTION. WHEN YOU QUESTION, YOU'RE WRONG. WHEN YOU'RE DELUDED, THE SIX SENSES AND FIVE SHADES ARE CONSTRUCTS OF SUFFERING AND MORTALITY. WHEN YOU WAKE…
These samadhis that result from meditation on an object are samadhis with seed, and do not give freedom from the cycle of rebirth. On attaining the utmost purity of the nirvichara stage of samadhi, there is a dawning of the spiritual light.
IN NIRVICHARA SAMADHI, THE CONSCIOUSNESS IS FILLED WITH TRUTH. For example if you contemplate on emptiness; the object is almost not, if you meditate on nothingness. There are Buddhist schools which emphasize only one meditation, and that is on nothingness. One has to think, one has to meditate, one has to imbibe the idea that nothing exists. Continuously meditating on nothingness, a moment comes when the object becomes so subtle that it cannot withhold your attention; it is so subtle that there is nothing to contemplate, and one goes on and on and on. Suddenly, one day the consciousness bounces upon oneself. Not finding any standing ground there in the object, not finding any foothold, not finding anything to cling to, the consciousness bounces upon itself. It returns, comes back to its own center. Then it becomes the highest, the purest, nirvichara. The highest, nirvichara, is when the consciousness bounces…
In the state of nirvichara samadhi, an object is experienced in its full perspective, because in this state knowledge is gained direct, without the use of the senses. The perception gained in nirvichara samadhi transcends all normal perceptions both in extent and intensity.
WHEN THIS CONTROLLING OF ALL OTHER CONTROLS IS TRANSCENDED, THE SEEDLESS SAMADHI IS ATTAINED, AND WITH IT, FREEDOM FROM LIFE AND DEATH. This is where all the paths culminate, all the Buddhas meet: Tantra and Yoga, Zen and Hassid, Sufi and Baul -- all the paths. Paths may be different -- they are -- but now this comes, the peak; here paths disappear. WHEN THIS CONTROLLING OF ALL OTHER CONTROLS IS TRANSCENDED... because Patanjali says that it is still a controlled state. Thoughts have disappeared: you can perceive now the existence, but still the perceiver and the perception, the object and the subject... With the body, the knowledge was indirect. Now it is direct, but still the knower is different from the known. The last barrier exists, the division. When even this is dropped, when this control is transcended, and the painter disappears in the painting and the lover disappears…