According to Osho, the New Man is the exact opposite of the 'superman.' The superman is a refined continuation of the old—stronger, smarter, superior by degrees—still trapped in the same paradigm. The New Man is a radical discontinuity: the old egoic man dies, and a qualitatively different being arises. 'Superman' is a cultural projection born of inferiority; the New Man transcends comparison.
No: a superman is just a better old man, while the new man appears only when the old, ego-based self is dropped.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, isn't the vision of the new man somehow similar to the idea of the superman?
Now he himself was not an athlete, he was not a soldier. I don't think he would have been able to hold a sword rightly, or know how to keep hold of it. He was a man who knew how to hold a fountain pen, not a sword. For his whole life he was simply writing; fighting he had never done. But he started projecting the idea of the superman. Nietzsche started condemning the old man without ever thinking that he belonged to the old. It happens... one can set oneself apart, and put the old man on this side and the superman on that side; and then you think you are not part of the old man. But because you are creating the idea of the superman, you start believing yourself that superman is your projection, your idea: you are giving birth to superman -- then of course you…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, PROLOGUE PART 3 WHEN ZARATHUSTRA ARRIVED AT THE NEAREST OF THE TOWNS LYING AGAINST THE FOREST, HE FOUND IN THAT VERY PLACE MANY PEOPLE ASSEMBLED IN THE MARKET SQUARE: FOR IT HAD BEEN ANNOUNCED THAT A TIGHT-ROPE WALKER WOULD BE APPEARING. AND ZARATHUSTRA SPOKE THUS TO THE PEOPLE: I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN. MAN IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE OVERCOME. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO OVERCOME HIM? ALL CREATURES HITHERTO HAVE CREATED SOMETHING BEYOND THEMSELVES: AND DO YOU WANT TO BE THE EBB OF THIS GREAT TIDE, AND RETURN TO THE ANIMALS RATHER THAN OVERCOME MAN? WHAT IS THE APE TO MEN? A LAUGHING-STOCK OR A PAINFUL EMBARRASSMENT. AND JUST SO SHALL MAN BE TO THE SUPERMAN: A LAUGHING-STOCK OR A PAINFUL EMBARRASSMENT. YOU HAVE MADE YOUR WAY FROM WORM TO MAN, AND MUCH IN YOU IS STILL WORM.
Beloved Osho, it touches so much when you talk about the new man. When you first mentioned this concept to us many years ago, the new man was simply that to me: a concept that was intriguing, a fascinating possibility. But lately, I feel as if I know this new man -- this new race of people -- and really care about him. It sounds audacious to repeat the words I have heard you use: "I am pregnant with the new man." but actually, that's how I feel; not only about myself, but about all of your people. What is our relationship to the new man?
The new man's dreams and his reality will be one because his dreams will be rooted here in this earth. They will bring flowers and fruits. They will not be just dreams -- they will make the world a dreamland. Realize the responsibility... man has never faced a greater responsibility before: a responsibility to renounce the whole past, to erase it from your being. Be Adam and Eve again, and let this earth be the Garden of Eden; and this time we will see who the God is who has the guts to drive man out of the Garden of Eden! It is going to be our garden, and if God wants to be in our garden, He will have to knock on our doors. This earth can be a splendor, a magic, a miracle. Our hands have that touch -- it is just that we have never tried it.…
So there are people who have forgotten that they were not happy under a strict system where there was no question of independence, total surrender was asked. They were unwilling to do it, but they were doing it. Now you are free, and you don't know what to do. You will have to learn that you can work out of your own love, that there is no need for surrender. You need not become a slave; you can remain a master. But certainly remember that the quality of the work of a master must be higher than the quality of the work of a slave. That's the only criterion to prove whether you are a slave or a master. The New Man will live out of his own love, creativity and joy, without depending on any father figure. He will not need a God.
My concept of the new man is that he will be Zorba the Greek and he will also be Gautam the Buddha: the new man will be Zorba the Buddha. He will be sensuous and spiritual, physical, utterly physical, in the body, in the senses, enjoying the body and all that the body makes possible, and still a great consciousness, a great witnessing will be there. He will be Christ and Epicurus together. The old man's ideal was renunciation; the new man's ideal will be rejoicing. And this new man is coming every day, he is arriving every day. People have not yet become aware of him. In fact he has already dawned. The old is dying, the old is on its death-bed. I don't mourn for it and I say please don't mourn for it.