According to Osho, you can’t fight hate by doing; doing only turns into hating your hate. Simply become choicelessly aware of it—feel its poison without condemning or escaping. See it totally, existentially (not as “in me” but as what is). In alert awareness, “you” reappear and hate dissolves by itself—like an unplanned jump from a snake.
Don’t try to fix hate—just watch it fully, and as you become truly aware, it fades on its own.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
I feel a lot of hate inside me. What can I do about it?
This duality is a natural thing. If you love, then you have to hate. There are people who go on preaching: "Love the whole world!" But you cannot love the world unless you discover another world to hate. I don't think this planet Earth can become one until we discover enemies on some other planet. The moment we discover an enemy somewhere -- and we are trying very hard to find one -- then the whole world can become one. When India is fighting Pakistan, there is no fighting within India; India becomes one. There is a very deep patriotic feeling for India because now that love balances the hatred toward Pakistan. But when there is no war, then Hindus fight Mohammedans, and Brahmins fight Sudras, one state fights another state, one party fights another party... and the thing goes on. But if there is an enemy somewhere, then the…
Osho, you say that love and hate are one; but I see more hate in the world than love. At the same time, you say that enlightenment is neither love nor hate. Are you speaking of two different qualities of love? How does this fit with your message of love?
And it is only you who can find what is right for you and what is wrong for you. Then keep the thread of awareness running through all your actions, and in your life you will not find any hate, any anger, any jealousy. Not that you have dropped them, not that you have repressed them, not that you have somehow got rid of them, not that you have practiced doing something against them. No, you have not done anything, you have not even touched them. This is the beauty of awareness: it never represses anything; but there are things which simply melt in the light of awareness and change. And there are things which become more solid, more integrated, more profound, more strong: love, compassion, kindness, friendliness, understanding. All the religions up to date have been focusing people's minds on actions; and labeling -- this is bad, this is…
One question more is included in it: how can I be inclusive of my enemy while at the same time going fully into the emotion of hatred? Does this not lead to suppression?
Buddha said, `I did as I should have done before -- fully consciously raising the hand. It was not good of me. Something had been done unconsciously, automatically, robot-like.' Such alertness cannot become anger, such alertness cannot become hate -- impossible. So first include hate, anger, all that is thought to be bad. Include it in yourself, include it in your image, so that your ego falls down. You come down on the ground from the sky. You become true. Then don't throw it on someone else. Let it be there; express it to the sky. Be fully alert. If you are angry, move in a room, be alone, and be angry and express your anger -- and be alert. Do whatsoever you would have done with the person who was instrumental. You can take his picture there, or just put a pillow there and say, `You are my father,'…
A friend has asked: Osho, you said that love is necessary for hatred. But many times, just on seeing a man with whom we have no acquaintance, we feel hatred; we don’t even feel like meeting him or talking to him. So in such moments, is hatred possible without love?
And there is another reason, deeper than this; keep it in mind. You often hate precisely those things—those qualities in others—which you hate in yourself. This is a little deeper; it is a layer even deeper than the previous one. When, suddenly on seeing a man, hatred arises in your mind, investigate whether this is not a part of self-condemnation. For what you find bad in yourself you will also find bad in the other. This is projection. What you wish were not in you—when you see it in another—hatred arises. Hence every expansion of hatred is, somewhere deep down, a part of self-hatred. Understand this. You do not want to be angry, yet anger happens. And you hate anger. So whenever you see a glimmer of anger in someone, hatred will arise. You do not want to steal, and yet you steal. So whenever you see a thief somewhere,…
[A sannyasin asks about his relationship which is bringing up some hatred and aggression on both sides.] Mm, it's natural. When you allow love to come out, hate will also come out. That's why many people repress their love -- because they have been taught to repress their hate and they are both aspects of the same energy. They are not two; they are one. So when love comes up, hate will also, and if you repress hate, love will be repressed simultaneously. ... If you understand, you will not think in terms of wanting or not wanting. It is a fact. Your wanting or not wanting does not make any difference. One has to accept it, one has to accept whatsoever is. What can you do? If you repress hate -- and your dislike will repress it -- then immediately love will be repressed.