According to Osho, satori is a fleeting glimpse of the ultimate—like viewing star-filled sky through a window or seeing distant Himalayan peaks. It appears in meditation as momentary light, bliss, ecstasy, then disappears. Its function is to invite you beyond the framed glimpse toward samadhi—the irreversible equilibrium where all tensions cease. Treat satori as a beginning, not an end.
Satori is a short, sweet peek of truth in meditation that comes and goes, nudging you to keep going until peace stays forever (samadhi).
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, over the years, I have heard various sannyasins saying that they experienced a satori. What exactly is a satori, and how does it come about?
Satori is a glimpse of the ultimate... as if you are seeing the Himalayan peaks. But you are far away, you are not on the peaks, and you have not become the peaks. It is a beautiful experience, very enchanting, exciting, challenging. Perhaps it may lead you towards samadhi. Satori is a glimpse of samadhi. Samadhi is the fulfillment of satori. What was a glimpse has become now an eternal reality to you. Satori is like opening a window -- a little breeze comes in, a little light. You can see a little sky, but it is framed. Your window becomes a frame to the sky, which has no frame. And if you always live in the room and you have never been out of it, the natural conclusion will be that the sky is framed. It is only in this decade that a few modern painters have started painting…
Question: OSHO, WHAT IS SATORI AND HOW TO ATTAIN IT? But everybody is being taught to be an idealist: "Become a Jesus" or "Become a Buddha" or "Become a Krishna." Nobody tells you just to be yourself! Why should you be a Jesus? One Jesus is enough and one Jesus is beautiful - he enriches the existence. Many Jesuses just carrying crosses, and wherever you go you meet them... It won't look beautiful, it won't add to the beauty of existence; it will make the whole world ugly. Wherever you go you meet a Mahavira standing naked.... It is because of this that God never creates the same person again. He never repeats; he is original. He always creates a new person. You have never been before, and there is no one who is like you, and there will never be anybody else like you again.
Question: what is the difference between awareness and witnessing?
Witnessing comes as a consequence of consciousness. You cannot practice witnessing; you can only practice consciousness. Witnessing comes as a consequence, as a shadow, as a result, as a byproduct. The more you become conscious, the more you go into witnessing, the more you come to be a witness. So consciousness is a method to achieve witnessing. And the second step is that witnessing will become a method to achieve awareness. So these are the three steps: consciousness, witnessing, awareness. But where we exist is the lowest rank: that is, in unconscious activity. Unconscious activity is the state of our minds. Through consciousness you can achieve witnessing, and through witnessing you can achieve awareness, and through awareness you can achieve "no achievement." Through awareness you can achieve all that is already achieved. After awareness there is nothing; awareness is the end. Awareness is the end of spiritual progress; unawareness is…
At the death of a parishioner, master dogo, accompanied by his disciple zengen, visited the bereaved family.
WITHOUT TAKING TIME TO EXPRESS A WORD OF SYMPATHY, ZENGEN WENT UP TO THE COFFIN, RAPPED ON IT, AND ASKED DOGO:'IS HE REALLY DEAD?' 'I WON'T SAY,' SAID DOGO.'WELL?' INSISTED ZENGEN.'I'M NOT SAYING, AND THAT'S FINAL,' SAID DOGO. ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE TEMPLE THE FURIOUS ZENGEN TURNED ON DOGO AND THREATENED: 'BY GOD, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTION, WHY I'LL BEAT YOU.' 'ALL RIGHT,' SAID DOGO, 'BEAT AWAY.' A MAN OF HIS WORD, ZENGEN SLAPPED HIS MASTER A GOOD ONE. SOME TIME LATER DOGO DIED, AND ZENGEN, STILL ANXIOUS TO HAVE HIS QUESTION ANSWERED, WENT TO THE MASTER SEKISO, AND, AFTER RELATING WHAT HAD HAPPENED, ASKED THE SAME QUESTION OF HIM. SEKISO, AS IF CONSPIRING WITH THE DEAD DOGO, WOULD NOT ANSWER.'BY GOD!' CRIED ZENGEN. 'YOU TOO?' 'I'M NOT SAYING,' SAID SEKISO, 'AND THAT'S FINAL.' AT THAT VERY INSTANT ZENGEN EXPERIENCED AN AWAKENING. Whenever a lover dies,…
So where you will need the past? Then there is no past even, the past has dropped and the future also and a single momentary existence becomes the total existence. You are in it, not as a different identity, different unit from it, you cannot be. Because you become only different from it because of your past and future. Past and future cristallized around you. It's the only barrier between you and the present that it is passing. If there is no past and no future. then it is not that you are in the present -- you are present. You become the present. Samadhi is not a glimpse, samadhi is a death. Satori is a glimpse, not a death. So satori is possible through so many ways. An ecstatic experience can be a possible source for satori. Music can be a possible source for satori.