Ask Osho!
Osho on What is the concept of the abiding place?

What is the concept of the abiding place?

“

The abiding place is not a destination but the herenow—pure awareness that reveals enlightenment as your very nature, waiting to be embraced without the chase.

— Osho
According to Osho, the abiding place is not a location or doctrine but the herenow—pure awareness free of seeking. Enlightenment is already your nature; chasing it turns it into a horizon that recedes. The master’s function is only to jolt you awake to this immediate presence, to abide nowhere and meet life directly, without conceptual shelter.

It means just being fully here right now, without chasing ideas or future goals.

In His Own Words

From the Discourses

Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.

Take It Easy Vol 1 · Discourse 9Question 1 1978-04-19 Buddha Hall English
Question: MY ABIDING PLACE HAS NO PILLARS; IT IS ROOFLESS -- YET THE RAIN DOES NOT WET IT, NOR THE WIND STRIKE IT. WHEN IT BLOWS, THE MOUNTAIN WIND IS BOISTEROUS, BUT WHEN IT BLOWS NOT, IT SIMPLY BLOWS NOT. THOUGH IT HAS NO BRIDGE, THE CLOUD CLIMBS UP TO HEAVEN; IT DOES NOT ASK AID OF GAUTAMA'S SUTRAS. RIPPLES APPEAR ON THE UNACCUMULATED WATER OF THE UNDUG WELL, AS THE FORMLESS, BODILESS MAN DRAWS WATER FROM IT. THE MIND: SINCE THERE IS REALLY NO SUCH THING AS MIND, WITH WHAT ENLIGHTENMENT SHALL IT BE ENLIGHTENED? A story: There is nothing to understand and nobody to understand. ALL SIMPLY IS! Understanding creates problems. You think you don't understand so you have to understand -- then understanding creates new problems, and then you solve them and your solutions again create more new problems... and it goes on and on.
The Great Zen Master Ta Hui · Discourse 17Question 1 1987-07-23 Chuang Tzu Auditorium English
Question: BELOVED OSHO, DON'T CONSCIOUSLY AWAIT ENLIGHTENMENT WHETHER YOU'RE HAPPY OR ANGRY, IN QUIET OR NOISY PLACES, YOU STILL MUST BRING UP CHAO CHOU'S SAYING, "A DOG HAS NO BUDDHA-NATURE." ABOVE ALL, DON'T CONSCIOUSLY AWAIT ENLIGHTENMENT. IF YOU CONSCIOUSLY AWAIT ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU'RE SAYING, "RIGHT NOW I'M DELUDED." IF YOU WAIT FOR ENLIGHTENMENT, CLINGING TO DELUSION, THOUGH YOU PASS THROUGH COUNTLESS EONS YOU WILL STILL NOT BE ABLE TO GAIN ENLIGHTENMENT. AS YOU BRING UP THE SAYING, JUST AROUSE YOUR SPIRIT, AND SEE WHAT PRINCIPLE IT IS. CONSTANTLY TAKE THE TWO CONCERNS -- NOT KNOWING WHERE WE COME FROM AT BIRTH AND NOT KNOWING WHERE WE GO AT DEATH -- AND STICK THEM ON THE POINT OF YOUR NOSE.
The Rebellious Spirit · Discourse 5Question 4 1987-02-12 Chuang Tzu Auditorium English

Beloved Osho, where am I?

My God! Om Saraswati, you are not. You are nowhere. You have never been -- and you will never be. Om Saraswati is just a name given to a nameless reality for utilitarian purposes. Otherwise, you are just a presence. Every child is born as a presence, with no name, with no address. And becoming a sannyasin is a second birth, far deeper and far greater than the first. In the first, at least you are a body. You may not have a name, you may not have an address; but you have an abode -- in the body. The moment you become a sannyasin, you have dropped the idea of being a body, too. Now you are just pure consciousness -- either everywhere or nowhere. Both the words mean the same. You can choose. You can choose to be everywhere, or you can choose to be nowhere. In either…
Question: WHAT IS HERENOW? DOES 'THOUGHT' FORM PART OF IT? IF SO, THEN ALL-TIME AND ALL-THINGS ARE NOW. OR... IS HERENOW ONLY IN NO-MIND? Man started looking for the same experience without becoming dependent on the other. Then, if it depends only on sexual experience, it cannot last forever. You can have sex once in a while -- and what about the other times? All other times you will remain dull and dead. Is it possible to have that joy continuously, as a continuum, like a river flowing always? These were the speculations of man, but they came from sleep and love. In love sometimes it happens, and that is the moment which is called orgasm. If time stops, if thinking stops, and you are UTTERLY herenow, it is orgasmic. This orgasmic experience will give you the taste.
Zen The Diamond Thunderbolt · Discourse 9Question 1 1988-07-20 Gautam the Buddha Auditorium English
Question: BELOVED OSHO, KASSAN AND JOZAN WERE GOING ALONG, TALKING TOGETHER, WHEN JOZAN SAID, "IF, WITHIN LIFE-AND-DEATH, THERE WERE NO BUDDHA, THERE WOULD BE NO LIFE-AND-DEATH." KASSAN SAID, "IF THE BUDDHA WERE WITHIN LIFE-AND-DEATH, THERE WOULD BE NO DELUSION WITH REGARD TO LIFE-AND-DEATH." THEY ARGUED BACK AND FORTH, AND THERE WAS NO END TO IT. FINALLY, THEY DECIDED TO ASK DAIBAI. KASSAN SAID TO HIM, "OF THESE TWO OPINIONS, WHICH IS THE MORE FAMILIAR?" DAIBAI SAID, "ONE IS FAMILIAR, ONE IS DISTANT." "WHICH IS THE FAMILIAR ONE?" SAID KASSAN. "GO AWAY AND ASK ME AGAIN TOMORROW," RESPONDED DAIBAI. THE NEXT DAY KASSAN CAME AGAIN AND ASKED. DAIBAI SAID, "A FAMILIAR ONE DOES NOT ASK. ONE WHO ASKS IS NOT FAMILIAR." KASSAN AFTERWARDS SAID, "AT THAT TIME, WHEN I WAS WITH DAIBAI, I LOST MY BUDDHA-EYE." ON ANOTHER OCCASION, HOGEN ASKED HAKUYO, "WHERE IS THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE BUDDHA?