According to Osho, Moses’ Ten Commandments were emergency laws from a charismatic leader—useful to herd a traumatized people but not expressions of living religion. Laws are fixed and dead; right and wrong shift with context. For us there are no commandments: only awakening. Replace borrowed rules with present-moment awareness and intelligence; let consciousness, not decrees, guide action.
They were strict rules to keep scared people together, but real goodness comes from being awake inside, not from lists of do’s and don’ts.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, what do you think of moses' ten commandments? Do you have any commandments for us?
One day it happened, he was just going to the river. He used to carry, up to that time, a begging bowl which he used to collect food or keep water. He was running towards the river -- he was thirsty -- and just by his side a dog came running and reached the river before him and started drinking water. Diogenes said, "Great. This dog is far more independent than me." He threw the begging bowl into the river and said to the dog, "Master, you have really shown me the way. I was carrying that weight unnecessarily." He was caught by a few thieves -- because in those days people were caught and sold as slaves, and he looked very promising. He was very healthy and had a certain personality. They were certain that they would get good money if they could keep hold of him. They were…
Beloved Osho,
IN PLACE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, WITH WHICH I WAS BROUGHT UP, I HAVE GIVEN MYSELF A NEW SET OF RULES -- BE ALERT, BE PATIENT, BE SPONTANEOUS, ACCEPT MYSELF. A game cannot continue if rules are not followed, but life will continue without rules. What rules are these trees following? What rules does the sun follow? What rules does the sky follow? The human mind is such that it thinks they are also following rules, moving according to rules. The sun moves, it follows a rule, so there is a ruler -- the God who controls everything. He is like a great super-manager. He goes spying on everybody -- who is following, who is not following. This is a mind creation. Life exists without rules; games cannot exist without rules. So real religion is always without rules; only false religion has rules, because false religion is a game. I…
Moses has said that something is right and something else is wrong and so has Manu and so has Mohammed, but it is not your heart. And the ultimate decision has to be yours. How can Manu, Moses or Mohammed decide for you? -- everything has changed. So much water has gone down the Ganges since Manu. Manu existed five thousand years ago and Hindus are still following his dictates; he has decided what is moral and what is immoral. No, this is sheer nonsense. Life has completely changed. If Manu comes back he will not be able to recognise anything he will be simply bewildered. He will only be able to understand his own book, MANUSMRATI, the book that he wrote five thousand years ago; everything else has changed. But he will certainly laugh at the foolishness of the Hindus -- that they are still following him.
Beloved Osho, moses gave us ten commandments, but you have spoken only about six requests; will you please complete the list to make it ten?
It takes care of you in every possible way, while you are awake, while you are asleep. Even in sleep it goes on taking care of you. When you are asleep and a spider starts moving on your leg, your leg throws it away without bothering you. The leg has a small brain of its own. So for small matters there is no need to go to the central system, to go to the brain -- that much the leg can do. A mosquito is biting you, your hands move it or kill it, and your sleep is not disturbed. Even while you are asleep your body is continuously protecting you, and doing things which are not generally supposed. The hand is not supposed to have a brain, but certainly it has something which can only be called a very small brain. Perhaps every cell of your body has a…
One of the sannyasins has asked a question: WHAT IS MISSING IN COMMUNISM?
If you really want celibate people, then they need a brain operation. The center of sex should be removed. But then you will be simply impotent -- not celibate. Karl Marx was right, that such religions should be finished. They are against humanity. They protect poverty and they protect the rich. They are against revolution, they are against any change -- obviously, he was right to call them the opium of the people, the hope of the hopeless. If Christianity and Judaism were the only religions, then the Soviet Union would not have any need, any urge to find the inner world! But just think about it. You cannot have the outside world without having the inside world; they exist together like two sides of the coin. And there are scientific methods available. Zen is the most scientific method to inquire into your consciousness. It takes you beyond mind into…