According to Osho, in Zazen you simply sit silently, doing nothing, and watch the mind without following its fantasies. Silent sitting can trigger a flood of ideas; don’t chase them—let them pass. Keep returning to bare awareness and relaxed presence. When awareness, not imagination, is “in charge,” the sitting becomes clear, grounded, and transformative.
Just sit quietly, notice when your mind starts making stories, and gently come back to simple awareness.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Question: OUR BELOVED MASTER, BASUI SAID: UPON SUCH REALIZATION, QUESTION YOURSELF EVEN MORE INTENSELY IN THIS WISE: "MY BODY IS LIKE A PHANTOM, LIKE BUBBLES ON A STREAM. MY MIND, LOOKING INTO ITSELF, IS AS FORMLESS AS EMPTY SPACE, YET SOMEWHERE WITHIN, SOUNDS ARE PERCEIVED. WHO IS HEARING?" SHOULD YOU QUESTION YOURSELF IN THIS WISE, WITH PROFOUND ABSORPTION, NEVER SLACKENING THE INTENSITY OF YOUR EFFORT, YOUR RATIONAL MIND EVENTUALLY WILL EXHAUST ITSELF AND ONLY QUESTIONING AT THE DEEPEST LEVEL WILL REMAIN. FINALLY, YOU WILL LOSE AWARENESS OF YOUR OWN BODY. YOUR LONG-HELD CONCEPTIONS AND NOTIONS WILL PERISH, AFTER ABSOLUTE QUESTIONING, IN THE WAY THAT EVERY DROP OF WATER VANISHES FROM A TUB BROKEN OPEN AT THE BOTTOM. PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT WILL FOLLOW LIKE FLOWERS SUDDENLY BLOOMING ON WITHERED TREES....
Question: BELOVED OSHO, ON ONE OCCASION, JOSHU SAID TO HIS MONKS: I HAVE SINGLE-HEARTEDLY PRACTICED ZAZEN IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE FOR THIRTY YEARS. IF YOU WANT TO REALIZE ENLIGHTENMENT, YOU SHOULD REALIZE THE ESSENCE OF BUDDHISM, DOING ZAZEN. IN THE COURSE OF THREE, FIVE, TWENTY OR THIRTY YEARS, IF YOU FAIL TO GRASP THE WAY, YOU MAY CUT OFF MY HEAD AND MAKE IT INTO A LADLE TO DRAW URINE WITH. JOSHU IS ALSO REPORTED TO HAVE SAID: THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE ONLY SEEKERS AFTER BUDDHA, BUT NOT A SINGLE ONE IS A TRUE MAN OF TAO. BEFORE THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD THE SELF-NATURE REMAINS INTACT. NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN THIS OLD MONK, YOU ARE NO LONGER SOMEONE ELSE, BUT A MASTER OF YOURSELF. WHAT'S THE USE OF SEEKING ANOTHER IN THE EXTERIOR? ONCE A MONK ASKED JOSHU: "WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY'S TRADITION?
Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear. When you seek to know it, you cannot see it, you cannot take hold of it, but you cannot lose it. In not being able to get it you get it. When you are silent it speaks; when you speak, it is silent. The great gate is wide open to bestow alms, and no crowd is blocking the way.
And remember, when Zen says 'just sitting' it means just sitting -- nothing else, not even a mantra. If you are repeating a mantra you are not just sitting, you are again getting into some tommyrot, again into some mind thing. If you are not doing anything whatsoever.... Thoughts are coming, coming; they are going, going -- if they come, good; if they don't come, good. You are not concerned with what is happening, you are simply sitting there. If you feel tired you lie down. If you feel your legs getting tense you spread them. You remain natural. Not even watching. Not making any effort of any kind. That's what they mean by just sitting. Just sitting it happens. Zen is the feminine approach and religion is basically feminine. Science is male, philosophy is male -- religion is female. All that is beautiful in the world -- poetry, painting,…
The master fugai was considered very wise and generous, yet he was most severe both with himself and his disciples.
HE WENT TO THE MOUNTAINS TO SIT IN ZEN. HE LIVED IN A CAVE, AND WHEN HE WAS HUNGRY HE WENT TO THE VILLAGE FOR SCRAPS. ONE DAY A MONK CALLED BUNDO, ATTRACTED BY FUGAI'S AUSTERITIES, CALLED AT THE CAVE AND ASKED TO STAY THE NIGHT. THE MASTER SEEMED HAPPY TO PUT HIM UP, AND NEXT MORNING PREPARED RICE GRUEL FOR HIM. NOT HAVING AN EXTRA BOWL HE WENT OUT AND RETURNED WITH A SKULL HE FOUND LYING NEAR A TOMB. HE FILLED IT WITH GRUEL AND OF OFFERED IT TO BUNDO. THE GUEST REFUSED TO TOUCH IT, AND STARED AT FUGAI AS IF HE HAD GONE MAD. AT THIS FUGAI BECAME FURIOUS AND DROVE HIM OUT OF THE CAVE WITH BLOWS. 'FOOL!' HE SHOUTED AFTER HIM.'HOW CAN YOU, WITH YOUR WORLDLY NOTIONS OF FILTH AND PURITY, THINK YOURSELF A BUDDHIST?' SOME MONTHS LATER THE MASTER TETSGYU VISITED HIM AND…
When wolves were discovered in the village near master shoju's temple, shoju entered the graveyard nightly for one week and sat in zazen. This put a stop to the wolves' prowling.
OVERJOYED, THE VILLAGERS ASKED HIM TO DESCRIBE THE SECRET RITES HE HAD PERFORMED. 'I DIDN'T HAVE TO RESORT TO SUCH THINGS,' HE SAID, 'NOR COULD I HAVE DONE SO. WHILE I WAS IN ZAZEN A NUMBER OF WOLVES GATHERED ROUND ME, LICKING THE TIP OF MY NOSE, AND SNIFFING MY WINDPIPE, BUT BECAUSE I REMAINED IN THE RIGHT STATE OF MIND, I WASN'T BITTEN. AS I KEEP PREACHING TO YOU, THE PROPER STATE OF MIND WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE FREE IN LIFE AND DEATH, INVULNERABLE TO FIRE AND WATER. EVEN WOLVES ARE POWERLESS AGAINST IT. I SIMPLY PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH.' You cannot see both together. They are contradictory. They cannot be seen together. When you see the figure, the background disappears; when you see the background, the figure disappears. Mind has a limited capacity to know -- it cannot know the contradictory. That s why…