Sexual Ethics

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON SEXUAL ETHICS? My views on sexual ethics are against all the views that have been held up to now. They were all repressive of sex; they were condemnatory and created a split in the human mind. The whole schizophrenia and all the perversions of man are rooted in those wrong sexual ethics. I conceive of sex as a natural phenomenon. There is nothing profane in it and there is nothing sacred in it. It is purely natural life energy of tremendous importance. If you cannot sublimate it, it can destroy you; and it has destroyed humanity. It is the energy man is born out of; everything is born out of it. Naturally there is no higher energy than sexual energy, but biological reproduction is not its only function. The same energy can have different creative dimensions.

Beloved Osho, would you talk to us about using our sexual energy for growth, as it seems to be one of our main preoccupations in the west.

In a sexual orgasm you ARE. Being is there without any thinking. In this moment, if you can become alert, conscious, then sex can become the door towards the divine. And if in this moment you can become alert, that alertness can be carried in other moments also, in other experiences also. It can become a part of you. Then eating, walking, doing some work, you can carry that alertness. Through sex, the alertness has touched your deepest core. It has penetrated you. Now you can carry it. And, if you become meditative, you will come to realize a new fact. That fact is that it is not sex that gives you bliss, it is not sex that gives you the ecstasy. Rather, it is a thoughtless state of the mind and total involvement in the act that gives you a blissful feeling. Once you understand this then sex will…

Osho, what is the zen approach towards sex? The zen people seem to have a neuter gender, or asexual aura about them.

Remember, the business people are ascetic people. They have devoted everything to money. Now a man who knows love and has known the thrill of love and the ecstasy of it will not be competitive. He will be happy if he can get his daily bread. That is the meaning of Jesus' prayer: "Give us our daily bread." That is more than enough. Now Jesus looks foolish. He should have asked, "Give us a bigger bank balance." He asks only for the daily bread? A joyous man never asks for more than that. The joy is so fulfilling. It is only unfulfilled beings who are competitive, because they think life is not here, it is there. "I have to reach to Delhi and become the president," or to the White House and become this or that. "I have to go there, joy is there" -- because they know here there…

It is absolutely absurd that in my community there is limitless sexual activity. In fact, there are so many activities going on that nobody has time for sexual activity. And I am not for repression; that does not mean that I am telling you to be licentious. When I say, "Don't repress" I simply mean, "Listen to the body. It has a wisdom of its own." When you are eating, can you eat limitlessly? You know perfectly well that your body gives you clear cut indications when to stop. And if you listen to the body, you will be healthier. There are two kinds of extremists: one who will fast, will not listen to the body that 'I am hungry', and the other will go on eating when the body is crying that 'I am overloaded. Stop.