Osho responds here to a question relating to meditation, a space of "no-mind": "...meditation covers a very long pilgrimage. When I say 'meditation is witnessing', it is the beginning of meditation. And when I say 'meditation is no-mind', it is the completion of the pilgrimage. Witnessing is the beginning, and no-mind is the fulfillment. Witnessing is the method to reach the no-mind. Naturally you will feel witnessing is easier. It is close to you. But witnessing is only like seeds, and then is the long waiting period."

Osho speaks about George Gurdjieff, one of the most significant masters of this age. He used to say, "You are in prison." If you wish to get out of prison - the first thing you must do is realize that you are in prison...or you are the prison. Osho emphasizes this as something to be always remembered as one of the first principles for any seeker of truth.

There are three kinds of problems - those that you create – they are almost ninety per cent of the problems of your life. You create them and you go on saying that you don’t want them. Ninety per cent of the problems simply disappear when you are in a meditative state – because you can see. And by seeing, you stop creating them. Ninety per cent will be solved; nine per cent will not be solved by your meditation but will be dissolved because they will not concern you at all.

The word Christ came into existence 300 years after Jesus; and out of the word Christ developed Christian and Christianity. While Friedrich Nietzsche stated that Christ was the last Christian, according to Osho, Jesus was not only the last Christian, but he was also the first Christian–the first and the last Christian, because in this world no individual is ever repeated.

In Osho’s understanding Zen is the approach to religion that has not put fetters on mankind. These four talks pay homage to Zen’s reverence for life and its celebration of the everyday. He sees in Zen a seed, pregnant with infinite potential. Interspersed with his comments on anecdotes about the Zen masters Rinzai and Fuketsu, Osho addresses current issues. With characteristic forthrightness he shows how society diverges from what it preaches and how it lives. This beautifully designed volume of talks also features commentaries on haikus, and a great selection of jokes!

Patanjali the founder of ancient yoga has laid out a fascinating understanding of body and mind. Osho brings this ancient system into a contemporary understanding, creating a holistic approach to health and meditation.

One of the most fascinating talks by Osho on meditation. We gain a deeper understanding and an actual experience about meditation by listening to this talk which brings us into a space of meditation. "Meditation is the very center of my whole effort. It is the very womb out of which you are going to be re-born. But it is very difficult to verbalize it. To say something about meditation is a contradiction in terms. It is something which you can have, which you can be, but by its very nature you cannot say what it is."

A Zen story about grief provides a jumping off point for more stories about how to live.

Osho responds to questions on "Relaxing and Waking Up" and "The Difference Between Instinct and Intuition". "In meditation you are not going anywhere. You are simply being here, relaxed, utterly centered in yourself. Everything stops. For this, no 'how' is needed."

Every morning when you wake up, you become aware and your dreams disappear. You can do the same thing with the endless dreaming of your mind - the dreams that nourish your ego. This capacity to be aware, to witness, is already yours. It is nourished by celebration. Celebration helps you become more sensitive and more alert to life. Don't invest in misery, invest in celebration.

At this time, the beginning of the 21st century, times seem desperate and many call for revolution, even if nobody has a clear idea of the outcome?

On finding the “original man” within yourself, says Osho, you will find everything worth discovering. In these talks, Osho traces Zen from its early days with Bodhidharma in China through a succession of masters and poets. He tells anecdotes about the Zen masters, showing how their seemingly absurd statements and actions are actually devices to jolt people out of their spiritual sleep. And he asks you not to take his word for it, but to experience it for yourself - these talks are not about Zen, they are Zen.

When he is asked how to be happy, Osho responds by questioning the very logic of the question. How can wanting to be happy ever lead to happiness? Osho springs back and forth between exploring the neurotic American dream of happiness, and describing what it actually takes to be happy.

“To be a buddha is not a difficult job. It is not some achievement for which you need a Nobel Prize”. Commenting on anecdotes and haikus by the Zen masters, Osho explains that being a buddha is the easiest thing in the world - it has already happened without you knowing. The empty heart, a place beyond thoughts and feelings, is within everyone. Meditation, and becoming truly thoughtless, is the key. Osho presents Zen as potent, alive, and relevant to the modern world.

Everybody is afraid of intimacy. It is another thing whether you are aware of it or not. Intimacy means exposing yourself before a stranger. We are all strangers - nobody knows anybody. We are even strangers to ourselves, because we don't know who we are.