How can we taste food, see the beauty of the world around us, or hear sounds? Due to awareness (being “here and now”) - and the more completely we are in this moment, the brighter all our experiences.

In this book, Osho tells why we, modern people, it is so important to be aware and how to do this in the accelerated rhythm of today's life. The best way out is to turn any action you take into meditation. Osho’s only advice is to stop thinking, switch to sensations, and then awareness will come by itself. “When you become more aware, you will be surprised - the same thing will happen as before, but the meaning of what is happening will change, it will take on a different meaning,” says Osho.

The special value of the book is that in it you will find five techniques used by Osho himself to maintain awareness. Read – and understand!

Osho

Mindfulness today. How to make meditation a part of your daily life?

Mindfulness in the Modern World. How Do I Make Meditation Part of My Everyday Life?

* * *

You can use any word - meditation, mindfulness, alertness, consciousness. It doesn't matter. The main thing is that we need to find that witness who is lost in the crowd of thoughts. And once we find it, we need to focus our attention on it more and more, then little insights will gradually begin to happen. Suddenly a window will open and you will be transported to another reality, one day a door will open and a vision will come to you. Little by little miracles will begin to surround you. But the real art lies in removing barriers, the main one being the mind.

“Mindfulness” is the word the Buddha used to describe meditation. By mindfulness he means that you should remain alert, observant, all the time. You must always be present. There is no need to act in a sleepy state of mind. There is no need to walk like a sleepwalker - move, and let your consciousness be sharp.

Mind is your absence. The moment you are present, there is no mind. Therefore, the Buddhas of all times have always emphasized that you just need to come to consciousness, become presence, and then there will be no room for the mind and all its components - greed, anger, deception, dreams, hallucinations, ambitions, all this crowd.

One goal - truth - and one method. What is this method? I call it meditation. Meditation means alertness, awareness, mindfulness. So whatever you do, just do it consciously, don't do it mechanically.

Introduction

Zen story:

Meditation cannot be divided into parts, you have to be constantly in meditation. One must be alert, aware and meditative at every moment. But the mind has come up with a trick: you meditate in the morning and then put the meditation aside, or you pray in the temple and then forget about it. Then you return to this world in a completely non-meditative state, unconsciously, as if you were in a hypnotic sleep. This piecemeal effort will not produce great results. How can you be meditative for one hour if for the other twenty-three hours you were not meditative? This is impossible. It is not possible to suddenly become meditative for one hour. You are simply deceiving yourself.

Consciousness is a continuum. It is like a river, constantly flowing. If you are meditative, you must remain meditative all day, every moment... And only when you are meditative all day will flowering come to you. Nothing will come until then.

This Zen story seems ridiculous, but it has a deep meaning. The master, the monk, called himself. This is what meditation means - calling oneself, he called himself by name. He said: “Are you here?” And he himself answered: “Yes, sir, I am here.” It is an effort, an extreme effort to be alert. You can use this, it will help a lot. Suddenly, while walking down the street, call out to yourself: “Are you here?” Suddenly your thoughts will stop and you will have to answer: “Yes, I am here.” It brings you into such focus that thoughts stop and you become meditative, alert.

Calling yourself is one of the techniques. Going to bed, turning off the light at night, suddenly call: “Are you there?”, and in this darkness vigilance will come to you. You become a flame and answer yourself inside: “Yes, I am here.”

And then the monk said: “Sober up!” Be sincere, be authentic, don't play games. He told himself: “Sober up!” And he answered: “Yes, I will make every effort for this.”

Our whole life is fooling around. You do this because you are not aware that you are wasting time, that you are wasting energy, that ultimately you are wasting your life - you are not aware. Life is wasted. Everything goes in vain. Only when death comes to you can you become aware, alert: “What have I been doing? What have I done with my life? I missed a great opportunity. Why was I playing the fool? You weren't sober. You never thought about what you were doing.

Mindfulness. Osho. One of the most important things to understand about a person is that a person sleeps. He doesn't wake up even when he thinks he is. His awakening is very fragile; his awakening is so tiny that it is not worth taking into account at all. His wakefulness is just a beautiful, but completely empty name.

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Preface

One of the most important things to understand about a person is that a person sleeps. He doesn't wake up even when he thinks he is. His awakening is very fragile; his awakening is so tiny that it is not worth taking into account at all. His wakefulness is just a beautiful, but completely empty name.

You sleep at night, you sleep during the day - from birth to death you go on moving from one sleep pattern to another, but you never actually wake up. Don't fool yourself by thinking that you wake up just by opening your eyes. Haven't opened yet inner eyes- until you become full of light, until you learn to see yourself, to see who you are, do not think that you are awake. This is the greatest of illusions in which man lives. And if you assume that you are already awake, there is no question of making the effort to actually wake up.

This is the first thing that should penetrate deeply into your hearts - you are sleeping, sleeping soundly. Day after day you sleep and dream. Sometimes dreams come from with open eyes, sometimes - with closed ones, but you have dreams - you are a dream. You are not reality yet.

Of course, in a dream, whatever you do is meaningless. Whatever you think is useless, whatever you project remains part of your dream and never allows you to see what is there. Therefore, all the Buddhas insisted on only one thing: wake up! Consciously, for many centuries... their entire teaching can be contained in one single phrase: be awakened. And they invented methods, strategies; they created contexts, spaces and energy fields, in which shock therapy could be used to bring you to awareness.

Yes, unless you are shocked, shaken to the core, you will not wake up. The dream lasted so long that it reached the very roots of your being; you are saturated with it. Every cell of your body and every fiber of your mind was filled with sleep. This is not a small phenomenon. So it takes great effort to be alert, to be attentive, to be observant, to become a witness.

If all the Buddhas of the world agreed on one thing, it would be this: man as he is is asleep, and man as he should be is awake. Awakening is the goal, and awakening is the taste of all their teachings. Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Buddha, Bahauddin, Kabir, Nanak - all the awakened ones taught only one thing... on different languages, in different metaphors, but their song remains the same. Just like all the seas taste salty - will you try? sea water in the north or south, its taste will be salty, so awakening is the taste of Buddha nature.

But if you continue to believe that you are already awakened, you will not make any effort. Then there is no question of making any effort - why bother?

From your dreams you have created religions, gods, prayers, rituals - your gods remain as much a part of your dreams as anything else. Your policy _. it is part of your dreams, your religions are part of your dreams, your poetry, your painting, your art - whatever you do, because you are asleep, you do everything according to your state of mind.

Your gods cannot be different from you. Who will create them? Who will give them shape, color and appearance? You create them, you sculpt them; they have the same eyes as you, the same noses - and exactly the same minds! IN Old Testament God says, “I am a very jealous God!” Who could create such a God who is jealous? God cannot be jealous, and if God is jealous, then what is wrong with jealousy? Even if God is jealous, why should you think that you are doing anything wrong by being jealous? Jealousy is divine!

In the Old Testament, God says: “I am a very angry God! If you do not follow my commandments, I will destroy you. You will be thrown into hell forever. And since I am very jealous, says God, do not worship anyone else. I can't stand it." Who created such a God? You must have created this image out of your own jealousy, out of your own anger. This is your projection, your shadow. It reflects you and no one else. And it's the same with all the gods of all religions.

It is because of this that Buddha never spoke about God. He said:

What's the point of talking about God with people who are sleeping? They will listen in their sleep. They will dream about everything they are told, they will create their own gods who will be completely false, completely powerless, completely meaningless. It would be better if there were no such gods at all.

This is why Buddha is not interested in talking about gods. He is only interested in waking you up.

There is a story about a Buddhist enlightened master who sat one evening on the bank of a river, enjoying the sounds of water, the sound of the wind in the treetops... A man came up to him and asked:

Could you convey to me in one word the essence of your religion?

This master remained in silence, complete silence,

As if I didn't hear the question. The man said:

What, are you deaf?

I heard your question and already answered it! The answer is silence. I remained silent - this pause, this interval was my answer.

The man said:

I can't understand such a mysterious answer. Could you state this a little more clearly?

And the master wrote the word “meditation” on the sand with his finger, in small letters. The man said:

Is it any clearer yet?

The Master wrote again: “MEDITATION.” Of course, now he wrote in bigger letters. The person felt a little embarrassed, puzzled, offended, angry. He said:

Are you writing “meditation” again? Can't you tell me more clearly?

And the master wrote in big capital letters:

"MEDITATION".

You seem crazy! - said the man.

“I have already strayed far enough from the truth,” said the master. - The first answer was correct, the second was not quite correct, the third was even more incorrect, and the fourth was completely wrong - because by writing “MEDITATION” in capital letters, you deify it.

That's why God is written with capital letter. Every time you want to make something the highest, the ultimate, you write this word with a capital letter. Master said:

I have already committed a sin.

He erased all these words and said:

Please listen to my first answer - that's the only one I was right about.

Silence is the place in which one awakens while the chaos of the mind puts one to sleep. And if your mind is still asking questions, then you are sleeping. Sitting silently, in silence, when the mind disappears, you can hear the birds chirping, and no work of the mind, complete silence... it is the birds singing, chirping and no work of the mind, inner silence, then awakening comes to you. It doesn't come from outside, it grows from within. Otherwise, remember - you are dreaming.

Understanding

I never use the word “renunciation” at all. I say: Enjoy life, meditation, the beauties of the world, the ecstasy of existence - enjoy everything! Transform the ordinary into the sacred. Turn this shore into a far shore, turn this land into a paradise.

And then, indirectly, a kind of renunciation begins to happen. But it happens, you don't do it. This is not an action, this is an incident. You start to renounce own stupidity; you begin to renounce garbage. You. you begin to renounce meaningless relationships. You begin to renounce jobs that do not satisfy your being. You begin to renounce places where growth is impossible. But I won't call it renunciation; I call it understanding, awareness.

If you carry stones in your hands, thinking that they are diamonds, I will not tell you to renounce these stones. I will say: “Be more vigilant and take a closer look!” If you see that they are not diamonds, will you have to renounce them? They will naturally fall out of your hands. In fact, it will take a lot of effort and willpower to continue wearing them. But you won't be able to continue wearing them for long; once you see that they are useless, meaningless, you. you will inevitably throw them away.

And once your hands are empty, you can start looking for real treasures. But the real treasures are not in the future. The real treasures are right now, here.

About People and Rats

Awakening is the way to life.

Fool, sleeping as if he were already dead,

But the master is awakened and he lives forever.

He is watching. He is clear.

How happy he is! For he sees that awakening is life.

Preface

You sleep at night, you sleep during the day - from birth to death you go on moving from one sleep pattern to another, but you never actually wake up. Don't fool yourself by thinking that you wake up just by opening your eyes. Until the inner eyes have opened - until you have become full of light, until you have learned to see yourself, to see who you are - do not think that you are awake. This is the greatest of illusions in which man lives. And if you assume that you are already awake, there is no question of making the effort to actually wake up.

This is the first thing that should penetrate deeply into your hearts - you are sleeping, sleeping soundly. Day after day you sleep and dream. Sometimes you dream with your eyes open, sometimes with your eyes closed, but you dream - you There is dream. You are not reality yet.

Of course, in a dream, whatever you do is meaningless. Whatever you think is useless, whatever you project remains part of your dream and never allows you to see what is there. Therefore, all the Buddhas insisted on only one thing: wake up! Consciously, for many centuries... their entire teaching can be contained in one single phrase: be awakened. And they invented methods, strategies; they created contexts, spaces and energy fields in which shock therapy could be used to bring you into awareness.

If all the Buddhas of the world agreed on one thing, it would be this: man as he is is asleep, and man as he should be is awake. Awakening is the goal, and awakening is the taste of all their teachings. Zarathustra, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Buddha, Bahauddin, Kabir, Nanak - all the awakened ones taught only one thing... in different languages, in different metaphors, but their song remains the same. Just as all seas taste salty - whether you taste sea water in the north or in the south, it will taste salty - so awakening is the taste of buddha nature.

But if you continue to believe that you are already awakened, you will not make any effort. Then there is no question of making any effort - why bother?

From your dreams you have created religions, gods, prayers, rituals - your gods remain as much a part of your dreams as anything else. Your policy _ . it is part of your dreams, your religions are part of your dreams, your poetry, your painting, your art - whatever you do, because you are asleep, you do everything according to your state of mind.

Your gods cannot be different from you. Who will create them? Who will give them shape, color and appearance? You create them, you sculpt them; they have the same eyes as you, the same noses - and exactly the same minds! In the Old Testament, God says, “I am a very jealous God!” Who could create such a God who is jealous? God cannot be jealous, and if God is jealous, then what is wrong with jealousy? Even if God is jealous, why should you think that you are doing anything wrong by being jealous? Jealousy is divine!

It is because of this that Buddha never spoke about God. He said:

This is why Buddha is not interested in talking about gods. He is only interested in waking you up.

There is a story about a Buddhist enlightened master who sat one evening on the bank of a river, enjoying the sounds of water, the sound of the wind in the treetops... A man came up to him and asked:

Could you convey to me in one word the essence of your religion?

This master remained in silence, complete silence,

as if he hadn’t heard the question. The man said:

What, are you deaf?

I heard your question and already answered it! The answer is silence. I remained silent - this pause, this interval was my answer.

The man said:

I can't understand such a mysterious answer. Could you state this a little more clearly?

And the master wrote the word “meditation” on the sand with his finger, in small letters. The man said:

is this any clearer?

The Master wrote again: “MEDITATION.” Of course, now he wrote in bigger letters. The person felt a little embarrassed, puzzled, offended, angry. He said:

Are you writing “meditation” again? Can't you tell me more clearly?

And the master wrote in big capital letters:

"MEDITATION".

You seem crazy! - said the man.

Preface

Understanding

About People and Rats

Roots of Suffering

Personal Worlds

Awareness and Centering

Many diseases, one recipe

Analyst and Witness

Tension and relaxation

Mind and Meditation

Track and wheel

Mindfulness in Action

Start from the Center

Be Spontaneous

Be decisive

Complete Every Moment

Stop Trying to Be Nice

Experiments in observation

Set yourself up for no temporary

Invisible Touch

Vipassana

Every evening

Afterword

On a Thin Thread

Osho.

Mindfulness

Preface