Osho: The Buddha For the Future, serendipitously arrives in the wake of the explosive release of the Netflix documentary series, ‘Wild Wild Country.’ Author Maneesha James witnessed first hand, and kept a meticulous record of the creation of Osho’s communes and the evolution of his work as they unfolded. This, the first volume of a trilogy, opens at the ashram in Pune, India, in the early ‘70’s. The reader follows this phase through Osho’s public discourses on many of the ancient masters, the early experimentations with meditation techniques in which the author was personally involved, Osho’s unique partnering of meditation with therapy, the introduction of ‘Zorba the Buddha’ and ‘The Psychology of the Buddhas,’ his energy work, and much more. Along with her own observations and experiences, Maneesha’s interviews with numerous key players cast a whole new understanding on the remarkable years of Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. Her account fills in the gaping omissions in the Netflix docuseries – providing an, intimate, in-depth understanding of what it was like to be a modern-day seeker in a contemporary mystery school designed to help realize a daring new vision for humanity, espoused by an iconoclastic spiritual master. In addition, for those willing and able to look below the hype, the inside story behind the political machinations – both on the part of the commune administrator and the US government – makes for a riveting read. Osho: The Buddha For the Future provides a valuable testimony to a spiritual master far ahead of his time, and is a remarkable record of the efforts of the most powerful government in the world to silence him.

Silence usually is understood to be something negative, something empty, an absence of sound, of noises. This misunderstanding is prevalent because very few people have ever experienced silence. All that they have experienced in the name of silence is noiselessness. But silence is a totally different phenomenon. It is utterly positive. It is existential, it is not empty. It is overflowing with a music that you have never heard before, with a fragrance that is unfamiliar to you, with a light that can only be seen by the inner eyes. It is not something fictitious; it is a reality, and a reality which is already present in everyone -- just we never look in. All our senses are extrovert. Our eyes open outside, our ears open outside, our hands move outside, our legs... all our senses are meant to explore the outside world.

Everyone, regardless of nationality, religion, or political beliefs, has a sense of the current crisis of planet Earth. The environmental movement has support around the globe, while politicians — lagging behind reality — are still fighting over whether global warming exists. Decision-makers in government and in the private sector are dealing with the symptoms of this crisis, rather than addressing the underlying causes in a positive and constructive way. Osho points out that the current world crisis is a crisis of consciousness. Until there is a radical change in human consciousness, the interrelated social, political, economic, and ecological crises we face will continue. Osho's radical vision of change addresses how we can turn the present crisis into an opportunity, and what we must do in order to steer our course toward a "golden future" for all humankind and away from what he calls a "global suicide." Topics addressed in the book include the crisis of human values, the ecological crisis, the population challenge, the end of nations and religions, creative science, education, and human rights.

Before Buddha there were religions but never a pure religiousness. Man was not yet mature. With Buddha, humanity enters into a mature age. All human beings have not yet entered into that, that's true, but Buddha has heralded the path; Buddha has opened the gateless gate. It takes time for human beings to understand such a deep message. Buddha's message is the deepest ever. Nobody has done the work that Buddha has done, the way he has done. Nobody else represents pure fragrance. Other founders of religions, other enlightened people, have compromised with their audience. Buddha remains uncompromised, hence his purity. He does not care what you can understand, he cares only what the truth is. And he says it without being worried whether you understand it or not. In a way this looks hard; in another way this is great compassion.

Explores and explains the fundamental difference between psychology, therapy and meditation. "Enlightenment” in Western cultures has long been associated with the 18th century movement that brought about a new “age of reason.” As Zen, Buddhism, and other eastern wisdom traditions have captured the imagination of the West, “enlightenment” has come to be known as a specific state of consciousness attained by an individual on a spiritual or meditative path. However, the Judeo-Christian context, with its belief in a divine power “out there” and separate from the individual, hinders most Westerners’ ability to comprehend “enlightenment” in the Eastern sense. Our theistic conditioning leads to such common misunderstandings as perceiving enlightenment as the attainment of supernatural powers, or as something achievable only by those who are somehow “special.” In this work, Osho deconstructs these misunderstandings and offers a radically different view of enlightenment, freed from all spiritual and religious beliefs – including the distortions of asceticism and renunciation that have arisen in Eastern and Western cultures both. Taking the reader step by step through the history of how both East and West have approached the mysteries of the human mind and spirituality, Osho offers a simple science of consciousness that he calls “the psychology of the buddhas.” It is a science that in very clear terms shows how one can, through awareness and taking full responsibility for one’s life, go beyond all limited belief systems, habits, and superstitions of the mind. That process, he says, brings us back to our nature – and that is enlightenment.

Osho describes Gautama Buddha as the greatest breakthrough in the evolution of human consciousness because his discovery of meditation shifted the focus away from praying to a god toward meditation; toward becoming alert to the potential of each human being for godliness. The 52 cards in this deck together comprise a thoughtful guide to understanding the Buddha's important contribution to human enlightenment. Each card contain a sutra, a commentary by Osho, and a beautiful image of a Buddha statue. Readers can first enjoy the words as poetry and allow them to evoke an intuitive, emotional response; they can then read Osho's corresponding entry in the book to create meaning. A 53rd card, called Sammasati, represents the last word spoken by the Buddha and an inspiring reminder of the reader's own buddhahood. Individual sutras include Only Love Dispels Hate; Beyond Judgments; Neither Praise Nor Blame; Conquer Yourself; Beyond Sorrow; Awake Forever; and The Shining Way.