The Book of Man

by Osho

Osho perceives man as becoming increasingly alienated from his inner self, gradually losing his natural innocence and creativity in the mindless quest for worldly power and success. To appear strong, the average man suppresses his innate qualities of love and compassion, thus widening the chasm within. For Osho, the ideal man is Zorba, the Buddha - a perfect blend of matter and soul. Inherently rebellious, this 'New Man' experiences no division between the outer and the inner self. And, because he lives naturally and consciously without any guilt or conflict, he can claim the whole world as his own.

This seamless collection of discourses takes the reader through the various stages of man's evolution: from Adam to Slave, Son, Homosexual, priest and politician, until he attains the pinnacle of his consciousness as the Rebel or Zorba. Sparkling with anecdotes and enriched with brilliant repartee as well as deeply perceptive responses to the numerous questions asked of Osho by his listeners, The Book of Man is a remarkable blend of wisdom and wit.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Adam
• The Victim
• The slave
• The son
• The Robot
• The animal
• The sex Maniac
• The monk
• The homosexual
• The Zorba
• Eve
• The Macho
• The beggar
• The boyfriend
• The husband
• The father
• The friend
• The playboy
• The Politician
• The priest
• The scientist
• The businessman
• The American
• The Buddha
• The New Man
• The meditator
• The warrior
• The gambler
• The creator
• Ageing
• The master
• Zorba, the Buddha.

About the Author:

Osho was born on 11 December 1931, and attained 'enlightenment' at the twenty-one, and went on to complete his academic studies. He spent several years teaching philosophy at the University of Jabalpur. By the late 1960, Osho had begun to develop his unique dynamic meditation techniques. He felt that modern man is so burdened with the archaic traditions of the past as well as the anxieties of modern-day living, that he must go through a deep cleansing process before he can hope to discover the thought-less relaxed state of meditation.

In early 1970s, the West first began to hear of Osho. By 1974, a commune had been established around him in Pune, and the trickle of visitors from the West soon became a flood. Osho left his body on 19 January 1990. His talks have been published in more than six hundred volumes, and translated into over thirty languages.