Test - About Sannyas
(Ideas, direction, tweaking, quotes and images welcome!)
Simply put, sannyas is the movement that came into being around Osho. It is his people and their cultural and spiritual milieu.
It first arose, very informally, in the early 60s, when he was teaching philosophy in Jabalpur University, and was attracting seekers who recognised qualities in him that went beyond teaching and information. In 1964, he held his first meditation camp, an attempt to help people experience directly what he was talking about, rather than fill their heads with words.
By 1970, he had moved to Mumbai, and had gathered a loose organization of friends around him to promote, record and publish his discourses and other events, and in September of that year, he held his first initiations into what he called "neo-sannyas". Sannyas had long existed in India as a more or less respected spectrum of spiritual traditions, but he took care to distinguish his iconoclastic version from the mainstream ones, which he saw as hopelessly anachronistic and counterproductive.
Osho guided his neo-sannyas closely until he left his body in 1990. Over the years, and even when Osho was in his body, the "neo-" prefix fell into disuse, seen as an unnecessary circumlocution, so it has mostly been just "sannyas", and his people "sannyasins".
So what are the characteristics of Osho's sannyas and his sannyasins? Ha ha! This will depend on who you talk to or which of Osho's many inconsistent definitions you hear, for Osho created a space for an unparalleled diversity of seekers, from people successful in every field of human endeavor to every kind of dropout and failure. There will be space in the discussion page for all kinds of input about this. Here we will try to keep it simple and factual.
Outward characteristics
Outward characteristics of Osho's sannyasins evolved over the years. Starting with his first initiations in Sep 1970, they consisted of wearing orange clothes and a mala, or necklace with a pendant bearing his picture. The "purpose(s)" of these outward symbols were multiple and are explored here. These symbols persisted until 1985, during which time, the colours got more red-maroonish. Then we were told to drop all that and melt into the crowd. Our high-profile visibility came to an abrupt end.
Then in 1989, four months before he left his body, again he instructed us -- for different reasons -- to resume wearing maroon robes around the commune during the day and white robes for the evening meetings. Maroon robes were not to be worn away from the commune, as the orange clothes had been earlier. Malas were optional.
Practices
In the Pune One heyday of the rapid growth of Osho's sannyas, he prescribed or suggested many practices but these were individually tailored. There was no one specific practice to be observed by all save the wearing of the above-mentioned outer symbols. In more general terms, we are to meditate daily, but the form of the meditation is a matter of personal preference. New arrivals are urged to take part in Osho's active meditations, particularly Dynamic, to clear out psychic rubbish, but after that everything is optional.
Attitudes and lifestyles
In general, we are to remain in the secular/material world, also known as the marketplace, not disappear into the silence of the mountains, forest or a monastery. We are to question all notions about who we are, and have been given myriad tools to do that. We are to live life to the fullest, celebrate, and be creative, open and non-serious. Repressions of all kinds are to be deplored, and natural energies explored ... music, dance, sex, Zorba the Buddha
Values
Because we are unique individuals with individual temperaments, tendencies and needs, the ultimate determinant of our approach to life and the spiritual journey is held to be our own inner light. Thus, many "universal" values may work out to be more or less important in our journeys. These values include many of the usual "spiritual" values but not life-negative ones such as renunciation and guilt, plus a few that Osho has added, such as non-seriousness.
These values apply in varying proportion and priority. They are different for everybody! In no particular order, they include freedom, love, awareness, openness, silence, truth, bliss, non-seriousness, acceptance, gratitude, surrender, rebellion, creativity ...
Osho's "Ten Commandments"
No description is needed. Here is one version: [to come, image version?]
Metaphysics
Beyond frequent references to the unity of all existence at the ground of being, Osho does not teach metaphysics. He has negated any pronouncement about the "ultimate truth" of anything with another pronouncement about the ultimate truth of its opposite. God, No-God, whatever. The point is to not get caught up in beliefs of any kind that are not our experience.
Women and male chauvinism
[to come]
