Be undisturbed by desires

What the Method Is

The core instruction or sutra for this method is: “In moods of extreme desire, be undisturbed.” It is a call to maintain an inner stillness and awareness even when powerful desires or emotions arise.

How It Is Done

To practise “Be undisturbed by desires,” the guidance involves:

  • Maintain Awareness in the Face of Desire: When a desire, such as anger or sexual longing, “grips you”, the immediate instruction is to “Suddenly remember to be undisturbed”. This means cultivating an inner detachment, becoming “naked from the anger, undressed” inside.
  • Shift Focus from Object to Source: Instead of projecting the desire onto an external person or object, move your attention inward to the “subject” (yourself) and the “source” from which the desire is originating. Do not go to the person or object it is going to, but to the centre from where it is coming.
  • Allow, Don’t Suppress or Express: This technique is not about suppressing the desire, as suppression creates deeper disturbance and psychological issues. It is also not about uncontrolled expression, which dissipates energy. Instead, “allow the anger to be” and “remain undisturbed”. This is described as a “third alternative”.
  • Re-enact Past Experiences (for practice): For moods that are difficult to be undisturbed by in the moment, one can consciously re-enact past experiences. For example, recall an instance where someone insulted you and you reacted with anger, then “Relive it” and “React again, replay it”. This process helps to complete “unfinished” or “incomplete” experiences that linger in the mind, effectively “washing away” the emotional residue.
  • Practise Psychodrama: Engage in a form of “psychodrama” where you “act” or “play a game” of the mood or desire. While on the periphery the anger may become real, the core self remains hidden, observing, creating a feeling of being undisturbed even as the emotion manifests.
  • Be a Witness: Fundamentally, the practice involves being a “witness,” an “onlooker,” or a “spectator” to the desire. This detached observation allows one to see the desire as something happening on the periphery, without identifying with it.
Commentaries and Insights

Osho provides extensive commentary on this method, situating it within the broader Tantric philosophy:

  • The Nature of Desire and Disturbance:
    • Desire is inherently a “dis-ease” that pulls the mind into the future, creating internal ripples and disturbance. The level of “distance and disturbance are always in proportion” to how far one is from their inner centre.
    • Just as a cyclone has a still, undisturbed centre, so too does any internal “cyclone of anger, the cyclone of sex, the cyclone of any desire” possess a silent core within that remains unmoving and unaffected.
    • All experiences exist in polar opposites. For instance, the very ability to perceive disturbance implies the existence of an undisturbed point within, serving as a necessary comparison.
  • Tantra’s Non-Confrontational Approach:
    • Tantra does not condemn desire or advocate fighting against it. Instead, it proposes a unique approach: to be in desire but remain undisturbing to one’s core. This stands in stark contrast to other traditions that may promote suppression, which only creates “suppressed complexes” and “perverted energy” that will eventually burst out.
    • The goal is transmutation through alertness. By being aware of the energy that manifests as anger, for example, that same energy can be transmuted into compassion.
    • This technique is an “inner effort” of redirection, not suppression. The energy is returned “back to the original source” within oneself.
  • The Power of Witnessing:
    • Through constant witnessing, one begins to distinguish between the superficial “dust part” of the mind (thoughts, emotions, memories) that is disturbed, and the deeper “I” or true self that remains undisturbed.
    • This creates a “two layers of existence – doing and being”, where external life and its activities feel “as if it is not happening to you, as if it is happening to someone else”. This detachment is not indifference but a profound shift in identification.
    • Witnessing naturally leads to a state of “inner unity”, where internal conflicts cease, resulting in a deeper silence and peace.
  • Benefits and Outcomes:
    • Mastering this technique means that nothing in the external world can truly hurt or confuse the practitioner. Suffering ceases, as one no longer identifies with the shifting external phenomena.
    • The practice allows for the completion of “suspended experiences” or “incomplete acts”. By consciously re-enacting and observing past emotional events, their lingering impact is dissolved, leading to greater wholeness.
    • Ultimately, it is a path to “transformation” by allowing one to remain rooted in their inner essence.
  • Connections to Other Concepts and Traditions:
    • This method is explicitly linked to George Gurdjieff’s “stop exercises” and his concept of “self-remembering”. Gurdjieff would create scenarios and then suddenly instruct disciples to “Stop!” to break their mechanical, unconscious reactions and foster awareness.
    • The idea of enacting a situation while maintaining a detached awareness is also the basis of “psychodrama” in therapeutic contexts.
    • It aligns with Buddha’s middle path (majjhim nikai), which encourages remaining in the middle between polarities by witnessing, without attachment or repulsion.
    • Tantra’s emphasis on starting from “where you are” – the body and its energies, including sex, anger, and greed – allows these energies to be used as vehicles for transformation rather than suppressed. Tantra is a “science” of the inner, concerned with “how” things can be attained, rather than a philosophy concerned with “why” or “what”.
    • This approach is part of Tantra’s fundamental teaching of acceptance as the basis for transformation, meaning that understanding and accepting “what is” leads to liberation, rather than striving for an ideal.