Experience existence as wave-ing

What the Method Is

The core instruction or sutra for this method is: “As waves come with water and flames with fire, so the universal waves with us”. This sutra invites contemplation on the nature of existence, equating individual beings and experiences to temporary forms (waves) of an underlying, boundless reality (the ocean).

How It Is Done

To practice “Experience existence as wave-ing”, the guidance suggests a deep meditative approach:

  • Contemplate the Nature of a Wave: Begin by deeply understanding what a wave is. Acknowledge that a wave appears to exist, but in a deeper sense, it is merely a form or an activity of the ocean, not a separate substance. The ocean is the true reality; the wave is just a temporary play.
  • Apply the Metaphor to Self and Existence: Meditate on the idea that “we are just waves in a cosmic ocean”. Allow this feeling to penetrate deeply within your being.
  • Focus on Breathing as Waving: Start by feeling your breathing as the rising and falling of a wave.
    • As you breathe in, feel a wave rising.
    • As you breathe out, feel a wave dying.
    • Recognise that the breath entering you was someone else’s a moment before, and the breath leaving you will become someone else’s next, highlighting the shared, continuous nature of life.
  • Dissolve Individuality into the Ocean: Through this observation, question your separate identity. “You are not separate – just waves. You are one deep down.”.
  • Embrace Nothingness (Shunya): In the gap between the incoming and outgoing breath, become aware of a “nothingness, shunya – a void”. This void is your real, unburdened centre, leading to deep ease.
  • Extend the Feeling to All Experiences: Apply this perspective to all life experiences. For instance, when a sex desire arises, feel it not as your desire, but as “the ocean waving in you, just as life pulsating”. Similarly, in a love act, perceive it not as two individuals meeting, but as two individuals merging, where “waves have disappeared; only the ocean has remained”.
  • Witness without Identification: Throughout, “think yourself as a wave, or as a continuum of waves rising and falling, and just be a witness to this”. Realise that the wave form is not substantial and is constantly changing and dying, while the formless ocean is deathless.
Commentaries and Insights

Osho’s insights illuminate the profound implications of this Tantric method:

  • Reality as Non-Dual (Advait): Tantra inherently views existence as indivisible and non-dual, where apparent distinctions like wave and ocean are merely forms of the same underlying reality. The concept that “waving” is an activity, not a separate thing, helps transcend the mind’s tendency to fragment reality. This contrasts with dualistic philosophies that perceive fundamental separation.
  • The Ego as the Barrier: The ego is the primary barrier to experiencing this oneness. When the “wave thinks itself separate from the ocean, the fear of death will immediately come” and “misery needs a center – and a false center at that”. Clinging to individuality, or the “wave form,” creates constant misery and anxiety because the wave is inherently mortal and impermanent.
  • Transformation through Acceptance, not Conflict: Tantra’s central teaching is “no-fight”; it advocates for total acceptance and flowing with nature, rather than struggling against it. When you accept yourself totally, including all your “animal energies” like sex, anger, and greed, you are “thrown to your inner centre” and transcend the experience. This total acceptance allows the inner division (e.g., between saint and animal) to dissolve, leading to unity and a profound peace.
  • Mind, Maya, and Unreality: The mind creates divisions and defines boundaries, leading to a perception of reality as fragmented. This is akin to Shankara’s concept of Maya (illusion), where the world is seen as an appearance, a reflection, rather than the ultimate truth. Living within the mind’s reflections, we become “unreal” and “shallow”. This meditation aims to help one “move away from the mind so that you can move into reality”.
  • The Goal: Samadhi and Oneness: Centering is the “path, not the goal” to samadhi. While the method helps you gather your energy at one point, the ultimate experience is an “explosion” where your individual centre dissolves, and you become “one with the cosmos”. In this state, there is “no center – or then the center is everywhere”. This “oceanic feeling is samadhi” – a profound realisation of oneness with the whole of existence.
  • Consequences of Realisation:
    • Dissolving Misery and Fear: When you are no longer identified with the limited wave, but with the boundless ocean, “all your misery will disappear”. The fundamental fear of death, which underpins all anxieties, vanishes.
    • Bliss and Ease: Without the individual ego to create tension, there is a “deep ease” and “bliss is”. This state is not an attainment to be hoped for, but a natural consequence of letting go of illusions.
    • Authenticity and Non-Responsibility (Spiritual Sense): When your ego dissolves, “sin will be impossible because sin can happen only around an ego”. This doesn’t mean becoming irresponsible in a worldly sense, but rather, one’s actions naturally align with the cosmic flow, leading to creative outcomes and compassion, much like a Buddha or Mahavira.
    • “No-mind” State: By dissolving the identification with the mental process, one enters a state of “no-mind”. This isn’t an absence of thought, but a state where the mind becomes an instrument rather than the master, allowing one to live in the “eternal now”.
  • Simplicity and Danger: Despite its profound effects, the technique itself appears “so simple”. However, this simplicity often deters the ego, which seeks difficult challenges for self-fulfillment. Osho stresses that these “simple” methods are powerful because they touch fundamental truths. He also warns that such powerful techniques, especially those leading to a deep experience of energy shifts, should be completed fully and not left “in the middle,” as it can be harmful. While he presents general methods, personal initiation from a master can provide tailored guidance and energy transmission for deeper, safer practice.