Compassion, Love and Sex

By Osho

Although Osho responds to a question related to compassion the main issue he addresses in this talk is 'love' and he expands his response to elaborate a deeper understanding of sex, love and compassion. "Only compassion is therapeutic because all that is ill in man is because of lack of love. All that is wrong with man is somewhere associated with love. He has not been able to love, or he has not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being. That’s the misery. That creates all sorts of complexes inside."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osho Media International
• Release date: Sep 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9780880500265

Osho

Osho is one of the most provocative and inspiring spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. Known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, the influence of his teachings continues to grow, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world. He is the author of many books, including Love, Freedom, Aloneness; The Book of Secrets; and Innocence, Knowledge, and Wonder.

Book preview

Compassion, Love and Sex

Osho

Copyright © 1976, 2012 OSHO International Foundation

www.osho.com/copyrights

Images and Cover Design © OSHO International Foundation

Compassion, Love and Sex, by Osho

From a series of OSHO Talks titled: A Sudden Clash of Thunder, #8

This OSHO Talk is complete in itself.

The series A Sudden Clash of Thunder is available in book and audio formats.

Compassion, Love and Sex is also available as an original audio recording under the same title, spoken by Osho.

Published by

OSHO MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

an imprint of

OSHO INTERNATIONAL

www.osho.com/oshointernational

ISBN-13: 978-0-88050-026-5

Compassion, Love and Sex

Osho,

Only compassion is therapeutic you said. Could you comment on the word compassion – compassion for oneself and compassion for the other?

Yes, only compassion is therapeutic because all that is ill in man is because of lack of love. All that is wrong with man is somewhere associated with love. He has not been able to love, or he has not been able to receive love. He has not been able to share his being. That’s the misery. That creates all sorts of complexes inside.

Those wounds inside can surface in many ways: they can become physical illness, they can become mental illness, but deep down man suffers from lack of love. Just as food is needed for the body, love is needed for the soul. The body cannot survive without food, and the soul cannot survive without love. In fact, without love the soul is never born, there is no question of its survival.

You simply think that you have a soul. You believe that you have a soul because of your fear of death. But you have not known unless you have loved. Only in love does one come to feel that one is more than the body, more than the mind.

That’s why I say compassion is therapeutic. What is compassion? Compassion is the purest form of love. Sex is the lowest form of love, compassion the highest form of love. In sex the contact is basically physical; in compassion the contact is basically spiritual. In love, compassion and sex are both mixed; the physical and the spiritual are both mixed. Love is midway between sex and compassion.

You can also call compassion prayerfulness. You can also call compassion meditation. The highest form of energy is compassion. The word compassion is beautiful: half of it is passion – somehow passion has become so refined that it is no longer like passion. It has become compassion.

In sex, you use the other, you reduce the other to a means, you reduce the other to a thing. That’s why in a sexual relationship you feel guilty. That guilt has nothing to do with religious teachings; that guilt is deeper