From Bhagwan to Osho: What's in a name?

From Bhagwan to Osho presents a flow of Osho's words during a critical part of the big name-change period -- from Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to Osho -- so as to demonstrate a pattern in those words and how it relates to the events of that time. The pattern is this: At a time when he has no clear name -- a big deal for publishing and PR purposes -- he comments again and again on this word "Osho", which he has never done before, and makes this word "Osho" out to be a wonderful term to convey respect and love for a master. Well! What can he be pointing to?

The synchronicity of Osho's words and his actual adoption of the name would "normally" be enough to explain the origin and meaning of his name but there is nothing normal about this situation and there is a widely accepted competing explanation that needs to be addressed and debunked. Why this is important will become apparent.

The William James Version

The alternate explanation is that the word / name "Osho" derives from William James' word "oceanic". This word was not coined by James but his usage of it is said to have been original, and in fact it aligns / resonates well with Osho's vision. Osho has cited and commented (very positively) on James' usage at least eleven times, as found by using the search terms "James" and "oceanic" in the CD-ROM. This pattern of persistent positive commentary thus makes the "Oceanic-Osho" connection at least plausible.

But there are a few things lacking or out of alignment in this theory which make it rather less attractive when considered closely and cumulatively:

First, timing: Only one of Osho's eleven occasions of commenting on James and "oceanic" occurs in this critical time period, Dec 1988 to Feb 1989. Nine of the other times were earlier in the Pune Two era and there was one in 1972's That Art Thou. None came after the change.

Second, not once anywhere does he publicly draw a connection himself between "oceanic" and "Osho". This connection is not to be found in his public words, period. He may have made it privately, with his secretaries or the Inner Circle or whomever, but not publicly.

Third, explanations of the derivation of "Osho" have been printed in many of Osho's books published after Feb 1989, variously in the flap text, the colophon page, a separate page opposite the title page, wherever, and they evolve over time. A complete and detailed presentation of this progression can be found at From Bhagwan to Osho : Publications table, and a partial presentation below. Here, we will just note that the first explanations (in all their versions) appeared before the William James version (WJV, not to be confused with KJV, the King James version of the Bible).

Fourth, the earliest "insider" book to come out after Osho left his body was Shunyo's Diamond Days with Osho. She says: "On January 7th, 1989, the name Bhagwan dropped and He became simply Shree Rajneesh. It was later that year in September that He dropped the name Rajneesh. He was now without a name. We asked that we might call Him Osho. Osho is not a name, it is a common form of address used in Japan for a Zen master". This is on p171 of the first Rebel edition of her book, believed to have been published in 1992. Shunyo is as much an insider as anyone and thus her complete non-mention of William James and "oceanic" is important.

Fifth, in the time after his name became Osho, all the old books remaining to be sold under his old name had stickers put inside to explain his new name. As with the explanations printed in the books, not all stickers go with the WJV. It is simply not the only story.

One non-WJV sticker says:

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is now known simply as Osho. "Osho" is a term derived from ancient Japanese, and was first used by Eka, to address his master, Bodhidharma. "O" means "with great respect, love and gratitude" as well as "synchronicity" and "harmony." "Sho" means "multidimensional expansion of consciousness" and "existence showering from all directions."

It can be seen at From Bhagwan to Osho : Publications table that this is very similar to the non-WJV explanations printed in many of the books published after Osho changed his name.

The William James stickers say:

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is now known simply as Osho. Osho has explained that His name is derived from William James' word "oceanic" which means dissolving into the ocean. Oceanic describes the experience, He says, but what about the experiencer? For that we use the word "Osho". Later, He came to find out that "Osho" has also been used historically in the Far East, meaning "The Blessed One, on Whom the Sky Showers Flowers."

There are a couple of major problems with the story on this sticker:
1. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that Osho has nowhere ever explained publicly that his name derives from "oceanic". The assertion cannot be justified by his published words. So if he did "explain" this derivation, it could only have been privately to "insiders", and it was not mentioned by Shunyo, who surely would have been among those in the know.
2. "Later he came to find out"? Really? Was that supposed private "Oceanic-Osho explanation" prior to all his talks in the name-change period that we have seen? This does not seem plausible at all. We have seen clearly in Osho's words in early 1989 that he knew very well that "Osho" has been used historically in the Far East. Read his words again here if you need to. In fact, what came later is the WJV, not Osho's understanding of the Japanese meaning. And while we're here, Osho's words do not mention this meaning anywhere, "The Blessed One, on Whom the Sky Showers Flowers".

Regarding "Later", we can consider both the explanations as they evolved in the new books being published -- see the table below -- and the relative vintage of the stickers, ie when they were purchased, also below. And perhaps bookstore workers of that time might remember and have something to say.

But quite aside from the timing, the very existence of one other sticker or other explanation printed in one book is sufficient to demonstrate that there is more than one story about Osho's name. And these stories were not some bookstore worker's personal project, they were "official", ie they came from the office, authorized by "authorities". Finding out when the story changed is not essential but it might help to augment an understanding of why it changed.

And so to "why?" Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to change the story of Osho's name. So much trouble, and going in a very different direction from Osho's public words ... It must be something big. What could that be?

It ain't a Rose

One word: Trademark.

The explanation that fits best so far for these changes is that the authorities in Pune wanted to establish the word / name "Osho" as a trademark, so they could have some control over who used the name and how. This control became a matter of some contention among different groups of sannyasins, in whom Osho had inspired a deep love of freedom.

Such a trademark would have difficulty getting legal status if it were a traditional term of respect, honour and love in a significant culture like Japan's, especially as the Pune Resort wanted to promote Osho's Zen side rather than his Bhakti side, and Osho spoke only on Zen in his last year of talks. So, better to have another story, William James' "Oceanic". In that story, "Osho" is Osho's entirely original creation, and only "Later, He came to find out that 'Osho' has also been used historically in the Far East".

Otherwise, how do you trademark something like that? Osho even supplies an example which might illustrate how difficult that might be: Twice among the examples of his commenting on "Osho", he compares the term to "Reverend", which is sometimes used as a translation of the Japanese "Osho". Imagine a teacher changing his name to "Reverend" and then trying to trademark that name. Trademark authorities will not easily grant such a trademark.

And in fact, "Reverend" is a more apt translation of "Osho" than you might gather just from Osho's words. "Osho" is used far more widely in Japan even today as a term of address or title for various kinds and levels of Zen monks, priests and teachers, which would make it even harder to trademark. Wikipedia's article on its usage in Japan turns up some fascinating information on the subject, not least of which is tracing its etymology back through China to India, where one of its hypothesized ancestors was, astoundingly, Acharya! Trademark that!

The Widespreadness of the WJV

One more important matter to address is how widespread the belief in the WJV is. It is enshrined in bios of Osho everywhere, from Osho News to sannyas.net to Osho World to osho.com. Is there a possibility that its widespreadness makes it more likely to be true? Certainly that has to be considered, but we know what Osho says about widespread beliefs, so the arguments against it have to be considered on their merits. The WJV has so many problems that its position as the majority belief is just plain not enough to establish its reality. We cannot just vote for what is real and expect that to decide anything.

And we might find that its monolithic appearance is more illusory than you might think. Most of the sites that adhere to the WJV do so not in their own words but simply via little more than a copy-paste of the WJV sticker or the osho.com version. And sometimes it's even a bad copy-paste, whereby some words are misspelled. Perhaps they are typos based on the sticker rather than a true computer copy-paste. Whatever. The point is that the process is for the most part fairly mechanical, by all appearances unexamined. Website survey regarding Osho's name change looks at many sites' presentations / explanations in detail to explore this aspect of sannyas history.

More on Timing

One last loose end here is the timing of the change from the version based on Osho's public words to the WJV. And there are multiple strands weaving together to create the timing picture, having to do with the explanations given in the books, the stickers, and other sources, such as Shunyo's book. Research is incomplete as of this writing but so far ....

Osho took this name some eleven months before he left his body (and immediately following his public riffing on the name). With explanations printed in books, the pattern is clear, at least among those whose month of publication is known. Among those books, there are none published prior to Jun 1989. From Jun 1989 through Jan 1990, the explanations are all variations of the Japanese master origin. From Feb 1990 on, with smoke still rising from the ghats, they are all the WJV. They didn't wait long! Deeper analysis of this pub data here, on its own page, or in the discussion page will explore some more speculative inferences that can be made.

With the stickers inserted in already-published books, research is ongoing, comparing stickers to acquisition dates to try to determine a change-over date there. As such dating will sometimes depend on hard-to-verify memories, that will be a bit more nebulous and take some time. It is expected that sticker data will approximately confirm the pub data.

Then there is Shunyo's book. Though it was not published until 1992ish, its Japanese master explanation survived. There may be any number of reasons for this, which we are not likely to be able to confirm any time soon. Among the possibilities are:
1. That text was written earlier and neglected, not noticed, and slipped through.
2. Shunyo intended it to slip through, to represent something.
3. It was published in that way with the full knowledge of those who wanted to promote the WJV, for whatever reasons.
4. Your idea here.

So far, the solidest data on the timing, from the books, suggests that the change was made more or less immediately after Osho left his body. The story couldn't very well be changed as long as he was still physically there, by all accounts still very interested in and attentive to publishing details, but the people who changed it wasted no time thereafter.

Whatever the reasons and motivation for the change, we can only guess, but a change there undeniably was. One mystery we might ponder within ourselves is that we have collectively come to believe in this WJV, though there are no facts whatsoever to support it. Why it has been created is a matter of speculation, but the trademark business fits well and must be the leading candidate.

Known Publication Data with Explanations

Discourse dates, where applicable	Book title	Author's name as	Publication date	Explanation type and where found
compilation	Words From a Man of No Words	Shree Rajneesh	1989 -- 03	None
compilation	More Gold Nuggets	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 06	#B. Flap text
87-12-07 to 88-01-17	Om Mani Padme Hum	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 08	#A1. Flap text
88-02-26 to 88-03-18	Om Shantih Shantih Shantih	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 08	#A1. Flap text
88-08-02 to 88-08-11	The Miracle	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#B. Flap text
88-08-12 to 88-08-28	Turning In	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#B. Flap text
88-08-16 to 88-08-25	The Original Man	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#B. Flap text
88-08-29 to 88-09-07	The Language of Existence	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#B. Flap text
88-09-08 to 88-09-15	The Buddha: The Emptiness of the Heart	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#B. Flap text
88-12-26 to 89-01-07	No Mind: The Flowers of Eternity	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 09	#A2. At end of text, before books list. See also the book's texts, introduction, cover and flap texts.
88-01-17 to 88-02-25	Hari Om Tat Sat	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 10	#B. Flap text
89-01-22 to 89-01-29	Christianity and Zen ...	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 12	#B. Flap text.
86-01-15 to 86-02-13	The Sword and the Lotus	Osho Rajneesh	1989 -- 12	#B. Separate page, next to title page
87-06-01 to 87-06-18	The Rebel	OSHO	1990 -- 01	#C. On colophon page
85-08-02 to 85-09-14	From Death to Deathlessness	OSHO	1990 -- 02	#D. Separate page, next to title page
89-01-13 to 89-01-16	One Seed Makes the Whole Earth Green	OSHO	1990 -- 05	#D. Flap text
89-02-06 to 89-02-12	God Is Dead, Now Zen Is ...	OSHO	1990 -- 05	#D. Separate page, next to title page
89-02-13 to 89-02-19	I Celebrate Myself ...	OSHO	1990 -- 05	#D. Flap text
89-01-08 to 89-01-12	Zen: The Mystery and the Poetry ...	OSHO	1990 -- 07	#D. Separate page, next to title page
n/a	Dimensions Beyond the Known	OSHO	1990 -- 08	#D. Flap text
n/a	The Great Secret	OSHO	1990 -- 09	#D. Flap text
compilation	Rebellion, Revolution & Religiousness (New Falcon Publications)	OSHO	1990 -- 11	#D. At the end of the book, ch. About the author
n/a	I Am the Gate	OSHO	1990 -- 12	#D. Flap text
compilation	The New Child	OSHO	1991 -- 05	#D. On colophon page
In "Explanation type" above, A1, A2, B and C are all variations of the Japanese master explanation, and D is the WJV. See the complete From Bhagwan to Osho : Publications table for more info regarding how Osho's name is represented in his books.