A Bird on the Wing Zen Anecdotes for Everyday Life

A Bird on the Wing is an invitation to enter the world of Zen: to move from words to silence and from theory toexperience. This book will take you as far as words can go; the rest is up to you. This is the very essence ofZen.


Zen masters are dangerous people! While many of their stories have an entertaining aspect, the real meaning behind them is the total and radical transformation of human beings. Osho is a contemporary “Zen Master” and according to his own statements even more dangerous than the ancient masters.

Like the masters of old, Osho tries to create situations for modern seekers that allow instant awakening, or enlightenment – to bring us out of the old habits and patterns of the mind and its illusions, out of the fog of conditioned beliefs and assumptions, and into the reality of the atomic, clear moment – the here and now.

“Be rooted in the body so you can have wings in the soul,” he says. “Be rooted in the earth so you can spread into the sky; be rooted in the visible so you can reach into the invisible. Don’t create duality and don’t create any antagonism. If I am against anything, I am against antagonism. I am against being against anything; I am for the whole, for the complete circle.” A Bird on the Wing is an invitation to enter the world of Zen: to move from words to silence and from theory to experience.

This book will take you as far as words can go; the rest is up to you. This is the very essence of Zen.


Eleven classic anecdotes provide starting points to demonstrate the relevance of Zen to every aspect of 21st-century life. From the professor so full of his own ideas that he has no room for any new learning, to the monastery cook who solves a koan by kicking over a jug of water, readers will see themselves, their friends, and even modern-day celebrities and politicians reflected in the characters who populate these fascinating Zen stories. In each chapter, following the discussion of the story at hand, Osho responds to questions from his audience about matters of love, life, relationships, and "the search." Throughout the book he emphasizes the importance both of honoring our "roots" in the simple pleasures of everyday life, and nourishing the "wings" that allow us to experience our connection with that which is universal, transcendent, and eternal.