Talk:Osho

Wiki Education assignment: Public Writing Spring 2022 M1

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 January 2022 and 4 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Checkmeowt0.

Proposal to add Rajneesh’s 1985 L’Europeo interview quote in the Oregon crisis section

Hello, I noticed that the article currently discusses Ava Avalos’ testimony and Niren’s response regarding the assassination plots, but it does not include a significant public statement made by Rajneesh himself during the height of the 1985 crisis. Proposed addition (suggested for the “Oregon years” / “Criminal activities” section): In an October 1985 interview with the Italian magazine L’Europeo, when asked about power, Rajneesh stated: “Our people can also hijack American planes if worse comes to worse! Then no American agency in any country can function. I have enough sannyasins everywhere.” He later described the remark as a joke.

This quote is relevant because it shows Rajneesh’s public rhetoric at the height of the criminal investigations, as well as his dangerous, authoritarian, and manipulative side — threatening mass violence one moment, then retreating behind “it was just a joke” the next.

I believe it adds important context to the debate about his knowledge and attitude toward violence. Including it would help readers better understand the contradictions in the different accounts. Happy to discuss wording or sourcing. Thanks, Olivier Suzor Lamegoat1981 (talk) 20:52, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

If you have the Europeo source, and the quote is correct, it is fine by me to add your text, also because you were careful not to add your interpretation of that quote. One caveat though, "when asked about power" - what was the original question? Lova Falk (talk) 14:50, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Requested move 5 June 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Rajneesh → Osho – Rajneesh is commonly known as Osho, a name overwhelmingly used in news articles, print publications, and various outlets. This distinction is important as "Osho" is not commonly associated with any other individual and is distinct from the Japanese Oshō, meaning Buddhist priest. Lorstaking (talk) 02:52, 5 June 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 03:46, 12 June 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. {{GearsDatapacks|talk|contribs|in solidarity}} 18:58, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

• Further comment: While it is acknowledged that English Wikipedia operates autonomously from other language editions, it is worth noting that cross-referencing with other language versions may yield insightful observations.

Assessment tables

List of Wikipedia titles in various languages, all referring to Osho.

Sr. No.	Language	Name	Translation
1	日本語 (Japanese)	Osho	Osho
2	Azərbaycanca (Azerbaijani)	Oşo	Osho
3	Català (Catalan)	Osho	Osho
4	Deutsch (German)	Osho	Osho
5	Esperanto	Oŝo	Osho
6	Français (French)	Osho	Osho
7	Ido	Osho	Osho
8	Latviešu (Latvian)	Ošo	Osho
9	Lietuvių (Lithuanian)	Ošo	Osho
10	Norsk bokmål (Norwegian Bokmål)	Osho	Osho
11	Occitan	Osho	Osho
12	Shqip (Albanian)	Osho	Osho
13	Slovenščina (Slovene)	Osho	Osho
14	Srpskohrvatski / Serbo-Croatian	Ošo	Osho
15	Suomi (Finnish)	Osho	Osho
16	Svenska (Swedish)	Osho	Osho
17	Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)	Osho	Osho
18	Türkçe (Turkish)	Osho	Osho
19	Čeština (Czech)	Osho	Osho
20	Български (Bulgarian)	Ошо	Osho
21	Ирон (Ossetian)	Ошо	Osho
22	Македонски (Macedonian)	Ошо	Osho
23	Русский (Russian)	Ошо	Osho
24	Қазақша (Kazakh)	Ошо	Osho
25	עברית (Hebrew)	אושו	Osho
26	العربية (Arabic)	أوشو	Osho
27	تۆرکجه (Turkmen)	اوشو	Osho
28	سنڌي (Sindhi)	اوشو	Osho
29	فارسی (Persian)	اشو	Osho
30	مصرى (Egyptian Arabic)	اوشو	Osho
31	پنجابی (Pashto)	اوشو	Osho
32	کوردی (Kurdish)	ئۆشۆ	Osho
33	नेपाली (Nepali)	ओशो	Osho
34	मराठी (Marathi)	ओशो	Osho
35	हिन्दी (Hindi)	ओशो	Osho
36	ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi)	ਓਸ਼ੋ	Osho
37	தமிழ் (Tamil)	ஓஷோ	Osho
38	తెలుగు (Telugu)	ఓషో	Osho
39	ತುಳು (Tulu)	ಓಶೋ	Osho
40	සිංහල (Sinhala)	ඕසෝ	Osho
41	မြန်မာဘာသာ (Burmese)	အိုရှို	Osho
42	ქართული (Georgian)	ოშო	Osho
43	中文 (Chinese Traditional)	奧修	Osho
44	吴语 (Chinese Simplified)	奥修	Osho
45	Polski (Polish)	Osho (guru)	Osho (Master)
46	Español (Spanish)	Osho (gurú)	Osho (Master)
47	Euskara (Basque)	Osho (gurua)	Osho (Master)

List of Wikipedia titles in various languages, referring him as Osho, but also mentioning different names in the title.

Sr. No.	Language	Name	Translation
1	Dansk (Danish)	Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)	Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
2	Italiano (Italian)	Osho Rajneesh	Osho Rajneesh
3	Հայերեն (Armenian)	Օշո (Բհագվան Շրի Ռաջնիշ)	Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
4	한국어 (Korean)	오쇼 라즈니쉬	Osho Rajneesh
5	Српски / Serbian	Раџниш Ошо	Rajneesh Osho

List of Wikipedia titles in various languages, all referring to Rajneesh.

Sr. No.	Language	Name	Translation
1	ไทย (Thai)	รัชนีศ	Rajneesh
2	മലയാളം (Malayalam)	രജനീഷ്	Rajneesh
3	ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)	ರಜನೀಶ	Rajneesh
4	संस्कृतम् (Sanskrit)	रजनीशः	Rajneesh
5	भोजपुरी (Bhojpuri)	रजनीश	Rajneesh
6	Татарча / tatarça	Раджниш	Rajneesh
7	Ελληνικά (Greek)	Ραζνίς	Rajneesh
8	Português (Portuguese)	Rajneesh	Rajneesh
9	Română (Romanian)	Rajneesh	Rajneesh

List of Wikipedia titles in various languages, referring to different names.

Sr. No.	Language	Name	Translation
1	Bikol Central	Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh	Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
2	Magyar (Hungarian)	Radzsnís Csandra Mohan Dzsain	Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain
3	Nederlands (Dutch)	Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh	Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh
4	Simple English	Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh	Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
5	Українська (Ukrainian)	Чандра Мохан Раджніш	Chandra Mohan Rajneesh

Out of all 66 language editions reviewed, 47 (71%) use "Osho" directly, demonstrating its widespread recognition as Commomname. A simple internet search also supports this usage: "Osho" returns approximately 23 million results, whereas "Rajneesh" yields about 8 million results.

Given this overwhelming evidence of common usage and recognition, renaming the page to "Osho" aligns with policy. Lorstaking (talk) 02:52, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support Undoubtedly the common name. Koshuri ^(あ!) 05:13, 5 June 2026 (UTC)
• Oppose WP:CIRCULAR: Wikipedia is not WP:RS. The policy is WP:COMMONNAME, i.e. the most common name used in WP:RS. "Osho" is definitely more common than "Rajneesh", because Osho was a famous religious leader (or leaders) different from Rajneesh. They are not the same person. See also https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=osho&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=1 and https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=rajneesh&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=1 Morals: Rajneesh is definitely him, while Osho are many others. These being said, I'm not opposed to renaming it to Osho Rajneesh. tgeorgescu (talk) 05:53, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

  There is no other "Osho". Koshuri ^(あ!) 05:59, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

  Google ngram says otherwise. tgeorgescu (talk) 06:03, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

  See also Talk:Rajneesh/Archive 12#Requested move 26 May 2021. tgeorgescu (talk) 07:04, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

  Nothing there to support your claim that there is more than 1 Osho. Koshuri ^(あ!) 05:13, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

  Seriously? It shows many results long before he got born. E.g. https://www.google.com/search?udm=36&q=osho (choose to display only 19th century sources). Or see https://www.google.com/search?udm=36&q=dogen+osho (all centuries). tgeorgescu (talk) 16:13, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

  2320 results for "Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh", counting only 21st century sources: https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=%22Bhagwan+Shree+Rajneesh%22&hl=en&num=20&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_ylo=2001&as_yhi= tgeorgescu (talk) 06:53, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

• Comment. The above comparison of Wikipedia titles is not a good COMMONNAME argument, since WP is not a reliable source. I have no opinion on the proposed move, but this strikes me as a poor argument. The cited source Gurus in America says that Rajneesh was more common earlier in his career and Osho later in his career, and a Google scholar count shows neither seems to have a clear claim for COMMONNAME. In such cases, it seems to me that MOS:NAME creates a (rebuttable) presumption that the name should be the subject's full name, unless the subject has made a declaration of preference of one over the other. Sławomir Biały (talk) 06:56, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Comment: This is tricky. Normally, I would support the proposal, not because of anything the nominator says, but rather because the Ngram shows a lead in the modern day for Osho (note that, unlike the previously shown Ngram, this one is capital-O Osho because Ngrams is case sensitive). You can see that Osho rises dramatically around 1989, which is exactly when this man takes that name. However, during the Rajneeshpuram fiasco in the early 80s when he was most notable, he was Rajneesh, and that spike is much higher than anything today. So I'm not sure. Ladtrack (talk) 21:32, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

• Comment. The nominator provided only Wikipedia itself (and "a simple internet search") as supporting evidence, which is no evidence at all. There has been much discussion and many RMs about this question already, and nothing new was provided. See the list of prior move discussions above on the Talk page. In early 2025, Salvidrim! said at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 March 13#Osho that we should "be wary of making any changes to the status quo without a very strong reason to and overwhelming consensus". I commented extensively in previous discussions, and some people have said I made some valuable comments. I generally continue to hold the same views on the matter. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 21:48, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

  Presuming you still oppose as you did in previous discussions, I would suggest repeating some of your previous arguments here, as the page is very likely to move as it currently stands. Ladtrack (talk) 15:41, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support per WP:COMMONNAME. While "Rajneesh" was undoubtedly the dominant name during the subject's most controversial and historically notable period, usage appears to have shifted significantly since 1989. The Google Ngram comparison (link) shows "Osho" rising after the name change and maintaining a lead in modern usage. I agree that Wikipedia language editions are not evidence by themselves, but they do suggest that "Osho" has become the primary identifier internationally. More importantly, for over three decades the subject's books, translations, media coverage, documentaries, and public discourse have overwhelmingly used "Osho". Previous discussions focused heavily on historical usage. Looking at the evidence today, I think the stronger question is how readers are most likely to recognize the subject now. On that point, "Osho" appears to be the more widely recognized name. Accesscrawl (talk) 05:16, 6 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support. In addition to the evidence already presented, WorldCat currently returns 12,786 results for "Osho" compared with 5,734 for Rajneesh. While raw counts are not determinative on their own, WorldCat reflects real-world library cataloging and publishing practices. Contemporary newspapers frequently use "Osho" in headlines while mentioning "Rajneesh" only for identification or historical context within the article body. The same pattern can be observed across institutions, colleges, memorials, meditation centers, publishers, and other modern references, where "Osho" is overwhelmingly the name presented to readers and the public. Tarann06 (talk) 09:41, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

  About WorldCat: many of those are published by Osho Media International, so they are kind of WP:SPS, so they should not get counted. Other results aren't about Osho Rajneesh, but about Buddhist priests. tgeorgescu (talk) 10:44, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

  Even if some WorldCat entries originate from Osho Media publications, the broader pattern remains that contemporary cataloguing, publishing, and public-facing usage overwhelmingly employ Osho. The exact counts are not determinative, but the results suggest substantial modern usage of Osho in library catalogues. In any event, above support does not rest on WorldCat. The stronger evidence is the consistent contemporary. Accesscrawl (talk) 13:43, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support - Clearly a more common name than the current title. The google trends attest to this (Worldwide 2004 - present & Worldwide, Past 12 months)Zalaraz (talk) 02:51, 7 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support - Undoubtedly more common name for the subject. Georgethedragonslayer (talk) 14:54, 8 June 2026 (UTC)
• SUpport per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 13:32, 9 June 2026 (UTC)
• SUpport per nom. Lova Falk (talk) 13:42, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

Relisting comment: It appears that there may be consensus for the proposal; however, this page has had many move discussions and given that I think will benefit from further discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 03:46, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Religion, WikiProject Madhya Pradesh, WikiProject Philosophy, WikiProject Oregon, WikiProject Maharashtra, WikiProject Biography/Science and academia, Noticeboard for India-related topics, and WikiProject Religion/New religious movements work group have been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 03:50, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose While it is certainly common enough for New religious movements and their leaders to rebrand themselves, particularly after negative press, schisms, scandals, departure of members, etc., I am opposing because it isn't enough to simply take as a WP:COMMONNAME a survey of sources that include material published by a movement and its affiliates (which I believe clearly encroaches into WP:SOAP territory). Rather, a proposal for an article name change needs to show that independent WP:RS scholarly sources clearly have adopted the new name, and I don't see that a convincing case has been made for that here. Existing redirects seem to be sufficient at the present time. If a convincing case can be made that a significant percentage of scholarly sources unaffiliated with the movement have taken to using "Osho", then I would not oppose to renaming it to something like "Rajneesh (Osho)" or "Osho Rajneesh", simply because there is a large legacy of reliable, scholarly sources that use the "Rajneesh" name. • Astynax ^talk 18:49, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

  Your conditions have no valid basis. Nevertheless, scholarly sources mostly refer to the subject as "Osho" not "Rajneesh". Wisher08 (talk) 06:40, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

  As explained above: 2320 results for "Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh". tgeorgescu (talk) 06:56, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support - Evidence is clearly in favor of proposed name. Wisher08 (talk) 06:40, 13 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support per Zalaraz and nom. The subject is more commonly known as Osho. REDISCOVERBHARAT (talk) 13:12, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose non-english wikis using the name Osho over Rajneesh is not evidence of Rajneesh being the common name in English. I would also like to add that Rajneesh's rebranding to Osho was done to avoid his name being associated with his domestic terrorism, which he is most known for in the US. As he did his most famous acts under the name Rajneesh, I believe his wikipedia name should be labelled Rajneesh. Thebirdnird (talk) 11:29, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support - Having read the comments above, I think really matters is that the subject is most commonly known as Osho. It is evidenced from the links shown above. TolWol (talk) 06:29, 18 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support per WP:COMMONNAME. Reliable sources generally use Osho as the primary name. Azuredivay (talk) 09:56, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support The common name in the sources is Osho. Note that this article was titled Osho from about 2002-2016, then in 2016 was renamed to Rajneesh, as shown in Special:Log&page=Rajneesh. In the talk page archives there are many discussions about moving the name of the page. It is challenging to combine all these discussions because Wikipedia is not designed to make that easy. If anyone feels like it, then they could copy/paste the previous discussions into an AI service and us that to count the votes and identify the various discussions. It is a lot of text but AI could sort that. Bluerasberry (talk) 16:15, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

• The list in the Old moves template at the TOP of this talk page might be of some help. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 18:36, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Why does the article read like a hagiography?

This cult leader was a weak, sexual creep and a pseudo intellectual who abused his followers (just like other cult leaders), yet the article seems oddly flattering. Some of his activities are framed in a manipulative, gaslighting way that places him as a sort of cheeky rebel in the article? What's going on?

Perhaps some of his followers are still around, and are involved in editing and distorting the article? Charliepenandink (talk) 16:07, 8 July 2026 (UTC)

I don't know. As a rule of thumb, religion scholars don't take part in moral outrage or theological outrage. tgeorgescu (talk) 13:43, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

Furthermore, a hagiography would not have a section called "Sexual abuse and misconduct allegations". Lova Falk (talk) 15:18, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

If there are important criticisms or events that are missing, point to them specifically with RS rather than making a general assessment of the article. Accesscrawl (talk) 16:13, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

Two snippets

Here are two snippets that I cut out of the article Rajneesh movement, because they don't really belong there. I put it here, in case anybody wants to add them to this article. Lova Falk (talk) 18:22, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

• In 2011, a national seminar on Rajneesh's teachings was inaugurated at the Department of Philosophy of the Mankunwarbai College for Women in Jabalpur. Funded by the Bhopal office of the University Grants Commission, the seminar focused on Rajneesh's "Zorba the Buddha" teaching.

• In July 2020, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens released a song themed after the movement titled "My Rajneesh".

References