Osho Tapoban

In South Korea, the books on meditation used to win the heart of the public in the 70's and 80's. Out of all the spiritual Masters, Osho Rajneesh and Jiddu Krishnamurti were well known. Back then, a famous Korean poet translated a book of Osho's lecture on the quotes on Bodhidharma into Korean and introduced it to Korean readers. In those days, he has been also into meditation and Osho, and often traveled India and Nepal. Meanwhile, he became a disciple of Osho at ashram in Pune, India and later attended the funeral of Osho, the master. In the preface to his translated book, he described his experiences during staying at a meditation center in the Himalayas, whose name was Osho Tapoban located in the western corner of Kathmandu valley in Nepal. The book impressed some Korean a lot, leading him to finally visit there on his own.

The only purpose of visit to Nepal for the first time in 1994 was to look around Osho Tapoban and experience what it is like to meditate. Some days later after arriving in Nepal, he finally got to Tapoban with some Nepali's help. He spent a few days there, meditating on the daily schedule. Guided by a Nepali meditation instructor, he was slowly accustomed to practicing Osho meditation, learning a bit about how to relax and relieve mental stress. Since then, he had visited Tapoban for meditation almost every year, but the purpose of visiting Nepal has been gradually changed from meditation to Nepal itself. Meanwhile, he actually had experienced various barriers to go deep into meditation and later managed to find the answer to the question by exploring Seon(선(禪), Zen in Japanese, Chan in Chinese) Buddhism. 

Osho Tapoban was also on the list of the places to visit again after 14 years. Left the hotel in Thamel to head out to Tapoban on foot as before in the morning, looking around the familiar rural landscape. It must have felt like visiting hometown again. Osho Tapoban indeed seemed to have flourished a lot under Sw. Anand Arun's leadership, growing both in size and stature worldwide. He was glad to meet a staff member who recognized him. It was said that Sw. Arun stayed in Pokhara where Osho Tapoban has one of its other communes there.

Zorba the Buddha is the name of the restaurant at the gate. From the rooftop restaurant, visitors can view the dense primeval forest, which is called Nagarjun Ban, in which the great Buddhist master, Nagarjuna meditated and attained enlightenment.