An (inner) travelogue

Samadhi about Lumbini in Nepal – the many Buddhist temples and Osho Jetban

Flying along the Himalayas

Sightseeing in Lumbini

In Lumbini

Each year I spend several months at Osho Tapoban in Nepal.

After weeks of meditation, dancing, laughter, and intense conversations, encounters, and inspiration during the third World Congress of RSSI, it was time to head to Lumbini for the meditation camp with Swami Anand Arun.

Lumbini is truly a magical place. But let me tell the story one step at a time.

First came the challenge of catching the propeller plane to Lumbini. That alone is an adventure. Traffic in Kathmandu turns every schedule into a gamble – will you even make it to the airport? And if you do, will you reach the aircraft alive?

Fortunately (as far as I know), none of the flights have ever departed on time – no problem, as they always say here.

Samadhi and partner

Pilgrims

Prince Siddhartha’s Palace

I recommend anyone flying to Lumbini to reserve a seat on the starboard side of the plane. What an absolutely uplifting sight as you fly along the dazzling, ice-clad chain of the Himalayan eight-thousanders.

Lumbini is the birthplace of Lord Buddha. A vast memorial site encompasses the stupa marking the place of his birth, the stone pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka, and the remains of the palace where Prince Siddhartha lived. Each day, hundreds of Buddhist monks make pilgrimage to this beautiful and peaceful place – to offer prayers, and to dwell in silence, gratitude, and reverence.

Cambodia temple

Cambodian Buddhist Monastery in the Monastic Zone of Lumbini

Nepal Tempel in Lumbini

It is a healing space, where I can breathe peace.

Thanks to the efforts of the United Nations, a vast area nearby now hosts a variety of temples dedicated to the Buddha, built by many different nations. The diversity of architectural interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings is astonishing.

It’s well worth taking a rickshaw and heading for Gate No. 14. From there, you enter a large open space where nations have constructed often elaborate temples in honour of Lord Buddha.

German Tempel in Lumbini

Thailand’s Tempel in Lumbini

The German temple is striking, featuring hundreds of golden Buddhas set into the front wall. The colours are vibrantly Buddhist, and the atmosphere is still and sublime.

The Nepalese temple houses a Buddha statue that must be around six metres high, along with hundreds of smaller Buddhas embedded in the frieze of its circular dome structure. The architectural variety and creative expression of the other temples – those from Sri Lanka, Thailand, and many more – are truly remarkable.

Osho Jetban entrance

Osho Jetban

Osho Jetban in Lumbini

New Buddha Hall in construction

Then it was time to head to the meditation camp at Jetban, Osho’s centre in Lumbini. I can only describe my own feelings: the moment I passed through the gate, I felt immersed in a gentle softness, which I could only describe as ‘compassion’. The energy is entirely different from that of Osho Tapoban. Here, Buddha reigns through compassion – silent, ever-present, constant.

Tapoban is a powerful Buddhafield, a kind of “particle accelerator” of the deepest intensity. Jetban, on the other hand, is permeated and pulsing with an entirely different kind of energy.

As I step into the spacious grounds of the ashram, I am immediately enveloped by a gentle, healing, and tender force that floods me down to the very last cell. I breathe in compassion – the highest form of love.

Jetban is expansive, open, and of exquisite beauty. In a large pond stand two statues – one of Buddha, the other of Osho. Facing one another, they seem to gaze into each other’s silence, opening our minds to stillness. I can’t help but feel as if Osho is the response – an echo 2,500-years-later – to Buddha, the response humanity had long been waiting for.

Buddha Hall in Jetban

Maulshree sapling

Two Statues

My meditations here, especially beneath the young tree raised from a sapling of the tree under which Osho attained enlightenment, have had a remarkable quality: simple, natural, unforced, undramatic – marked not by grand “insights” but by joy, ease, and gentle love.

Arun planted this tree, which has grown into a striking form – its curves flawless, complete, untouched by the hand of any gardener seeking to trim or shape its leaves.

To sit beneath it at sunrise is, quite simply, exquisite.

Opposite the tree now stands the ‘old’ Buddha Hall, which houses an 18-ton marble statue of the Buddha. The floor is laid with white marble; the silence within is indestructible and deep.

Watch on YouTube

At present, a new meditation hall is being built – to accommodate 1,000 people! This significant undertaking, intended to serve future generations, is being funded entirely through donations.

Once again in Lumbini, I am reminded of what Osho entrusted to us on countless occasions:

Just raise your hands and close your eyes…

You have said it by your tears! Words are very impotent. There are other ways to convey… better ways to convey. I can feel what exactly is there and why it is difficult to say…. A deep feeling that you will be going away, and you will be lonely and you will miss me, the whole atmosphere. But don’t be worried – you will not miss anything!

And sometimes it happens that you can find me there even more. Distance never destroys love – on the contrary, it creates more longing, more desire… and it is your longing that joins you with me. I will be there working with you.

Once you are a sannyasin, wherever you are, I am with you – that’s the whole purpose of sannyas. It is an inner commitment: your commitment to me and my commitment to you. Once you are a sannyasin your journey is my journey, I am involved with you. If you go to hell, I have to come there.

Osho, What Is, Is, What Ain’t, Ain’t, Ch 27 (darshan diary)

Jetban is a rare and wondrous place, where I experienced the fusion of Zorba and Buddha, Osho’s vision. With all the dancing and laughter we share there, it’s the living realisation of that vision.

I have tried to convey a little of what I have experienced in these places, where anyone who wishes to meditate, to seek inspiration, to heal body and soul, and to deepen and live their understanding of Osho’s multidimensional teaching – can do so.

Now, even after my return flight, the journey has not ended. It begins anew each morning. And all I can say is: Oh wonder – look – this hall is full because it is empty!

Buddham sharanam gachchhami,
Sangham sharanam gachchhami,
Dhammam sharanam gachchhami.