On Dec. 12, 1986, Chagdud Rinpoche, Lama Sonam and seven students left for Nepal and India on a sacred pilgrimage. Now, nine months later, the entire journey has the quality of a vivid dream that slowly fades from the mind, but can never be quite forgotten. Still, some of those dream images arise with little effort ...
Sonam taking us to the Great Stupa in Boudha for the first time on a full moon night: Not wanting us to experience the "torma" covered Nepalese streets right away, he led us across the fields behind our hotel, past the tents of the Tibetan nomads, with the Great Stupa rising above us, gleaming beneath a brightly ringed moon. Upon arriving, we started our first round of konva, circumambulating the stupa and turning the hundreds of small prayer wheels as we went. The sound of the bell attached to the huge prayer wheel, the smell of incense and flickering butter lamps, the press of the Tibetan nomads and monks, and the indescribable feeling of timeless peace–all seemed so strange, and at the same time deeply familiar. Immersed in this great wheel of Dharma, we had arrived at the center of the world, an auspicious start to our pilgrimage with Rinpoche into India.
We left Kathmandu two weeks later, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. In Lumbini, where the Buddha first entered our world, we arrived by minibus at dusk and offered butter lamps inside the ancient Hindu shrine. Near Gaya, where the Buddha ordained himself and entered the path, we spent the day dashing about the countryside, visiting all the many holy places and doing our best to keep up with Rinpoche. In Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree of illumination, we did Tara puja as the Japanese tourists videotaped us. In Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we listened to Rinpoche give a Dzogchen teaching at the temple where the Buddha's relics are enshrined. At Vulture Peak, where the Prajnaparamita was first heard, we joined Lama Tharchin's students to do Guru Rinpoche puja. And in Kushnagar, where the Buddha passed on to Parinirvana, we circumambulated the great reclining Buddha and contemplated pervasive impermanence.
Soon, another pilgrimage will start. Rinpoche has asked those that can to meet him in China Oct. 7. He will lead a group into Wu TaiShan, the sacred Five Peaks Mountains.
David Everest
On Dec. 12, 1986, Chagdud Rinpoche, Lama Sonam and seven students left for Nepal and India on a sacred pilgrimage. Now, nine months later, the entire journey has the quality of a vivid dream that slowly fades from the mind, but can never be quite forgotten. Still, some of those dream images arise with little effort ...
Sonam taking us to the Great Stupa in Boudha for the first time on a full moon night: Not wanting us to experience the "torma" covered Nepalese streets right away, he led us across the fields behind our hotel, past the tents of the Tibetan nomads, with the Great Stupa rising above us, gleaming beneath a brightly ringed moon. Upon arriving, we started our first round of konva, circumambulating the stupa and turning the hundreds of small prayer wheels as we went. The sound of the bell attached to the huge prayer wheel, the smell of incense and flickering butter lamps, the press of the Tibetan nomads and monks, and the indescribable feeling of timeless peace–all seemed so strange, and at the same time deeply familiar. Immersed in this great wheel of Dharma, we had arrived at the center of the world, an auspicious start to our pilgrimage with Rinpoche into India.
We left Kathmandu two weeks later, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. In Lumbini, where the Buddha first entered our world, we arrived by minibus at dusk and offered butter lamps inside the ancient Hindu shrine. Near Gaya, where the Buddha ordained himself and entered the path, we spent the day dashing about the countryside, visiting all the many holy places and doing our best to keep up with Rinpoche. In Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree of illumination, we did Tara puja as the Japanese tourists videotaped us. In Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we listened to Rinpoche give a Dzogchen teaching at the temple where the Buddha's relics are enshrined. At Vulture Peak, where the Prajnaparamita was first heard, we joined Lama Tharchin's students to do Guru Rinpoche puja. And in Kushnagar, where the Buddha passed on to Parinirvana, we circumambulated the great reclining Buddha and contemplated pervasive impermanence.
Soon, another pilgrimage will start. Rinpoche has asked those that can to meet him in China Oct. 7. He will lead a group into Wu TaiShan, the sacred Five Peaks Mountains.
David Everest
On Dec. 12, 1986, Chagdud Rinpoche, Lama Sonam and seven students left for Nepal and India on a sacred pilgrimage. Now, nine months later, the entire journey has the quality of a vivid dream that slowly fades from the mind, but can never be quite forgotten. Still, some of those dream images arise with little effort ...
Sonam taking us to the Great Stupa in Boudha for the first time on a full moon night: Not wanting us to experience the "torma" covered Nepalese streets right away, he led us across the fields behind our hotel, past the tents of the Tibetan nomads, with the Great Stupa rising above us, gleaming beneath a brightly ringed moon. Upon arriving, we started our first round of konva, circumambulating the stupa and turning the hundreds of small prayer wheels as we went. The sound of the bell attached to the huge prayer wheel, the smell of incense and flickering butter lamps, the press of the Tibetan nomads and monks, and the indescribable feeling of timeless peace–all seemed so strange, and at the same time deeply familiar. Immersed in this great wheel of Dharma, we had arrived at the center of the world, an auspicious start to our pilgrimage with Rinpoche into India.
We left Kathmandu two weeks later, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. In Lumbini, where the Buddha first entered our world, we arrived by minibus at dusk and offered butter lamps inside the ancient Hindu shrine. Near Gaya, where the Buddha ordained himself and entered the path, we spent the day dashing about the countryside, visiting all the many holy places and doing our best to keep up with Rinpoche. In Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree of illumination, we did Tara puja as the Japanese tourists videotaped us. In Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we listened to Rinpoche give a Dzogchen teaching at the temple where the Buddha's relics are enshrined. At Vulture Peak, where the Prajnaparamita was first heard, we joined Lama Tharchin's students to do Guru Rinpoche puja. And in Kushnagar, where the Buddha passed on to Parinirvana, we circumambulated the great reclining Buddha and contemplated pervasive impermanence.
Soon, another pilgrimage will start. Rinpoche has asked those that can to meet him in China Oct. 7. He will lead a group into Wu TaiShan, the sacred Five Peaks Mountains.
David Everest
On Dec. 12, 1986, Chagdud Rinpoche, Lama Sonam and seven students left for Nepal and India on a sacred pilgrimage. Now, nine months later, the entire journey has the quality of a vivid dream that slowly fades from the mind, but can never be quite forgotten. Still, some of those dream images arise with little effort ...
Sonam taking us to the Great Stupa in Boudha for the first time on a full moon night: Not wanting us to experience the "torma" covered Nepalese streets right away, he led us across the fields behind our hotel, past the tents of the Tibetan nomads, with the Great Stupa rising above us, gleaming beneath a brightly ringed moon. Upon arriving, we started our first round of konva, circumambulating the stupa and turning the hundreds of small prayer wheels as we went. The sound of the bell attached to the huge prayer wheel, the smell of incense and flickering butter lamps, the press of the Tibetan nomads and monks, and the indescribable feeling of timeless peace–all seemed so strange, and at the same time deeply familiar. Immersed in this great wheel of Dharma, we had arrived at the center of the world, an auspicious start to our pilgrimage with Rinpoche into India.
We left Kathmandu two weeks later, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. In Lumbini, where the Buddha first entered our world, we arrived by minibus at dusk and offered butter lamps inside the ancient Hindu shrine. Near Gaya, where the Buddha ordained himself and entered the path, we spent the day dashing about the countryside, visiting all the many holy places and doing our best to keep up with Rinpoche. In Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree of illumination, we did Tara puja as the Japanese tourists videotaped us. In Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we listened to Rinpoche give a Dzogchen teaching at the temple where the Buddha's relics are enshrined. At Vulture Peak, where the Prajnaparamita was first heard, we joined Lama Tharchin's students to do Guru Rinpoche puja. And in Kushnagar, where the Buddha passed on to Parinirvana, we circumambulated the great reclining Buddha and contemplated pervasive impermanence.
Soon, another pilgrimage will start. Rinpoche has asked those that can to meet him in China Oct. 7. He will lead a group into Wu TaiShan, the sacred Five Peaks Mountains.
David Everest
On Dec. 12, 1986, Chagdud Rinpoche, Lama Sonam and seven students left for Nepal and India on a sacred pilgrimage. Now, nine months later, the entire journey has the quality of a vivid dream that slowly fades from the mind, but can never be quite forgotten. Still, some of those dream images arise with little effort ...
Sonam taking us to the Great Stupa in Boudha for the first time on a full moon night: Not wanting us to experience the "torma" covered Nepalese streets right away, he led us across the fields behind our hotel, past the tents of the Tibetan nomads, with the Great Stupa rising above us, gleaming beneath a brightly ringed moon. Upon arriving, we started our first round of konva, circumambulating the stupa and turning the hundreds of small prayer wheels as we went. The sound of the bell attached to the huge prayer wheel, the smell of incense and flickering butter lamps, the press of the Tibetan nomads and monks, and the indescribable feeling of timeless peace–all seemed so strange, and at the same time deeply familiar. Immersed in this great wheel of Dharma, we had arrived at the center of the world, an auspicious start to our pilgrimage with Rinpoche into India.
We left Kathmandu two weeks later, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. In Lumbini, where the Buddha first entered our world, we arrived by minibus at dusk and offered butter lamps inside the ancient Hindu shrine. Near Gaya, where the Buddha ordained himself and entered the path, we spent the day dashing about the countryside, visiting all the many holy places and doing our best to keep up with Rinpoche. In Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree of illumination, we did Tara puja as the Japanese tourists videotaped us. In Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, we listened to Rinpoche give a Dzogchen teaching at the temple where the Buddha's relics are enshrined. At Vulture Peak, where the Prajnaparamita was first heard, we joined Lama Tharchin's students to do Guru Rinpoche puja. And in Kushnagar, where the Buddha passed on to Parinirvana, we circumambulated the great reclining Buddha and contemplated pervasive impermanence.
Soon, another pilgrimage will start. Rinpoche has asked those that can to meet him in China Oct. 7. He will lead a group into Wu TaiShan, the sacred Five Peaks Mountains.
David Everest
