Journey on the Moon! Oops it is actually Mustang…..

When I first visited Mustang 9 years ago, immediately upon landing at the Jomsom airport, I felt like I was on a different planet because it was so different from where I grew up and had visited in the past. The terrain is rocky and very rugged and the mountains were barren without any trees. People were moving from one place to another by riding on horses. Houses were made of mud and stones with lots of fuel wood piled on top of the roof.

At that time, I was invited to inaugurate the opening ceremony of Mustang’s only museum. It was built by a Japanese man called Idasan and who is a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner. Upon completion of the entire programme, we went to Muktinath for pilgrimage.

There was a family who came to see me and offered the land where at one time, the past Shangpa Rinpoche had built a small temple and stayed for a while. Subsequently, the temple had no caretaker and eventually collapsed and turned into a dilapidated state. So this family offered the land back to me. After consideration, I began to think it is good to build a nunnery there because some nuns who are ordained at Pokhara and are dependent on me for their education needed a place to stay. So I decided to accept the land and slowly planned to build the entire nunnery. It took almost 5 years to complete everything and today the nunnery accommodates around 35 nuns. They have education facility and their needs are well taken care of. Usually, I visit the nunnery once a year and give some teachings and advice to the nuns.

My last visit was unplanned and unexpectedly happened. There was development of a road construction to Muktinath and the road is linked to our nunnery as well. On top of that I did not visited Kutsab Ternga Monastery at Jomsom for some time and the monks there requested me to visit them and to give them some guidance. I actually was supposed to return to Singapore but as I did not have much programme immediately upon return to Singapore, I delayed my flight and decided to go there by road.

Mustang is a very remote area that has no road access until last year. From last year onward, there is a new bumpy road full of gravels and it extends all the way to Jomsom. It is interesting to try the road and also the scenery along the journey can be very spectacular. A few lamas and myself departed early in the morning from Pokhara and drove towards Jomsom. Up to the Village called Beni, the road is pretty comfortable until we reach the rough road. Recalling the one time which I took two days on foot, this journey by car is comparatively much more comfortable. We had lunch at a small canteen and then around 3pm, we reached Jomsom.

Somehow, Tsampa was waiting there for us although I did not inform him of our arrival. I suppose he knew about us coming from Ani. We stayed a while at Tsampa’s place and then Tsampa and others advised us not to drive because we need to cross one big river that does not have a road bridge. It is dangerous if the water level is high. So we crossed the normal suspension bridge by foot and took another jeep from the other side. It was just another hour and a half drive uphill. That was a nice journey and as usual, the locals in their traditional costumes were waiting to welcome me with drums and the Ani lined up and played the trumpets ( Gyaling ). We finally we reached Muktinath safely.

Muktinath is now accessible via with road and jeeps can easily reach there. We requested the village to allow and assist for a road directly to the nunnery and the village people happily accepted. I went to see and advice on that matter. The nuns were excited that in future, jeeps could go all the way to nunnery, making it very convenient. I also visited the holy places of Muktinath which 108 spring water and of natural flame from stone and water.

Both Buddhists and Hindus believe in this holy place and both have their own versions of the stories connected to the holy place. Buddhists, especially the Vajrayana practitioners believe this place is the palace of Chakrasamvara. When the Buddha conferred the Tantra, he manifested in the form of Chakrasamvara and blessed the holy place, transforming it into the mandala of Chakrasamvara. That’s why 84 saints of India also visited this place and poured the water that they carried from Manasrovar. This water miraculously became spring water. So it has the effect of purifying sicknesses and bestows good health and longevity. Also, Guru Rinpoche visited this place on the way to Tibet. Hindus believe this is Vishnu and Lord Shiva’s sacred place and people all the way from India and different parts of Nepal come to here to take a bath which they believe purify their sins.

During my stay at the Nunnery, I also arranged for some of the nuns to go to India for further study of Buddhist philosophy so they can be future teachers at the nunnery. The nuns usually have good basic education at the nunnery. Not only do they learn chanting and Buddhist practice, they also learn languages and a little bit of computing skills. They can speak good English but often, they are very shy to speak the language. Occasionally, some western ladies come and teach them English and in return, they learn the Tibetan language.

When I returned to Jomsom, I visited Kutsab Ternga Temple which is a very historical temple that rebuilt by my past life Shangpa Rinpoche. This temple still house a number of the surviving old monks and they all recalled the time of my past life. So with each of my visit, they tell me stories of how the temple was built and what Shangpa Rinpoche had said and so on. Therefore each time I visit the temple, I feel I am back to the moment of the past and a sort of blissful feeling arises. Infact, the monks and people there always consider me as their Lama and with my assistance, the temple can have good progress. I also offered to help training their monks at Pokhara and one of them is already in the three years retreat so he can be a good potential for their temple. Also each time I visit, I contribute a little bit of money for the monk’s education purpose though the sum is not considerable. Nonetheless, it was my gesture of thought and care.

At Jomsom, I used to stay at a lodge called Om’s Home. The owner is very devoted to me because of their parents are disciples of my past life. They do their best to make my stay comfortable. While at the lodge, I met some influential people and we had a long discussion regarding about my past life. The head Lama of Marpha Temple called Gelong Maila, one of the most respected monks at that region and who is the disciple of Dagkar Rinpoche of Drukpa Kagyu, told me about the past Shangpa Rinpoche about his visit to Jomsom and the rebuilding of Kutsabternga. Another person is Tsampa-la who is a Tibetan physician and also good practitioner. His father was also a disciple of Shangpa Rinpoche. He shared with me many stories of the past Shangpa Rinpoche which I have never heard of so it was really interesting. In the evening, one of the disciple invited me to their house for dinner and the family cooked very nice dishes.

The next day, we left Jomsom for Pokhara. We drove and along the way stopped to take photos of the Himalayas and of the wildflowers. It was really a enjoyable trip.

At the place called Tukche, we visited one old temple that belongs to the Karma Kagyu tradition. It is very old and is in a very bad condition. We lighted some lamp offering and seeing the condition of temple, we felt very sad as temple wall paintings have faded as a result of rain water leakage. I made good wishes and departed from there. On the way, we sighted a beautiful waterfall and took some photos and also soaked ourselves in the extremely cool and nice water. The remaining journey from there to Pokhara is all the way downhill and so with lower altitudes, we experienced warmer climates. In the evening around 7 pm, we arrived at Pokhara. My journey ended nicely.

We have planned a group tour to Muktinath and several holy places including temples of lower Mustang starting 1st October 2009. It is also the anniversary of the Muktinath Nunnery so there will be some proramme there. I will update the schedule of the group tour in my next blog so if any of you are interested and have the time can join the tour.
 
If you need to know more about the tour please click to this link: http://www.kirtipur.org/courses_pilgrimages.html#guru

Many of the wild flowers are not only beautiful but also use as harbal medicine. 

Group Photo at Kutsabternga.