Pilgrimage & Holy Place

The Purpose of Going On a Pilgrimage

As a Buddhist, we should perform wholesome actions and think wholesome and beneficial thoughts. One wholesome thought or action is to plan for and participate in a pilgrimage. Buddha Shakyamuni said that after he entered parinirvana, all the places he has visited to give teachings and performed special activities should be visited by followers. By visiting these places, Buddhists would gain inspiration for practice, remember the Buddha’s teachings and reflect upon their own practice.






In this relation, we should also visit the 4 main holy places of Buddha Shakyamuni - Lumbini (where Buddha was born), Sarnath (where Buddha first turned the Wheel of Dharma), and Kushinagar (where Buddha passed into Parinirvana). Likewise we should also visit Rajgiri (where Buddha gave the teachings on the Prajna Paramita) Vaishali and Shravasti where Buddha spent much of his time during the rains and gave many important teachings.


For a Vajrayana practitioner, there are 24 sacred places and many other holy places mentioned in many teachings of Tantras. These are connected to the outer (phenomena) and the inner (our own body with channels and bindu). By visiting these holy places and meditating there, we purify our defilements and correct our inner body’s channel, Bindu and energy wind. With that, we feel physically comfortable as well as have a clearer mind. For that reason, practitioners while in practicing occasionally should visit holy places to do meditation and practices.


Sacred sites such as Muktinath is also considered a tantric holy place, as taught by Guru Rinpoche and explained in various tantras. I will explain briefly on that later.

3 Type of Mentalities of Pilgrims:

In general, there are 3 categories of pilgrimages. 1st is when one feels bored with where one’s staying and wishes to refresh oneself by finding a special place to relax in or immerse in a different environment. One is like a tourist. Such an attitude does help whilst visiting the holy places that have blessings and special energy. Although you will feel joy when you are there, this is not the best type of pilgrimage.


The 2nd category is when one knows the Dharma and wants to clear one’s obstacles and believe that visiting holy places can clear one’s obstacles and increase one’s fortune. This type of pilgrimage is good but it aims for worldly happiness and that is beneficial for this life time only.


The last type is pilgrimage without worldly attachment, to simply visit to the holy places to be inspired, and to follow the ways of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As such, every step of the pilgrimage is like a step progressing onto the path of enlightenment. You visit holy places to pay homage, make offerings and confession, rejoice and request for blessings on behalf of all mother sentient beings. Your inspiration to attain enlightenment will increase, as well as your love and compassion to sentient beings will grow significantly.






Even though the 1st and 2nd categories are not the best, nonetheless the pilgrimage will be meaningful to us. If you take an arduous journey without knowing the meaning of going on a pilgrimage, only to see a few rocks or a pool of water at the end, you may feel frustrated. But if you have the right purpose and know the meaning of making a pilgrimage, you know that it represents the quality of enlightenment that is already there for us to realize.

Pilgrimage taking as a path of practice means that it is also a great purification of our Karma. Every hardship or discomfort during pilgrimage is actually a method to nullify our Karmic cause of sufferings. So it purifies Karma or sins that we have accumulated. At the same time it also allows the accumulation of merits by us making offerings, paying homage and developing the devotions that arouse the enlighten qualities such as wisdom.

 Part two I will write about the Holy Place of Muktinath.