Walk your way back in the time, and into the inspiring spiritual journey of wonderful sacred sites, to meet the compassionate Guru Rinpoche and 1st Shangpa Rinpoche
Day 1 (30 Sept 2009) – Auspicious Arrival at Kathmandu
In the early morning, 12 fortunate ones overwhelmed with extreme joy and fervent devotion, set out our journey to Nepal to join Rinpoche for the pilgrimage to the holy sites of Jomson and Muktinath. This journey fulfilled our dreams of experiencing the wonderful blessings and indulging ourselves in the warm and compassionate love showered by two admirable great masters, Guru Rinpoche and 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.
After 5 hours of flight, the plane of Silk Airline finally touched down the land of Nepal on scheduled time. Two impatient yet excited souls, sis Swee Lee and me were elated to be on the very earth of Kathmandu. It was an auspicious onset as a pair of beautiful yellow butterflies were fluttering delightfully around us, as if they were welcoming us. What’s more, among the strange faces waiting eagerly outside the arrival gate, we spotted two beaming familiar faces, Lama Khenrupla and Ani Trulrimla. The sight of them simply warmed our hearts.
The Kagyu Institute of Buddhist Studies (KIBS).
However, the remaining 10 pilgrims who took the Thai Airline, were not as fortunate as we were. They experienced a delay of flight of nearly 2 hours. Nonetheless, we managed to meet each other, in the late afternoon of Nepal’s local time, in Kagyu Institute of Buddhist Studies (KIBS). KIBS, founded by the present Shangpa Tulku, is situated at the scenic and idyllic location in Kirtipur. Though signs of light tiredness appeared on their faces; it did not wear down the radiance of their inner joy and enthusiasm.
After a short rest, the group displayed the “shopping nature” of Singaporeans and we headed to a newly built shopping centre, with the guide of Anila. On our way, we were welcomed by a heavy downpour. The dusty and polluted air was instantly cleansed and refreshed by the rain, filling the atmosphere with a delight of freshness. Soon, a fascinating rainbow adorned the clear sky thus enhancing the auspiciousness of our trip. Everyone was so delighted with the auspicious signs.
So what's next? Bingo! You've guessed it. All of us left the shopping centre armed with loads of freshly purchased stuff. Typical Singaporean style, right?…haha…
As that day was the birthday of sis. Swee Lee, we quietly bought a birthday cake while on the way back. We held a surprise birthday party for her and she was so touched. We thoroughly enjoyed the food prepared by Hake, who was the cook tasked by Rinpoche to take care of our meals during our trip.
Teemed with lots of twinkle stars, the night sky of Kirtipur was amazingly tranquil and charming. So beautiful to behold and simply soothing one’s heart…
The golden dharma wheel stands graciously
on the roof-top of KIDS
Umm, the room was so neat and cozy, and the bed and blankets provided were so warmed and comfortable…..gave rise to a sense of at-home ambiance, though we are roofing under the night-sky, with countless Prayer flags (in KIBS) fluttering in the breeze.
Prayer flags (in KIBS) fluttering in the breeze.Day 2 (1st October 2009) –
While stepping out from my room for breakfast, I was instantly embraced by the chilly air mingling with coldness. However, the coolness was soon diverted away when approaching the doorstep of dinning area; delicious aroma of breakfast whiffed into my nose. Ani Tenzinla and Hake had already set out the lovely hot steaming breakfast waiting for us. It touched us so much as we know they need to wake up very early in order to get the breakfast done for such a big group of people. They really are so thoughtful and caring towards us. Needless to say, our taste buds and stomachs were fully satisfied with those hot steaming delicious food.
Shortly after our breakfast, Lama Khenrup, who is humble and kind in nature and always taking care of us with fatherly love, reminded us to pack and leave for Jangchub Choeling Monastery at Pokhara to meet Rinpoche.
Boarded onto the coach with one friendly Nepalese family, who are also Rinpoche’s faithful devotees, we hit the road of our long journey of nearly 6 hours to Pokhara.
Along the journey, most of us were stunned and fascinated by the natural views of valleys, fresh and lush green paddy fields; patches of lovely white cotton-wool clouds floating freely in the bright azure sky. Nepal is truly a blessed country abundant with not only sacred sites but also natural heritage and scenic wonders.
When approaching Pokhara, our breaths were nearly taken away by its wonderful close-up mountain views, pristine natures, deep gorges and waterfalls. It’s simply picturesque.
After about 6 hrs journey, we finally reached Pokhara. As we need to leave early next dawn, we took the opportunity to apply our permit to Mukthinath and Jomson when we passed by their permit office.
By the time we reached Jangchub Choeling Monastery, it was already in the late afternoon. Many of us seemed a bit worn down. However, the weariness was soon replaced by radiance of joy again when we met Rinpoche. We had tea with Rinpoche and he briefed us on the programme awaiting us that evening. We would visit Ah Mum Yum after tea and followed by visiting Old Folk Home shortly before dinner. We would also have a special experience to stay a night with Tibetan families, in the Tibetan camp, to understand the Tibetan life style.
Rinpoche also advised us that we had to be mentally prepared that the rocky journey from Pokhara to Jomson and Mukthinath by jeep would be quite a tough experience for us. However, it would be a promising wonderful adventure we had never experienced in our life before.
After the tea, we visited Ah Ma Yum. She was quietly chanting her mantra as usual. The arrival of the group into her small room seemed to disturb the peaceful ambiance. Despite the commotion we made, she was delightful to see us and received us warmly with all her cookies and drinks. As our schedule was quite tight, we could not stay longer to chat further with her. In our eyes, she is an exceedingly kind old mother full of good qualities.
And all of us shared the same feeling: how nice it would be if we could understand Tibetan Language and communicate with her. Perhaps, we have to put in more effort in learning the Tibetan language. Nonetheless, it was very warm and affectionate atmosphere when we were with Ah mum Yum.
As we departed from Ah Ma Yum house, one of the lamas directed us to the old folks' home. When we stepped in the home, many old fathers and mothers already came out from their rooms awaiting for Rinpoche’s arrival.
Their wrinkled faces were beaming beautifully like blossoming flowers, and their eyes gleamed when they saw Rinpoche and us. Besides offering meal with their favorite mo-mo, we also presented small tokens of gifts to each of the old folks to show our love and concerns.
Although, we couldn’t communicate with them, they showed clearly us with their delightful faces that they could feel our heartfelt love and concern towards each one of them. Umm, the air seemed filled with loving kindness and happiness…it was a beautifully touching yet joyous moment.
Yeah, we were simply so happy to see them happy….
We were reluctant to leave if not for the darkening sky.
We enjoyed an outdoor yummy dinner amidst the darkness (there was a black-out, temporal electricity shortage is common in Pokhara) with Rinpoche and the Nepalese family. And the darkness did not really “blanket” the merrily spirit of the group. Chattering started and the flow of topics seemed unending, not until we were reminded to pack and rest early for tomorrow's journey. And from the dinner conversations, we came to know that the father of the Nepalese family is the 'Video-man' who often helped Rinpoche in making the VCDs of Series of Vision Journeys.
Rinpoche arranged 2 pilgrims per room to “attach” to some Tibetan families. Some families have one room; others have two rooms to house us. Swee Lee and I were sent to this Tibetan family, a very good family. The father of the family had passed away and leaving behind his wife and their 5 children. One of his sons is the lama of Rinpoche and is presently in Kalingpong. Currently, the mother stays with one of her son and the rest is out of town to other countries. The mother and son are very pleasant, gentle and well-mannered. I over heard her little lovely grand-niece addressed her as Yeshe-ah-ma.
They have 2 rooms, so Swee Lee and I occupied one of them; the two sisters, Miao and Nicole stayed at the room opposite us. There is a clean square open space in between the 2 rooms, sort of small courtyard. In our room is a beautiful shrine room and it is their family shrine hall. The family frequently invites Rinpoche and Lamas to their shrine room for pujas. From the exceedingly neatness and magnificent arrangements of the shrine, we could feel their faithful hearts towards Triple Gems. What a devoted good family!
The mother, son and one of his lady friend and us sat and talked in the open space, under the sky filled with twinkling stars. The young man and his lady friend can speak English fluently. And they are so kind in trying to teach us some simple conversations in Tibetan.
The house is so neat and nice, even the wash room is as clean and as beautiful as a 5 star hotel’s wash room. Both of our rooms were very neat, cozy and warm. We felt as if we were staying in an exclusive 5+ Stars Hotel!
They are so hospitable and they provided us with the best of their service, as if we were their distinguished guests! It was a heart-warming experience staying with them.
This day was indeed a fruitful day for me and all others as well.
Day 3 ( 2st October 2009) – Venture to An Excited “Rock & Spring” Mountain Trip
The jeeps were already waiting in the darkness since early morning. Our hearts were beating fast as we were embarking on one of the most exciting parts of our Journey - the rocky and bumpy mountain tracks leading to our dream-land.
When we reached the foothill, the brightness of the sun already vanquished the fortress of darkness, the world seemed awake and alive with the tender breeze, fresh and cheerful air.
The road was getting more rocky and bumpy as the jeep brought us further on. Some of our group-mates started to feel uncomfortable with frequent jerks. Along our journey, our jeeps were nearly stuck in the mud and at another point, we needed to cross the shallow “river” full of gravels and stones, which the locals believed were caused by the strong waterfalls of the high mountains. And at some parts of the journey, there were narrow cliff paths which looked so scary to us. It was a tad nerve-wrecking and tense at all these “excited” parts. Not only did some of us find the journey a bit rigorous to withstand, even our driver, no doubt is very skillful, still needed to take short breaks whenever we managed to cross the difficult parts of the rocky mountain terrains.
Nevertheless, we had the most worthy returns of wondrous beauty of great mother-nature. There we saw arrays of picturesque magnificent mountains, clear blue sky speckled with gentle white clouds along the entire journey; villages perched peacefully on the high lands; eye-catching deep valleys veiled with the fresh greenery of paddy fields and steps; fascinating swirling waves and enchanting water sounds amidst the long wide river, caused by its forceful current rasping the rocks; stunning natural waterfalls, as well as blossoming wild flowers, in their best multi-hued and cheerful countenances.
Beautiful natural waterfalls On top of that, we sighted different species of colourful butterflies, fluttering and dancing gracefully in front of our jeeps as if they were welcoming and leading the way. They pleasantly surprised me and strike the strings of my heart, particularly a group of lovely yellow butterflies and many others fruitful experiences which we could never gain had we taken the domestic flight. I believe everyone in the group has his/her own wonderful experiences to share with you. Isn’t it a blessed and beautiful venture, despite its “rocky and springing” bumps? And we owed this to our beloved Guru Rinpoche and the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.
Clear sights of pleasant vast deep gorges and majestic close mountains-views took away many of our cameras’ memories, when approaching our destination, Jomson.
Sooner when we reached the town of Marpha, lamas from Marpha Temple “grasped” and invited Rinpoche to their temple. Marpa Temple is under a good care of Venerable Gelong Maila who is a well respected Lama in this area. It is a very old Nyingmapa Temple with depictions of beautiful 100 Deities on its wall.
Our group made some offerings to the temple as gesture
of respect as well as accumulating merits for oneself and
all sentient beings.
We stayed one night at Om’s Home of Jomson, to prepare ourselves for the high altitude of Mukthinath.
Day 4 ( 3rd October 2009) –
Mukthina, an exceedingly blessed land, where great ones had footed on.
While stepping out from my room for breakfast, I was instantly embraced by the chilly air mingling with coldness. However, the coolness was soon diverted away when approaching the doorstep of dinning area; delicious aroma of breakfast whiffed into my nose. Ani Tenzinla and Hake had already set out the lovely hot steaming breakfast waiting for us. It touched us so much as we know they need to wake up very early in order to get the breakfast done for such a big group of people. They really are so thoughtful and caring towards us. Needless to say, our taste buds and stomachs were fully satisfied with those hot steaming delicious food.
Shortly after our breakfast, Lama Khenrup, who is humble and kind in nature and always taking care of us with fatherly love, reminded us to pack and leave for Jangchub Choeling Monastery at Pokhara to meet Rinpoche.
Boarded onto the coach with one friendly Nepalese family, who are also Rinpoche’s faithful devotees, we hit the road of our long journey of nearly 6 hours to Pokhara.
When approaching Pokhara, our breaths were nearly taken away by its wonderful close-up mountain views, pristine natures, deep gorges and waterfalls. It’s simply picturesque.
After about 6 hrs journey, we finally reached Pokhara. As we need to leave early next dawn, we took the opportunity to apply our permit to Mukthinath and Jomson when we passed by their permit office.
By the time we reached Jangchub Choeling Monastery, it was already in the late afternoon. Many of us seemed a bit worn down. However, the weariness was soon replaced by radiance of joy again when we met Rinpoche. We had tea with Rinpoche and he briefed us on the programme awaiting us that evening. We would visit Ah Mum Yum after tea and followed by visiting Old Folk Home shortly before dinner. We would also have a special experience to stay a night with Tibetan families, in the Tibetan camp, to understand the Tibetan life style.
Rinpoche also advised us that we had to be mentally prepared that the rocky journey from Pokhara to Jomson and Mukthinath by jeep would be quite a tough experience for us. However, it would be a promising wonderful adventure we had never experienced in our life before.
After the tea, we visited Ah Ma Yum. She was quietly chanting her mantra as usual. The arrival of the group into her small room seemed to disturb the peaceful ambiance. Despite the commotion we made, she was delightful to see us and received us warmly with all her cookies and drinks. As our schedule was quite tight, we could not stay longer to chat further with her. In our eyes, she is an exceedingly kind old mother full of good qualities.
And all of us shared the same feeling: how nice it would be if we could understand Tibetan Language and communicate with her. Perhaps, we have to put in more effort in learning the Tibetan language. Nonetheless, it was very warm and affectionate atmosphere when we were with Ah mum Yum.
As we departed from Ah Ma Yum house, one of the lamas directed us to the old folks' home. When we stepped in the home, many old fathers and mothers already came out from their rooms awaiting for Rinpoche’s arrival.
Their wrinkled faces were beaming beautifully like blossoming flowers, and their eyes gleamed when they saw Rinpoche and us. Besides offering meal with their favorite mo-mo, we also presented small tokens of gifts to each of the old folks to show our love and concerns.
Although, we couldn’t communicate with them, they showed clearly us with their delightful faces that they could feel our heartfelt love and concern towards each one of them. Umm, the air seemed filled with loving kindness and happiness…it was a beautifully touching yet joyous moment.
Yeah, we were simply so happy to see them happy….
We were reluctant to leave if not for the darkening sky.
We enjoyed an outdoor yummy dinner amidst the darkness (there was a black-out, temporal electricity shortage is common in Pokhara) with Rinpoche and the Nepalese family. And the darkness did not really “blanket” the merrily spirit of the group. Chattering started and the flow of topics seemed unending, not until we were reminded to pack and rest early for tomorrow's journey. And from the dinner conversations, we came to know that the father of the Nepalese family is the 'Video-man' who often helped Rinpoche in making the VCDs of Series of Vision Journeys.
Rinpoche arranged 2 pilgrims per room to “attach” to some Tibetan families. Some families have one room; others have two rooms to house us. Swee Lee and I were sent to this Tibetan family, a very good family. The father of the family had passed away and leaving behind his wife and their 5 children. One of his sons is the lama of Rinpoche and is presently in Kalingpong. Currently, the mother stays with one of her son and the rest is out of town to other countries. The mother and son are very pleasant, gentle and well-mannered. I over heard her little lovely grand-niece addressed her as Yeshe-ah-ma.
They have 2 rooms, so Swee Lee and I occupied one of them; the two sisters, Miao and Nicole stayed at the room opposite us. There is a clean square open space in between the 2 rooms, sort of small courtyard. In our room is a beautiful shrine room and it is their family shrine hall. The family frequently invites Rinpoche and Lamas to their shrine room for pujas. From the exceedingly neatness and magnificent arrangements of the shrine, we could feel their faithful hearts towards Triple Gems. What a devoted good family!
The mother, son and one of his lady friend and us sat and talked in the open space, under the sky filled with twinkling stars. The young man and his lady friend can speak English fluently. And they are so kind in trying to teach us some simple conversations in Tibetan.
The house is so neat and nice, even the wash room is as clean and as beautiful as a 5 star hotel’s wash room. Both of our rooms were very neat, cozy and warm. We felt as if we were staying in an exclusive 5+ Stars Hotel!
They are so hospitable and they provided us with the best of their service, as if we were their distinguished guests! It was a heart-warming experience staying with them.
This day was indeed a fruitful day for me and all others as well.
Day 3 ( 2st October 2009) – Venture to An Excited “Rock & Spring” Mountain Trip
The jeeps were already waiting in the darkness since early morning. Our hearts were beating fast as we were embarking on one of the most exciting parts of our Journey - the rocky and bumpy mountain tracks leading to our dream-land.
When we reached the foothill, the brightness of the sun already vanquished the fortress of darkness, the world seemed awake and alive with the tender breeze, fresh and cheerful air.
The road was getting more rocky and bumpy as the jeep brought us further on. Some of our group-mates started to feel uncomfortable with frequent jerks. Along our journey, our jeeps were nearly stuck in the mud and at another point, we needed to cross the shallow “river” full of gravels and stones, which the locals believed were caused by the strong waterfalls of the high mountains. And at some parts of the journey, there were narrow cliff paths which looked so scary to us. It was a tad nerve-wrecking and tense at all these “excited” parts. Not only did some of us find the journey a bit rigorous to withstand, even our driver, no doubt is very skillful, still needed to take short breaks whenever we managed to cross the difficult parts of the rocky mountain terrains.
Nevertheless, we had the most worthy returns of wondrous beauty of great mother-nature. There we saw arrays of picturesque magnificent mountains, clear blue sky speckled with gentle white clouds along the entire journey; villages perched peacefully on the high lands; eye-catching deep valleys veiled with the fresh greenery of paddy fields and steps; fascinating swirling waves and enchanting water sounds amidst the long wide river, caused by its forceful current rasping the rocks; stunning natural waterfalls, as well as blossoming wild flowers, in their best multi-hued and cheerful countenances.
Beautiful natural waterfalls On top of that, we sighted different species of colourful butterflies, fluttering and dancing gracefully in front of our jeeps as if they were welcoming and leading the way. They pleasantly surprised me and strike the strings of my heart, particularly a group of lovely yellow butterflies and many others fruitful experiences which we could never gain had we taken the domestic flight. I believe everyone in the group has his/her own wonderful experiences to share with you. Isn’t it a blessed and beautiful venture, despite its “rocky and springing” bumps? And we owed this to our beloved Guru Rinpoche and the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.
Clear sights of pleasant vast deep gorges and majestic close mountains-views took away many of our cameras’ memories, when approaching our destination, Jomson.
Sooner when we reached the town of Marpha, lamas from Marpha Temple “grasped” and invited Rinpoche to their temple. Marpa Temple is under a good care of Venerable Gelong Maila who is a well respected Lama in this area. It is a very old Nyingmapa Temple with depictions of beautiful 100 Deities on its wall.
Our group made some offerings to the temple as gesture
of respect as well as accumulating merits for oneself and
all sentient beings.
We stayed one night at Om’s Home of Jomson, to prepare ourselves for the high altitude of Mukthinath.
Day 4 ( 3rd October 2009) –
Mukthina, an exceedingly blessed land, where great ones had footed on.
3 comments:
Very nicely written journal :-)
Reading through it is like I was there yesterday :-)
Yup, It's time to visit Nepal this year .. :-)
metta,
yt
Thanks for sharing, my most wonderful Rinpoche.
I look forward to visit Nepal soon.
With Gratitude
Robin
Very nice to read the inspiration.
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