The heir to the Ripa throne, Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche, took
the large group of Buddhism pilgrims to the three primary stupas of Nepal.
These journeys were life-transforming for most everyone, to be able to
be in the presence of and to make prostrations to and to perambulate around
such powerful sacred objects which are so holy to Buddhist pilgrims from
around the world.
Boudanath
Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche, enroute
to stupa.
Following Jigme Rinpoche, we began with three prostrations
at the entrance of the Boudanath. Then we made three holy perambulations
of the huge Boudanath stupa, offering up our special wishes which it is
believed will definitely come true if made in this sacred place. Jigme
Rinpoche stopped at one of the small monuments alongside the great stupa,
telling us the story of his great grandparent to whom that monument had
been built. It was a special small stupa monument built in honor of his
great grandparent, the famous Todok Shakya Shri, who had been so instrumental
in the refurbishing and renovation of the Boudanath so that it would continue
to be there for us even now. Our photographer took a photo shot of us
as a group midway up the Boudanath dome. We had a wonderful ensuing lunch
at the adjacent Stupa View Restaurant. During lunch, one of the pilgrims
took a fast run to the nearby monastery of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
- Schechen Tennyi Dargyeling - to try to find the monk there that they
were sponsoring but it turned out he had gone to Bodhgaya.
Swayambhunath
Statue at Swayambhunath Stupa,
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Here we made seven perambulations of this sacred stupa,
also offering up our special wishes, often stopping to pray or make prostrations
or bow to the many Buddha images around the stupa. A lot of monkeys surrounded
the place and they followed us around. The view from the deck of the Swayambhunath
of the surrounding area is breathtaking to say the least. This great Swayambhu
Vagishvara Dharmadhatu Stupa stands on a hill to the west of Kathmandu.
Within it are shrines to the Five Buddhas and Four Taras. Its name means
"The Self-Created Self-Existent Buddha".
Namo Buddha
The road to Namo Buddha stupa
is not an easy one.
This stupa trip was a very long 3-hour bus trip from Kathmandu over extremely
rough, rocky, muddy roads. We found out later that Jigme Rinpoche had
quietly arranged for some serious road repairs prior to our journey so
that we could get through because the road was actually impassable prior
to his repairs. Namo Buddha Stupa is considered to be the most sacred
and powerful stupa of all, a place whose power and energy is devoted to
lasting happiness and to true compassion. This stupa celebrates the Buddha
Shakyamuni's sacrifice of his body to a starving tigress in a previous
life. The physical (and perhaps inner) journey to get there is long, rugged,
bumpy, requiring teams of helpers along the obstacle-strewn road, but
it is a mission critical power place trip that a dedicated Buddhist seeking
enlightenment probably should complete. We climbed to the top of the hill
above the small stupa where Jigme Rinpoche provided a beautiful dharma
talk about real happiness. On this hill, in the small shrine, we all made
three prostrations and returned down the hill to the Namo Buddha Stupa
where we perambulated it, offering up our wishes, turning the prayer wheels.
The precious opportunity to visit all of these stupas was a karmic gift
to everyone present on this journey. What a very auspicious and fortunate
set of circumstances.
