Advice on Pilgrimage

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,

I was in Bhutan for one month, and I went for pilgrimage mainly in Paro and Thimphu. Later I would like to go again and go to Bhumtang, to do more pilgrimage. Also, this is where Lama Tsongkhapa has been before and there are supposed to be many holy places, as well as many Padmasambhava holy places there.

I don’t know what I have told you before about Bhutan, anyway it is a very amazing country. You are not allowed to destroy the mountains, to mine, to get oil, gold or anything, because the Bhutanese don’t want to disturb the devas, landlords and nagas, and in that way make the country kind of empty, losing power.

Also you are not allowed to catch fish. That’s fantastic. It means not harming the animals and also not harming the human beings. They protect the human beings from creating negative karma and then remaining in constant suffering in samsara, which they would have to experience without end.

In Thailand, Sri Lanka, Burma and so many Theravadin countries, the people have so much faith in the Sangha, but then they eat all the sea animals, while also offering to the Sangha. So that is a huge difference regarding where Buddhism, not harming others, is really practiced. When we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, so by taking refuge in the Dharma, what we should practice is to abandon harming sentient beings, but that is not there in some Theravada countries. I am sure there are individual people, but it’s not well-known by the general public.

Bhutan is incredible. Also smoking cigarettes is not allowed generally, but to give some freedom to people who have got into a very bad habit, they allow people to bring only two packets of cigarettes into Bhutan, not more than that, so that is very good.

I think as well as no fishing, there is no killing animals, but they bring meat from India. In the past it was very difficult to invite the monks to do pujas—this was a long time ago—as they would have to kill an animal for food to offer and they would offer a big piece of meat, like steak, with the food, on the rice. This was the same as in Dromo in Tibet, where I became a monk.

So now the Je Khempo, who is like Ganden Tripa, the regent of Lama Tsongkhapa, so Je Khempo stopped the custom of people having to give money offerings for pujas. He made a rule that they don’t have to pay the monks who do the puja and also they are not allowed to offer meat. This is so that even the very poor people can afford pujas and so forth. Also, they can’t offer meat to the Sangha. So he made it really good, especially for the poor people; it’s so good and fantastic.

These are just some details, there may be more. In regards to not allowing fishing, that came from the side of the public, not from Je Khenpo. That is so good, many of the rules came from the public.

May you have eons of meaningful, healthy, long life and may all your activities to support the teachings of Buddha and sentient beings be successful, without any obstacles.

With much love and prayers ...

Swayambunath is so precious. You will never find anything like this in the whole of the rest of the world. A long time ago, like Westerners, I used to go around the top. Many people circumambulate around the bottom and we see them, and this is supposed to raise the question of why they do that; still it is hard for this question to come.

There are two pilgrimage stories in relation to Swayambunath. One is a few pages long, in Tibetan, available from the stupa keeper and the other is a new story that is not exactly the same. It is mentioned in Zungdu [a collection of dharanis found in the Kangyur], where mantra meanings are explained.

The Buddha came onto Langri Ruden, a mountain near Swayambunath, and made a prediction. At that time the whole valley was a lake surrounded by mountains. A natural stupa appeared in the lake, which slowly became covered by dust and this became the mountain. The trees in Swayambu arose from where Nagarjuna sprinkled his hair. (Reting trees are very unusual shapes. These are manifestations, as lamas and yogis see them in different ways.)

The whole Swayambu mountain is very mystical. Common karma sees it like that. One time Khadro-la came and she saw the mountain as a pile of texts, where the steps go up. She told me this. Also, once the Thirteenth or Seventh Dalai Lama, when going to Rajgir, saw the mountain as a pile of texts from the path going up, so he didn’t go up himself. The entire Swayambu mountain is a Heruka mandala.

Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s past life saw Vajrayogini dance, with her anklet bell making a sound, at the Vajrayogini temple below Swayambu on the Kathmandu side. At that time he was just a simple monk. In the old times, I used to go to that temple with a monk from Kopan. Outside the temple there’s a square cement courtyard and straight above that, there’s Dagpa Kacho. Another Dagpa Khacho, a small one, is straight up in the sky.

For many thousands of years Swayambunath has been precious, precious, precious. Kathmandu is so precious. It’s incredible. 

The mountain, Swayambunath, is very, very, very holy and special. Whether people know this or not, the reason to go around the mountain is that.

Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen did 100,000 full prostrations around the mountain. There is some cement place there where he rested. Je Drajongpa [?],¹ whose hermitage is above Sera, also did 100,000 prostrations around the mountain. Recently I told a nun to do full prostrations around the mountain. The Tibetan mothers liked that so much they offered the nun hundreds of rupees out of devotion, not because they thought she was a beggar in need. The number of circumambulations that need to be done for purification is 113. For Mount Kailash it is thirteen. One Tibetan lady said she did that.

Without having knowledge of the holy places, why go and spend time there? Then what? The most important activity in relation to holy places is to pray. Especially praying at the Boudha stupa is so essential. You should recite the best prayers—lamrim prayers, Bodhicaryavatara (dedication), the Maitreya prayer, the Eight Prayers, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Prayer for the Beginning, Middle and End of Practice.  You should recite any of the best prayers, especially if it is your first time there. Then all the prayers will succeed!

The whole of Kathmandu is full of holy places but slowly it’s getting degenerated and in doing so, the holy places become sites for Hindu worship.

Notes

¹ Possibly Drubkhang Gelek Gyatso (1641–1713), who founded Sera Utse, a small hermitage near Sera Monastery in Tibet. [Return to text]

Maratika is the place where Padmasambhava achieved immortal realization, the state of Buddha Amitayus, the Limitless Light Buddha. In the main cave there is a large rock which is the naturally appearing long-life vase of the Buddha Amitayus, from Padmasambhava’s time.

When Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, the head of the Nyingma sect, came to Maratika nectar flowed from that rock. I also heard that nectar came from the rock when an extremely devoted Japanese student came to Maratika. This is what happens when pilgrims with great devotion go to Maratika; nectar flows from that rock. Actually, the whole area—not just the caves but the whole mountain—is like a miracle.

When you go to Maratika you can recite the Amitayus Long Life Sutra (Tib: tse dö) in Tibetan or English. At least recite the mantra of the buddha of long life, Amitayus (Tib: tse pag mé). Visualize the natural long-life vase as Buddha Amitayus and nectar beams from that initiate you and immediately purify all the negative karma and obscurations collected from beginningless lives, particularly your life obstacles.

Think that the nectar beams enter His Holiness’ holy body, as well as any other gurus you have, so they are able to live for a long time until samsara ends. You, your family and all those people who are doing good things for others, numberless beings, also receive the blessings of these nectar beams.

For those people who are engaged in evil actions, the nectar beams completely purify all their negative karma, obscurations and wrong concepts so they generate the whole path to enlightenment and especially bodhicitta; they stop harming others and instead only benefit the numberless sentient beings.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling doctor and also your precious wife,

I am here for some days in northern India, at a particular holy place of Padmasambhava, who is a great enlightened being. The place is called Tso Pema. First of all, to understand a drop from the ocean of Padmasambhava’s life, his activities benefiting other sentient beings.

There is one story in Tibet; at one time the Dharma king of Tibet, Trisong Detsen, was building the first monastery in Tibet in Samye. In the daytime human beings built the monastery up and at night spirits tore it down. This happened many times. The minister or the king said there was a powerful yogi called Padmasambhava who should be invited from India to Tibet to subdue the spirits.

So the powerful yogi Padmasambhava came to Tibet and arose as a wrathful enlightened being, which means having no obscurations and having completed all the qualities. Then he hooked all the spirits who interfered and three ran away, which was according to the karma of the Tibetan people. Twelve spirits were subdued by him and gave pledges to become Dharma protectors and to protect the practitioners, so then the king was able to complete the monastery. Of course there was great destruction that happened during Mao Zedong’s time and the monastery had to be rebuilt, as well as an incredible amount of temples.

The second time I was in Tibet I went to Samye Monastery on the day of a festival and they had religious dances and so forth on that day.

Padmasambhava went not only to that place but to many places in Tibet where there were spirits and he subdued them and gave them pledges to protect the area. He also taught Dharma in many places, he gave teachings on Mahayana tantra, so then the Buddha’s teachings were able to spread and be established due to this.

There are 84,000 teachings of the Buddha and they are condensed into three levels. There is the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana) and the Greater Vehicle (Mahayana) which is divided into two: sutra (Paramitayana) and tantra (Vajrayana). Regarding the Lesser Vehicle teachings, by listening, reflecting and meditating on these, we see the true suffering, true cause, true cessation of suffering and true path to achieve that. By actualizing the true path we achieve the ultimate wisdom directly perceiving emptiness only (shunyata in Sanskrit). Then we are able to remove the cause of suffering—mental delusions and karma. Once this is totally removed we can be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering—we are able to abandon that totally, we are able to be free from that suffering forever, including toothache and tooth problems. We achieve ultimate happiness, which is forever, not just for a few hours or a few days.

Next are the Buddha’s Greater Vehicle teachings, sutra (Paramitayana), where by listening, reflecting, meditating and practicing we can achieve the total cessation of all the obscurations and total completion of all the realizations forever—buddhahood, or sang gye in Tibetan. This is the highest, ultimate happiness. Then we can help the numberless sentient beings—every hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura, asura and intermediate state being—by freeing them all from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bringing them to the peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations. But [the sutra path] takes a long time, three countless eons, to complete the cause to achieve a buddha’s holy mind and holy body, and the cause is the merit of wisdom and the merit of virtue.

Because it takes so long, the Buddha has taught the Great Vehicle tantra path, the Secret Mantra vehicle (Vajrayana) which has four classes: Kriya (Action), Charya (Performance), Yoga and Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra. By practicing the Great Vehicle tantra path we can achieve buddhahood in this life. It’s so much quicker and we can achieve buddhahood even in one life, because it has greater methods than sutra.

Now the fourth class, Highest Yoga Tantra or Maha-Anuttara Yoga Tantra: by listening, reflecting, meditating and practicing and actualizing this path, we can achieve enlightenment in a brief lifetime of degenerate times, within a few number of years, because it has the greatest skill, method and wisdom. Not only that, the whole idea is that it’s not only for our own ultimate happiness that we are trying to achieve this; it is actually for all sentient beings. So it is the quickest way to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring all sentient beings to the peerless happiness, buddhahood, having ceased all the mistakes and completed all the qualities.

Without meeting the Buddhadharma and actualizing the path, then, for example, myself, I have suffered from beginningless rebirth in samsara, in these six realms—hell, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura and asura—and again I will have to suffer in these six realms without end, so this is most shocking. This is because I could not see this, because of not having omniscience, not even having clairvoyance to know past and future, so having no understanding of yesterday, no understanding of tomorrow, only living today, living like that, with that belief. Not knowing the evolution, what is cause and effect—that what is happening today is the result of the day before, yesterday, last year and what we do today will affect the day after that and so forth. So not knowing past life and future lives.

Buddhism was not only taught in India; the whole of Buddhism was also taught in the snow land of Tibet, where the complete Buddhism was spread by great Indian pandits from Nalanda Monastery who came to Tibet. They studied for a long time, like scientists in the West, they experienced the path in the monasteries and outside the monasteries in the mountains; they really actualizing the path by meditating. So many beings, great holy beings, bodhisattvas and so forth became enlightened, attained buddhahood—they ceased all the obscurations and completed all the realizations and attained the peerless happiness.

Tibet was unbelievably blessed, because in so many caves different holy beings achieved buddhahood. In so many caves the holy beings achieved different realizations for so long, even after the communist Chinese took over Tibet and destroyed so much. But then His Holiness the Dalai Lama was able to come outside of Tibet and also many monasteries and nunneries were rebuilt in India and Nepal and thousands of monks and nuns are there now continuing their studies and practicing. In this way Buddhism has been revived on all levels in Nepal and India, and now Buddhism is in most places, also in the West—including America—where it has spread and developed.

The light of Buddhadharma now shines in many Western countries and is dispelling the darkness of ignorance and the real happiness, the ultimate happiness, has been introduced. It has been brought there to explain what we can achieve. So I, myself, and all students are able to make our lives meaningful by meeting Buddhadharma, by meeting the Buddha’s teachings, and this is all due to the great yogi Padmasambhava’s kindness.

Now I am here in Tso Pema, a holy place of Padmasambhava. There are caves where he meditated and people still go to see the caves and practice, collect merit and create the cause of happiness, by meditating and praying. Padmasambhava was here 1,300 years ago and he gave initiations and teachings to Princess Mandarava.

When Padmasambhava gave initiations and teachings to Princess Mandarava, the king found out. He didn’t know Padmasambhava and wanted to burn him in a fire, so he caught Padmasambhava and tied him up and brought him into the fire. Padmasambhava suddenly showed a miracle and instead of the fire burning him, a lake appeared and he was sitting on a lotus in the middle of the lake. The lake, which is still here up until now, is the lake that Padmasambhava created. So many pilgrims come from Nepal, Ladakh and different parts of India to circumambulate the lake.

During the time that Padmasambhava was lit on fire, Princess Mandarava was also imprisoned. She was put in a deep hole, like a prison, by the king, but after that he developed devotion to Padmasambhava and completely changed his mind. This was after Padmasambhava transformed the fire into a lake. Then the king received Padmasambhava at his palace, made offerings and totally changed his mind, and then he brought Princess Mandarava out of the dark hole where she had been placed. This is how this place, Tso Pema Lake, became famous, and this happened 1,300 years ago.

After I leave here I am going to Nepal, to Maratika, another holy place of Padmasambhava where he achieved Buddha Amitayus, the long-life buddha’s immortal realizations. I am going there to pacify some long-life obstacles, as well as for Holly, who I think you spoke to on the phone, and also for Roger Kunsang, who you know, to also have a long life and to pacify obstacles. So this is my BBC news update or CNN news, as you like.

I also wanted to express one thing about when I eat, particularly the Tibetan food tsampa, which is ground barley flour. It is a special Tibetan food, not from China. The rich way to eat it is with Tibetan tea and butter and salt, so you mix the tea with tsampa and also you can have it with dried Tibetan cheese (cheese from Tibet not from India or Nepal). Normally you also put in butter and sugar, but because I have diabetes I can’t have sweet things. You mix it up and eat it with Tibetan tea and also you can have some cooked vegetables with it. So anyway when I eat tsampa, the tsampa goes down under the teeth, between the silver and the teeth, then as I bite, the teeth pop up, because the tsampa gets between them. That is just one thing, something interesting that you may not have known before, this is news from your patient. It means I am enjoying tsampa, a sign that I am enjoying tsampa.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

PS. I heard an earthquake happened in the ocean off the coast of California. I hope it is not a big danger for the animals in the oceans, for the sharks and so forth.

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling ones,
Regarding your child, what came out is if you are able to bring him to Nepal to go around the Swayambunath mountain—not just the stupa at the top, but the whole mountain. If you can, go around the mountain with him 170 times. This is extremely powerful for purification of negative karma collected from beginningless rebirth. In order to purify as much as possible, it’s best to walk around the mountain. That is the best practice, not only for him to be able to speak, but also to purify negative karma completely and to fully develop, to become enlightened and to enlighten every living being, numberless living beings, from suffering.

If you have the finances and are able to, then you should come to Nepal and do this. If possible, you could come for a month or however long it takes to go around 170 times. If you can, go around the Swayambunath mountain three, four or five times a day or whatever you can manage. Go around it in the early morning, afternoon and evening. It is best if you go around it at least five times each day. This is mainly for purification for your child. The story of the Swayambunath stupa is below, so you can understand how important it is.

There is also one mantra called the Great Wisdom Mantra. The boy’s father needs to recite this mantra five times a day for him. It came out best for the father to recite this mantra for him. It is very beneficial for the son. Think this mantra is like medicine for him.

The Swayambunath mountain is regarded as the mandala of the deity Heruka, the enlightened being. It contains a stupa that first appeared when Kathmandu was covered by a lake. The Buddha predicted that there would be a naturally appearing stupa—not handmade—coming on the mountain. It was the manifestation of all buddhas’ holy mind, the dharmakaya, in the form of a stupa.

The stupa appeared on the lake then it was covered by dust over time and became a mountain. That stupa is all the buddhas’ wisdom and it is in that mountain, so when you circumambulate, you are circumambulating all the buddhas’ holy mind, the dharmakaya, in the form of a stupa. Not only are you circumambulating all the stupas and statues—however many there are on the mountain from the original time, hundreds and thousands of years ago—but also the new ones. All the prayer wheels are supposed to have a hundred thousand mantras inside. There are also many stupas and in each stupa there are many tsa tsas and mantras, so it is unbelievable. Therefore, circumambulating the mountain collects huge merit and becomes very powerful purification.

Swayambunath is incredible, most precious. Nothing else like this exists in the world. The Tibetan text, the Kangyur, mentions in particular Langri Ruden, the mountain where the Buddha predicted that Kathmandu would be full of water like a lake, with a crystal stupa appearing from the lake. The stupa was not made by a person but was a manifestation of the dharmakaya.

The Buddha actually mentioned this in the Kangyur. The Buddha predicted it in this text. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable. I had this text translated many years ago into Nepali to offer to the king and all the ministers, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t know how to offer it directly. One monk mentioned to have a party and then give them the books, but I didn’t do that yet.

The crystal stupa was covered by earth and then it became Swayambunath mountain. The text said that Nagarjuna’s hair was sprinkled around and it became trees. There is a similar story about the trees at Reting Monastery in Tibet. Higher beings see the trees differently; all the trees are manifestations [of dharmakaya], not ordinary trees.

So many great beings and yogis came to do full-length prostrations around the Swayambunath mountain, starting at three or four in the morning. Not only ordained people, but also lay practitioners have gone around the mountain for purification and to collect merit. So many great lamas came from Tibet to go around the mountain.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. 

You mentioned in your letter that you want to go to Lawudo. Going to Solu Khumbu for trekking is normally in autumn and spring. These are generally good times, so it depends on what is convenient for you.

Spring is good because the flowers are starting to grow and it’s the beginning of summer. Near the end of spring is also good because the flowers grow at different heights on the mountains, and there are different flowers. Summer is very beautiful because the rhododendrons are in different colors, white, pink, yellow and red. It’s as if a piece of the pure land has come down.

Regarding practices while there, you can do Lama Chöpa in the morning and do more meditation on emptiness. It might be good if you discuss going to Lawudo with Katy, as she is a very close friend of Ngawang Samden, my sister, and goes there quite often.

I am not a qualified guru, but as you have met me, through this connection you want to rescue numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering, as you mentioned in your letter. That is your job and that is very good, I am very happy to hear that. That is very, very good.

I am sending you a picture. I hope you enjoy Lawudo.

With much love and prayers ...