Wendy Garling, a Buddhist practitioner, author, and researcher, is dedicated to uncovering long-forgotten stories of women in Buddhism and rediscovering historical sites. And now, she’s taking others along. 

This November, Garling is partnering with Katherine Demsky, an anthropologist who has lived and worked in Nepal for a decade, to offer “In the Footsteps of Gautami and the First Buddhist Women.” They say the pilgrimage is “historic”—the first to recreate the journey that Mahaprajapati Gautami, the Buddha’s adoptive mother who led 500 women to ask the Buddha for permission to ordain as nuns, took more than 2,500 years ago. 

Monastics from Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, including founder Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, are among the list of attendees. The pilgrimage will be capped at a maximum of around thirty people. 

We recently spoke with Garling about her work reconnecting with Buddhist sites from ancient and historic Buddhist texts and the importance of honoring the Buddha’s legacy in Nepal.  

Please start by telling me what you’ve found in your research about sites around Lumbini in Nepal. What I realized in doing my research is the Buddha spent more than a third, perhaps up to half, of his life in Nepal. And yet, when we think about the Buddha, we focus almost entirely on India. I’ve come to realize that creates an imbalance that leaves out a lot of stories. It’s become “oh, by the way, he was born in Lumbini …” We’re missing a whole lot about the origins of Buddhism and the Buddha’s life by omitting Nepal. And, then, as we look more deeply into it, it’s also an essential part of the early Buddhist women’s stories. And that’s what brought me to my latest area of research, which is looking at Nepal. 

A point to make here, too, is when I talk about Nepal and India, in the time of the Buddha, it was one region, now referred to as the Indo-Gangetic Plain. So we’ve created these artificial boundaries of India and Nepal, when in fact it was one region. His life travels flowed back and forth between what we call India and Nepal. I like to think of Nepal as Buddhism’s motherland and India as its fatherland. 

When I was in Nepal last October, I found an excellent guide who knew a lot of the nooks and crannies of the Lumbini area. He was from there, and was also familiar with the remembered stories, which is amazing—it’s been 2,500 years. So I went on a quick tour to these early Buddhist sites. I was really surprised, for example, to find the town of Devadaha still by that name, which is the hometown of the Buddha’s mothers and matrilineal forebearers—his birth mother, Queen Maya, and her sister, the Buddha’s adoptive mother, Mahaprajapati Gautami. Devadaha is where their homestead was, and it’s still called Devadaha. When you approach the town, there’s a big, welcoming archway, joyfully painted in colors, that read “Welcome to the birthplace of the Buddha’s mother.” The region is mostly Hindu now, and the remembered history is a wonderful blending of the two traditions. 

I also went to the site where the two mothers grew up. There’s a little mud temple there dedicated to Maya as a goddess figure; it’s tiny but still actively worshipped by local women, though I didn’t see anyone when I was there. And it’s in a parklike setting that is being preserved by the Nepali government. 

From there, I visited several other sites, including the Rohini River, which is very important in Buddhist Sanskrit and Pali literature. There are many stories that reference the Rohini River and the Buddha teaching nearby. It’s the dividing boundary between his matrilineal family, the Koliyans, and his father’s people, the Shakyans. Although in the bigger picture, they’re all Shakyans, just different clans. I found more sites on this tour as well, including stupas marking the tombs of the Buddha’s parents, Queen Maya and King Suddhodana.

Locating these sites was over-the-top exciting for me, not just on behalf of the lost women’s history, but because they shed light on the skewed nature of Buddhist history that has undervalued them. And that’s why I created this pilgrimage that I am coleading in November. 

I recently traveled to Lumbini to write a story about Venerable Metteyya that will be in the next magazine issue, and I visited the Maya Devi Temple. It’s beautiful and wonderful; I’ve also heard from friends who have visited the other main pilgrimage sites in India that Lumbini seems a bit lacking in something. Lumbini was rediscovered by Westerners at the turn of the 20th century, but the locals never forgot about it. Why have some of these important places disappeared? It’s hard to say. I think they’re remembered by some people and forgotten by others. The patriarchal side of the story came to the West. It’s a question of who is telling the story; the storytellers shape the story. Until recently, Buddhist women have not deeply examined the stories themselves, which is what I’ve tried to do in my books. 

The stories of the Buddha’s ancestors go back many, many generations in Nepal. They tell us the Shakyan people originally came as nomads from the Benares region of India. None of this has been noted in the West. Why is the Nepali government remembering its Buddhist legacy? I think it’s because Nepal values its history and culture deeply. It’s also at the crossroads of where Buddhism left India, and then flowed into other cultures such as Tibet and China. And Nepal is a very poor country, and I think they also see the economic opportunity in promoting Buddhist tourism. 

I’m more interested in raising awareness and bringing people to the sacred areas, so I’ll mention another site in Nepal that we’ll visit on the pilgrimage. When the Buddha was passing away, Ananda asked him what should be done with his remains. And the Buddha stipulated that his cremated ashes should be divided equally among eight locations. They were all in India except for one in Nepal that is called Ramagrama, which is not well-visited and way off the beaten path of the typical India pilgrimage. 

However, 300 years after the Buddha’s death, King Ashoka decided to spread the Buddha’s remains further, so he had seven of the eight stupas opened up and the Buddha’s ashes were redistributed among (some say) 84,000 locations. I think he had good intentions, but that was not the Buddha’s wishes. And Ramagrama is the only stupa that has never been disturbed; pilgrims can deeply connect with the fact that his remains are there and that’s what the Buddha wanted. Legend has it that Ashoka tried to have the Ramagrama stupa opened up, but there was a ferocious backlash from the nagas (snake spirits). So Ashoka put up a pillar instead (that was his thing), but he did not disturb the stupa. I experience this as the rise of the sacred mother bear energy, the protective female saying, “No way are you going to disturb these remains.” So this also fits into our narrative of Nepal being the motherland. 

I read that this first pilgrimage is open to everyone even though it may seem more geared to women. Can you speak more about that aspect? Yes, the pilgrimage is open to all genders. I also want to say, when the Buddha laid out the blueprint for his ministry right after his enlightenment, he made it clear that his intention was to bring the dharma to all people, men and women, lay and monastic. That is the fourfold sangha that we refer to today. In today’s terms, to me, that includes all genders. All beings have Buddha potential; anyone who feels called to this pilgrimage is welcome. 

I’m also thrilled to say we’re going to be having monastics joining us, including Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and nuns from her nunnery, Dongyu Gatsal Ling. So we will have the monastic community very well represented, with a very wise and wonderful teacher joining us. 

Right now, we’re still taking registrations and welcoming anyone who feels drawn to this pilgrimage. I think that the heart connection is the first connection to a pilgrimage. It’s kind of hard to explain; that’s what pilgrimage has been for me.

We’re calling it “In the Footsteps of Gautami and the First Buddhist Women,” and that’s intentional. When the Buddha returned home for the first time after twelve years (the Pali tradition says six years), women were not allowed to attend his teachings because of prohibitions within the Shakyan patriarchy, not the Buddha. So the women went to Mahaprajapati Gautami and asked for her leadership since she was the queen. Mahaprajapati first received permission from her husband, the king, then all the women approached her son, the Buddha, to override the patriarchal rule. All this took place in a site called the Nigrodha Grove, which the Buddha’s father had built to accommodate the Buddha and his entourage of monks on his first trip home. It was and still is a beautiful park where the monastics encamped and the Buddha taught large gatherings of the Shakyan people. Today, several stupas mark the sacred events that took place there. 

And it’s at this site five or six years later where the women, who had by that point been devout lay practitioners, first asked for ordination. I go into this story in depth in my books. Venerable Analayo writes deeply on this subject as well. 

The Buddha didn’t feel the timing was right, and his response was, in so many words, “not yet.” Soon he left the Nepal region with his cohort of monks and returned to India. That’s when the women said: “We’re coming too.” They say Mahaprajapati led 500 women from the Nigrodha Grove to Vaishali, where they requested and eventually received permission to ordain from the Buddha. 

This site in Vaishali is also where the 500 women, plus Mahaprajapati Gautami, took their final parinirvana; a very significant story in the Apadana section of the Pali Canon. It’s a fantastic story, that they all decided to enter nirvana together. So we will all travel together from Nepal to Vaishali to visit this site, and that’s where we will end the pilgrimage.

♦

“In the Footsteps of Gautami and the First Buddhist Women” will take place from November 9–17, 2023. More information is available here or by emailing G500pilgrimage@gmail.com. 

Tricycle also presents tours to Buddhist countries and pilgrimage sites. You can learn more here. 

Read more from Wendy Garling in the Tricycle archives:

• Three Forgotten Stories About the Buddha’s Mother
• A New Path into the Past (a review of Garling’s Stars at Dawn by Lauren Krauze)

The post Rediscovering Buddhism’s Motherland appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Nothing is permanent, so everything is precious. Here’s a selection of some happenings—fleeting or otherwise—in the Buddhist world this week.

The Dalai Lama Celebrates His 86th Birthday

On his 86th birthday, the Dalai Lama released a message in which he thanked people for their wishes and made special commitments to the environment and to preserving Indian heritage.

For the rest of my life I am committed to serving humanity and working to protect the climate condition. Since I became a refugee and now settled in India, I have taken full advantage of India’s freedom and religious harmony. I want to assure you that for the rest of my life I am committed to reviving ancient Indian knowledge. I really appreciate the Indian concept of secular values, not dependent on religion, such as honesty, karuna (compassion) and ahimsa (non-violence).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished His Holiness a happy birthday via a personal phone call, which he then announced on Twitter, despite potential backlash from China. Meanwhile, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, asked that China invite the Dalai Lama to Tibet and China “on pilgrimage without any precondition” during a ceremony honoring His Holiness. Tsering also called for unity within the Tibetan community.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent birthday wishes, as did Tibetan communities and supporters all across Europe. In Switzerland, prayers were offered at Tibet-Institut Rikon; in Italy, copies of four of the Dalai Lama’s books were gifted to public libraries; and in Lithuania, supporters gathered in Tibet Square in Vilnius, the capital, and handed out leaflets containing quotes from the Dalai Lama printed in Lithuanian, English, and Russian.

Nepal Rejects Some UN Recommendations to Protect Tibetan Refugees

In response to a United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, the Nepali government says it “noted” but does not “accept” a number of protections for Tibetan refugees in the country, the International Federation of Human Rights said in a press release on Wednesday. Nepal is part of China’s massive infrastructure and trade network known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which leaves the country vulnerable to pressure from China to restrict the activity and freedom of Tibetan refugees. Closer relations with China have resulted in worse protections for the more than 20,000 Tibetan refugees who live in Nepal, the International Campaign for Tibet and the International Federation for Human Rights told the UN in 2018. Tibetans have been forbidden from freely expressing their religious beliefs and cultural identity, denied formal documentation, and faced with the fear of deportation back to China.

As of July 8, Nepal will not commit to registering and verifying the identity of refugees, which could impede access to education, employment, and medical services.  The government will also not commit to the principle of non-refoulement, or allowing refugees to remain in a country when they face violence or persecution at home. They will, however, accept the recommendations to ensure freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, two issues for which Tibetan refugees have been arrested in the past. They also committed to protecting the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. 

New Study of Religion in India Reveals Wide Range of Practices and Beliefs

The Pew Research Center just released a new study that reveals the diversity of religions practiced in India, and also that popular opinion supports tolerance, but not integration. “Respecting other religions is seen as a key part of being Indian,” Neha Saghal, Pew’s associate director of research, says, “but Indians do not conceive of tolerance as crossing religious lines. They live their lives in segregated religious bubbles.” Read more about the study here.

Tibetan Monks Tour Colorado Creating Sand Mandalas

This week, monks from the Ganden Monastery—one of the largest monasteries within the Tibetan Gelug tradition—will conclude their 15-day stay in Aspen, Colorado. Ganden monks have been touring the United States since 1992, arranging a variety of Buddhist ceremonies and cultural activities that spread awareness of Tibetan culture and raise funds for their monastery. The monks’ next destination is Carbondale, Colorado, where they will continue their free exhibitions at the Way of Compassion Dharma Center between July 15—the day of the center’s grand reopening—and July 19. Over the course of their four-day stay, the Ganden monks will construct a sand mandala depicting the bodhisattva of compassion Chenrezig (Skt., Avalokitesvara), which will be open for public viewing. For more information, visit the Way of Compassion’s event schedule.

The post The Dalai Lama Celebrates His 86th Birthday appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

“Compassion in action” is the philosophy of Karuna-Shechen, a nonprofit cofounded by Tibetan Buddhist monks Matthieu Ricard and Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche. “We say in Buddhism that wisdom and compassion are like the two wings of one bird. You cannot fly with just one wing,” says Matthieu Ricard. “Compassion has to be put in action. Without wisdom, compassion is blind. Without compassion, wisdom is sterile.”

Karuna tells the uplifting stories of the women in India and Nepal who are empowered by the education and job training the organization provides. In Kathmandu, a woman relishes her job tending to her community’s health as a nurse. In the foothills of Nepal, Karuna-Shechen’s solar technician training helps a young woman earn her own income for the first time; and in Bodhgaya, India, the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment, a bold group of women become rickshaw drivers, taking up a male-dominated job to support their families. Karuna-Shechen’s Buddhist approach to compassionate aid focuses on women’s empowerment as a positive force for families and communities.

This film was available to stream until midnight on Friday, April 30th, 2021. Tricycle’s screening has ended, but you can request a screening of the film here.

Learn more about the film at tzuchi.us/on-the-buddhas-path/karuna-film and visit Karuna-Shechen’s website at karuna-shechen.org.

The Tibetan Buddhist monk, humanitarian, photographer, and translator Matthieu Ricard co-founded Karuna-Shechen in 2000. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Shobha, one of the first female rickshaw drivers in Bodhgaya, started driving after her husband was injured and couldn’t work. She says, “If a man can drive rickshaws, why shouldn’t women?” | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Shobha and Sushila talk while waiting for customers. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Bimala, a young Nepali woman, repairs a neighbor’s solar system. She has been able to support herself as a solar technician after attending Karuna-Sechen’s solar training. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Elementary school teacher Samjhana teaches her class how to read a clock. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Munsun works as a nurse at a clinic in Kathmandu. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Sushila has been driving a rickshaw through Karma-Sechen’s program since 2015. | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

Karuna poster | Images courtesy Héctor Muniente & Hannah Whisenant - Tzu Chi USA

The post Karuna appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Nepal entered a nationwide lockdown on March 24, closing its borders and suspending international flights. Set to expire after a week, the lockdown remained in place, ending last week on July 21. Although the number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal remains low, even a minor outbreak would swiftly overwhelm the small country’s already strained healthcare infrastructure.

In Kathmandu, usually awash in noise and heavy with smog, the streets were mostly empty and the air was clean. Temple courtyards, typically packed in the early mornings, were abandoned for months. In a city where religious practice is a major component of life, most worshipers have found themselves unable to participate in group rituals. But one group—the Newar Buddhists—have found new ways to continue their centuries-old practice.

Newars are the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley. Although Newar Buddhism has received comparatively little attention in the global Buddhist community, the importance of Newar Buddhists cannot be overstated. It was in their libraries that the Sanskrit originals of texts such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras were preserved. This is because Newar Buddhists practice the only extant form of the Vajrayana tradition in which all liturgical material is in Sanskrit. Theirs is also the only form of the religion with specifically Buddhist hereditary roles, typically called “castes” and loosely divided along priestly (the Vajracharyas and Shakyas) and mercantile lines, such as the Uray. (There are also broader Newar castes, such as Shreshthas and Maharjans, that elude categorization as either “Buddhist” or “Hindu,” with members making offerings to deities from both religions.)

Vajracharyas, most notably, perform rituals in urban public spaces, often involving a few participants, or even, on occasion, hundreds of people. These rituals, scheduled around the lunar calendar, are a crucial component of the religious life of practicing Newar Buddhists. Along with Shakyas and Urays, Vajracharyas also perform the role of teaching the dharma to the local community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made these traditional ways of teaching and performing rituals impossible. But rather than remain idle in their homes, Newar Buddhists shifted their ritual and teaching centers online the moment the lockdown began.

One particular Vajracharya leader, Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya, spearheaded the online initiative. At almost 80, Yagyaman Pati is not your stereotypical picture of a social media influencer, yet he realized the power and reach of the Internet years ago, regularly using Facebook as an outreach and organizational tool. When the lockdown went into effect, it was easy for him to move his operation online. Now, using Zoom, Yagyaman Pati teaches dharma, maintains the Buddhist organizations he heads, and instructs teachers of tantric song and dance (caryagiti) on performances they should undertake, which are then promoted through Facebook.

Prior to the lockdown, he hosted weekly teachings open to anyone at Kathmandu’s Jamal and Shikamu bahahs (temples) through his organization Bauddha Darshan Adhyayan Puchaa, or Buddhism Study Group. The teachings were held in temples, often in a packed upstairs room. During the lockdown, teachings previously given weekly were often given daily online, and with no geographic limitations, Newars from as far away as Canada and Australia joined in.

Yagyman Pati is not alone in bringing teachings into a digital space. Several other Nepalese dharma teachers and organizations are also using technology to reach students. Public intellectual Abhilash Acharya regularly uploads teaching videos to Facebook, in Nepali or English, and the Newar Buddhist teaching organization Guita Buddha Sikshya Jagaran hosts weekly Zoom dharma discussions in Newar. A number of non-Buddhist Newar groups, usually Newar language preservation groups or Hindu groups, connect regularly through Zoom, and post meeting notes on their Facebook feeds. These free online teachings, open to anyone with an internet connection, have eliminated many of the barriers practitioners may have encountered in a temple before COVID-19.

Newar Buddhists are also using social media to help combat the coronavirus itself. Yagyaman Pati has instructed his core students through both Zoom and direct messages on Facebook to use particular rituals and mantra recitations to help slow the spread of the virus. Students are uploading to Facebook videos of themselves performing tantric dance and reciting mantras—all with the understanding that their collective efforts are spiritual contributions in the fight against the virus.

Along with teachings and practice, Newars are using virtual spaces to combat the pandemic with apotropaic rituals. Vajracharya priest Gautam Bajracharya posted a video of himself on Facebook reciting Sanskrit mantras that invoke the buddhas, petitioning them to grant unlimited merit to all beings. Another Vajracharya, Rajesh Gurju, uploaded a video of himself reciting a series of empowering mantras meant to stop the virus. Alongside it, he posted a video of himself performing a tantric dance.The two videos, playing simultaneously and side by side, are intended to generate more power. In addition to recitations, Rajesh posted photos of himself meditating and performing postural yoga, and even uploaded an old image of himself when he was a monk. All of these efforts are meant to end the pandemic. Joining the battle against the virus, many Newar Buddhists fill their Facebook feeds with daily written mantras (such as om tare tuttare ture svaha), with the Nepali date.

A number of Yagyaman Pati’s female followers have also posted videos of their daughters doing their part to help slow the virus. Rina Maharjan, a teacher of tantric dance and student of Yagyaman Pati, regularly posts pictures of her daughter Agria keeping herself occupied during the quarantine. When not drawing or gardening on the rooftop, Agria constructs dharmadhatu mandalas from lime powder and recites mantras to alleviate the pandemic. A number of others have posted videos of their young daughters making the same mandala and reciting the same mantras. Teenage girls who are students of tantric dance have uploaded videos side by side, dancing in sync.

Buddha Jayanti, the Buddha’s birthday, which fell on May 7 this year, is typically one of the famously colorful Newar festivals. Stuck inside, Buddhists in Nepal honored Shakyamuni in the digital space. On Buddha Jayanti, dazzling images of the Buddha bedecked Facebook feeds in a way reminiscent of the brilliant garb worn by the Buddha himself.

The adaptations have not been entirely online. At the famed Svayambhu Stupa (often called “the monkey temple” in Nepal guide books), the hereditary priest Amrit Man Buddhacharya made the daily offerings of rice he and his Shakya relatives would accept from local pilgrims in normal times. 

“The master [Yagyman Pati] ordered me to give rice at the places around the mandala and Ajima [the goddess]. I did it every morning for three months,” Amrit explained. Ajima “is believed to protect the people from diseases, so we pray to her for this type of thing.” Amrit noted that Yagyaman Pati informed him that although each rice offering “looks a small thing, when you give it to the Buddha it helps to go all around the world in this hard time. This way people all around the world can get food and health since in lockdown people may not be able to get food and work.”

Newar Buddhists have a reputation for being wary of outsiders, which includes foreigners and those without proper birthright. Exclusion based on caste and gender has led many to view the traditional Buddhism of Nepal as closed-off. But Newar Buddhism is a dynamic tradition all its own, and in the last decade local leaders have responded to a changing world by shifting into a more welcoming attitude. The response of Newar Buddhists to the pandemic and the lockdown has brought this striking adaptability to the surface.

When the lockdown began to ease in late June, Newar Buddhists slowly began returning to their religious sites. Despite the possibility of performing rituals in a traditional setting once again, the efficacy of teaching and practicing in a digital space is now undeniable. As familiar ways of practice become possible again, it seems likely that new practices will find their place in this evolving tradition.

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Kathmandu is no longer the sleepy Himalayan town it was in the 1970s, when it was a major stop on the Asian hippie trail. Today the Nepali capital is a bustling, chaotic metropolis that welcomes over one million visitors each year. Even if trekking in the Himalayas is what you’re really after, the city’s extensive Buddhist sites are well worth a stopover. Amid the dense urban sprawl are thousands of temples, stupas, and monasteries, along with impressive examples of Newar architecture—historic reminders of the valley’s indigenous inhabitants. (Newar Buddhists still represent one of the major populations in this ethnically and culturally diverse city.) Kathmandu was devastated by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2015, but fortunately most historic landmarks have been part of ongoing rebuilding efforts.

To sightsee in clear weather and breathable air, the best travel windows are October to late November and February to mid-April. (Avoid monsoon season, June to September.) Locals call Nepal’s air “the silent killer,” so just in case, wear a mask to guard against pollution.

1. | Swayambhunath

Swarming with spirited monkeys (and so locally known as Monkey Temple), Swayambhunath is one of Nepal’s most revered pilgrimage sites. Its mythic origin dates back to prehistoric times, when Kathmandu Valley was a lake. Legend has it that the buddha Vipashyin tossed a seed into the lake, giving rise to a lotus flower and a stupa. Enraptured by light emanating from the stupa, the bodhisattva Manjushri sliced his sword through the surrounding hills to drain the lake so devotees could worship there for ages to come.

Swayambhunath Circle Road

2. | Boudhanath, the Great Stupa

No less important is Boudhanath, one of the world’s largest circular stupas and, like Swayambhu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Boudha (short for Boudhanath) is a popular residential center for the Tibetan community. Join the pilgrims circumambulating the stupa, lighting butter lamps, and prostrating on boards laid out around its base. Then browse nearby shops for malas, statues, and other ritual objects.

3. | For meditators

Kopan, a hillside Gelug monastery just north of Boudha, gives courses in Tibetan Buddhism, daily dharma talks, and retreats for practitioners in the Tibetan tradition. Established by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kopan is famous for its “Discovering Buddhism” retreats that draw participants from around the globe. The guesthouse welcomes private stays of three days or more, and the restaurant has panoramic valley views.

kopanmonastery.com

4. | Food for mind and body

In addition to its renowned language courses, Rangjung Yeshe Institute of Buddhist Studies (RYI), which  operates out of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery in Boudha, offers free public lectures on Tibetan literature, Newar Buddhism, and Buddhist philosophy. Lectures end around 7 p.m., in time to grab a bite at RYI’s Utpala Café or at Garden Kitchen, another local institution catering to hungry seekers.

RYI, Saraswatinger Road, ryi.org;
Garden Kitchen, Boudha Road

5. | Visit historic Patan

Wander through Patan, ancient epicenter of arts and crafts. The Patan Museum, former residence of Malla kings, is lauded for its collection of Buddhist and Hindu art. At workshops on the top floor you can often find thangka painters in action. Stop for dal bhat (rice and lentils) at the museum’s open-air café, then visit Ratna Jyoti Shakya’s statue shop in the Mahabodhi (“Thousand Buddhas”) Temple courtyard.

patanmuseum.gov.np

6. | A breath of fresh air

A day trip to Namo Buddha, two hours’ drive from Kathmandu, will clear your lungs of the city’s dust-filled air and bring you to another important pilgrimage site in Nepal. The stupa here is said to contain the bones and hair of Prince Mahasattva, one of Shakyamuni Buddha’s former incarnations, who famously practiced the paramita (perfection) of generosity by sacrificing his body to a starving tigress and her cubs.

namobuddha.org

7. | Homage to the Prajnaparamita

One temple you won’t find in most guidebooks is the 12th-century Tham Bahil, or Bhagawan Bahal, in the district of Thamel. Among the largest Newar temples in the area, Tham Bahil houses four 13th-century volumes of Prajnaparamita sutras, key Mahayana texts traditionally recited by priests only during Gunla, the Newar Buddhist holy month. Now, on request (and for a fee), you can view the precious manuscripts, inscribed in gold and silver ink, anytime.

Thamel Dabali Marg

The post The Buddhist Traveler in Kathmandu appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

During Nepal’s civil war, an 11-year-old monk and action film enthusiast, Tashi, encounters a rebel child soldier hiding in his monastery. An unexpected friendship blossoms between the two when Tashi helps him evade capture from the armed forces.

This film was available to stream until midnight on January 31, 2020.

The post Supermonk appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Nothing is permanent, so everything is precious. Here’s a selection of some happenings—fleeting or otherwise—in the Buddhist world this week. 

Largest Animal Sacrifice in the World Happens Despite Ban 

Despite outcry from animal rights groups, a festival widely considered to be the largest mass-slaughter of animals on Earth happened in Nepal this week, according to the Guardian. The two-day Gadhimai festival has been held every five years for the last 260 years in the village of Bariyarpur, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Kathmandu, where it attracts  thousands of Hindu worshippers from Nepal and neighboring India. Amid tight security, the festival opened on Tuesday with the ritual slaughter of a goat, rat, chicken, pig, and a pigeon, as a local shaman also offered blood taken from five points on his body. After this initial killing, around 200 butchers brandishing sharpened swords and knives entered the festival arena, a walled area larger than a football field, leading in several thousand buffalo. In the days prior, Indian authorities and volunteers seized dozens of animals at the border from unlicensed traders and pilgrims, but this effort failed to stop the massive flow of animals to the festival. Animal rights activist Manoj Gautam of Nepal’s Jane Goodall Institute told CNN that his organization used drones to count a total of about 1,600 to 1,800 buffalo in the area before the slaughter began. “There is no compassion. There is no spirituality. It is just sport. It is wasteful,” he said. Gautam also suggested that the religious aspect of the festival had been lost in recent years. The sacrifices are part of a legend involving the Hindu goddess Gadhimai, and worshippers believe that the ritual will please the goddess and bring them good fortune.

Many activists were hopeful that the tradition would end after Gadhimai temple authorities announced a ban on the event in 2015, but devotees went ahead with the ritual, disregarding the religious leaders’ prohibition. Humane Society International (HSI) estimates that 500,000 goats, buffalo, pigeons, and other animals were slaughtered in 2009, but that number dropped to about 30,000 in 2014. In September, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the government to pass laws making animal sacrifices illegal. 

Better News for Animals and Animal Lovers 

There is also positive news for animal lovers this week. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey shut down in 2017 after 146 years in the circus business, signaling the end of an era in which lions, tigers, and elephants were made to perform in front of captivated audiences. Meager ticket sales, in part due to reports of animal mistreatment, played a role in damaging the circus’s reputation and forcing it to close, according to Smithsonian.com. But one circus in Germany is determined to keep the spirit of the big top alive, without the animal cruelty. Since 2018 Circus Roncalli has featured no live animals, instead using stunning holographic projections of elephants, horses, and even fish. According to the BBC, the German circus company uses 11 projectors, and a team of 15 designers and software engineers, to create the 3D holograms that make up the most visually compelling moments of the show. 

Yeshi Dhonden, Doctor of Tibetan Medicine, Dies at 92 

He was the personal physician for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, attracted hundreds of patients from across the world, and received a Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, for his contributions to the field of sowa rigpa, or traditional Tibetan medicine. On November 26, Dr. Yeshi Dhondren passed away at his home in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, according to reporting by Tibet Sun. Born in 1927 to a family of Tibetan medicine practitioners, Dhondren followed the Dalai Lama to India when the Tibetan spiritual leader fled Tibet following Chinese occupation in 1959. In exile he was appointed director and chief medical officer of Men-Tsee-Khang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute, established by His Holiness. From 1963 to 1980, Dhondren served as a personal physician to the Dalai Lama, and in 1969 he established his own private clinic in Mcleod Ganj. Known for curing cancer in patients by administering traditional Tibetan medicine techniques, Dhondren closed his practice in April of this year, citing his advanced age and declining health.

Bushfires Hit One of Australia’s Oldest Monasteries 

Bushfires ravaging parts of New South Wales, Australia, destroyed several buildings at the Thai Forest center Wat Buddha Dhamma, one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in the country. According to the Daily Telegraph, the “Three Mile fire” overtook the monastery property on Wednesday afternoon and continued to spread to the surrounding neighborhoods as of Friday afternoon. An Instagram post by New York-based nonprofit Buddhist Insights shows the fire consuming the peaked-roof structure. “Today our hearts are with Wat Buddha Dhamma, one of the oldest monasteries in Australia, where the bushfires destroyed several buildings,” the caption reads. “Australia has been burning for months. This is a sad reminder of how . . . [the] climate crisis is real and caused by greed hatred and delusion.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Buddhist Insights (@buddhistinsights) on Dec 4, 2019 at 9:06pm PST

Founded by the late Buddhist nun and women’s ordination trailblazer Ven. Ayya Khema and pioneering Australian Buddhist Phra Khantipalo, Wat Buddha Dhamma commemorated its 40th anniversary last year. 

Climate Activists Protest on Black Friday with “Meditation Rebellion”

People in cities around the world took to the streets on Black Friday, protesting the frenetic consumption that the bargain day encourages and calling attention to climate change ahead of a UN climate conference held on Monday, according to USA Today. Climate action group Extinction Rebellion (XR), known for incorporating sitting meditation into demonstrations, held a “meditation rebellion” in Manhattan’s Union Square. New York XR activists also staged a protest in a retail store, pushing empty shopping carts in a long chain in what the group called an “active meditation on the ravages of excessive consumption.” According to the New York Post, at least 27 people were arrested at Herald Square, after around 300 protestors blocked traffic in the middle of the busy intersection. 

Long Beach Temple Divided Over Financial Disputes and Monk Evictions

At least two of four resident monks at the largest Cambodian Buddhist congregation in Long Beach, California, were forcibly evicted from the temple due to accusations of financial mismanagement amid an ongoing dispute between the monks and the organization’s board members. According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the fight involves the fate of more than $300,000 in donations to the Khemara Buddhikarama temple, also known as Wat Willow, which the board had set aside for building a second pagoda. Board member Kimthai Kuoch told the LA Times that Wat Willow monastics received more than $60,000 in donations in November 2018, but they did not share this money with the board to cover maintenance costs. After the board treasurer challenged them, the monks gave back $14,995, but kept $34,997, he said. “Everything donated since then, since that month, nothing has been given to the board,” Kuoch said. Lay supporters of the monks believe the board is punishing the monastics for dissenting from the board’s priorities, but Kuoch denies any wrongdoing: “We are doing the right thing for the future of our temple and our community. The monks are the one who need to account for their actions.” Ven. Sim denied the accusations, saying, “It’s not true. Monks don’t get angry and the people want me to fight back against the lies, but I also need to keep peace.”

The antagonism escalated in October, when board members, accompanied by officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, closed the temple for ten days for “reorganizing.” With no place to go, monks slept in old cars and some temple parishioners camped in tents on the nearby sidewalk. At the end of the month, the board hosted a “grand reopening” of the temple, with visiting monks and supporters from across Southern California.

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For the past several years, photographer Emily Polar has been studying, working, and living in Nepal, where she has documented different Tibetan Buddhist rituals, such as pujas for the deceased and cremation ceremonies. She also photographs Nepal’s dense, fog-covered forests and shape-shifting clouds—all part of an ever-changing landscape that, she says, reflects the transient nature of all phenomena.

Polar first visited Nepal in 2012, and after three years of self-study, she enrolled in Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Boudha, where for two years she studied Buddhist texts, history, classical Tibetan, and Nepali. Polar has since turned her attention back to photography, and she has collaborated with National Geographic Travel as well as nonprofits in Nepal. Her work asks viewers to consider the tension between capturing a moment in time and realizing that the moment, and all that it comprises, is essentially ephemeral.

Polar talked with Tricycle about the challenges of documenting sacred sites and rituals without disturbing them, as well as the rewards of exploring presence and impermanence through photography.

Can you talk about your experience of photographing the sacred sites of the 8th-century Buddhist master Guru Rinpoche [Padmasambhava]?
I was commissioned to take photos for a Guru Rinpoche pilgrimage guidebook and website. So I was able to go to all of these sites, including the Maratika Caves [a pilgrimage site next to the village of Mahadevasthan in the Khotang District of eastern Nepal].

There were two caves: the upper cave, which is more popular, and the lower cave. I documented both of them. There were always three or four people practicing in the lower cave. It seemed like they came there every day, and it was quiet.

Technically, taking photos was problematic. When I first got to the upper cave, I found out that photography had been outlawed there six months earlier. I talked to a few people in the town, and eventually the two guards who were monitoring the caves told me that I could rush through and take photos. I only had about ten minutes, and because I had to move quickly, I didn’t have a tripod or any special equipment. It was also dark, so I had to use a slow shutter speed, which  makes shooting without any blur very challenging. So, to minimize shake, I either held my breath or exhaled as I took the shot. I also put my elbows into my ribs or my hips to make sure that my extremities didn’t move.

I am happy with the images, and also with the experience of it, despite the challenges. I got to be very present with the caves and people practicing there. The caves had this magical light and this big opening and all of these features. There was a lama there, too, who was describing a legend about Guru Rinpoche’s presence in the cave. I saw Guru Rinpoche’s hand and footprints in the rocks and could imagine when, according to the legend, he pushed down into the rocks and flew out of the cave.

You’ve also photographed different Tibetan Buddhist rituals, or puja, in Nepal. How do you manage your presence during these ceremonies?
In the beginning I just sit and watch. I’ll try to get a feel for what’s happening, and then I’ll start photographing from where I’m sitting. Then I’ll move to the corners and try and not to be in people’s faces. Eventually, I become less timid and I will get closer.

I took photos at the cremation of a local lama who was fairly important. I didn’t know him, but I had a friend who was going to the cremation, so I decided to go, too.

The cremation was down by a river, and there was a dump nearby. There are a surprising number of hawks in Kathmandu Valley, and in this area, between the cremation grounds and the dump, there were tons of them. There were also two pyres, and the lama arrived in a truck, on a chair. He was covered. They carried him to the pyre on a small, pagoda-like structure with a raised platform. They then wrapped fabric around the pillars of the pagoda so people couldn’t see him. After they stoked the fire, though, people started looking over the fabric.

It was very casual, I think, because there is more acceptance [of death]. Close friends and family were there, as well as the sangha. People weren’t bawling. Some people were even laughing and taking selfies, which was refreshing.

After staying back and observing for a while, what I got drawn to was the fire and smoke, and the hawks. Then, toward the end, when the chopa [a practitioner of chod, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual performed at cemeteries and charnel grounds] started singing and dancing, I photographed that through the fire. I’m attracted to these visual elements—anything that has smoke and dust and layers of meaning.

I see similar qualities in some of the photos you’ve taken of Nepalese landscapes, which portray layers of light and fog. What appeals to you about that?
Fog and low clouds and light that shines through them are very interesting to me. That’s where the magic is for me: to be able to see water and moisture in the air. There is so much in the air that we can’t see, and I feel like those conditions and that kind of light can make that appear. It’s almost like space that just comes alive.

Fog and low clouds also allow for different kinds of tones and contrast that are just not possible if it is sunny. They are also quite an accurate representation of the ephemeral quality of phenomena: they are always changing, impermanent, and empty of a truly existent self.

The post Photos: Capturing the Ephemeral appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Once a Maoist child soldier, Mira Rai, a young woman from rural Nepal, overcame the challenges of an impoverished upbringing to become an internationally recognized trail runner. Today, she inspires children in her home country and abroad to pursue their dreams. 

This film will be available for streaming until midnight on Saturday, March 2nd. 

The post Mira appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Age: 38
Profession: Investor and mountaineer
Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom

You broke world records in September 2017 for being the first bilateral above-the-knee amputee to summit a peak upward of 19,000 feet. You’ve also taken up ice and rock climbing, long-distance kayaking, cycling, and alpine skiing. How did you first get into adventure sports? I was born into a farming family in Mirul, a hillside village in western Nepal. Pushing physical boundaries was just a natural part of growing up in the Himalayas. There were no drivable roads, so every day we would make an arduous 45-minute trek barefoot to primary school. There wasn’t much opportunity for organized sports. We would stuff old clothes into socks and sew it all together to make a soccer ball. Mount Everest was always in partial sight, so climbing the world’s highest peak has been a dream of mine since childhood.

At the age of 19, you enlisted with the Royal Gurkha Riffles and served in the British Army for 15 years, which brought you on tours to North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Why did you decide to become a soldier? My father was an army man and always wanted one of his sons to be in the military. Becoming a Gurkha warrior is notoriously difficult. You’re one of 10,000 applicants competing for 120 to 150 seats, depending on that year’s vacancy. Nobody forced us to join—we were all volunteers and really motivated. Training may be grueling, but for the Nepalese, earning a spot is a national honor; it’s like winning a lottery ticket.

You must have had to face acute fear while in combat. What was your headspace like the day you lost both of your legs in Afghanistan? To be honest, I was prepared to die, not to get injured. About 30 of us were walking on the field that day doing routine drills. There were no enemies around, nobody was coming to kill us—it was just a bomb that went off. And bang, within seconds I lost my right leg from the knee down, and my left was badly damaged. I was completely conscious while my friends gave me first aid and called for a helicopter rescue.

Because I was one of the most senior Gurkhas in our 15-person squad, my immediate concern was What are my boys going to do? Then my worries extended to my family: What will happen to them? And finally, What am I going to do now?

Though it may be agonizing and require tremendous resolve, recovery can be transformative. Has yours been? After the explosion, I didn’t know what to do, how to live, or what would come next. When I was medically discharged and finished a military rehabilitation program, the first thing I did was jump out of an airplane from 15,000 feet. Half of my body was gone, and at that point I didn’t care if the other half went too. At the time I didn’t know how valuable the other half was.

I’ve since learned that capability is in my mind, not my legs. I still have a brain to think, hands and limbs to move, a mouth to speak, eyes to see, and ears to hear. I haven’t lost much. We create these limitations in our minds. Sure, I need bigger doors and bathrooms and have to rely on a wheelchair and handrails, but life is about adaptation. When something doesn’t work in the way we expect it to, we find different ways of doing things.

In March 2018, you were a driving force behind taking Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to the Supreme Court for issuing a set of regulations barring visually impaired and double amputee climbers from attempting to scale Mount Everest. Now that you’ve helped overturn this legal roadblock, what’s next? With all the work I’ve poured into my training and sacrifices I’ve made to nance the expedition, I was disheartened by the December 2017 ban—a move that drew sharp criticism from disability and civil rights organizations worldwide. Discriminating against people on the basis of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or ability is a violation of human rights, and, as proven in court, runs counter to Nepal’s constitution.

Our leaders are just beginning to rethink the way they measure and police who is fit to climb. And ultimately, as a global community, we need to address issues of accessibility and remove barriers, not build them. Today, disabled people in Nepal are confined to their homes and cannot move around freely. In Kathmandu, our capital city, you’ll be pressed to find a single wheelchair-accessible bathroom. We have to reshape these realities.

In what ways have these battles expanded your motivation and capacity to meet novel challenges with agility? In Buddhism, there are no devils or heroes—it’s all about your perception. As a Gurkha soldier, I have found mental discipline to be easy. As a Buddhist, I work on practicing flexibility of mind.

I am a soldier who has been trained to fight. In the past it was an enemy. Today I fight this injury and to reestablish my mental health. This is what I have always done. And now I’m fighting tirelessly to open up the minds of bureaucrats and government officials. Whichever route we end up taking to climb Everest next spring, I am working to undo people’s misconceptions about what “disabled” bodies can and cannot do. I owe it to my boys and wife, to military veterans and their families, and to my community.

Courtesy Susan Hale Thomas

The post This Buddhist Life: Hari Budha Magar appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.