30th Birthday at Terrigal

Lotus Lake

We went on a field trip to a sacred lake about five hours from Dharamsala called Tso Pema, or Lotus Lake. Tenzin, Geshela's friend, was leading a tour group of Korean Buddhist tourists and invited us to come along. The lake is a pilgrimage site for Tibetan Buddhists as it was the homeland of the great Buddhist saint, Padmasambhava, who is famous as one of the first to bring Buddhist teachings to Tibet in around 700AD.

Gyuto Tantric Monastery

Geshela took us to the newly constructed Gyuto Monastery - he had studied at the previous one. This is where the Karmapa has been living since his escape from Tibet in 2000. We were lucky enough to go to one of the audiences of the Karmapa and both recieved a blessing from him.

Tibetan New Year

Mountain View

Dharamsala - Home of the Dalai Lama

Playing Dress Up

The Taj!

Nalanda University

We visited the ancient ruins of Nalanda University, said to be one of the oldest universities in the world. The monastery was founded in about 400AD and was famous across Asia until 1200AD. Many of the Buddhist books we study today were composed by the Indian masters of Nalanda.Tibetan Buddhism traces its roots to this lineage.

Vulture's Peak

This is the place called Vulture's Peak or Rajagir. Here the Buddha taught the famous Heart Sutra.

Bodhgaya and Buddha's Enlightenment!

The most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site is Bodhgaya where the Bodhi tree is found. The Bodhi tree is the tree under which the Buddha sat down to meditate and attained enlightenment. Actually the tree that we saw is maybe the 4th generation of the original from 2,500 years ago. We arrived and met up with Tulku Loday again who took us around the site and helped us organise the prostration boards so that we could do the prostrations that Geshela had set for us. Prostrations is the thing to do at Bodhgaya! So many monks and lay people are there prostrating away, others circumambulating the Bodhi tree and temple saying mantras, whilst others sit amongst the stupas meditating. Despite all the people, the place had such a peaceful atmosphere. Everyone had told me about the peaceful atmosphere but I had dismissed it thinking that's just what you say about Bodhgaya, but it truly was so nice that we both enjoyed staying here for over a week. The highlight of the week was a surprise teaching from the Dalai Lama beneath the Bodhi tree - truly amazing! Just as the Dalai Lama started to teach the Muslim evening prayers rang out from the nearby mosque. The Dalai Lama chuckled in the way that he does saying, "First before Buddhist teaching we pay our respects to Allah!"

Ancient Pilgrimage Site

Next on our pilgrimage was the ancient Ajanta and Ellora caves. These caves date from 200 B.C. up until 1000 A.D. The caves representing Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions, are adorned with intricate mural paintings and elaborate sculptures depicting religious figures. Some of the caves are grand temples whilst others are mere monks' caves meant for long retreats. It is interesting to note that the earliest of the Buddhist caves do not have any depictions of the Buddha who was traditionally not depicted until later. It was actually the Greeks who came to India that introduced the tradition of depicting the Buddha in sculpture.

Nagajuna Konda

This monastery on an island in the middle of a large lake was built under the direction of Nagajuna, who is also known as the second Buddha. He taught some of the most insightful works on Buddhist philosophy. The monastery dates from 200AD although there are remains on the island from neolithic times.

On the road in India

Laundry, originally uploaded by wavesofbliss.

Kalachakra

We visited the place where it is said the Buddha taught the Kalachakra (wheel of time) Tantra. A new Buddha statue is being built close to where the old stupa is.

Celebrations

Above we are feasting with the Tibetan family who took us in during some of the Dalai Lama's teachings. Next we celebrate New Year's Eve with our friends Darcy and Jason.

Teachings with the Dalai Lama

We have been fortunate enough to attend many weeks of the Dalai Lama's teachings. Above we are pictured in his room at Sera Me. I did not blink whilst the photo was taken, but was actually in deep meditation :) !!!!

Tara Puja

Geshela sponsored a Tara Puja for all the monks where he used to live at Sera Je. We were able to participate in the Puja and offering. The pics are of Geshela and Allie handing out money to the monks.

River Swim

This is a river near Sera monastery where we went for a swim. With us is Geshela's friend Tenzin, who is offering us a place to stay when we arrive in Dharamasala.

Monastery Visits

We visited many monasteries. The one above with Geshela, his dad and us is the famous Sera Je monastic university. This is Geshela's home university. The one with the rainbow at the top is Namdroling also known as the golden temple. This is a famous Nyingma monastery where our friend Tulku Loday took us to meet Penor Rinpoche for a blessing. Penor Rinpoche is the previous head of the Nyingma lineage. Tulku Loday is a high lama himself being the seventh incarnation of the religious head of the kingdom of Sikkim.