The following slide show is a result of a three week journey to Bangkok,
Bhutan and West Bengal, India that took place in March of 2003. For the past several
years, I have been working with a Buddhist Lama in the Mahamudra/Vajarayana tradition, Lama
Palden Drolma, in Marin County, CA. And in late 2002, she announced that she'd like
to do a pilgrimmage to Bhutan, a land of numerous temples and sacred sites in the Vajrayana
Buddhist tradition. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to go.
Lama Palden was a long time student of the Kalu Rinpoche, and one of the first
western women Lamas. She was married for several years to a Bhutanese Rinpoche, Benchen Khenpo,
and resided for four years in Thimphu, Bhutan's capital. In that time, she spent much time with
Kalu Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa, so naturally, she has a strong karmic connection to
Bhutan. This would be her first visit back in over 20 years, and a group of 13 people
joined her in the journey.
Bhutan is a tiny country socked inbetween
the giants of India and China, east of Nepal and Sikkim. It is the oldest continuous
Buddhist kingdom in the world, and a land seated entirely within the Himalayas.
It is a very tiny kingdom, smaller than the state of Massachussetts in land area, and
is comprised of a mere 600,000 citizens. But its history in the religion of Vajrayana Buddhism
is legendary, forming the backdrop for the sadhana and stories of some of Buddhism's
most famous realizers - Padmasambhava, Milarepa, and most notably Drugpa Kunley, the "Divine
Madman" and patron saint of Bhutan.
The theme of our journey was pilgrimmage, to
visit the numerous temples and sacred spots throughout western and central Bhutan.
Travel within Bhutan is not easy, as approximately 95% of the roads in the country are windy,
one lane roads cut into the sides of the Himalayas.
Our trip in Bhutan culminated in a journey to Tiger's Nest, a nearly inaccessible
cliffside temple above a cave where Padmasambhava and Milarepa meditated.
We then left the mountains of Bhutan for those of West Bengal, India to visit the shrine
of Kalu Rinpoche, as well as to have an audience with Bokar Rinpoche, the current head of Shampa Kagyu
lineage.
Our trip was setup by
Lingkor Tours,
a Bhutanese travel agency run by Benchen Khenpo, Lama Palden's ex-husband. Benchen Khenpo is a highly
connected individual in Bhutan and can open doors for tourists that other agencies may
not be able to, and I give them two thumbs up for their setup and service during the trip.
Photographic Information
After my previous journey to India,
I vowed that next time I was going digital, and that I did. I brought along a Minolta
Dimage 7i, a "prosumer" 5.0 megapixel camera. It is a nice combination of features and value
and has a built-in 28-200mm lens for both wide-angle and zoom shots, which I used quite
often. I was happy with its results and I highly recommend it.
Slide Showing Particulars and Viewing Tips
The following slideshow is a webified
version of a digital slide show that I have given to friends and fellow Buddhists. There are
about 196 pages in the following show, consisting of two 400 pixel shots with text descriptions.
Each picture is linked to an enlarged duplicate, so please click on
any image for a larger view on the following pages.
You may click on the Back or Next buttons and
links at the top-left and bottom of each page to navigate through the show a page at a time, or
click on any text link in the yellow side-bar to go directly to the slides for that city or
area. The enlarged pictures pages have navigational buttons to bring you back to the previous
page or to go to the next page of 400 pixel shots.
Now that I've blabbed enough, enjoy the show. Click on
Next or the next icon below to begin,
which starts with a few slides of Bangkok.
If you wish, you can skip over the Bangkok pix and
go right to Bhutan.
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