A PILGRIMAGE STORY OF DOLPO

The Sacred "Crystal Mountain" of Dolpo and Druptop Senge Yeshi

Dolpo Shel-Re Drugdra is the Tibetan name of the sacred mountain. It literally means "Dolpo Crystal Mountain of the Dragon's Roar". The Crystal Mountain is situated in Dolpo, in north-east Nepal.

In the 12th century, a Dharma practitioner, Druptop (a "mahasiddha" or highly-realized being) Senge Yeshi, was sent to Dolpo by his master, Lord Jigten Sumgon, founder of the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism. On his arrival there, he saw Dechog (Chakrasamvara) at the Crystal Mountain and he heard the sound of a dragon roaring. Having directly perceived the holiness of the mountain, Senge Yeshi christened it "Shel-Re Drugda" and riding on a lion, he consecrated the sacred land.

Dechog is a wrathful Tantric deity, whose image is usually depicted as locked in sexual congress with his consort, Dorjee Phagmo. Together, the pair symbolize the union of the great compassion and the wisdom, which are an essential combination for chieving enlightenment. The practices associated with Dechog are widely practiced by all the Tantric traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1995, Senge Tenzin Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of the great saint, Senge Yeshi (the Limi Tulku), by His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, the head of Drikung Kagyu Order.

In 2000, Senge Tenzin Rinpoche went on the pilgrimage to the sacred Crystal Mountain. According to the Tibetan lunar calendar, it was "Dragon Year" and the festival of Shel-Re Drugda, which comes every twelve years. The year is believed to earn multiple merits. Senge Rinpoche decided to go there at that auspicious time just after he had completed his three years' retreat. By the time, he hadn't cut off his retreat hairs. His goal was to say his prayers and to gain access to the blessing and knowledge of the great practitioner, Druptop Senge Yeshi, who had lived and practiced there for many years. Also, Senge Tenzin Rinpoche liked to meet the regional people of Dolpo. The pilgrimage was supported and funded by His Holiness the Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche.

Journey from the Drikung Kagyu Institute, India, to Dolpo

Senge Tenzin Rinpoche, accompanied by ten monks including Kyenpo Tashi Kailash, Ven Jovo,Ven Konchok Kunsang, started on a journey from the Drikung Kagyu Institute in Dehra Dun, in the east of India.

Nepalgunj Airport - There are only two ways to get to Dolpo - either by plane or on foot. The group decided to fly because they had too much luggage to carry for walking to be feasible and it would also have been too difficult to cross the mountains on the way to Dolpo. Although air transport was a big problem for the thousands of Buddhist pilgrims, tourists and local travelers, the group managed to get a flight with the National Royal Nepal Airline from Nepalganj to Zuphel, the closest airport to Dolpo. Their airplane could only carry eighteen people, each person with fifteen kilograms of luggage.Then there was five days journey on foot to get to the sacred Crystal Mountain.

At Zuphel, we met Mr Pema carrying a prayer wheel in his right hand and a Mala, or rosary, in his left hand. He was the first local Dolpo person we met. We introduced Senge Rinpoche and ourselves to him. To our surprise, Pema was very humble and extremely respectful to Senge Rinpoche and us. It showed us how to behave towards the local people. Later, we were told that Mr Pema was well-known for his kindheartness. He spent a great deal of his time helping pilgrims on their way to Crystal Mountain. He was to be our guide. We learned many things from him about the area and the people of Dolpo. We hired four horses to carry our luggage and went to the city of Dung Nyil, about three hours from Zuphel.

The Drikung Gyalpo Family invited us all to be their guests in Dung Nyil. They arranged a bed for Senge Rinpoche in their shrine and the rest of the group camped on the roof of their house. We left at daybreak next morning and found that many people were queuing up to see Senge Rinpoche and to receive blessings. Our next destination was the Techu Rong area. As we passed through, people came from villages near and far to see Rinpoche, and some were curious about who we were. The villagers we met on the path looked Tibetan but were dressed in traditional Nepalese costumes. Often, to the complete amazement of the monks, we were offered plates heaped with rice with Nepali rupee notes sticking out of them. This was the first time any of us had seen this kind of offering. That night we stayed in an empty guest house situated by a large metal bridge. We borrowed a broken bed for Rinpoche, and the rest of us slept on the ground with our cushions and sleeping bags. We had been given vegetables in Dung Nyil, which we cooked ourselves. Again at sunset, villagers came with their offerings to see Rinpoche.

Welcoming Procession at Terab Gonpa. As we approached Terab (also known as Do) in the afternoon, the monks of Terab Monastery received us with the traditional Tibetan ceremony for welcoming reincarnations and high Lamas. The first strange thing we noticed about these monks was that they all had long dreadlocks tied around their heads, which is only common for monks in long-term retreats. Later, when we spent the evening with the monks at the monastery, we found that the older monks at the monastery were not real monks, but Ngagpas. Ngagpas are householders who live with their families and usually only come to the monastery to perform Pujas and ceremonies. In the Dolpo dialect, they call all Ngagpas and monks "Lamas". However, as it is true that the Ngagpas are the teachers of Buddhism in their region, they are referred to as "teachers" (which is what the word "Lama" means).

Phowa and Long Empowerment by Senge Rinpoche. We traveled for three long days. So, we decided to have a rest at Terab Monastery. We spent the day bathing and cleaning our clothes, although the villagers came continuously for an audience with Senge Rinpoche. The Lamas at the monastery asked Senge Rinpoche to give a public audience and teaching to the villagers.

The next day, Lama Namgyal, the head of the Terab monastery, sent some young monks to announce the arrival of Senge Rinpoche to the villagers. Before daybreak, many people arrived from the surrounding villages and many came on horseback from much further a field. More than five hundred people gathered to receive the long-life empowerment and the Phowa transmission. When the teachings were completed, all the people formed a queue to see Senge Rinpoche one by one, so everybody had a chance to have a close look at Rinpoche and to talk to him if they had anything to tell him or ask him.

While we were at Terab Gonpa, we had to return the horses we had hired from Zuphel. Then, we hired six yaks to carry our luggage and left Terab Gonpa early in the morning for our next destination: the Khungla Mugchu Pass. Unfortunately, heavy rain fell that afternoon so we were only able to boil a bowl of black tea on some wet wood and had a simple dinner of tea with Tsampa (roasted barley flour). We went to bed on an open plain listening to the chill wind.

She-La Mugchung. Mr Pema told us of two more mountain passes ahead of us before we would reach Sumdo monastery, at the sacred Shel-Re Drugdra. It sounded difficult, but we crossed La Moche Mountain before lunchtime and, that afternoon, Senge Rinpoche and the rest of us were able to see the sacred mountain from the top of She La Mugchung Mountain. Shel La Mugchung is where people place prayer flags, build stone mandala offerings and burn incense over the distance towards the Shel-Re Drugda, so we did the same, rejoicing that we only had four more hours to go before reaching Sumdo monastery.

At the Crystal Mountain of Dolpo

Sumdo is the Base Camp of Shel-Re Drugdra, is a beautiful, open valley where pilgrims and visitors set up camp and return at night after circumambulating the sacred mountain and visiting the local holy sites and the monasteries. Some pilgrims stay at Sumdo for many months in order to circumambulate from three to more than one hundred times, often circling the mountain while performing full-body prostrations. On our arrival, hundreds of tents already covered the Sumdo valley and there were temporary restaurants for the great festival of the Dragon Year of the sacred Shel-Re Drugda.

Sumdo Gompa is a monastery of seven monks in total, but normally only three are in residence. It is hard for pilgrims and visitors to tell the monks from lay people because most of them have quite long hair and wear Chupas (traditional Tibetan lay dress).

At the festival of the Crystal Mountain, Dolpo regional people made a series of spectacular cultural presentations and a great number of Buddhists practioners of different traditions of Buddhism came to join the festival.

Tsakhang Monastery, we moved there after three days at Sumdo. Tsakhang Gonpa was founded on the place where Druptop Senge Yeshi saw eighty Mahasiddhas on the side of the rocky mountain. Beside the monastery there is a cave that was recognized as the cave of Phagmo (Vajrayogini). Near the monastery, there are several kinds of naturally-colored soils which local people use to paint the monasteries. Lama Lobsang, the monks and the Shel Tulku of Tsakhang Gonpa offered us every hospitality, allowing us to stay in the monastery and helping to organize the Dharma activities that Senge Rinpoche performed with his monks every day. For six days, Senge Rinpoche gave public teachings and Phowa transmissions to many pilgrims at Phagmo Cave.

Led by Senge Rinpoche, and his colleagues from his three years' retreat, our group performed the three days Decheg ceremony after an all-day preparation. The sacred Shel-Re-Drugda is known to be one of the seats of Dechog (otherwise known as Chakrasamvara). Then, on the fourth night, some of us stayed up the whole night to cook deep-fried cakes (kabse) and to make other preparations for the "Tsok" offering on the next day. On the 30th, according to the Tibetan calendar, we made ten thousand Phagmo Tsok offerings. The idea of a Tsok ritual is to invite enlightened beings and deities to enjoy the Tsok offering, which is traditionally made out of Tsampa dough and shaped like a round mountain. In India and Nepal, bread, biscuits and other foods are also used. In the ritual, the enlightened beings are asked to bless the Tsok which is then distributed to people as blessed food. It is believed that performing the Tsok offering purifies unwholesome deeds and accumulates great merit for creating peace in the surrounding environment. When we had completed the Tsok ritual, we took all the Tsok to nearby Gomoche Gonpa where we gave it, together with Tibetan butter tea, to thousands of pilgrims and visitors.

Gomoche Monastery is also an important historical part of the sacred site. The name of the monastery means "the Big Gate". Druptop Senge Yeshi himself stayed near the present location of the monastery for two different retreats in a cave called Dorjee Phuk. Finally, as the story says, in order to build a monastery, he brought a big bowl full of barley from a secret store in Phagmo's Cave to fund the construction.

Because of the old and dilapidated condition of the monastery, Senge Rinpoche gave an audience outside it to masses of pilgrims. In fact, no monks live in Gomoche at present as it is almost ready to collapse. Senge Rinpoche and all the people assembled who wanted to receive blessing from him had a great opportunity to share the moment. Many went to him and spoke to him frankly of their family situations and made requests.

On Our Way Back

After two weeks at Tsakhang Gonpa, we returned to Sumdo monastery. The lamas of Sumdo strongly urged Senge Rinpoche to be their spiritual guide and help them to restore the Gomoche Gonpa building. In response, Senge Rinpoche gave them two sacred statuettes and a Thangka depicting all the masters of the Drikung Kagyu lineage. It was obvious that we had formed a strong connection with the lamas and lay people at Sumdo, but the time had come to return to Zuphel airport.

Jampa Monastery sent an invitation to Senge Rinpoche and the group on our way back to Terab village. On our arrival, the lamas at Jampa Gonpa and a large number of local people came to receive us. There, the devotees offered apples to Senge Rinpoche when they came for audiences.

When we passed through Terab, we had not planned to stay at the monastery, but the lamas and the villagers asked us to stop there for a day. During the day, when Senge Rinpoche was busy giving audiences to the villagers, the lamas at the Gonpa told him about the spiritual conditions in Dolpo, appealing to Senge Rinpoche to be their spiritual guide and help them to preserve and promote Buddhism in the region. From Terab Gonpa, we went to Sundal, where more villagers came to see Rinpoche and again offered us huge quantities of apples.

Drikung Monastery We arrived in the Drikung Region late in the afternoon. A long line of villagers and the lamas at Drikung Gonpa performed the traditional welcoming ceremony for Senge Rinpoche. At nights, we slept in our guide, Mr Pema's, house. We stayed at Drikung Gonpa for three days. On the first day, we performed a Tsok offering Jupa with the lamas at Drikung Gonpa. On the next two days, Senge Rinpoche gave a long-life empowerment and Phowa transmission to more then six hundred followers who came from all the villages of the Drikung region.

During the teachings, Senge Rinpoche exhorted the audience to avoid the Ten Non-Virtuous Actions, as he always does when he gives public teachings. Many of the devotees who traditionally practice "Sang Ridha" (animal sacrifice) as part of an old shamanic tradition, took vows to avoid killing and other non-virtuous actions. In the Sang Ridha festival, every family makes a big fire on their roof and the blood from a sacrificed chicken is sprinkled on the fire. To our eyes, it appeared that the Buddhist traditions were weakened by the lack of teachers and the strength of local shamanic and Hindu traditions. In the evenings, Rinpoche and his attendant monks gave blessings to many households at Drikung where they were offered food and drinks. A few childless couples asked Rinpoche to bless them with a child. Indeed, the belief they had in Senge Rinpoche because of his connection with Druptop Senge Yeshi was remarkable.

Back at Dung Nyil, our first stop when we had set out from the airport, the villagers requested a teaching. So Senge Rinpoche gave the last Phowa transmission of our pilgrimage and spoke about Buddhism in general to the people of Dung Nyil city. Rinpoche also visited many households in order to give them blessings. After missing the first flight from Zuphel, Rinpoche and the group flew from Dung Nyil city to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

Senge Tenzin Rinpoche is considered to be the present living reincarnation of Druptop Senge Yeshi, who was known as the "door opener" to the sacred Dolpo Shel-Re-Drugda and is still highly-respected and remembered in the hearts of the people of Dolpo.