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Buddhist Pilgrimage to India with Ven. Donyo Print E-mail

October 4 - 20, 2008   

Please note: that we have shortened the trip from 20 days to 16 days.  Because we have changed the route, but will still visit all the major places. 

A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place as an act of devotion and faith.  Many enlightened beings have advised to visit the place where the Buddha was born, where the Buddha attained Enlightenment, where he preached the first teaching and where he passed away into Maha Parinirvana.  By visiting these holy places with the right motivation, one is able to purify one’s thoughts, speech and actions and to correct our mental attitude to help us to become a better person. 

Ven. Thupten Donyo, Director of Gyuto Center is leading the pilgrimage.  We will be visiting major holy sites of the Buddha, such as Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Varanasi , Rajgir, Nalanda, and so on.  We will also visit Dharamsala, the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  If possible, we will request possible audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or with His Holiness 17th Karmapa.  Finally, we will visit the Taj Mahal which is one of the eight wonders of the world.  The duration of the pilgrimage will be 16 days. 

If interested to join the pilgrimage, please contact Ven. Donyo 408-9269430 for detail information and register as soon as possible. There will be only 18 members with the group. There is $500.00 non-refundable deposit and without a deposit the registration will not be confirmed.  There will be NO registration after August 30th 2008.    

 Description of the Holy Sites:  

(1) Lumbini: This is the sacred place where the Buddha was born, located in Nepal .  There is an ancient shrine there with an image representing his birth as Prince Siddhartha.  At this site Asoka's pillar is found, which is engraved with an inscription commemorating Emperor Asoka’s pilgrimage.  

(2) Bodh Gaya: This is the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment.  There is a great gilded statue of the Buddha touching the earth which symbolizes the supreme event.  To the west of the temple is the Bodhi tree sandstone seat where the Buddha is said to have sat when he reached his full enlightenment.

(3) Varanasi : This is where the Buddha gave the First Turning the Wheel of Dharma, known as Deer Park . During ancient times, this is where the Buddha gave his first discourse to his five former companions.  Emperor Asoka built a Stupa here which stood at a height of about 150 feet and the impressive ruins of which can still be seen today.

(4) Kushi Nagar: This is the place where the Buddha lay down and passed into Maha Parinirvana. A large mound nearby, known as Ramabhar, is the place where a great stupa stood marking the spot where the Buddha was cremated.

(5) Rajgir: Known as Vultures Peak , this is where the Buddha gave teachings on the Heart Sutra.  The first Dharma council was also held here just after Buddha passed into Maha Parinirvana.

(6) Nalanda: The monastic Universities at Nalanda became famous in the centuries following the Buddha’s passing away.  Nalanda was a flourishing center of learning and for centuries was famous for its learned and versatile teachers.

(7) Dharamsala: Is a hill town known as “Little Lhasa” and is the home of His Holiness the14th Dalai Lama and His Holiness the 17th Karmapa.  Dharamsala has many Tibetan monasteries, nunneries, including Gyuto Tantric monastery and the Tibetan Children Village .

(8) Taj Mahal: The Taj Mahal, built entirely of white marble, is one of the eight wonders of the world and some Western historians have noted that its architectural beauty has never been surpassed.  

Itinerary for the pilgrimage:

Oct-05  Arrive New Delhi + Delhi-Varanasi 

Oct-06  Varanasi

Oct-07  Varanasi-Sravasti

Oct-08  Sravasti-Lumbini

Oct-09  Lumbini-Kushinagar

Oct-10  Kushinagar-Bodhgaya

Oct-11  Bodhgaya

Oct-12  Bodhgaya

Oct-13  Bodhgaya-Gaya-Pathankot 

Oct-14  Full day in Train 

Oct-15  Pathankot-Dharamsala

Oct-16  Dharamsala 

Oct-17  Dharamsala 

Oct-18  Dharamsala-Delhi by flight 

Oct-19  Delhi-Agra-Delhi 

Oct-20  Delhi-Depart to US 

 

Read more...
 
His Holiness 14th the Dalai Lama Print E-mail

         

 

Words of Truth

A Prayer Composed by:
His Holines Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet
 
Honoring and Invoking the Great Compassion
of the Three Jewels; the Buddha, the Teachings,
and the Spiritual Community

O Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and disciples
of the past, present, and future:
Having remarkable qualities
Immeasurably vast as the ocean,
Who regard all helpless sentient beings
as your only child;
Please consider the truth of my anguished pleas.
 
Buddha's full teachings dispel the pain of worldly
existence and self-oriented peace;
May they flourish, spreading prosperity and happiness through-
out this spacious world.
O holders of the Dharma: scholars
and realized practitioners;
May your ten fold virtuous practice prevail.
 
Humble sentient beings, tormented
by sufferings without cease,
Completely suppressed by seemingly endless
and terribly intense, negative deeds,
May all their fears from unbearable war, famine,
and disease be pacified,

To freely breathe an ocean of happiness and well-being.
And particularly the pious people
of the Land of Snows who, through various means,
Are mercilessly destroyed by barbaric hordes
on the side of darkness,
Kindly let the power of your compassion arise,
To quickly stem the flow of blood and tears.
 
Those unrelentingly cruel ones, objects of compassion,
Maddened by delusion's evils,
wantonly destroy themselves and others;
May they achieve the eye of wisdom,
knowing what must be done and undone,
And abide in the glory of friendship and love.
 
May this heartfelt wish of total freedom for all Tibet,
Which has been awaited for a long time,
be spontaneously fulfilled;
Please grant soon the good fortune to enjoy
The happy celebration of spiritual with temporal rule.
 
O protector Chenrezig, compassionately care for
Those who have undergone myriad hardships,
Completely sacrificing their most cherished lives,
bodies, and wealth,
For the sake of the teachings, practitioners,
people, and nation.
 
Thus, the protector Chenrezig made vast prayers
Before the Buddhas and Bodhisativas
To fully embrace the Land of Snows;
May the good results of these prayers now quickly appear.
By the profound interdependence of emptiness
and relative forms,

Together with the force of great compassion
in the Three Jewels and their Words of Truth,
And through the power
of the infallible law of actions and their fruits,
May this truthful prayer be unhindered
and quickly fulfilled. 

This prayer, Words of Truth, was composed by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, on 29 September 1960 at his temporary headquarters in the Swarg Ashram at Dharamsala, Kangra District, Himachal State, India. This prayer for restoring peace, the Buddhist teachings, and the culture and self-determina-tion of the Tibetan people in their homeland was written after repeated requests by Tibetan government officials along with the unanimous consensus of the monastic and lay communities.
 
Thank you! Print E-mail

On behalf of the resident venerable monks of the Gyuto Vajrayana Center and the Gyuto Monastery, I would like to underscore our sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of the benefactors, sponsors, volunteers and friends who supported us in bringing His Holiness the Dalai Lama to San Francisco on April 27 - 29, 2007.  Without all your help, we would not have received the precious teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 

Once again, we deeply thank everyone who supported the Gyuto Vajrayana Center

Ven. Thupten Donyo.

View photos from the teachings: www.dalailamabay2007.com

More information on His Holiness the Dalai Lama: www.dalailama.com 

 

 

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