Buddhism: Choedzong

The monastic universities Drepung, Sera and Ganden in Southern India belong to the biggest monastic institutions of exiled Tibetans. They were modeled after the monasteries of the same name in Tibet with the help of the Indian government.

Willi Maassen has already organized several travels to those monasteries at net cost for friends and members of Tibethaus. A special highlight has always been that his traveling companions could get to know the parts of the monasteries our teacher Dagyab Kyabgön Rinpoche is in charge of. Thus they were able to establish a closer contact to his disciples there. For the excellent board and simple lodging in the corresponding guesthouses our traveling group gave donations.

Another reason for our visits to these monastic universities are the teachings of H.H. the Dalai Lama taking place for several days. Dagyab Rinpoche recommends his closer students to use these valuable opportunities as His Holiness will not be able to give these teachings for ever.

A beach stay of several days in Goa is usually included. The next travel will have taken place in January 2008.

Those who are connected with Tibethaus or Dagyab Rinpoche and want to join in such a travel is invited to soon contact  Willi Maassen Phone: +49 228 31 94 32.

We expressly point out that the group travels are private. Their announcement and planning do not involve any legal obligations on our part.

By Willi Maaßen

This journey to India was completely different from the previous ones as Rinpoche did not travel with us. He had already been traveling in Southeast Asia since November. Besides the two groups flying to India on 1^st and 8^th December there were several individual travelers. What made this trip real special was our small pilgrimage to the historical mountain monasteries of Ellora and Ajanta …

In the morning of 2^nd December we touched down on the airport of Goa. Then we went to our hotel, the “Golden Eye” at Calangute Beach, which some of us remembered from previous travels. Superb atmosphere, good meals, wonderful and wide beaches as well as inexpensive, comfortable rooms (double room at 14 euro) were the best possible preconditions for a few days to recover at the Arabic Sea.

After two days we traveled by train via Mumbai to Aurangabad in whose vicinity the two historical mountain monasteries Ajanta and Ellora are situated. With a nightly travel in a “Second Class Sleeper” behind us and somehow rested we got off the train at Mumbai. As the next connection would only be possible in the evening we had time to get a first impression of the city: a metropolis teeming with people in which poverty and wealth were next to each other, and images of the constant struggle for survival of the poorest made us very much concerned.

After a lengthy breakfast and seat reservations for the connecting train at night we found a taxi cab which could take us all (6 people) to the “Gate of India”. From there we went (just like many Indian families who have the means) by boat to the island Elefanta located near Mumbai. There we visited the imposing Hindu temples with halls and huge depictions of gods hewn into solid rock.

Before we got onto the night train we rested in an Indian movie theater. We watched the American Hollywood movie “Bridget Jones”: an irritating and contrasting experience.

Having safely arrived in Aurangabad and – after some ado – also found an adequate hotel we visited the mountain monastery of Ellora in the afternoon having traveled there for about an hour by car. Several religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism) have found a home there in the course centuries leaving behind their artwork. The Hindu buildings were exceptional in their beauty whereas the Buddhist ones were rather simple (with the exception of a very artful meeting hall). They were charmingly special.

From Aurangabad it is about 3 hours by car to the 30 caves of Ajanta which are purely Buddhist and, just as Ellora, a famous place for pilgrimages. They belong to the World Cultural Heritage, and, because of the many visitors, are organized in a very “Western” style: with buses, souvenir shops, parking tickets, etc. Hewn into the high terraces of a bend in the river and situated in the midst of a beautiful landscape they can only be called an idyllic place. The huge caves with wonderfully preserved murals inspire every visitor. Imposing statues of the Buddha – there is also an oversized and lying the Buddha statue – can be seen in artfully decorated temples.

The train journey from there to Bangalore lasted for 36 hours and put us to a hard test for 3.5 hours during its first part. As the train cars were totally overcrowded, we could hardly find sufficient “standing space”. I use the quotation marks on purpose because “standing space” can only be called an exaggeration, because for quite some distance we were so squashed in that the many people around us were enough to keep us from toppling over.

At the station where we had to change we had to wait for our connection for four hours in the middle of a cool night. Everybody used his/her sleeping bag with the exception of myself as I had to stay awake to look after our luggage. For the next 24 hours to Bangalore we reserved a first-class compartment to recover from the strains of before. Slava said: “First Class is like a hotel, ‘Second Class Sleeper’ is like being in the street.”

In Bangalore we rented a jeep taking us to Sera in 6 hours where H.H. the Dali Lama’s teachings had already started in the morning – very much to our surprise. As happens so frequently in India the plans had been changed at short notice.

Wöser Rinpoche from Tsawa Khangtsen had everything prepared for us from Chödzong. Rooms with baths were reserved, and on the roof of his monastery he had a tent put up so that we could have our meals there, which the monks prepared for us with a lot of work.

The second part of our group arrived the next day (see below), whereas Dagyab Rinpoche was already there, and we all enjoyed meeting him again. He organized meetings with other Lama friends: Tokden Rinpoche, Dagyab Chungtsang Rinpoche, Legön Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche ... Several times we were, together with him, invited to dinners, thus we got to know other Khangtsens, and visited different temples around Sera together with him.

Thanks to Rinpoche we experienced a superb travel to India, and every participant felt good about the trip. The many new impressions and experiences made it wonderful and served as a recommendation for further travels to India.

By Annette Kirsch

We were, so to speak, the “second season” of the Chödzong group to fly from Frankfurt direction Goa in the evening of December 8. After a quiet day at the beach to get used to the climate we continued our flight to Bangalore on December 10, and from there to Sera by taxi cab.

Fortunately, Geshe-la expected us in Bangalore helping us to find an appropriate taxi. Around midnight we arrived in Sera. We were shown our rooms in the dark, went to sleep immediately, and were looking forward to the next day, to seeing Rinpoche again and the other Chödzong travellers .

The teachings had already started so that finding a place to sit was somewhat difficult in the prayer-hall. There were many “westerners” in their part of the hall. Naturally and as usual, those already present had subdivided the available space for themselves on the very first day. With our friendly obstinacy and a lot of good will on all sides did we finally manage to squeeze in wherever we could find a bit of space. Because it was not only very tight where the “foreigners” were sitting but also everywhere else. A glance right and left to the monks made clear to everybody that our problems of space were not insoluble…

Our host, Woser Rinpoche, pampered us as much as possible: meals, transportation, and whatever else – he anticipated every one of our wishes. He also organized the daily transportation to the lower Tantra college for those who took part in the four-day-long teachings of commentaries to empowerment.

Despite such comforts there was a lot of stress: Every morning at six we had breakfast, at 7:30 the small bus left with us. In the evening we returned between 6 and 6:30. In between there were two 80-minute drives across bumpy roads, two sittings of several hours, and a big lunch in the tent pitched on our behalf.

The Gompa in the lower Tantra college was also taken to the very last seat. About the teachings just that: Even if one knows H.H. the Dalai Lama through his visits to Europe – to experience him in India is something altogether new.

Finally, we even had the audience we had hoped for: we were allowed to get into a small line of lucky ones who could give a Katak to His Holiness. Rinpoche accompanied and presented us to H.H. A moment of keeping still, everybody beamed, a group photo, one photo of His Highness with Rinpoche, fast words of thanks – the next ones please. On the surface it was a very unspectacular affair.

The time at Sera was very intensive. I am very grateful that we did not have to be distracted by the many obstacles of Indian every-day life. For that we had to thank Willi Maassen on the one hand, who carefully organized and guided the travel with nearly infinite patience, and the caring support of our hosts on the other hand.

The end of our traveling is quickly told: Some traveled overland to Drepung where they lived in the Nyare Khangsten for a few days to get to know Rinpoche’s “headquarters” in India and Geshe-la’s home. Others flew directly to Goa to enjoy life on the beach for a few extra days. A few returned home shortly before Christmas. The bigger part of the group flew back into cold Germany on December 30.