For centuries Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bonpos have revered Mount Kailash as the most sacred pilgrimage destination in Asia. To circumambulate a sacred place or object is called kora in Tibetan or parikrama in Sanskrit and in doing kora around Mount Kailash we will be following a tradition that goes back thousands of years. We will start from Kathmandu in Nepal, going via Lhasa to Kailash for our kora, returning to Kathmandu for the final day of the trip. We will visit the most important sacred sites along the way and have time for meditation in the caves of the yogis. Anyone who wishes can do a Reiki course en-route and have their attunement on the mountain. This is a physically challenging trip and can be a life-changing event. It is also an exciting adventure!

Asia’s most sacred mountain stands in a remote corner of Far Western Tibet, an area known as Ngari, and Mount Kailash was out of bounds for many years, only becoming accessible to outside visitors in the 1980s. There is no public transport to this part of Tibet and pilgrims travel to the mountain by means of jeeps, trucks and land cruisers. And some still do it the traditional way – on foot.

To each pilgrim Kailash speaks differently. Hindus journey from India to circle the abode of Shiva and to bathe in the lake created from the mind of Brahma. Buddhists come from Ladakh, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, and from all over Tibet to the mountain they call Kang Rinpoche, the Snow Jewel. Jains know it as Mount Ashtapada, on the summit of which their founder, Rishabanatha, gained spiritual liberation. And to the Bonpos, followers of Tibet’s ancient pre-Buddhist spiritual culture, it is the ‘Nine-Storey Swastika Mountain,’ the mystic soul of Zhang Zhung. Only recently has archaeological work been allowed in the areas which were controlled by the Zhang Zhung civilisation, but it is thought that their culture was centred around sacred Mount Kailash. To many Western people it is the spiritual crown of the planet. This is where the male and female energies meet – at Gaia’s crown chakra.

The dates for this trip 3-24 July 2010. Please note, however, that these dates are subject to confirmation. 

Pilgrimage or Adventure Holiday?
A pilgrim’s journey is intensely personal. Johnson & Moran, the authors of the book Tibet’s Sacred Mountain, explain it like this:

Holiday adventurers and pilgrims alike all experience this to some degree. The energies of the land of Tibet, of the at times arduous journey, of the other pilgrims met along the way, and particularly of the mountain itself, cannot fail to affect even the most hardened tourist!

A Spiritual Journey to the Heart of Zhang Zhung
Visitors from outside Tibet enter the country in organised groups. This trip is being arranged with the help of a well-established and highly reputable travel company based in Kathmandu called Dharma Adventures which has many years of experience guiding such groups. Our group will gather in Boudha, near Kathmandu, on Saturday 3rd July. We will meet as a group for the first time to have dinner together and discuss the forthcoming trip. The following morning we will enjoy a guided tour of Boudha and after lunch will visit the Hindu temple complex of Pashupatinath on the banks of the holy Bagamati River. This temple is regarded as the most sacred temple of Shiva (Pashupati) in Nepal. On Monday morning we’ll go to the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu to obtain our visas to enter Tibet and the rest of the day will be spent visiting the “Monkey Temple” at Swayambhunath and other parts of Kathmandu city. Swayambhunath is one of the most sacred sites of Buddhist and Hindu pilgrimage in Nepal, second only to Boudhanath. It is an ancient religious complex on a hill to the West of Kathmandu consisting of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, a Tibetan monastery, a museum and a library.

Having obtained our visas, on Tuesday we fly to Lhasa Gonggar Airport, which is situated about 45 km to the south-west of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. We’ll spend the next four days in Lhasa while we acclimatise to the increased altitude (3595 m). Gradual acclimatisation to increasing height above sea level is very important from a safety point of view as it is possible to suffer from altitude sickness if you ascend too quickly. 

While in Lhasa we will visit some of the most important sacred sites, including the Potala Palace and Norbulingkha, which were the winter and summer palaces respectively of the Dalai Lamas for several centuries. It’s planned to visit the secret temple behind the Potala as well, where the walls of the private chapel are covered in paintings depicting tantric meditational and yogic practices on the path to enlightenment. We will also visit the Jokhang Temple, located on Barkhor Square, which was built in the 7th century during the reign of King Songsten Gampo to celebrate his marriage to the Chinese Buddhist Princess Wencheng. This temple is the spiritual centre of Lhasa and houses the Jowo – a very important statue of the Buddha which is perhaps the single most venerated object in Tibetan Buddhism. The surrounding area, known as the Barkhor, is a kora circuit in its own right. The quadrangle of streets that surrounds the Jokhang is an area unrivalled in Tibet for its fascinating combination of deep religiosity and market stall economics. Here we can buy our prayer flags and any other supplies we might need for the kora. 

We will have the chance to visit Drepung and Sera Monasteries and perhaps Ganden as well, depending on the wishes of the group. These were the three great Gelugpa university monasteries of Tibet. Drepung was at one time the largest monastery in the world, accommodating up to 10,000 monks. Today, the population at the monastery is much smaller with only a few hundred monks.

From Lhasa we begin the drive to Western Tibet. We will travel in Toyota landcruisers, which are the most reliable form of transport for this kind of trip. Overnight stops will be at hotels or pilgrim guesthouses along the route, where the standard of accommodation is basic but adequate for our needs. En-route we will visit the Gyantse Kumbum, a 35 m high, three-dimensional mandala on nine levels which portrays the Buddhist cosmos. We’ll also be able to visit the unusual Palkhor Monastery and Tashilunpo Monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama, where there is a gigantic statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. A single finger of this statue is almost four feet in length! We have a rest day stop at the sacred Manasarovar Lake, where we can visit the nearby hot springs for a dip before continuing the journey to Darchen, from where we begin our kora of Mount Kailash.

The circuit around Kailash is 52 km, or 32 miles. Tibetan pilgrims often walk the entire kora in a day, but for those who prostrate their way around, it can take three weeks. We will have a leisurely three days for our kora and we’ll have yaks to carry our baggage and camping gear. The first leg is Darchen to Diraphuk, which is about 20 km and is an easy walk along the side of the Lham-Chhu River (Divine River). The monastery there takes its name from the female-yak-horn (dira) cave (phuk) where Gotsangpa, a wandering yogi recognised as the incarnation of Milarepa, meditated. We camp overnight at Diraphuk. The following morning we have a steep climb up to the Drolma La Pass, the highest point of the trip at 5630 m. Because of the gradual nature of our journey and our ascent, we should be well-prepared for the special time we’ll be able to spend at the ‘Temple of Tara’ there. This is the name given to the green glacier covering the rock face opposite the pass. We can put up our prayer flags and offer incense, and for anyone who wishes to have a Reiki attunement, that can be done there too. After resting and refreshments we cross the pass and make the steep descent into the Lham Chhu Khyr Valley where we spend our second night at camp. On the last day of the kora we walk to Zutrulphuk, which takes its name from the miracle (zutrul) phuk (cave) where Milarepa is said to have meditated. The cave is now protected by a monastery built infront of it but we will be able to visit the cave and meditate there. On our approach to Darchen we will be met by the landcruisers to be whisked off to Chiu Gompa at Manasarovar where we stay overnight at the lodge. This is a fabulous location on a craggy hill top overlooking the lake and we’ll have the opportunity to take a post-kora dip in the hot springs there. 

The following day we begin the drive back to the border with Nepal, stopping en-route to visit the Milarepa cave just before Nyalam. At the border town of Zhangmu we leave the landcruisers and bid farewell to our Tibetan guide and drivers to cross the Friendship Bridge on foot. After all immigration and customs formalities have been completed we drive back to Boudha where we spend the last day of our time together, finishing with a farewell dinner at the famous Rum Doodle Restaurant in Kathmandu.


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