Mt Kanchenjunga, Sikkim

Last year I went on pilgrimage with my wife to the sacred land of Darjeeling and Sikkim (I wrote about Darjeeling here). The great guru Padmasambhava visited this Himalayan sanctuary in the 8^th century. Many saints and accomplished masters have meditated in the mountains, temples and grottos of Sikkim in past centuries.

Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé ((1597-1653))

In the 16^th century the Tibetan yogi, Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé, crossed the Himalayas and came to Tashi Ding upon the encouragement of his gurus. When he reached one of the sacred caves north of Tashi Ding, he had a profound visionary experience. This spiritual vision spurred him to write a volume worth of esoteric Vajrayana teachings entitled Rigdzin Sokdrup, Accomplishing the Life-Force of the Vidyadharas. The pith instructions of this volume of teachings was a short liturgy known as Riwo Sangchö, or Mountain Smoke Offering. While it may seem as though Riwo Sangchö is a common ritual for purification and offering incense, the liturgy contained the unsurpassed instructions of the pinnacle of the Buddhist teachings known as Dzogchen Atiyoga.

Neten Chokling Rinpoche in his retreat hut at Tashi Ding

We had journeyed the windy roads and hiked the last few miles to Tashi Ding to spend a week practicing Riwo Sangchö at the very cave where Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé had revealed it. We were blessed to find the contemporary Dzogchen master, Chokling Rinpoche, who was in a six-month retreat. He and his wife Choyang were exceptionally kind and arranged a small retreat room for us.

On the second evening, Chokling Rinpoche and I were speaking about the substances that are offered into the fire during Riwo Sangchö practice.  He told me how many kinds of plants such as juniper and sandalwood are combined with consecrated medicinal herbs and flowers; five metals including gold, silver and copper; precious minerals including pearl, lapis lazuli and coral; five-colored cloth representing the pure essence of earth, water, fire, air and space; and the three whites (butter, milk, curd) and the three sweets (honey, sugar, molasses); and other substances that are prescribed in ancient texts.

Burning juniper and other sacred substance for incense offering in Tibet (photo courtesy Matteiu Ricard)

All of this is burned to make aromatic smoke, which is used as both a physical offering and as the bases of an esoteric visualization practice. It is possible to burn all of these together en masse during the ritual, or else, having ground the substances into a powder and then formed into joss sticks, simply light the thin incense.

Before our conversation concluded, I asked Chokling Rinpoche if he and his monks could make two kinds of incense for friends of Nekorpa—one Pilgrimage incense for purifying and offering, and another for Riwo Sangchö practice.

Monk from Chokling Monastery drying Nekorpa’s incense

He agreed and soon his monks were collecting the needed substances from lamas and monasteries around Tibet, India and Nepal—and this is the incense we just received.

For a donation of $12 to Nekorpa, we will send you a package of either the Pilgrimage or Riwo Sangchö incense. You may order more than one package and kindly adjust your donation accordingly. Your donation includes shipping and handling and you can make the donation here. Please be sure to include the address where you want the incense to be shipped. If you would like to order the incense in bulk, kindly email me at info@nekorpa.org.

Nekorpa’s incense in biodegradable packaging

Description of the two kinds of incense:

Nekorpa’s Pilgrimage Incense is handcrafted in northern India and prepared with the highest quality fruits, grains, medicinal herbs, gold and other metals, and milk products that are prescribed in ancient scriptures. Burning this incense is traditionally used as an offering, as well as for cleansing the external landscape of pollutants and purifying one’s inner channels for yoga and meditation. The lamas and monks of Chokling Gar have made this incense for Nekorpa.

Nekorpa’s Riwo Sangchö incense is a hand-crafted mixture of consecrated medicinal herbs and flowers; five metals including gold, silver and copper; precious minerals including pearl, lapis lazuli and coral; five-colored cloth representing the pure essence of earth, water, fire, air and space; and the three whites (butter, milk, curd) and the three sweets (honey, sugar, molasses); and other substances that are prescribed in the ancient text for mountain smoke offering of Riwo Sangchö. The various substances have been gathered from lamas and hermits in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, India and China, and made by monks of Chokling Gar for Nekorpa. This incense can be used for offering, purifying and meditation.

And a final note, Lotsawa House has translated various texts and commentaries associated with Riwo Sangchö and you can find them here. And Dzongsar Khyentsé Rinpoche is considered to be an incarnation of Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé, and here you can see a video of him talking about Lhatsün Namkha Jikmé and Riwo Sangchö at Tashi Ding.

The name ‘Darjeeling’ is an Anglicization of the Tibetan ‘Dorje Ling.’ Local histories recount how a lama, Dorje Rigzin, came to this area in the mid 1700s and established a Buddhist monastery; thereafter the surrounding region took the name ‘the abode of Dorje,’ or Dorje Ling. When the British Raj came to Dorje Ling a hundred years later to establish a military depot and eventually cultivate tea on a mass scale, they changed the name Dorje Ling to Darjeeling.

In 1842 another wanderer came to Darjeeling, the Hungarian Alexander Csoma de Kőrösi, now recognized as the grandfather of modern Tibetan translators. I wrote about his extraordinary attempts to find the origins of his people in Kyoto Journal 74 (Silk Roads: Samarkand to Nara), published in 2010. Briefly, he was convinced that a Central Asian tribe named the Ugars, mentioned by a 7^th-century Greek historian, were ancestors of the Hungarians of his era, and were still represented among the Uigyurs of East Turkistan (and present-day Xinjiang, China).

Tibetan scroll painting of Csoma de Kőrösi

Csoma de Kőrösi’s arrival in Darjeeling was preceded by a quarter century-long epic adventure that started in 1819 when he left his Hungarian birthplace of Kovaszna (now in Romania) for Croatia and Constantinople, traveling then through Egypt and Syria by foot, camel and boat en route to Baghdad and eventually caravanning along the Silk Road from the Middle East to Bukhara, past the Bamian Buddhas and through Kabul, into Pakistan and Lahore. This European Christian changed his appearance and dress, spoken tongue, name and identification papers to suit, and indeed, survive the notoriously dangerous roads. Csoma de Kőrösi prophetically described his life’s journey, “Both to satisfy my desire, and to prove my gratitude and love for my nation, I have set off, and must search for the origin of my nation…avoiding neither dangers that may perhaps occur, nor the distance I may have to travel.”

Csoma de Kőrösi’s journey

Having taken up residence in an ancient monastery in Ladakh (between Kashmir and Tibet) to study Tibetan, one evening by candlelight Csoma de Kőrösi discovered a passage in a commentary on the Kalachakra tantra that he believed not only pinpointed his ancestral homeland, but identified it as none other than Shambhala. He wrote, “the mentioning of a great desert of twenties days’ journey, and of white sandy plains on both sides of the Sita, render it probable that the Buddhist Jerusalem (I so call it), in the most ancient times, must have been beyond the Jaxartes [in current day Uzbekistan], and probably the land of the Yugurs.” Csoma de Kőrösi believed that the Kalachakra tantra was his esoteric passport to his native soil in East Turkistan. He was not of the view that the Shambhala he was studying described a ethereal cosmology, a contemplative playground, or some sort of Buddhist metaphor—he believed that these tantric scriptures gave the latitude and longitude map to Shambhala, which was none other than the land of the Yugurs, or Uigyurs, from which flowed his ancestral lineage.

Upon completion in 1837 of the first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar, after eleven years in Ladakh, Csoma de Kőrösi moved to Calcutta (Kolkata) to work for the Asiatic Society and study Sanskrit and related dialects, still preparing himself linguistically for his journey via Lhasa to his believed homeland to the north. He felt further study of Sanskrit was the key to opening the meaning of many of the scriptures found in the great monastic libraries in Lhasa—which would provide further clues to the ancient Uighur Kingdom. By this time, Csoma de Kőrösi had mastered eighteen languages, and while Tibetan was in his repertoire, he still had not set foot in Tibet proper—although Ladakh is often included geo-culturally as Western Tibet.

In late March 1842, Csoma de Kőrösi left Calcutta on foot, traveling through the Terai jungle to Darjeeling in the Himalayas. There he established a connection with Dr. Archibald Campbell, the British Superintendant of Darjeeling, who set up the diplomatic arrangements for him to travel through Tibet. But his travels through the jungle had taken their toll and by the first week of April, he was running a high marsh fever, likely malaria. Dr. Campbell wrote of Csoma de Kőrösi, “…all his hopes of attaining the object of the long and laborious search were centered in the discovery of the country of the ‘Yoogors’…to reach it was the goal of his most ardent wishes, and there he fully expected to find the tribes he had hitherto sought in vain.”

On 11 April 1842, Csoma de Kőrösi passed away peacefully. Dr. Campbell wrote that the Hungarian’s only possessions were, “four boxes of books and paper, the suit of blue clothes he always wore, and in which he died, a few sheets, and one cooking pot.” He was buried in the old cemetery with a simple cross but in recent years a large pillar was raised above the grave and commemorative plaques have been affixed nearby. Elsewhere around the world, reminders of his life can be found, like the statue of him seated in meditation posture, resting in a Tokyo museum. Additionally there are other tributes and memorials elsewhere in the world, especially in Hungary.

Cementary Csoma de Kőrösi

Today the cemetery in Darjeeling is divided by a road leading to the main vegetable bazaar in one direction and to the Himalayan Mountain Institute in the other. Csoma de Kőrösi’s gravesite is situated beside the busy avenue. Though most gravesites at the cemetery are dilapidated, his countrymen and admirers have maintained Csoma de Kőrösi’s grave over the years.

Most recently, in November 2012, one hundred and seventy years after his death, a delegation from Hungary came to erect near his gravesite a totem pole donated by the people of his hometown. ”The memorial pole symbolizes relations between Hungary and Darjeeling,” the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament said during the ceremony.  “The name Darjeeling was known to us much before the days of internet and mass tourism not because of it being a British Hill Station, or for the Himalayas or its tea but as the place where De Kőrösi breathed his last. He was a renowned oriental scholar who introduced Tibetan culture and literature to the West.”

Thanks to Ken Rodgers of Kyoto Journal for his insights

Matteo Pistono meets with the women’s organization of Pharping in February 2013 at the newly constructed plastic bottle walled toilet. Click here to see more photos.

In February 2013, Nekorpa’s Executive Director, Matteo Pistono visited Pharping to check on the practical steps that are being taken towards Zero Waste management. The challenges of waste management in Nepal are seemingly insurmountable, including at the village of Pharping. There are no sustainable systems in Nepal to deal with garbage or sewage. Yet, Nekorpa’s pilot project in Pharping of plastic-bottle walled public toilet block is an innovative step that we hope contributes to the overall effort of waste management in the Kathmandu valley.

Nekorpa has chosen to work in the village of Pharping because of the centuries old pilgrimage routes and sites around the area that are held sacred by Newari Buddhists, Shiva and Kali devotees, and Tibetan Buddhists.

The block of plastic-bottle walled toilets in Pharping was built in the center of the village on land administered by the local women’s organization. In 2012 Nekorpa received a donation of a plot a land for a toilet block (and trash collect center) but due to political volatilities at the national level, that site was eventually taken back. We were pleased the local women’s organization collaborated with Nekorpa to find this centrally located area for the public toilets.

The plastic bottles were filled with sand and secured by cement. 

The women’s organization collected discarded water and soda bottles and filled them with sand and the bottle were then used with brick and cement. The construction of the toilet block has spurred a weekly cleanup in the streets and alleyways of Pharping. The women’s group began making organic compost for fertilizer and is selling it at their local co-op to fund the upkeep of the public toilet.

On a sad note, Dr. Min Bahadur Shakya , the pandit of Newari and Tibetan Buddhist scholarship who advised Nekorpa on our Pharping project, passed away in late 2012. We honor his great body of achievement and erudition.

Nekorpa would like to thank The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation’s continued support of Nekorpa’s partners in Pharping.

Dear fellow pilgrims,

What a year in 2012 for Nekorpa projects in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. And we are excited to announce a new project in northern India for next year.

Please join us on our journey to protect and improve sacred landscapes in 2013, and beyond.

With your help, Nekorpa is entering our fourth year of work. We have built partnerships, started innovative programs and established a strong network of spiritual friends and supporters. And we hope you will continue to support the preservation of pilgrimage sites with a tax-deductible donation today.

What has Nekorpa been up to in 2012? And what are we planning for next year?

Nekorpa’s most ambition project of the last three years has been at Sri Pada—Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. At the summit of Sri Pada, there is a “sacred footprint” in the rock. Buddhists hold it to be the footprint of the Buddha, Hindus that of Shiva, and in the Christian and Muslim traditions that of Adam. Nekorpa’s comprehensive plastic clean-up program has been on-going along the two principal pilgrimage routes and is integrated with school and environmental programs about ‘spiritual climbing.’ The pilgrimage guidebook for Sri Pada is scheduled for publication in 2013.

We continue to support the upkeep of the stupa-reliquary in far Eastern Tibet that was constructed to honor the life and teachings of Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa, a 19th century mystic and meditation master. Nekorpa plans to publish a translation of a short biography of Tertön Sogyal and guidebook to the area in 2013.

Our collaboration in Bhutan with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at Taksang Hermitage continues to get attention. This year, WWF published our ‘In the Lair of the Tiger’ article. We have continued our work with the Bhutanese government to protect the sacred mountain climb to the hermitage and to promote “green pilgrimage,” which has included planning of a brick pathway to combat erosion, promote proper sanitation, and publish a pilgrimage guidebook.

At the holy pilgrimage sites of Pharping, in Nepal, Nekorpa continued the community-wide Zero Waste campaign. Following a challenging first year of awareness- building and cleanup, the project received the donation of a plot of land for a recycling center and public toilets—which will be the focus of the project into 2013.

Nekorpa is looking forward to working in 2013 in the village of Sankassa in India, home to a pilgrimage site significant in the life of the Buddha. You can read more about the project here.

Please support Nekorpa so we can continue to protect pilgrimage places for spiritual pilgrims, practitioners, tradition holders, and indeed, the world.

Please consider making a donation, dedicating prayers, and making aspirations to benefit Nekorpa’s work. We thank you.

Over 90% of all donations are utilized directly for projects at sacred pilgrimage sites. We have no paid employees and rely on volunteer and in-kind support to carry out our mission. Nekorpa is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit in the US.

Namaste and prayers for peace along your pilgrimage!

Matteo Pistono & Josh Elmore

Founders, Nekorpa nekorpa.org

Nekorpa 

1893 Country Road 68 

Nederland, CO 80466

Below is an article from TRICYCLE magazine about the conference.

Visions of an Empowered Future

Notes from the 2011 International Network of Engaged Buddhists Conference in Bodhgaya  by Minette Lee Mangahas

Yangsi Rinpoche (center) and Dr. James Blumenthal (top left) were joined by Matteo Pistono (top right) and Dr. David Loy and Dr. Christina Hulbe

Nekorpa was pleased to present our work at Maitripa College in Portland in December. The program was titled, “Buddhism, Science, and the Environment: Is it too late for individuals to make a difference?”

We were asked, “Can our planet sustain a global population that has recently reached 7 billion?  When the environmental crisis feels overwhelming, we may wonder if it is nearly too late? Can individuals still make a difference? And do the teachings of the Buddha, who lived long before carbon emissions, have anything to say about philosophical, ethical, or pragmatic responses to global imbalance.”

Scientist of climate change, Christina Hulbe, philosopher David Loy, businessman Mark Waller, and founder of Nekorpa, Matteo Pistono, spoke about approaching sustainability thresholds and what can be done by whom to avert catastrophe and even possibly create space for healing communities and earth systems. Maitripa President & Professor of Buddhist Studies, Yangsi Rinpoche, furthered the conversation with reflections from the Buddhist tradition that illuminate these issues. The very successful event was moderated by Professor of Buddhist Studies, James Blumenthal.

Matto Pistono and Josh Elmore at Maratika Cave in Nepal

December 9, 2011

Namaste fellow pilgrims,

Nekorpa has had a busy and productive year working to enrich and protect sacred pilgrimage sites.  We have built partnerships, started innovative programs and established a strong network of spiritual friends and supporters.

Please join with us on our journey to protect and improve sacred landscapes in 2012!

From Sri Lanka to Nepal to Tibet and in between, Nekorpa is making it possible for communities to protect and restore their spiritual landscapes.  Our program is small, highly focused and run by local people to ensure it will continue and grow. But, we need your support.

Nekorpa is engaging local groups, international NGOs, scholars and spiritual practitioners to join together in support of our mission. The local response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive.

Our work is getting noticed and we have been invited to advise, guide, and work with environmental and cultural projects, including a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and DiversEarth. This is a real testament to the substance of our work and more importantly a recognition of the importance of sacred pilgrimage sites.

Below is snapshot of what Nekorpa has accomplished since we started two years ago, and what we have planned for 2012:

• In a far eastern region of Tibet, a stupa-reliquary was constructed to honor the life and teachings of Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa, a 19th century mystic and meditation master. We are now translating a short biography of the mystic to be included with the guidebook to the area.

• Last year at Taksang Hermitage in Bhutan, we collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the project ‘Where Pilgrims & Conservationists Meet.’ Recommendations were made to the Bhutanese government on protecting the sacred mountain climb to the hermitage and to promote “green pilgrimage.” Nekorpa is continuing the partnership with WWF along the pilgrimage route to Taksang by supporting a brick pathway to combat erosion, promote proper sanitation, and publish a pilgrimage guidebook.

• Outside Kathmandu, Nepal, at the holy pilgrimage sites of Pharping, Nekorpa embarked on an ambitious community-wide Zero Waste campaign. Following a challenging year of awareness building and clean-up, the project recently received the donation of a plot of land for a recycling center and public toilets. Research continues on the pilgrimage guidebook, which will cover the sacred sites from the Chobar Gorge to the Vajrayogini Temple and the caves of Yangleshö to Asura, the Hindu sacred sites in the area including Daksinkali and Sheshnayan temples, as well as the Haraiti mountain shrines.

• Our most ambition project of the last two years has been at Sri Pada—Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. At the summit of Sri Pada, there is a “sacred footprint” in the rock. Buddhists hold it to be the footprint of the Buddha, Hindus that of Shiva, and in the Christian and Muslim traditions that of Adam. Nekorpa’s comprehensive plastic clean-up program has been on-going along the two principal pilgrimage routes and is integrated with school and environmental programs about ‘spiritual climbing.’ A pilgrimage guidebook for Sri Pada will be published in September 2012.

• Increasing awareness and appreciation for pilgrimage sites, Matteo Pistono, Nekorpa’s Executive Director, has given slideshow talks at universities, conferences and meetings across the United States, in India and England.

Nekorpa is looking forward to working with our dedicated local partners in 2012 in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan and expanding to projects in Mongolia and India, and beyond.

We encourage you to support us so we can continue to protect pilgrimage places for spiritual pilgrims, practitioners, tradition holders, and indeed, the world.

Please consider making a donation, dedicating prayers and making aspirations to benefit Nekorpa’s work.

Over 90% all donations are utilized directly for projects at sacred pilgrimage sites. We have no paid employees and rely on volunteer and in-kind support to carry out our mission. Nekorpa is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit in the US.

With hand folded and prayers for peace along your journey,

Matteo Pistono and Josh Elmore

Founders, Nekorpa, nekorpa.org

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.

THE ENVIRONMENT:  Is It Too Late for Individuals to Make A Difference?

Can our planet sustain a global population that has recently reached 7 billion?  When the environmental crisis feels overwhelming, we may wonder if it is nearly too late? Can individuals still make a difference? And do the teachings of the Buddha, who lived long before carbon emissions, have anything to say about philosophical, ethical, or pragmatic responses to global imbalance?
Join us as we ask scientist of climate change, Christina Hulbe, philosopher David Loy, businessman Mark Waller, and founder of Nekorpa, Matteo Pistono, about approaching sustainability thresholds and what can be done by whom to avert catastrophe and even possibly create space for healing communities and earth systems. Maitripa President & Professor of Buddhist Studies, Yangsi Rinpoche, will further the conversation with reflections from the Buddhist tradition that illuminate these issues. Moderated by Professor of Buddhist Studies, James Blumenthal.

Click here to register for the symposium in Portland, OR.

Check out photographs from Nekorpa’s work in Sri Lanka and Nepal 2010-2011.

Nekorpa is dependent upon your generosity and it is easy to donate here. Thank you.