Sri Lanka pilgrimage - from Colombo to Adam's peak & low-budget hotels and guest houses at the foot of Adam's peak

There are three ways to get to Adam's Peak (or Sri Pada) from either Colombo, the airport or Negombo Beach and so on. You can take the train, hire a taxi or take the bus. Regarding comfort level, the train is the most comfortable, then a taxi and probably lastly the bus. Regarding prices, the train is also the cheapest, then the bus, and most expensive is if you take a taxi all the way from Colombo. Thus whichever budget you have, the train is probably your best choice if you are travelling alone. If you are with a small group, hiring a taxi is a good idea, and for even larger groups hiring an air-conditioned bus can be a very good option.

Train
All the guides seem to agree, and I can also affirm personally, that the train is a very good option indeed. There is mention in the guides that you should reserve the train before hand, as 1st and 2nd class can get booked out. But I didn't do that, and there were plenty of seats. But perhaps on full moon day or if you're simply out of luck, that could be another story. If you happen to be in Colombo before hand, perhaps you can just go to the train station and reserve a ticket.

If you leave from Negombo Beach, you can already take the train from Negombo station. A tuktuk will take you there for around 200 rupees. Here you can only buy a ticket to Colombo, which would only cost 50 rupees or so. The trains seems to go almost every 15 minutes, first an express train, then a slow train, then an express and so on. The only catch here is that the express train, which presumable goes straight to Colombo, is packed, Indian train style, during rush hour. So a better choice is the slow train, which stops at each station. I left at 6:50 at arrived in Colombo train station at 8:15. When you arrive you need to cross the rails to the main building to get a ticket. But you can also take a tuktuk from Negombo Beach to take you to the train station in Colombo, which will take an hour or so and would cost between 2000 - 4000 rupees.
If you leave from Colombo, the only thing you need to do is take a taxi or tuktuk to the train station.

There are many ticket counters at the train station, but the one you need for Hatton, which is the station closest for Adam's peak, is counter nr 17. It's a bit hidden but if you stand in front of the counters, it's all the way to the left. Inside you need the counter for Triconmalee and so on.

Ticket counter for Hatton

A ticket for 2nd class is only 600 rupees. I was lucky and just caught the train at 8:30. The train is very comfortable, even for western standards. As some guides tell us, it's indeed better to go for 2nd class, without airco. The windows are always open, giving a very nice breeze, and the airco is not needed. Also, if you have airco you might not be able to open the window, which obstructs nice pictures.

1st class

2nd class, my fellow traveller chatting with locals

Rice fields and palm trees

The train goes up to Kandy, and then goes down to Hatton.

Buddha statue in the distance just before Kandy

We arrived around 13:45, only a bit later then planned. Thus it took just over 5 hours.

Once you get to Hatton, you can take either the bus, a taxi or a tuktuk. Many tourists get out here, and before I could even find the bus station, a group of westerners approached me, asking if I wanted to share a big taxi with 6 persons. It was 2500 rupees, and thus only 400 rupees per person and takes you to Dalhousie or Nallathanniya (which is were you need to go) in less then an hour.

Taxi or tuktuk
I've heard prices for 100 dollar and up. If you're with a few friends it's not that expensive, but it will probably take about 4 or 5 hours at least. The advantage is that you'll go straight to you final destination, and this is probably the quickest option.

Buses

I'm not very informed about the bus at the moment, but if you go to Colombo bus station, for sure you can take a bus to Hatton.

Accommodation at the feet of Adam's peak

A first glance at Sri Pada

I've heard some people say, that accommodation would be limited at the feet of Adam's Peak, but that seems incorrect. Hotels and guest houses are abundant. That is of course to be expected, since the mountain is a sacred place of pilgrimage for all of the people of Sri Lanka, whether Buddhist, Christian or Muslim. Many islanders I've met went there at least once in their lives, and with 20 million people in Sri Lanka plus a bunch of tourists you can imagine they need quite a few hotels. During the season though, thing for sure get crowded, and at full moon days it might be impossible to get a room.

Many people go for only one day, walk up during the night and leave straight away next morning: the new modern way of speedy pilgrimage. Now in November, the pilgrimage season has not started and you barely see locals, only foreigners. About mid December, during full moon the season will start and then it will get very, very busy. Interestingly, since now it's about one month before the season starts, the whole area looks like a big construction site, with everybody racing to upgrade and extend their hotels for the new season!

One of the construction sites

If you look online for Hotels, obviously you will only find those on the higher end of the spectrum. For those with a smaller budget, perhaps when you arrive first take an hour or so to explore your options leisurely. Asking for a price and then walking away is also a great strategy for getting better prices. Especially outside of the pilgrimage season, you can negotiate. Talk to the locals, and you will find cheap home-stays for as little as 500 rupee (but then don't expect hot water). There are also nice places for around 1000 rupees or so, but you'd have to look for them. Getting a room for 1500 is not that difficult. But if you take a room in one of the fancy hotels, next to the roads, prices are more likely to be around 20-50 dollars.

Han, december 2015

Sri Lanka pilgrimage low budget - arrival

For those with a slightly smaller budget, going about in Sri Lanka is not so easy as it is in India or Nepal, where cheap guest houses and restaurants are in abundance. Here are a few tips!

Negombo ocean

When you arrive in Colombo, a smart thing to do while still in the airport, is to get a Sri Lankan sim card. There are several companies you can choose from; I chose air-tel, which for 1000 rupees offered me a sim with 10gb valid for 1 month, and some calling credit. Enough to get me going for the next month. Changing money is of course also a good idea, but don't change too much, as in the airport they give you very bad rates. Outside the airport you can get much better rates.

Then how to get away from the airport. Instead of taking a taxi, you need to walk only a few hundred meters to get to the main road. From there you can take a tuk-tuk, which are cheaper. 

Most of us will want to chill out a bit before continuing the journey. A good option is to crash in a town called Negombo beach. This is only a few minutes drive from the airport, much nearer and thus also cheaper to go then Colombo. Also, big cities, especially capital,  tend to be more expensive. If you take the tuk-tuk to Negombo, make sure to negotiate the price for Negombo beach, not just Negombo, since it's a bit further. 1000 rupees or a bit more should get you there.

Fisherman's chill-out hut with fish drying in front

The guest houses I stayed was Sea House. You'll find it here . It's a tiny little guest house with a very nice manager. A single room was 1500. If you look around in the area, you might be able to find a room for 1000, but no less then that. You can find a few guest houses with rooms for 1500 rupees.

Good restaurant are plenty, for non-veggies the seafood is paradise. For the veggies, nice dishes are a cheese kotha (sliced roti with vegetables and cheese), or rice & curry. Also I had a very tasty Sri Lankan style buryani (rice with spices, veg, and mine included some ananas). For less then 300 rupees it's difficult to find something decent to eat, normal prices range between 400-600 rupees. The cheapest option is to get a lunchbox, that's what many locals do! It's usually rice with a few different side dishes, like vegetables, dal, mango curry, chicken and some seafood. It's really fine food, very tasty. The good thing about Sri Lanka, is that you don't need to worry about hygiene as you should in India. Their hygiene is pretty good and I've neither heard nor read about problems with the food.You can get the lunch boxes for about 200 rupees. Then, the best thing to drink is coconut water! For only 50 rupees you can get them at the beach or along the road in vegetable stands.

Housing and food will take the larger part of you budget, travelling around won't cost you that much. The cheapest, and according to Lonely Planet also the most amazing, are the railways, but unfortunately they were having a strike when I had to travel. Buses from Colombo are also very cheap and can take you anywhere in Sri Lanka. If you have some travel companions, tuk-tuk's and taxi are also affordable. As always in the east, before you get in, make sure to negotiate the price.

More information you can find through Google, and the newest Lonely Planet is, as always, a good companion as well. Google maps on your phone can also be a great aid. Have fun!

A case of Tibetan medicine successfully managing epilepsy

Tibetan medicine is still considered by most as a kind of 'alternative medicine', which is nice, but if you are 'really sick', you need 'real medicine'. However, this is not true. Tibetan medicine is as powerful as modern medicine. In some cases it even works much better then modern medicine, and that without side effects and multiple other benefits. This is nicely illustrated by the story of my friend Aaron, who was so kind to write a little article on his treatment of epilepsy with Tibetan medicine.

"In October 2012 I began taking Tibetan medicine to manage the symptoms of epilepsy, which I was diagnosed with in 1997. Since my diagnosis I have been taking Epilim (500mg) twice each day. This medication is documented as having several side-effects that vary from person to person but include damage to the liver and digestive capacity, changes in appetite (weight gain), depression, and some hair loss. I decided to try Tibetan medicine as a substitute for this western medicine that managed the symptoms of my epilepsy but also damaged my health.

When my Tibetan doctor prescribed a combination of medicines he said I could stop taking my epilim immediately because the Tibetan medicine would manage my epilepsy successfully. I was skeptical but decided to take his advice. He was absolutely right. I had no epileptic episodes during the transition from epilim to Tibetan medicine.

My Tibetan medicine has successfully managed the symptoms of my epilepsy for the last few years. I still sometimes have episodes but this happens only (as it did with epilim) when I fail to take my medicine, drink alcohol excessively, have a lack of sleep, and eat poorly. As long as I take care of my health I have no epileptic episodes. Furthermore, the harm done by epilim to my liver and digestive system has also slowly receded, though my Tibetan doctors have said it will probably be a year or two before the harm is completely reversed.

Yet while the Tibetan medicine has been incredibly effective, a change in diet has also been essential to becoming increasingly healthy during this period. In my own experience I have found that most Tibetan medical practitioners are unable to give precise and comprehensive diet and nutrition advice, perhaps due to the limited variety of food found in Tibet. It has been my introduction to Ayurveda, the health science of India, that has been the necessary complement to my Tibetan medicine.

Ayurveda is a health system that prescribes different diet and lifestyle regimes according to one's specific constitution. I have found that the two systems complement each other very well. The benefits have been noticeable. I have more energy, sleep better, and have less digestive problems.

I would advise anyone with epilepsy to give Tibetan medicine a try, and anyone seeking coherent and targeted health and nutrition advice (in contrast to the sometimes contradictory prescriptions found the West) to try eating according to Ayurvedic principles."     Aaron 

Sacred places in Nepal: Godawari

In the Dakini terma revealed by Jikme Lingpa, the Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, there is mention of the twenty-four great sacred places, and one of them is Godawari. As is says in the sadhana:

The left ear is the land of Godavari,

It should be noted that this enumeration is a bit different from the Hevajra tantra. Also, finding the exact physical location of these sacred places is not always an easy matter, and thus inevitably for some places there are several possibilities. In Nepal, both the region of Lapchi, where Milarepa meditated, and a small town just south of Kathmandu are considered to be Godawari. This is not to say that one is authentic and the other is not. It’s more about the qualities present at a certain site. Now, here we will look at the town of Godawari just below Kathmandu.

How to get there

From Kathmandu, you can take any bus on the ring road going to the most southern point of the ring road called Satdobato. From there, get into a mini bus going to Godawari. It will take about half an hour. Once you get to Godawari, walk along with the road bending to the left. You’ll need to walk a few minutes and then you’ll arrive at the town of Godawari.

The sacred place of Godawari

Godawari

If you continue walking , on your right side you will see a few monasteries, and then a bit further on is the sacred site of Godawari. There is a basin of water outside the temple, which has an inner part that might be locked. Inside there is the source, with shrines on both sides.

A rock shrine to the right of the source

Monasteries around Godawari

Currently there are two monastery’s in godawari, with a third one being in the making. The first one is a retreat center founded by Chatral Rinpoche, called rang dbang zhi bde chos kyi skyed tshal. It has a beautiful garden with stupa’s. 

Chatral Rinpoche's retreat center

Stupa's in the garden

The second one is a monastery related to the people of the region of Tsum in Nepal, called Osal Choling, founded by Sherab Tendar Rinpoche and now headed by Lama Sherab Rinpoche. Interestingly, in the region of Tsum there is a strong tradition of practice by lay people. The monastery is dedicated to retreats on Konchok Chidu, the revelation of Jatson Nyingpo. The third one, currently being constructed, is called snga 'gyur rdzogs chen shrI sing+ha ling rtogs chos gling.

(Special thanks to Mr. Mang for all his clarifications on sacred places)

Studying Tibetan at Esukhia and Kangyur input project

Several years ago while staying in Bir, India, I was present at weekly gatherings in garden café, near Orgyan Tobgyal Rinpoche’s place, with a local bunch of westerners attending Tibetan shedra’s. Both Sherab Ling and Dzongsar Shedra had their holiday on Thursdays, so each Thursday we would gather and discuss the intricacies of learning Tibetan, living with Tibetans, studying at shedra’s, the buddha’s teachings and all other meaningful and less meaningful topics of discussion, while enjoying loads of chai and delicious meals. During this time I witnessed the birth of a new school for learning Tibetan, later to be called Esukhia. The need for a proper Tibetan translation school was felt, and with some initial funding the school was started. Now, a few years later, the school has grown substantially, employing almost a hundred people, mostly Tibetans, and involved in a variety of projects. Here I want to shed some light on two of them. Regarding their Tibetan program Esukhia has three main departments. One is online tutoring classes, one is the full or half-day immersion, and one is the freshly started translator training. 

Two teachers and two students

Some ideas on how one can learn Tibetan

But before we get into the details of Esukhia’s programs, let us first make a a few notes on the theory of learning Tibetan. Esukhia’s founder, Ngawang Trinley, explains Tibetan grammar actually only takes a few months to learn. This is in sharp contract with India’s classical language Sanskrit. According to one of the world’s leading Sanskritist Tom Tillemans, it takes at least 5 or 6 years to learn Sanskrit grammar properly. So we have these two very different languages, which nonetheless where both perfectly able to convey the words of the Buddha, in the collection of Sutra’s and Tantra’s, what is now called in Tibetan the Kangyur. The meaning they can express is similar. So there is a huge gap here, isn’t it? It is not the case that one language only takes a few months to learn and another years and years. So then the linguists where questioned. How can we learn a language with so little grammar? Well, they said, each language is indeed similarly complex, but some are very much dependent on grammar, and others, like Tibetan and in particular Chinese, are not or much less so. So then how can we still understand the same complexity in a language which has so little grammar? How can we learn to read such a language properly? Well, the linguists say, you should learn to speak and think in that language, and then you will understand.

Now if we take this understanding regarding Tibetan to the present day situation, we can see the problem when relying mostly on dictionaries while translating Tibetan –Buddhist- texts. If you don’t really speak the language, or think in the language, and if you need to look up many words while reading and try to figure out what is being meant by relying on grammar, there is a large chance you miss some meaning, which is not conveyed by each word on its own, but by the whole sentence taken together. No need to speak of subtle links between different paragraphs. While for Sanskrit the approach of relying on grammar seems to be justified, we need to take a different approach regarding the Tibetan language. We need to actually speak, write and live the language in order to master it and be able to translate it. Many present day teachers seem to agree with this. For example, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has made sarcastic remarks about the present day ‘dictionary translators’, in contrast with the learned and realized Lotsawa’s of the past. Also Orgyan Tobgyal Ripoche has remarked, that he does not trust translators who ‘speak Tibetan like a five year old child’.

Studying Tibetan at Esukhia

Of course there is much more to say, but keeping this in mind we can now perhaps appreciate Esukhia’s approach to learning Tibetan. Just studying a grammar book and some vocabulary does not suffice, and students at esukhia are truly being ‘immersed’ in the language, from morning till evening. One thing to mention is that currently one of the main aims of Esuhkia is to develop a teaching method, following the European standards of language acquisition, with levels like A1, A2, B1 and so on. I’ve never seen such a radical approach of learning Tibetan before, relying on the western knowledge of language acquisition for studying this language, which in it’s huge literary collection holds so many useful truths which can truly enlighten the people of present day.

Thus, for those aimed at mastering the spoken language, there is the immersion program. With  seven hours a day of talking Tibetan, no doubt students learn quickly.

Immersion school

That is, if they survive, because it’s not easy! Unlike any most other Tibetan learning books, following the manual students go mainly through modern day life situations with their teachers.

Textbook section on love

They have one teacher for two hours, and after a tea break another 1,5 hours with another teacher. Then the students and teachers eat lunch together. After lunch there are another two sessions, three hours in total. The approach is Tibetan only; there is a notice hanging on the door, that those who speak English will have to pay a fine!

Students and teachers eating together

Recently also a translator training program has started. Currently their schedule looks something like this. First students will have class on a particular text, which is currently the Pema Katang, the life story of Padmasambhava. There are plans to study Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of knowledge in the future. Afterwards students have a one on one talk with one of the tutors, who are also following the class, and discuss what has just been taught to them. Then there is some class on the collected topics, or dudra in Tibetan, followed by debate.

Translation training classroom

After lunch there is another teaching, like the 37 practices of a Bodhisattva or the Jewel Ornament of Liberation  from Gampopa. Afterwards again the text is discussed with a language partner, and then finally at the end of the day there is one tutor session focusing more on colloquial.

Students studying outside

The kangyur project

Kangyur input and comparison department

Another project of Esukhia is the Kangyur project. The Kangyur, the words of the Buddha, have already been typed in by a group led by Alak Zenkar Rinpoche some years ago in China, where a critical edition had been made by comparing several Kangyur versions. This edition is called the Kangyur dedur. However, besides noting the differences in the different editions, decisions had not been made on which spelling is the correct one.

Discussing kangyur input

To arrive at a faultless edition of the Kangyur, the Dalai Lama has recommended three steps. During the first stage the obviously wrong grammar (which if corrected would not change the meaning), will be corrected. For this phase mainly the Esukhia team will take responsibility. For the second phase, we need to start looking at slightly more difficult issues, namely those issues concerning mistakes where if one would change the grammar, it would also change the meaning. Now in order to correct these mistakes, the Tibetan text will be compared to its Sanskrit source. This will most likely be done by Sanskrit experts from the Central University Tibetan studies at Varanasi. Finally, a team of scholars from each different Tibetan Buddhist school, Nyingma, Geluk, and so on, will look at the discrepancies and decide what they think should  be the correct spelling. This will probably be done by the teams of Lobsang Monlam, the creator of the famous Tibetan dictionary Monlam Bodyig. He already has specialist teams for each school, for example for the Nyingma this would be Khenpo Pema Sherab and khenpo’s from Namdroling Monastery in south India.

Kangyur project planning

Why is this necessary? Now, when translators want to translate one page of kangyur there are about 25 discrepancies. Thus presently the translator has to decide what is the correct spelling and meaning. Of course, it’s much better if native speakers do this work. Translating being difficult enough, then at least the translator has a correct text to work with.

Buddha on the road

These days the Buddha appears more and more frequently, wherever you go, if you look, you can find Buddha. Here are some of the Buddha's I saw when I travelled from Dharamsala to Kathmandu. 

Painting in some restaurant, when the night bus stopped over for diner in the middle of the night. I have no idea where we were at at the moment.

Above and below (two): three paintings in Ama guesthouse in the tibetan settlement of Manju Katilla in Delhi

Below: the in-flight magazine from Jet Airways covered the ruins of the worlds most ancient university, Nalanda.

Below: arriving at Kathmandu airport!

One day pilgrimage around Dharamsala: Khamtrul Rinpoche’s Gyatsal ling monastery and Shugseb Nunnery

There are many monasteries in and around Dharamsala, or more precisely Mceod Ganj, the Indian town were the Tibetan government in exile has settled. But not all found easily, and thus on a rainy anything can happen Saturday,  we went to look for two monasteries which had our special interest.We took the bus from McCleod, and from Dharmasala in the direction of Palampour. After about half an hour we arrived at Sidphur, were we thought both Shugseb nunnery and Khamtrul Rinpoche’s monastery, Chime Gyatsal Ling, would be.  Passing the Norbulingka Institute, finding Gyatsal Ling was not very difficult. 

We heard that unfortunately Khamtrul Rinpoche  is currently in Taiwan for medical reasons. At present he has reached the age of no less then 88 years, quite an age already! But despite the absence of Rinpoche, we were heartily greeted by Lobsang zangpo, a Western monk who is studying with Khamtrul Rinpoche for many years. 

While talking we found out he had already met a lot of students from Rigpa, who often wish to meet Khamtrul Rinpoche due to his connection with Terton Sogyal, Lerab Lingpa. Lobsang informed us, that Terton Sogyal once got quite sick for a prolonged period of time, and that he spent a long time convalescing at Khamtrul Rinpoche’s monastery in Tibet, Garje Khamzhung. During that time he gave the empowerments and transmissions of almost all of his terma’s, and thus the previous Khamtrul Rinpoche became one of the main holders of his terma. In Tibet the terma’s of Lerab Lingpa are available, not the least in Larung Gar ofcourse, founded by one of the incarnations of Terton sogyal (the other being Sogyal Rinpoche).  In exile however, Khamtrul Rinpoche is probably the only one holding Terton Sogyal’s lineage. One of Terton sogyal’s terma’s, the Yang Nying Pudri has being transmitted fully by Khamtrul Rinpoche to the Dalai Lama’s private Monastery, Namgyal. It seems they perform the ritual yearly.
Khamtrul Rinpoche also has a strong connecting with the Dalai Lama. One of those connections is evident in the fact that he is one of the only ones holding and practising the visions of the fifth Dalai Lama. For those who want to know more about Khamtrul Rinpoche can read his autobiography, Memoirs of lost and hidden lands, translated by Lobsang into English.

Something else worth mentioning, is that Khamtrul Rinpoche did not wish his monks to study uninterruptedly for 9 years as is the norm in Tibetan Shedra’s, but wanted study to be mixed with practice. Therefor he has designed a unique 13 year program, combining both study and practice.

After this informative chat with Lobsang, we went on our way again to find Shugseb. The speciality of Shugseb nunnery is that as far as we know, they have one of the only Shedra for nuns in exile, the other being the huge shedra at Namdroling in South India. It was supposed to close to Sara, and upon meeting two monks from Sera who had to go to Sara,we decided to give them a lift and then ask at Sara where to go. Sara is the a renowned Tibetan school where the focus is mainly on Tibetan Literature and grammar, and other modern day subjects. Both lay and monastic study there, and many of Esukhia’s Tibetan language partners are graduates from Sara. To our surprise we heard that actually it was quite far, but we decided to go  anyway. The taxi driver also did not know where to go exactly, and only after a very friendly Tibetan joined our taxi we were able to find it.

As we can read on the Rigpa wiki, the original Shugseb nunnery in Tibet was a nunnery located thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thökar, a site associated with the great master Longchenpa. It was founded by the great female master Lochen Chönyi Zangmo.  At Shugseb we met Khenpo Tsering from Namdroling, a teacher at the nunnery, who kindly informed us about the Nunnery. 

Several nuns have already finished the nice year shedra curriculum, and are now running the monastery. We were informed that also one western lady is currently studying in the final years of the curriculum. Thus for those women interested in studying at a traditional Tibetan shedra, but unable to do so because most shedra’s are monk or male only,  it is definitively worth looking at Shugseb Nunnery.

Ngagyur Shugseb Nunnery Institute,

Vill Tariyala Ruhru, Dharog, Dharamsala- 176215, distt Kangra, H.P. Tel 01892-209541, mobile 9418833804 / 9418833803, email ugyenzong@yahoo.com