Transforming Spirituality in Nepal: The View Above the World

The trip to Nepal was MONUMENTAL and into the BEYOND. Having traveled the world and been in Nepal for my third visit, I am amazed that this visit had deeper implications than ever imagined. This was a journey through the Bardos into eternity.

We were between 12 to 20 youth and adults depending on whom you count and who is not included in the count.  Some of us trekked prior to the Children of the Earth gathering.  My small group climbed 3000 steps into the heights of the Himalayas that is advertised as 4-6 day trip and did this in 2 days. Our bodies became like rubber, bending and tremoring in the end.

Bandhs are frequent in Nepal…they have strikes that paralyze the country. We stayed at a lovely Buddhist guesthouse and readjusted our schedule to offer teacher training and a Youth to Youth gathering as a parallel event. The adults did workshops based on the COE Handbook while COE youth focused on Intra-faith and spirituality into Action. The program was so so successful and we made many contacts and developed lifelong friendships with many participants.

In addition, I was invited for a guest appearance and interviewed for a TV program ”Life is Beautiful” plus interviewed by a very prominent Nepalese magazine. Some met Annie and later we met Yesh both notable Nepalese singers who will come to the States and also be considered a partial fundraiser for COE.

Then off into YOLMO country….home to Buddha, Padmasambhava and Milarepa….and Jimmy Lama. The road there, is basically only possible by jeep, was a winding dirt stone path for 6-7 hours into the mighty hills.  There we started to experience our own personal revelations and transformations. Our first day we walked up a hill filled with leeches as a test like going through “fire” to end on top of a mountain overlooking the whole world with clouds below us and the sun behind us as if walking through the veil of the beyond. And somehow magically a Rinpoche (high Lama) awaited us with chairs and a tent and cookies. Together we meditated for world peace. Our energies magnified 3xs greater than anywhere else in the world.

Next we traveled to Jimmy’s family town and stayed with his mother. The house was prepared for us with loving care. All was simple and very typical Nepalese reflective of how the mountain people live. Cooking on the floor in the main room, Jimmy’s mom cooked rice and cabbage for all of us. The following day we did a local teacher training as well as the young people played with the kids from the area. Some teachers walked 7 hours to attend this meeting. We were treated with such loving respect. All of us became family. Lessons learned are endless. For me….no life is better than another….only different. Love is the equalizer.

Then we went to another village for a visit where the local Guru Rinpoche and the Elders awaited us with their people. They honored us with the historic Masked Dance performed normally only once a year and a full meal. Then we went to the end of the world....and a giant statue of Buddha awaited us followed by a visit to the town SHAMAN who preformed rituals and Blessed us.

Of course the importance of pilgrimaging was to visit all the schools that Jimmy was helping develop for the local towns. Jimmy works with each community and fosters group decision making to foster educational opportunities for the children.  His goal is to set children free by offering them opportunities to become educated. One school  in particular, a  pilot model, attempting self sustainability by using sports and crop growing, having a new building and some boarders as well as day students was the stellar representation of all of his efforts with his friends. The dream is to start to have a trained person who can travel school to school as well as work with the government to be the voice of the people in Yolmo country. We found out that this part of Nepal is never even considered nor ever visited by any government officials or others.

I go through so many of the details to share the physical experience but please know that on the inner level there was TRANSFORMATION. It appears if one has the intention to take a spiritual pilgrimage then this occurs. Each person can speak to this in his or her own fashion. For me, forever I will know that I climbed the mountain into Bliss where soul energy is stronger than personality. This climbing the inner mountain and then to see and feel and then to return and climb down is symbolic of the message of a spiritual seeker. I walked into my destiny altered to becoming the true essence of self and now must translate into what I can call my regular life.

Each adult that came on this journey made a personal commitment to keep certain projects alive…from exploring a coffee planting as a crop to a traveling resource room to supporting schools through Rotary to a personal scholarship to Jimmy for furthering education to a possible jewelry business development. Youth I spoke with spoke of transforming and new goals in life.
                                                                                   ------ written by Nina Meyerhof