Pilgrimage in Northern India 2018

In the footsteps of the Buddha 

From Saturday 3rd of November until Saturday 5th December 2018

Organizer and guide : Eric DEZERT (Shenpen)

Samyé Dzong will offer an opportunity to visit the places where  Shakyamuni Buddha lived and taught during his 80 years of existence, which were so exceptional that he bequeathed to humanity one of its greatest spiritual traditions, a source of inexhaustible inspiration for a multitude of people throughout the world.

Before he left his body, the Buddha himself advised future generations of his disciples to make pilgrimages to the places he had visited, in particular Lumbiniwhere he was born,Bodhgayawhere he achieved perfect enlightenment,Sarnathwhere he set the Wheel of the Dharma in motion andKushinagarwhere he attained parinirvana.

In addition to these four main sites, four other places have also become very important in the course of time. These are places where the Buddha performed certain miracles:Rajgir,where he subdued the raging elephant Nalagiri, Sravasti,where he accomplished the"miracle of duality", Vaisali,where a monkey offered the Enlightened One honey, andSankisa,where he returned to earth after visiting the Pure Land of Tushita to transmit the Dharma to his mother.

These eight pilgrimage sites are called the 'Eight Great Wonders'. We will discover these places imbued with history and spirituality - venerated and consecrated by the numerous pilgrims who have visited them in the course of centuries - taking enough time at each stage to absorb their atmosphere.

After our visits to these archaeological sites we will evoke the events which took place at them by reading sutras and listening to the explanations given by our guide and courier. We will then devote some time to meditation, so we experience the Buddha's teaching not just intellectually, but as an inner experience which will remain with us as we move through life. This is precisely the intended purpose of a pilgrimage, to give us a living inspiration and experience which will lighten our burdens and guide us in future during our daily life.

So this journey should not be undertaken as just a simple tourist trip at top speed to view as many things as possible, but rather as an attempt to meet with the Buddha, his teaching and the community which keeps them alive in our time. We will need to take the time to open ourselves and let ourselves absorb the beneficial influence which emanates from each of these very special sites.

For more informations, please contact :

Eric Dezert - Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. - + 32 (0)487 622 409
Pre-registration open, number of participants limited

Click on the link below to download :

• A detailed desciption of the places visited : PDF