The Benefits of Pilgrimage and A Tour and History of the Holy Sites in Kathmandu
Monday, September 28, 2020
7:00pm – 8:30pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)
We are using the Zoom video conferencing system for this event.
While we are prevented from traveling because of the
pandemic, there is no reason we can’t travel virtually.
Join us for this 90 minute presentation by Amber Tamang, an
historian and pilgrimage guide as we explore the holy sites
in Kathmandu.
To kick off this program, Venerable Robina
Courtin will give a brief talk about the benefits of
pilgrimage, and the advice that Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave her
to make this kind of travel truly beneficial.
Amber Tamang is from southern Solukhumbu, a small hamlet
not even included on most printed maps. He began as a
trekking porter in 1993 to support himself through
college. For his undergraduate degree, he wrote his thesis
on protection for workers in the tourism industry and
received his Master’s Degree in Nepali Culture, Religion
and Philosophy. He researches Himalayan culture and
religion and has published articles in Nepali and English.
Amber began guiding with Himalayan High Treks in 1995 and
in 2001 Amber and his wife Sushma founded Three Jewels
Adventures. Amber has led pilgrimages with Venerable
Robina Courtin and Venerable Amy Miller, among others, to
the Buddhist holy sites in India and Nepal and to Lawudo,
Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s remote hermitage (and FPMT’s most
isolated center) in the Solukhumbu region.
Those who've
traveled with him praise his patience, kindness and
articulate English as he enthusiastically describes
Himalayan mountain culture and Buddhist people. Amber
lives in the Thamel district of Kathmandu with Sushma and
their two daughters.
Ordained since the late 1970s, Venerable Robina Courtin
has worked full time since then for her gurus Lama Thubten
Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Over the years, she has
served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications,
editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of
Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of
Buddhism.
An award-winning film by her nephew Amiel Courtin-Wilson,
Chasing Buddha
documents her life as well as her work with
prisoners. She is one of the subjects of Vicki Mackenzie’s
book Why Buddhism?
and a film by Christina Lundberg,
On the Road Home.
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