Foundations of Faith

I grew up in Herbertpur, a small town in what is now the Indian state of Uttarakhand, where my late father served in the Special Frontier Force (SFF) — the Indian military unit composed largely of Tibetan refugees. Just 60 kilometers away stood the SFF headquarters in the cantonment town of Chakrata.

In our household of seven, Tibetan Buddhism wasn't merely practiced — it was woven into the very rhythm of daily life. Each dawn brought the ritual offering of ཡོན་ཆབ་ (yon chab) at our family altar, a practice meant to accumulate merit (བསོད་ནམས། བསགས་པ།, sönam sagpa) and virtue. While most Tibetan families offer seven bowls of water, my father kept 108 bowls on the altar. As he made the offerings, my younger brother and I would haul a heavy bucket of water from the kitchen — a task that felt more like chore than ceremony at the time.

After breakfast, my parents devoted hours to their prayers. By late afternoon, we would watch them empty the water offerings and carefully stack the bowls in neat rows. During quiet moments throughout the day, the soft rhythm of མ་ཎི་ (mani) recitation filled our home as their fingers moved steadily over rosary beads — a gentle percussion of faith that became a dominant soundtrack of my childhood.

Early Pilgrimages: Adventures in Devotion

Among my happiest childhood memories are the family pilgrimages we undertook every few years. These journeys began even before my birth — when I was still in my mother's womb—and continued through my college years in the late 1980s. Looking back, those early trips felt like grand spiritual expeditions.

We traveled with everything: bedding neatly rolled, stoves carefully packed, and dry rations. Nights were spent in dharamshalas (धर्मशाला "shelter for pilgrims") or simple rooms rented from Thai and Sri Lankan temples in places like Bodhgaya.

Two items remain vivid in my memory. The first was our metal kerosene stove — still common in rural India today. These noisy contraptions required pumping by hand to build pressure, then forcing kerosene into a preheater until it vaporized and sprayed through a nozzle, mixing with air to create a steady blue flame that both cooked our meals and illuminated our temporary homes.

The second was our bistar — a military-style bedding roll made of sturdy green or khaki canvas. About six feet long and three feet wide, it featured two clever pockets: one at the head for pillows, another at the foot for sheets. A quilt and blankets were folded along its length. Once packed tight with attached canvas belts, it formed a compact bundle with a leather handle. In those days, the bistar was every traveler's companion across India — a portable bed that could transform any space into temporary shelter.

During those early pilgrimages, the deeper spiritual significance never fully dawned on us children. We saw these trips more as family adventures than religious journeys. Only later would their meaning begin to unfold, and even now I find myself still discovering new layers of appreciation for their spiritual dimension.

Understanding the Path: Tibetan Buddhism 101

Although born into Buddhism and raised with its rituals, my personal practice remains modest, and my understanding of Tibetan Buddhism stays at a foundational level. Still, I grasp and believe in its core principles.

At the heart lies karma (ལས་ lé) — the law of cause and effect that binds us through cycles of rebirth. We remain trapped in samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, by three poisons: འདོད་ཆགས་ (död chag) attachment or craving; ཞེ་སྡང་ (she dang) anger or aversion; and གཏི་མུག་ (ti mug) ignorance or delusion.

To free ourselves from this bondage, Tibetan Buddhism teaches cultivating three wholesome qualities: ངེས་པར་དོར་བ (ngépar dorwa) letting go or non-attachment; བྱམས་སྙིང་རྗེ་ (jam snying rje) loving-kindness and compassion; and ཤེས་རབ་ (sherab) wisdom.

Crucially, the faith emphasizes that karma is not fixed. The patterns we've accumulated can be transformed. There is always a path to work and improve our karma, gather merit, and create causes for a better future — ultimately achieving liberation from cyclic existence.

This path forward begins with taking refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. His Holiness the Dalai Lama often reminds us that among the three, the Dharma is the ultimate refuge. While a teacher (the Buddha) and supportive community (the Sangha) are invaluable, we cannot remain dependent on either. Real growth and eventual enlightenment come only through practicing the Dharma ourselves and taking personal responsibility for our spiritual journey.

Pilgrimage as Refuge in Modern Times

We live in an age of unprecedented material comfort yet rising mental distress. Everyone is "busy," but this busyness rarely brings the contentment we seek. We have more tools for connection than ever, yet loneliness pervades all age groups, with many relationships confined to digital spaces.

Not everyone has the time or readiness for serious spiritual practice, but pilgrimage offers a simple yet profound way to seek and deepen refuge in the Three Jewels. During pilgrimage, we step away from the distractions, noise, and delusions of our ordinary existence. We can purify karma, acquire merit, and receive blessings.

Whether visiting holy sites like Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Sarnath, or Kushinagar, or traveling to Dharamsala and South India where great Tibetan monasteries destroyed in Tibet have been rebuilt, pilgrims experience the Three Jewels as living realities. This spiritual immersion brings clarity, calmness, and peace. The opportunity to make offerings, donate, prostrate, and meditate feels cleansing and better equips us to deal with the three poisons.

What I find most appealing about Tibetan Buddhism is its fundamental message of hope: everything can be purified. Regardless of broken vows or accumulated negative karma, a path forward toward enlightenment always exists. Pilgrimage undertaken with proper attitude and motivation allows us to collect merit that facilitates spiritual growth.

As Buddha Shakyamuni taught in the Sutra Requested by Sagaramati:

ཇི་ལྟར་ཆུ་ཐིགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེ་ནང་ལྷུང།།
རྒྱ་མཚོ་མ་ཟད་བར་དུ་དེ་མི་འཛད།།
དེ་བཞིན་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཡོངས་བསྔོས་དགེ་བ་ཡང།།
བྱང་ཆུབ་མ་ཐོབ་བར་དུ་དེ་མི་འཛད།།

Just as a drop of water that falls into the great ocean
Will never disappear until the ocean itself runs dry
Merit totally dedicated to enlightenment
Will never disappear until enlightenment is reached

Words of a Teacher

My reflections on pilgrimage only scratch the surface of this vast tradition. For deeper insight, I reached out to Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Samten, former Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery, requesting his thoughts on pilgrimage's meaning and proper intention. Rinpoche graciously responded with a video teaching, the essence of which follows:

“There are many sacred pilgrimage sites, such as Bodh Gaya, Varanasi, and Gridhakuta (Vulture’s Peak) in India. Likewise, there are countless sacred pilgrimage sites in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan, including the three main monastic seats and many more. These sites were blessed by great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in ancient times, and because of that, whoever visits these sites later will be blessed. One will also experience calmness and happiness from visiting such pilgrimage sites. There are temporary as well as long-term benefits to visiting such sites. Temporarily, it helps to purify ourselves. For instance, when you see a Buddha statue, we should pray:”

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཁྱེད་སྐུ་ཅི་འདྲ་དང།།
འཁོར་དང་སྐུ་ཚེའི་ཚད་དང་ཞིང་ཁམས་དང།།
ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་མཚན་མཆོག་བཟང་པོ་ཅི་འདྲ་བ།།
དེ་འདྲ་ཁོ་ན་བདག་སོགས་འགྱུར་བར་ཤོག།།

(May I and others become exactly like you, the Buddha, in your form, your retinue, the measure of your life, your realm, and your excellent and supreme name.)

“If it's a Tara pilgrimage site, we should recite:”

བདག་གིས་ཚེ་རབས་སྔོན་ནས་བསྒྲུབས་པའི་ལྷ།།
དུས་གསུམ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་གྱི་ཕྲིན་ལས་མ།།
སྔོ་ལྗང་ཞལ་གཅིག་ཕྱག་གཉིས་ཉེར་ཞི་མ།།
ཡུམ་གྱུར་ཨུཏྤལ་བསྣམས་པར་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།

(The deity I have been worshiping since my previous lives
The embodiment of the Buddhas of three times
The bluish-green, peaceful Buddha with one face and two arms
I pay homage to the mother, the holder of the Utpala flower.)

“Likewise, if it's a Guru Rinpoche site, we should recite Guru Rinpoche's prayers, such as
(ཚིག་བདུན་གསོལ་འདེབས།) the Seven-Line Prayer, and his mantra.”

“The core of Buddhism is Bodhichitta and emptiness, and it is therefore very beneficial to recite prayers about them at such sites.”

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་མཆོག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།།
མ་སྐྱེས་པ་རྣམས་སྐྱེ་གྱུར་ཅིག།།
སྐྱེས་པ་ཉམས་པ་མེད་པ་དང།།
གོང་ནས་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ་བར་ཤོག།།

(The precious Bodhichitta
May it arise in those in whom it has not yet arisen.
And in those in whom it has arisen, may it not decline
But increase more and more.)

སྟོང་ཉིད་ལྟ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།།
མ་སྐྱེས་པ་རྣམས་སྐྱེ་གྱུར་ཅིག།།
སྐྱེས་པ་ཉམས་པ་མེད་པ་དང།།
གོང་ནས་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ་བར་ཤོག།།

(The precious concept of emptiness
May it arise in those in whom it has not yet arisen.
And in those in whom it has arisen, may it not decline
But increase more and more.)

“While a family vacation on the beach is fine, we should make sure to have a family trip to a sacred pilgrimage site, which benefits both this life and our next. Take your parents and relatives on a pilgrimage and, if possible, have a lama or guru lead the journey and introduce the sites. On such a pilgrimage, it is also very important to make offerings to the Buddha, show reverence to the Sangha, and be generous to the needy. Making such offerings will help us connect with the precious Dharma in our next lives. For instance, when we show reverence to the Sangha, we should pray to be guided by them in many more upcoming lives. And when we offer a butter lamp, we should pray for our intelligence to be brightened. Likewise, when we prostrate, which is the best remedy for anger, we should try to prostrate one hundred thousand times, if that is not possible, a thousand or even a hundred is very beneficial for reducing our anger.

It is very important to make a pilgrimage with a pure intention and to recite the relevant prayers of the sites. The core teaching of Buddhism is Bodhichitta and Emptiness; hence, it's important to recite prayers like:”

སྐྱེ་བ་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཡང་དག་བླ་མ་དང།།
འབྲལ་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དཔལ་ལ་ལོངས་སྤྱད་ནས།།
ས་དང་ལམ་གྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་རབ་རྫོགས་ནས།།
རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་གི་གོ་འཕང་མྱུར་ཐོབ་ཤོག།།

(May I in all my lives never be separated from my perfect guru
And enjoying the glory of Dharma
May I perfectly complete the qualities of the grounds and paths
And swiftly attain the state of Vajradhara.)

“It is also very important to recite the relevant mantra and prayer of the pilgrimage site. If it's a pilgrimage site of Lord Buddha, we should recite his mantra, and if it's Guru Rinpoche's site, we should recite his mantra. The same applies to Manjushri, Tara, and others. Likewise, it is important to seek blessings from monasteries and pray for the flourishing of Buddhism and to continuously be able to perform noble deeds for the benefit of all sentient beings. And we should pray for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who has turned ninety this year yet actively continues to carry out his noble deeds for all sentient beings.”

གངས་རི་ར་བས་བསྐོར་བའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སུ།།
ཕན་དང་བདེ་བ་མ་ལུས་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས།།
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཡི།།
ཞབས་པད་སྲིད་མཐའི་བར་དུ་བརྟན་གྱུར་ཅིག།།

(In a realm encircled by a range of snow mountains
A source of all benefit and happiness
May Avalokiteśvara Tenzin Gyatso
Remain steadfast until the end of existence.)

My 2024 Pilgrimage: A Journey of Generations

In 2024, I was blessed to undertake two special pilgrimages: three weeks in July and ten days in December. Both journeys were inspired by beloved family elders, each over eighty, who felt these might be their last opportunities for true pilgrimage. Their determination moved us deeply, prompting family members to make both time and financial commitments.

While many pilgrims choose the great Buddhist sites of India and Nepal, we followed our elders' wishes to seek out Tibetan monasteries and sacred places in South India and Ladakh — journeys carrying both spiritual meaning and family devotion.

Rediscovering Sacred Exile: South India's Monastic Towns

I had visited the three main Tibetan refugee settlements of Bylakuppe, Hunsur, and Mundgod in Karnataka many times—some visits official during my service with the Central Tibetan Administration, others personal. Yet during my 2024 pilgrimage, I gained deeper appreciation and clearer insight into the extraordinary scale of what Tibetan elders and the exile monastic community have built and preserved over decades.

Walking into South India's vast monastic campuses — Drepung, Gaden, Namdroling, Sera, and Tashilhunpo — I was awed by what has been created in exile. Knowing that most of Tibet's great monasteries were destroyed or hollowed out by the Chinese Communist Party, seeing them rebuilt and thriving within just decades felt miraculous.

The scale is staggering: Drepung, Ganden, Namdroling, and Sera house close to 20,000 monks and nuns combined. Their sprawling campuses, stretching across hundreds of acres, operate as fully self-sufficient townships with schools, clinics, residences, science and meditation centers, shops, hotels, convention halls, and recreational spaces. The governance model strikes a careful balance — centralizing certain key responsibilities within apex bodies while granting broad autonomy to the Dratsangs and Khangtsens.

As part of a group sponsoring prayer sessions at several great monasteries, I witnessed not only impressive physical infrastructure but also the inner workings and vitality sustaining these institutions. Nowhere is this scale more visible than in monastic kitchens preparing daily meals for thousands. Before dawn, stoves are lit and teams begin preparing bread and tea for breakfast. By midday, enormous cauldrons brim with rice, lentil soup, and vegetable dishes to feed entire communities. Weekly rations alone run into hundreds of kilograms — a remarkable logistical undertaking. While occasional meals are sponsored by devotees, the vast majority of resources needed are generated by the monasteries themselves through tireless leadership and fundraising efforts.

The Practice of Sacred Giving

During pilgrimages, there are many ways to make offerings and sponsorships. The most common include sponsoring tea and bread (གྲྭ་ཇ་) or an afternoon meal (ཉིན་གུང་བཞེས་ལག་). Sponsorships vary by scale.

At the three great monasteries of Drepung, Gaden, and Sera, sponsoring prayers for entire monastery is called Lachi (བླ་སྤྱི་) sponsorship. The next level is Dratsang (གྲྭ་ཚང་), or college: Drepung has Loseling and Gomang; Sera has Sera Je and Sera Mey; Gaden has Shartse and Jangtse. The smallest unit is Khangtsen (ཁང་ཚན་), houses within each Dratsang. Beyond covering food costs, it's customary to offer each monk or nun small monetary donations called ku-gyé (སྐུ་འགྱེད།) when sponsoring a prayer session.

During our 2024 pilgrimages, we sponsored prayers at all levels: Lachi sponsorships at Sera and Ganden, Dratsang sponsorships at Drepung Loseling and Gomang, plus offerings at several Khangtsens. Beyond great Gelug monasteries, we supported prayer sessions at Tashilhunpo, Namdroling, Gyudmed, Dzongkar Choede in Hunsur, Ngagur Tsogyal Shedrupling Nunnery in Bylakuppe, Rato Dratsang and Jangchup Choeling Nunnery in Mundgod, plus Sakya and Kagyu monasteries in Mundgod and Bylakuppe.

We also extended support to wider settlement communities in Bylakuppe, Hunsur, and Mundgod: sponsoring lunches at old-age homes, making donations to senior residents and staff, supporting an animal care center in Mundgod, contributing to Sambhota School and donating to a road construction project in Bylakuppe, etc.

In July 2024, we traveled to Ladakh, visiting sacred sites in Leh and the Nubra Valley. Beyond making offerings at Thiksey Monastery near Leh and Diskit Gompa in Nubra, we supported several initiatives: lunch and donation to seniors and staff at Choglamsar old people’s home, an animal welfare project near Thiksey, upkeep of ten sheep in the Changthang region, and donations to TCV, Lamton, and Jamyang schools and the Tibetan Youth Congress.

Looking back, what stands out most is how these acts of giving — sponsoring prayers involving thousands of monks, offering donations to elders and children, helping care for animals — transformed our pilgrimages into something deeper than expected. They became not only journeys to sacred places but ways to reconnect with childhood values and live out compassion tangibly.

Perhaps most meaningfully, these pilgrimages were guided by elders who felt they might be their last. Their presence reminded me that pilgrimage is not only about the sacred places we visit, but about those who walk beside us and the generosity we extend along the way. It was the elders in both groups who shaped the journey and determined the beneficiaries of our offerings.

Practical Considerations

Permits: All foreigners visiting Tibetan settlements in South India must obtain a Protected Area Permit (PAP) issued by the government of India in addition to a valid visa. The application is available online.

It is best to apply at least two months before your departure as approval takes time. For Ladakh, foreigners will need an Inner Line Permit to visit sites outside Leh.

Transportation: The nearest airport to Mundgod Tibetan Settlement is Hubballi Airport (HBX). with direct flights from Delhi and Bangalore. Mundgod is about 64 km (1.5 hours by car) from HBX. The most convenient way to get to Byllakupe is to fly to Bangalore (BLR). The Tibetan settlement is about 225 km (4.5 hours by car) from BLR.

Timing: The best time to visit the South India Tibetan settlements is from October to March as these are the months when the weather is dry and pleasant. June to September are the best time to visit Ladakh.

Accommodation: There are several guest houses and hotels, some operated by monasteries and others privately owned, offering a range of options for visitors.

Reflections on Continuity and Change

A pilgrimage is never just about reaching sacred destinations — it's about transformation that unfolds within us along the way. In South India, the Tibetan monastic community's resilience shines through vast rebuilt monasteries, harmonious chants rising from assembly halls, and quiet devotion expressed in daily rituals. These institutions, reborn in exile after devastation in Tibet by communist China, now stand as living reminders of faith, perseverance, and renewal.

Yet such places don't endure on faith alone — they require ongoing support from those who value their presence. For anyone seeking to pause, reflect, and step outside modern life's relentless pace, pilgrimage to South India — or any sacred site — offers more than spiritual journey. It's an invitation to rediscover balance, compassion, and clarity in a world that often leaves us restless and unfulfilled while also sustaining the monastic institutions that safeguard and preserve Tibetan Buddhist culture.

As I departed South India upon completion of the second pilgrimage in December 2024, I couldn't help but reflect on profound demographic shifts within the Tibetan exile community in India and Nepal. Not long ago, most Tibetan refugees resided in South Asia, and steady streams of new arrivals from Tibet provided monasteries with vital sources of young monks and nuns.

Over the past 10-15 years, this reality has transformed dramatically. Outmigration —particularly to Western countries — has accelerated substantially. Today, the Tibetan diaspora abroad rivals the population remaining in South Asia in size, while the influx of new refugees from Tibet has declined to mere dozens annually. These profound demographic shifts have reverberated throughout every Tibetan institution across India and Nepal, fundamentally reshaping schools, settlements, and monasteries alike. I have explored these developments extensively in previous posts on The Nomad Chronicles.

Today, monks of Tibetan origin comprise less than 30 percent of the exile monastic population, while the majority — around 70 percent — are of Himalayan origin, primarily from communities along India-Tibet and Nepal-Tibet border regions.

This shift presents undeniable challenges but also new opportunities. It underscores the Dharma's universality and Tibetan Buddhism's ability to take root and flourish beyond Tibetans themselves. Growing participation by Himalayan and international practitioners ensures these institutions' legacy is not only preserved but expanded — adapting to changing times while staying anchored in timeless wisdom.

The great Tibetan monastic institutions established in India and Nepal will stand as enduring gifts to the Himalayan Buddhist community — a living expression of gratitude from Tibetans in exile to the governments and peoples of India and Nepal. In the years ahead, it will be the monks and nuns from the Himalayan Buddhist community that assumes stewardship of these institutions, carrying forward the sacred legacy of Tibetans in exile with renewed strength, devotion, and purpose. In their hands, the Dharma and Sangha will continue to flourish, guiding future generations with wisdom and compassion.

Acknowledgement:

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Samten, former Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery, for his teaching, guidance, and wisdom on the spiritual significance of pilgrimage. I am equally grateful to my family members, who not only made this journey possible but also served as cherished companions along the sacred path.

Notes:

1. All images belong to the author