We all arrived safely in Bhutan!

We met our wonderful guide Kinga and his friend Jigme, a Kagyu monk who will be traveling with us. Jigme speaks English quite well and was educated at the Kagyu Institute in Darjeeling. His knowledge of Buddhist iconography is overwhelming.

We spent the first day getting over the jetlag and exploring Thimphu. We were granted access to the inside of the town’s Memorial Chorten dedicated to Vajrakila. This is one of the sacred sites in Thimphu were the local people come to circumambulate and turn their prayer wheels in devotion. Kinga told us that this a place where many of the older people gather. Since all the generations live together in Bhutan, the husband or wife will drop of grandma or grandpa at the memorial chorten in the morning. They will walk around the chorten, sit and turn the prayer wheels and chat. In the evening they are being picked up again by their family. It is a wonderful place!

On our second day we hiked up to Cheri Monastery located just 45 minutesoutside of Thimphu. We settled down inside one of the shrine rooms and Judy gave her first lecture on what it means to be on pilgrimage followed by a simple meditation instruction. The monks served us tea while Jigme patiently answered our questions. One of the questions was “What is enlightenment”? Jigme explained that contrary to what many of us believe it is not this amazing and overwhelming moment in time in which everything changes. He said it is simply a time when there are no more negative thoughts and intentions left in you mind!

In the evening we set out for dinner at Bhutan Kitchen where Kinga’s friend Mr. Karma joined us. He was the former head of the Commission for Gross National Happiness. A lively discussion took place around the dinner table and we learned a lot about how the idea of Gross National Happiness came about, how Bhutan has developed an index to measure Gross National Happiness and how other countries such as Canada and the UK are making serious efforts to include this concept in their schools and governments.

We are off to Trongsa tomorrow, a journey that will take us 8 hours withbreathtaking stops on Dochu-la Pass, lunch near the Wangdi Dzong and a picnic tea/snack at Chendibji Chorten.

More to come once we reach the East….