To the Himalayas

Last year (2006) Val from the Newport Soto Zen group and her husband Alex undertook a hike into the foothills of the himalayas. What follows is Val's account of their visit with some amazing photos.


Kangchenjunga and the Singalila Ridge Trek, October 2006
Community Action Treks Ltd.

Community Action Treks was founded by Doug Scot, who reached the summit of Everest in 1975 with Dougal Haston. Money raised from these trekking holidays is used to provide schools, health centres, employment and clean water supplies for villages in Nepal.

We spent 24 days with a group of experienced travellers and mountaineers and were looked after very well by Raja of “Adventure Mania” (based in Kolkata) assisted by two teams of porters from Nepal and Sikkim. Accommodation ranged from the best hotels to wooden huts and camping. We initially flew to Kolkata and then from there to Bagdogra in northern West Bengal, from there driving to Darjeeling. After walking on jeep tracks on the Singalila Ridge which runs along the border with Nepal. We then drove to Sikkim (now part of India) where we walked up to 4 900m at Goecha La pass 5Km from Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain.

Most of the people Alex and I met were Indian Hindus, Nepalese porters and Buddhists from Tibet.

Highlights of the tour.

We saw Kangchenjunga for the first time at dawn in Darjeeling. The peaks appear above cloud level and seem to belong to the sky instead of rising from the earth.

We visited many Buddhist monasteries, both of the Gelukpa (yellow hat school) and Nyingmapa schools (the oldest of the four major Tibetan schools). They were well maintained each with approximately 50 monks and a school for the young novices. Prayer wheels set in the outer walls with the interior walls being painted with bright colours from floor to ceiling. At the front a large Buddha statue would be flanked by statues of important Bodhisattvas. Eventually we discovered that we could go upstairs in the monasteries where plainer rooms and libraries could be seen. We could often hear the monks chanting in a separate room off of a courtyard. Only once did I get to talk to one of the monks, who had very good English.

Whilst staying in a small hilltop village I was very lucky to sit with a small group of monks who were chanting and performing rituals for a sick, elderly lady. Although I couldn't talk to them it was a great joy to sit with them chanting and observe the preparations for ancient ceremonies, using rice to create pictures on paper laid on the floor. Tiny models of people and yaks were then placed on top of the rice picture.

Another joy was to see the long strips of colourful prayer flags in the mountains and small towns. We saw a ceremony in which new prayer flags were placed at Tenzing Norgay's grave.



The mountain roads were very dangerous and like the vehicles , were continually being repaired. They are often closed during the monsoon season when it is particularly dangerous for the children walking to school.

The poverty and density of the crowds were a culture shock in Kolkata, it's very difficult to travel in the city without a guide.

Valerie & Alex

Please help Burma - now!

I am sure that we as Buddhists and human beings are saddened and gravely concerned with the recent events in Burma (Myanmar). We who have the privilege, that is denied to the people of Burma, of living in a democracy can make our voices heard and influence our body politic, below are listed a number of petition sites..... Please, please make your voice heard.



See what is happening in Burma



Free Aung San Suu Kyi
Email Burma's Dictator

Http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/mtvaction.html

An appeal to the UN Security Council to protect the people of Burma

Http://new.petitiononline.com/9848/petition-sign.html

The link below is to a page on the Buddhist Channel web site. On this page are a couple of petition links: one is to the US Campaign for Burma, asking people to collectively gather 88,000 signatures from around the world, calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to compel Burma towards valid national reconciliation.

You can also email the EU President to strengthen the EU position on Burma

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=22,4976,0,0,1,0

You can petition Gordon Brown & the British Government at:

http://search.petitions.pm.gov.uk/kbroker/number10/petitions/search.lsim?ha=1157&sc=number10&qt=burma

Your Story

Hiya, Hope all's well with you. I'm still getting used to life after walking. The Isle of Wight to Cape Wrath route, right up the centre of Britain, wearing my monk's robes and living out of my alms bowl, turned out to be a bit tougher than I expected. The week or so after the walk I felt absolutely feted by the people of Durness, the tiny village closest to my finish point. As I rested up and filled out again on full Scottish breakfasts, I was joined by Trysh, the Canadian writer who is making a book out of the whole event. We spent a week or so together, mapping out a plan for the book. There are various titles knocking about, my current favourite is "Seven Million Steps". The writing is due to take ten months and a publisher called John Wiley is interested in it. So hopefully before long it'll be on a bookshelf near you.

As we planned the book, I was very keen that it was your story. What I mean is that my experience of the journey confirmed for me the fact that kindness and generosity and goodwill are alive and well in Britain. Every step of the way was supported by that kindness in the most concrete way possible. So for me the walk was an ongoing good news story and it's really that story that I want to highlight. In fact I don't want to wait ten months to thank you for your support on so many levels. The whole experience continues to be incredibly inspiring.

And now I'm mostly in and around London. I'm looking for a base. I want to make available these wonderful things that I've been privileged to learn over the past sixteen years. I believe that not only can they transform individual lives, but that society as a whole will inevitably benefit from this transformation. If you know of anywhere that might serve as a base - even a little apartment or a room, I'd love to hear from you. I'll keep you posted on developments.

Wishing you an ongoing experience of that underlying kindness and generosity every single day.

More later, cheers Daizan

From the end of Daizan's walk

Hiya, how are you? So the walk's done. I made it to Cape Wrath (old Norse for "the turning point") a couple of days ago. Imagine vast empty spaces - moorland and mountain reached across a rivermouth by motorboat. There's a tiny road winding eleven miles through the wind and rain and, at the tip, huge cliffs climbing a thousand feet out of the sea capped by a white lighthouse. As I crossed the water, the boatman said "With the tide and the wind, I'll be stopping in a couple of hours." Looked like I wasn't going to make it back. I didn't have a sleeping bag or tent, or anything much to eat. "Just find somewhere to sleep," I thought.

So after eleven miles through wind and horizontal rain, and a pretty thorough soaking, I made it to the lighthouse. Finding a garage containing a rusted Toyota truck with the door ripped-off (by the wind, I later discovered), I climbed in out of the wind and settled down for a nap. A few minutes later I was greeted by the barking of six springer spaniels and a Scottish voice telling them to shut up and that was my introduction to John the hermit, the solitary occupant of the lighthouse buildings, and the only human for hundreds of square miles. John graciously took in a soaked monk and we talked over macaroni cheese and toast by the light of a peat fire for a good bit of the night.

As the sun went down, the rain stopped and I was able to go out to the very tip of the cape and chant the ancient scriptures of Zen. I took out a little stone that I'd carried from St. Catherine's - the start-point of the walk on the Isle of Wight, and threw it far out into the sea.


When I sat in meditation so many faces of the kind and generous and profound and extraordinary people I'd met over the previous sixty four days appeared. Although I'd done the actual walking. All their support made it possible and just thinking of them I was moved almost to tears. I'm so glad that a book is being written of the walk so they can be known more widely. The truth is, there are so many amazing people around and the way the news system works, they can be almost invisible. It looks like the book will be called "Seven Million Steps" and will be published by John Wiley. I'll keep you posted.

Then, in the wind at the end of the world, I danced.



See you very soon.

Cheers Daizan

More from Daizan walking through Scotland

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for your note, good to hear from you. Right now I'm in Sutherland, the northern part of the highlands of Scotland. It's hard to believe that almost exactly two months ago we were together down on the island. It's looking like I'll reach Cape Wrath (a Viking word meaning 'the turning point' in about four days. There are a few pictures of the walk, knocking about. I've attached some. Hope they're ok.

Looking forward to seeing you when I head south again.

Gassho Daizan

From Daizan walking through Scotland

Hiya, hope the summer's going well and, if you're in the UK, avoiding this summer's rain. Right now I'm in Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands and over the last few days the terrain has moved from mountains and trees - alpine style to huge open empty heather-covered open mountainous vistas. Often there's not a house, not a fence in sight. Although people are pretty thin on the ground (did you know that there are more people in London than in the whole of Scotland?) it's fantastic to be able to say that Scottish people are if anything even more generous and kind than English. When I get out my alms bowl, after a little bit, the food arrives. Yesterday a very simple girl put a sandwich in my bowl, looked at me and said, "Are you living in faith?"

"Yes," I said, "I am." And we smiled together.

Still a lot of miles to go. More later,

Cheers Daizan

Andrew's Dharma Name

After querying with Palaka how his new name is Pronounced he tells me it is "par-ler-ker", with the "par" getting the emphasis.

Andrew..... Palaka returns to the Island (pro tem)

Hello, Steve:

I'm on the Island for a few days (leaving Monday evening) and am gently re-connecting with my friends here, hence this email. As you might have heard, I've received this wonderful new name, Palaka, meaning 'he who cherishes, nurtures and protects' - that's the very short version of the meaning! I have experienced a profound and inspiring time at Guhyaloka (which I believe has a website, so you can catch some glimpses of this place online, and maybe spot me in the shrine room photo if the new image has been uploaded).

On Tuesdays, while up in the Spanish mountains, I've been thinking about you and the West Wight group. Have you been well? Although I'm off to the North Island soon, I wanted to touch base, even electronically, while still on the same piece of land. I very much look forward to seeing you again.

You've probably already noticed that I've taken a new email address, too. Although I'll continue to check the old one, this will be my 'home'. The dh, by the way is for 'dharmachari', the title used by members of the Western Buddhist Order, meaning 'one who fares in the dharma'. That title is conferred as part of the public ordination that followed on from the private ordination where the personal name was received. I'll be in touch soon about the suggested get-together in Ventnor on the Tuesday after Bank Holiday Monday. A couple of friends from the London Buddhist Centre are visiting me then, and it seems a good opportunity for a bunch of us to get together. I'm thinking of probably something in the afternoon and something in the evening, so won't necessarily disrupt your meeting's routine.

Any news of the picnic?
With all the very best to you:

Palaka

The web site mentioned is at http://www.guhyaloka.com, and no, Andrew isn't on the pics.