Our 2020 Bhutan Pilgrimage Tour and Retreat:
- 14 days, 13 nights Pilgrimage Tour.
- Saturday, September 27 – Friday, October 10, 2020
- Includes 5-day practice retreat, participating in a “conversation” dialogue, Dharma talks and meditation with Western teachers and Bhutanese lamas, monks and scholars.
- Cost of Tour is $5,895.00, per person double occupancy. The cost of the tour includes $895.00 Retreat registration. Single Occupancy Supplement is $895.00. For those who wish to have a roommate, we will endeavor to match you with a compatible person by August, 2020.
- Participants outside the USA can make international bank wire payments. Contact us for details.
Includes:
- Welcome Dinner in Paro, Bhutan.
- All in-country ground transport.
- Bhutan daily Govt. Tariff of $250.00 per day, which includes $65.00 per day contribution toward Bhutan’s universal free health care and free education.
- All meals & lodging in traditional lodges and hotels in Bhutan. English speaking Bhutanese guides and naturalist.
- Donations to: the Retreat host, Thekchog Chokyi Gatsel Monastery, founded by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; Shechen Ogyen Chodzong Nunnery; 2nd Retreat host, Lhodrak Karchu Monastery, Bumthang; and various spiritual teachers’ benefitting charities.
- The Retreat week will include meditations, mindfulness movement experiences, teachings, and dialogue.
- Experience a sacred masked dance performance, in honor of 8th Century Guru Rinpoche.
- Entry into all Monasteries, Temples, sacred sites, ritual dances and archery events.
- Opportunities to interact with Buddhist monks, nuns, lamas, scholars, and village artisans.
- Walking meditations in ancient, broad-leaf forests.
- Opportunities for bird spotting (600 species of birds) in Bhutan’s broad-leaf mature forests.
- Also, possible up close encounters with wild monkeys, baboons, and yaks, which can be seen in the Cloud Forests habitats.
- Cherished sites we will visit include: Iconic Tiger’s Nest, site of sacred relics; Druk Wangyel Choeten at Dochula Pass; and Burning Lake, Bumthang.
Does Not Include:
- Airfare from the U.S. or other departure countries to Bhutan; Bhutanese Visa ($40.00), travel insurance (highly recommended), alcoholic beverages, tips, and traditional Bhutanese hot stone baths.
- Lodging in Bangkok, the gateway city. Pre-tour lodging at two Bangkok boutique hotels near the Bangkok International Airport, can be recommended, for approximately $36.00 per night.
- Roundtrip airfare from Bangkok – to Paro, Bhutan – Bangkok. Royal Bhutan Airlines flies into Bhutan. Currently, the roundtrip fare is approximately $880. We will facilitate participants obtaining their Bhutanese Visa and also obtain air tickets from Bangkok into Bhutan, round trip. You will be invoiced for these two items in your final invoice.
- Single Occupancy Option add $895.00
Retreat Theme: “Witnessing the World with Bodhisattva Heart and Mind.”
Lead teacher Konjin Gaelyn Godwin Roshi will be participating fully throughout the Pilgrimage and the Retreat at both monasteries: Venerable Dilgo Khytense Rinpoche’s Monastery in Paro, Western Bhutan, and also Lhodrak Karachi Monastery, in the spiritual heartland of Bumthang, in central Bhutan.
This precious five-day retreat in the heart of the last Buddhist kingdom introduces the visitor to the inner compassion of the human heart through traditional awakened heart practices (bodhicitta) and looking at the nature of mind and wise service. The retreat will include accessible meditation teaching and mindful practices, and ceremonial celebrations indigenous to the kingdom of Bhutan.
In the context of current societal individualism and dislocation, and challenges about political, environmental, and social functionality, we will explore the following topics in dialogue, dharma talks, and meditations:
- Awakening our connection with all sentient and all living beings, and cherishing them
- Understanding and transforming the mind
- Clear seeing: meditating on the basis of Mind; encountering suchness
- Opening the heart: meditating on compassion and loving kindness
- The world is our sangha: meditating on joy. meditating on equanimity
- The Six Perfections (Parmitas); the dedication of all merits
- Being wisely kind to yourself
- Cultivating altruistic intention toward others
- Cultivating fearlessness and nurturing unshakable compassion
Bhutan is a pristine place for retreat and renewal. Situated in the Himalayan foothills between Tibet and India, it is well connected by cell phone and internet transmission. An English-speaking Kingdom with so many delights to discover, we look forward to talking with you about the Pilgrimage-Tour to Bhutan, the ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon.’
We encourage you to read the November 2, 2014 New York Times Style Magazine-Travel Section on Bhutan, a marvelous 9-page article by by Jody Rosen, “The Higher State of Being.”
Kind regards, and looking forward to hearing from you with Gratitude,
Charles Simmons and Marla Perry-Simmons.
Email: charles@nulltwoTruths.org
Telephone: 520-331-8338