Dal Bhat and Prayers: Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, Namo Buddha, Nepal

Prayer Lamps, lit and unlit, Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, Namo Buddha Nepal

Prayer Lamps
It makes for a peaceful moment of simple reflection: lighting a small lamp while saying a prayer of gratitude or supplication. What better way to mark our overnight stay at Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery at Namo Buddha in the Kathmandu Valley Rim!

Prayers and dal bhat for breakfast.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

An overnight stay at the guesthouse at the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, some 40 kilometres from Kathmandu, Nepal, is like stepping into another world: a timeless space where the drone of Tibetan Buddhist chanting – punctuated by gongs and cymbals – resonates through the crisp, crystal clear mountain air.

Life for visitors to the monastery is uncomplicated: join the monks for evening and morning prayers (or not) before partaking of basic vegetarian meals. But, you don’t have to opt out of the modern world completely; although the guesthouse has no television, radio or telephones, my local phone package allowed me to access my email and Instagram, and the nearby Thrangu Café on site has meals, coffee, and soft-drinks for those who don’t want to forgo lunch, treats, or caffeine.

A friend and I were in Nepal for a few days ahead of a workshop out of Kathmandu with photographer Gavin Gough, and the opportunity to go for a trek was too good to pass up. Under the watchful eye of local guide Angfula Sherpa, we were to spend four days along sections of the Kathmandu Valley Cultural Trekking Trail. So far, we had managed our first day: driving from Kathmandu to Panuti, and walking from there to Namo Buddha (see: Dirt Music and Sunshine, and Light and Dark in the Windows and Doors).

The Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, founded in 1979 by Thrangu Rinpoche, was a wonderful bonus after our day’s walk. It sits at 1738 meters, at the top of Gandha Malla Hill above the Namo Buddha Stupa, treating the visitor to glorious sunrises, sunsets, and views over the foothills and the snow-capped Himalaya.

Namo Buddha is one of the most important Buddhist religious sites in Nepal. It was near here, so the story goes, that a prince by the name of Mahasattva, was out walking with his two brothers when he came across a tigress. She was trying to nurse five cubs, but was starving and about to die. Prince Sattva (rather generously, one would think!) offered the tigress his blood and flesh so that she and the cubs might survive. The bones – all that remained of him – were buried under a stupa at the nearby village. Some 3500 years later, the Gautam Buddha walked three times around the stupa, then declared that he was the reincarnation of Mahasattva. The village was renamed “Namo Buddha” which means “Hommage to Buddha”.

It is possible to get to the monastery by car or public transport, and while we were staying, buses and car loads of pilgrims and tourists arrived at the road head.

Still, I think I enjoyed the stillness and the views all the more for having “earned” them with a nice long walk!

Afternoon view from Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery, Namo Buddha Nepal

Afternoon Light
After we settle into our rooms at the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery Guesthouse, we head over to the main temple. It is just after five in the evening, and the late winter sun puts a glow in the buildings around us. No photos can be taken in the rooms inside.

Clean stainless steel dishes, Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery Kitchen, Namo Buddha Nepal

Monastery Kitchen
The kitchen has to cater for the more than 250 resident monks, and for visitors like us. It is big, and the stacks of stainless steel dishes are spotless. (iPhone6)

View from the Temple
The hills and the delicate skies roll off quietly into the distance while the monks chant their evening prayers upstairs. (iPhone6)

Sunrise over the Namo Buddha Hills
We are up early the next morning to attend the monks’ morning prayers before breakfast. Just before six am, the sun warms the sky over the hills around us. (iPhone6)

Morning around Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery
Early sun lights the terraced hills around the monastery, and the morning mists hang low in the valleys.

Novices and a Dog
About 70 young monks reside and study at the monastery school. I’m sure the animals are some comfort to young boys living away from their homes.

Into the Kitchen
Of course, the young students are kept busy with morning chores; these two are heading into the dark kitchen, …

Monks on the Path
… while others are rushing between buildings around the complex.

Morning Layers
The morning mists rise slowly. In mid-March it is still winter, and the the mountain air at 7.30am is cool.

Stone Statue of the Lord Buddha
This Buddha, with hands in Bhumisparsha mudra (or “earth witness” hand gesture – representing touching the earth at the moment of the his enlightenment), is speaking to his first disciples.

Stone Statue of the Lord Buddha
The vase between the Buddha and his disciples represents the container holding the bones of Mahasattva – an earlier incarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni – who fed his body to a tigress on the hill near here.

Prayer Flags
There are prayers flags everywhere, fluttering their messages of peace, strength, compassion, and wisdom on the wind to inspire all people.

Lungta Prayer Flags
Lungta (wind horse) flags are squares of cloth strung on a line in the colours of the five Tibetan elements: blue for the sky, white for the wind, red representing fire, green symbolising water, and yellow for the earth.

Endless Skies
The sky and the mountains stretch out forever.

Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery
From the hill, we can look back over the monastery, and appreciate the size and beauty of the complex.

Woman Looking after a Shrine
Walking along the ridge, we pass shrines; the people tending them greet us eagerly and usher us in.

Angfula and the Lamps
In the shrine area, prayer flags can be bought and blessed, the right to light lamps can be bought, and donations can be made.

Prayer Lamps
Light symbolises the wisdom that drives away darkness.

Candles and Coins

Den of the Mother Tiger
This is where Mahasattva – a previous incarnation of Gautama Buddha – offered a starving tigress his blood and flesh to save her life and that of her cubs.

Mountains on the Haze
Snow-capped Himalaya float on the clouds and haze over the terraced hills of the Kathmandu Valley.

Angfula on the Dirt Path Down
There is no more time to explore: we need to make a start on our day’s walk. Angfula sets off down the dirt track towards the town of Namo Buddha.