Entering the Mandala

A free-lance wanderer, Passport and ID burned, clothes dyed in mud, barefoot, moneyless, without shaving or cutting hair; Bhante walked India with a single companion for three years. On the 12th of May 1949, Bhante became a Sramanera in Kushinagar with U Chandramani as his Preceptor. In March 1950, Jagdish Kashyap took Bhante to Kalimpong and left him there.

Only in London has Bhante lived as long as he has lived in Kalimpong; 14 years – 1950 - 1964. No other place recurs so frequently in Bhante’s lectures seminars or literary work. Here Bhante wrote A Survey of Buddhism, The Eternal Legacy, The Three Jewels, The Rainbow Road, and The Religion of Art together with numerous essays and articles on Buddhism. More poetry burst forth from Bhante here than at any other place. Kalimpong is also unique in that here Bhante met with all of his eight main teachers. In Kalimpong Bhante received his Bodhisattva Ordination, and all of his tantric initiations took place in Kalimpong or Darjeeling. In Kalimpong Bhante was given the name Urgyen and discovered a connection the ancient Nyingma tradition. It was in Kalimpong that Bhante started Teaching, and it was also in Kalimpong, in 1967, that Bhante made the decision to start a new Buddhist Movement; the FWBO.

Said to be a place of great auspiciousness blessed by Guru Rinpoche; journey to the Sikkimese Hiddenland and discover your Tantric roots. Explore holy mountains, sacred lakes, dakini caves, temples, shrines, schools, stupas, and hermitages associated with Urgyen Sangharakshita and his eight main teachers in Ghoom, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and the wilds of Sikkim.