The Paro Chhu is a river of western Bhutan . It is a tributary of the Wong Chhu , which is known as the Raidak in its lower reaches.
31-585: The Paro Chhu rises to the south of Chomo Lhari (mountain of the Goddess). Its glacial waters plunge torrentially through alpine meadows and deep gorges in the Jigme Dorji National Park , and descend into a wide, open, undulating valley. Sub-alpine and temperate forests are found along its middle and lower reaches. A prime trout stream, it nourishes lush green rice fields and apple and peach orchards on its banks. The Paro Chhu flows through
62-481: A disciple of mine in order to hold my lineage for future sentient beings, but in actuality, he has already accomplished the goal of the path.” The acclaimed spiritual poetry of Milarepa is known of as The Hundred Thousand Songs. Previous biographies of Milarepa were enlarged with religious poetry and song cycles, which doubled the volume of biographical information. Collected for publication in English translation by
93-451: A fully realized yogi , and eventually forgave his aunt, who caused his family's misfortune. According to Lopez, The Life of Milarepa represents "Buddhism as it was understood and practiced in Tibet in the fifteenth century, projected back in time." It contains "many of the key terms and doctrines of Buddhism." Tsangnyön Heruka did his best to establish a lineage of teachers that connects
124-471: A highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is generally considered one of Tibet 's most famous yogis and spiritual poets, whose teachings are known among several schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa , and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism . He is also famous for the feat of climbing Mount Kailash . Samding Dorje Phagmo Milarepa's life-story
155-599: A historical person at all," Milarepa is venerated by all Tibetan schools "as an exemplar of religious dedication and mastery." His life story established the lineage of the Kagyu sect and its key figures. According to The Life of Milarepa , Milarepa was born in western Tibet to a prosperous family. When his father died, his family was deprived of their wealth by his aunt and uncle. At his mother's request, Milarepa left home and studied sorcery to take revenge, killing many people. Later he felt sorrow about his deeds, and became
186-566: A search party. Prem Chand went up to the ridge and reported gunshots thudding into the ice and whipping up ice chips - thus ending any further attempts in locating the missing bodies. Lhatoo and Prem Chand, on their way up during their successful summit attempt had reported seeing a lot of PLA activity on the Lhasa-Chumbi highway. The reason for their disappearance remains speculative - did they fall or were they shot? All three were relatively inexperienced climbers and Lhatoo later speculated on
217-460: A short, scenic canyon with more class II–III rapids. The stretch ends at Chhuzom. More experienced kayakers can continue down the Wong Chhu. Chhuzom ( Chhu means river and zom means join) is the place where Paro Chhu and Wong Chhu meet. For many traditional Bhutanese this confluence is considered the union of a father and mother river. Paro Chhu represents the father and is sometimes called
248-545: A student of Marpa the Translator . Before Marpa would teach Milarepa, he had him undergo abuse and trials, such as letting him build and then demolish three towers in turn. Milarepa was asked to build one final multi-story tower by Marpa at Lhodrag, which still stands. Eventually, Marpa accepted him, explaining that the trials were a means to purify Milarepa's negative karma. Marpa transmitted Tantric initiations and instructions to Milarepa, including tummo ("yogic heat"),
279-399: Is a good stretch of about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) for beginner/intermediate kayakers . This stretch has many small, boulder rapids and wave trains. There is one class IV–V boulder choke, about 3 km from the put in, which can be run on the left and scouted from the right. It is suitable for kayaks only as the river is too small for a raft to be enjoyable. After this, the river enters
310-633: Is a mountain in the Himalayas , straddling the border between Yadong County of Tibet , China and the Paro district of Bhutan . The north face rises over 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) above the barren plains. The mountain is the source of the Paro Chu (Paro river) which flows from the south side and the Amo Chu which flows from the north side. The mountain is sacred to Tibetan Buddhists who believe it
341-483: Is famous in Tibetan culture, and retold many times. The best-known biography, The Life of Milarepa , written by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507) in the fifteenth century and drawing from older biographies, is still very popular. Most of the present-day stories on Milarepa come from this single source, with oral lineage predominating as well as relics including his bearskin coat. While "very little [is known] about him as
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#1732786536165372-876: Is the abode of one of the Five Tsheringma Sisters ; (jo mo tshe ring mched lnga) — female protector goddesses (Jomo) of Tibet and Bhutan, who were bound under oath by Padmasambhava to protect the land, the Buddhist faith and the local people. On the Bhutanese side is a Jomolhari Temple , toward the south side of the mountain about a half- day's journey from the army outpost between Thangthangkha and Jangothang at an altitude of 4150 meters. Religious practitioners and pilgrims visiting Mt. Jomolhari stay at this temple. There are several other sacred sites near Jomolhari Temple, including meditation caves of Milarepa and Gyalwa Lorepa. Within an hour's walk up from
403-581: The "aural transmissions" ( Wylie : snyan rgyud ), and mahamudra . Marpa told Milarepa to practice solitary meditation in caves and mountain retreats. According to the biography, after many years of practice, Milarepa came to "a deep experiential realization about the true nature of reality." In some other sources, it is said that Milarepa and Marpa both came to India to seek one most important thing for ultimate realisation from Marpa's guru, but even he didn't know about it. Later on he tried for many years and finally attained enlightenment. Thereafter he lived as
434-531: The Kagyu tradition with the Indian siddha tradition, portraying Marpa as a student of Naropa, though Naropa had already died when Marpa went to India. Lopez notes that Tsangnyön Heruka used stylistic elements from the biography of Gautama Buddha to portray Milarepa effectively as a Tibetan Buddha, "born and enlightened in Tibet, without going to India or receiving the direct instructions of an Indian master." The life story of Milarepa portrays "the rapid method of
465-587: The Oriental Studies Foundation in 1962, in 1999 these songs were re-published in a separate volume entitled The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa translated and annotated by Garma C.C. Chang, then in 2017 a new translation by Christopher Stagg of the Nitartha Translation Network, both published by Shambhala. These summarize the various song cycles in chapter eleven of The Life of Milarepa . Milarepa lived during
496-553: The Paro Chhu. The original bridge was washed away in a flood in 1969 and the present one is a reconstruction. Earlier versions of this bridge were removed to protect the Dzong. The bridge was also shown in the movie Little Buddha by Bernardo Bertolucci Below the town of Paro, the river runs immediately to the west of Bhutan's only international airport. That airport is renowned for its hair-raising final approach. The lower Paro Chhu
527-566: The Paro Valley, which is the site of one of Bhutan's main towns, Paro , and many important monasteries. The two best known monasteries here are Taktshang ("Tiger's nest" in Dzongkha ), and Paro Dzong . Taktshang clings to a ledge of a high cliff approximately 15 km north of Paro. Taktshang and Paro Dzong are two of the finest examples of Bhutanese architecture. Below the Dzong, a traditional wooden covered bridge called Nyamai Zam spans
558-650: The Pho Chhu, Wong Chu represents the mother. Because Bhutanese traditions regards such a convergence of rivers as inauspicious, there are three chortens here to ward off evil spells in the area. Each chorten is in a different style—Bhutanese, Tibetan and Nepali. The upper reaches of Wong Chhu, above Chhuzom, are sometimes referred to as Thimphu Chhu. 27°19′N 89°32′E / 27.317°N 89.533°E / 27.317; 89.533 Mount Jomolhari Jomolhari or Chomolhari ( Wylie : jo mo lha ri ; sometimes known as "the bride of Kangchenjunga ”,
589-466: The Tantric path," in which liberation is gained in one lifetime. It describes how Milarepa practiced the generation stage and completion stage, to achieve mahamudra , "spontaneous realization of the most profound nature of mind ." Yet, in his instructions to his Tibetan audiences, Milarepa refers to the basic Buddhist teachings of "impermanence, the sufferings of saṃsāra , the certainty of death and
620-491: The exposure on the knife-edged ridge leading to the summit slope as a possible incident site. He (an ex-Gurkha himself) is quoted as believing the shooting theory to be unlikely but possible, citing his difficulty in estimating the distance between the ridge and possible Chinese positions on the Tibetan side. An account of the expedition is available in the Himalayan Journal 2000. Prem Chand has not spoken publicly on
651-462: The four major branches of the Kagyu lineage: Barom Kagyu, Karma Kagyu, Phagdru Kagyu, and Tshalpa Kagyu. Another of Milarepa’s students, the yogi Rechungpa , brought several important transmissions into the Karma Kagyu lineage. Along with Gampopa, Rechungpa was a teacher of the 1st Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193). Upon meeting Dusum Khyenpa, Gampopa told his students, “He is pretending to be
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#1732786536165682-475: The matter. Chinese displeasure with Bhutan over the expedition and sensitivities in New Delhi led to a complete media blackout of what was otherwise a notable Indian climb. The third ascent was made in 1996 by a joint Japanese-Chinese expedition which reached the south col from the Tibetan side and climbed the peak over the south ridge. On 7 May 2004, British climbers Julie-Ann Clyma and Roger Payne reached
713-612: The old trade route between India and Lhasa that passes through the Chumbi Valley , the mountain has seen little climbing activity. It was known to climbers passing by on the way to Everest and was scouted by Odell as early as 1924. In 1937 a permission to climb the sacred mountain was granted to a British expedition headed by Freddie Spencer Chapman by both "the Tibetans" and the "Maharajah of Bhutan. Although no refusals are known of earlier climbing requests, Chapman believed this
744-557: The ridge to the top, while Marko Prezelj and Boris Lorencic climbed the northwest ridge in a six-day round trip. This climb earned Prezelj and Lorencic the Piolet d'Or in January 2007. Milarepa Jetsun Milarepa ( Tibetan : རྗེ་བཙུན་མི་ལ་རས་པ , Wylie : rje btsun mi la ras pa , 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan siddha , who was famously known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to Buddhism and becoming
775-543: The so-called second dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (10th–12th century), when Buddhism was re-introduced. Three pivotal figures in this Tibetan Renaissance were Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055), who translated sutras, tantras and commentaries; Atiśa (982–1054), whose student Dromtön founded the Kadam school of Tibetan Buddhism; and Marpa the Translator , the teacher of Milarepa, and himself regarded as student of Naropa . Marpa introduced tantric texts and oral instructions from
806-486: The summit via the c. 5800 m south col as well, in a single day's dash from the col, after attempts to climb the impressive northwest pillar were thwarted by strong winds. In October 2006, a six-member Slovenian team climbed two new routes, registering the fifth and sixth ascents. Rok Blagus, Tine Cuder, Samo Krmelj and Matej Kladnik took the left couloir of the north face to the East ridge at c. 7100 m, from which they followed
837-502: The temple at an altitude of c. 4450 meters is Tseringma Lhatso, the "spirit lake" of Tsheringma. In Tibet there is an annual pilgrimage from Pagri to a holy lake , Jomo Lharang, which lies at c. 5,100 metres (16,700 ft) elevation, just north of the mountain. Because Jomolhari was sacred and the home of goddesses, those living nearby believed it was impossible to climb, and that anyone who climbed too high would be thrown down. Despite its notability and spectacular visibility from
868-459: The uncertainty of its arrival, the frightful rebirth that is the direct result of our benighted deeds." But, his own life also is an example that even a murderer can transform into a Buddha. Lopez further notes that The Life of Milarepa portrays two parallel worlds, a profane world and a sacred world, which are ultimately one, showing that the world itself is sacred. Gampopa was Milarepa’s most renowned student. Four of Gampopa’s students founded
899-463: Was charged with laying a "Sachu Bumter" offering on the summit by the Bhutanese King in order to "appease" mountain deities - apparently a pot containing gold, silver and precious stones. The following day, the second party of three were spotted close to the ridge when they became obscured by cloud. When the cloud lifted, they were gone. A telephoto lens and fruit cans were found on the ridge by
930-430: Was only on 24 April 1970 -over the same route- by a joint Bhutanese-Indian military expedition led by Colonel Narendra Kumar . This ascent was notable also for the disappearance of two climbing members and a sherpa in the second summit party the following day. Dorjee Lhatoo (Nanda Devi East 1975, West 1981) led the route, partnered with Prem Chand (2nd ascent Kanchenjunga 1977) all the way to the summit via two camps. Lhatoo
961-563: Was the reason it had gone unclimbed until 1937. Six porters accompanied the 5 man climbing team from Phari across Sur La into Bhutan. Chapman and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama (of the American K2 expedition fame) reached the summit via the southeast spur on 21 May 1937. The protracted and epic descent, which they were fortunate to survive, is described in detail in Chapman’s Helvellyn to Himalaya published in 1940. The second ascent