Destinations

Our port of entry into China is Shanghai, where we spend a couple of nights, then head up to the mountain Moganshan where we will stay to see the solar eclipse on July 22nd.

After the eclipse, we plan to spend about three weeks exploring eastern China, visiting various temples and monasteries that have been important in the history of Buddhism. Andy Ferguson, author of the book Zen's Chinese Heritage has been helping us prepare our itinerary. Our pilgrimage begins with Jingshan, a mountain near Moganshan where we will visit Wanshou (Long Life) Temple. This temple was key in transmitting tea and Rinzai Zen from China to Japan in the 12th century.

Visiting Hangzhou, Nanchang, Huangmei, Xian, Zhengzhou and Shijiazhuang, where we hope to sit zazen at Bailin (Cypress Grove) Temple. This is the temple of Zhaozhou (Joshu's) dharma seat, the great Zen master of the Mu koan and the story of the Cypress tree in the garden. Several of our destinations are described in the book Zen Baggage: a Pilgrimage to China, by Bill Porter. Bill, who lives nearby in Port Townsend, has been a big inspiration and has provided a great resource for planning our trip.

Gradually we work our way towards Shijiazhuang, near Beijing to visit Linji (Rinzai's) dharma seat at Zhengding.

From Beijing, we will head westward toward Tibet. We're hoping to find take an affordable train (not the outrageously expensive Tangula luxury train) to Lhasa. Our plan is to spend ten days or so exploring the environs of Lhasa.

Flying from Lhasa to Kathmandu, we will be joined by our son Julian who will fly from Seattle. The three of us plan to fly to the remote village of Simikot in northwestern Nepal. This will be the starting point for Julian and David's trek to Mt Kailash in western Tibet. It takes about 6 days to reach the Tibet border. The Mt Kailash circuit takes 3 days, including crossing the Dolma La pass at 18,486 ft. Cynthia plans to spend this time doing some volunteer work in Simikot, until we all meet again in Kathmandu.

After Julian returns to Seattle, Cynthia and David will fly to Paro, Bhutan for a couple of weeks of exploring that country.

Depending on available time, we then hope to spend some time in India, Cambodia and Thailand before returning to the U.S. on November 19.