To enlarge your map please click on the icon in the top right corner of the map
Next trip
Summary Itinerary
| 1 | o | Day | Beginning | DELHI |
| 2 | o | Day | DELHI | DELHI |
| 3 | o | Day | DELHI | DELHI |
| 4 | o | Day | DELHI | VARANASI |
| 5 | o | Day | VARANASI | VARANASI |
| 6 | o | Day | VARANASI | VARANASI |
| 7 | o | Day | VARANASI | BODHGAYA |
| 8 | o | Day | BODHGAYA | BODHGAYA |
| 9 | o | Day | BODHGAYA | BODHGAYA |
| 10 | o | Day | BODHGAYA | BODHGAYA |
| 11 | o | Day | BODHGAYA | RAJGIR |
| 12 | o | Day | RAJGIR | VAISHALI |
| 13 | o | Day | VAISHALI | KUSHINAGAR |
| 14 | o | Day | KUSHINAGAR | KUSHINAGAR |
| 15 | o | Day | KUSHINAGAR | LUMBINI |
| 16 | o | Day | LUMBINI | LUMBINI |
| 17 | o | Day | LUMBINI | KATHMANDU |
| 18 | o | Day | KATHMANDU | Return to Brazil, Extension The Eight Most Holy Places in Buddhism here ou More Extensions here |
Detailed Itinerary
Upon your arrival, you will already be assisted by our local representatives who will be waiting with a sign with your name at the airport. We accompany the arrival of each Chörten Traveller, keeping in touch by phone with our representatives at the airport from before their arrival. Including making sure that they have already contacted the hotel, notifying them of your arrival, so that your room is available as soon as possible, according to the hotel's possibilities for the day. Once you meet our representative at the airport, we will contact you by phone or Whatsapp to find out if we can be of assistance in any way. The Brazilian travel specialist will already be at the hotel awaiting your arrival. Transfer to the hotel with our own vehicle, with assistance, located in a central region, with interesting possibilities for cultural tours. For those arriving on a flight in the morning, possibility of a short walk around the hotel in the afternoon.
Now, with the arrival of the whole group, we will meet for breakfast and then sit down to quickly review the important travel tips in India. Traffic, food, hygiene, cultural, logistical and safety issues are some of the subjects we will have talked about before the trip and the specialist, now in loco, will remind and clarify any doubts so that you can enjoy the trip as much as possible. These are precious minutes that will help a lot every next day in this country with a vast history, millenary cultures, a knowledge and vision of the world that we still do not understand well from our backgrounds and views of the West.
We will start our tours with what is actually one of the several Delhis, which existed at different times and empires in a succession of neighboring cities. The last and eighth Delhi is where we stayed, built by the English, called New Delhi. The seventh was built by Shah Jahan, one of the great Mughal emperors, the same one who built the Taj Mahal, at the time known as Shajahanabad. Today we call it Old Delhi or Old Delhi. We will visit the Emperor's great mosque, Jama Masjid. We will walk through the streets of your old bazaar. We will visit a small Jain temple with beautiful paintings. Until we arrive in front of Red Fort, where the important Lahore Gate is. It was here that important statements in the history of India took place, such as the independence of this country, today the greatest democracy in the world, in which ancient values and customs coexist at the same time with extremely modern knowledge and technologies.
We will visit the Red Fort, built in red sandstone and white marble in the 200th century. XVII, also by Emperor Shah Jahan. Used by the Mughal Empire for approx. XNUMX years, we will understand how they lived, with their gardens, rooms, public and private audience halls. We will see that it was also used by the English army.
On the way back to our hotel area, we will pay tribute to the memorial where Gandhi was cremated, Raj Ghat. We will see what was his last word, a sign of great accomplishment on his spiritual path. Those who like photographs, look for images made by Cartier-Bresson, one of the great photographers that ever existed, who was in Delhi that day.
Next to our hotel is the terrace built by the English in the XNUMXth century. XX, called Rajpath (Raj: king, path: path). In it is the India Gate, a landmark of the city, built in honor of the combatants in the great war.
Another special visit for our day is the last house where Gandhi lived, known as the Birla House. We will learn a little about this important part of the history of this nation, as well as about the life and the final moment of this great leader, an example of the practice of Ahimsa (non-violence) until today throughout the world. Today, in the form of an interactive museum, with a collection of photographs and objects by Gandhi, called Gandhi Smiriti.
A walk around one of the parks where the locals go for their walks, very beautiful, with mausoleums from the various sultans of Delhi, the Lodhi Garden, is a great option that combines history, nature and the opportunity to observe the daily lives of the local residents. .
Further south of the city, we will visit the beautiful Lotus Temple. Built in the format of its name, it belongs to the religion called Bahá'í, founded in the XNUMXth century. XIX, in ancient Persia, when visiting it everyone is invited to be silent for a while. An interesting experience in the middle of this great bustling city.
In this same region, we will also visit a temple belonging to the famous ISKCON organization, known as Hare Krishna. Devotees of this eighth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, this is an opportunity to observe how this tradition practices its method, with a lot of music, here in India.
Second of the six main Mugal emperors, Humayun (1508-1556), his mausoleum was built in Delhi, the first with architecture associated with a garden and the use of red sandstone stone on this scale in India. Thus, the predecessor and of a beauty close to the Taj Mahal, some people consider this monument even more beautiful.
A very interesting visit in Delhi is the National Museum. It is possible to spend many hours or days to enjoy each hall and exhibitions on the history, arts and peoples of India. A good way to take advantage of this opportunity is to visit the hall on Mohenjodaro and Harappa, the birthplace of this civilization, which existed between 3500 and 1500 BC. C .. Be sure to take a look, in front of the museum entrance, one of, if not the first human rights letter, carved in a stone, according to the laws of the great Indian emperor of the century. III BC, Ashoka. Then, walk, without stopping a lot with the objective of using a shorter time of our day in the museum, by the other halls, until we reach the relics of Buddha. It is common to find practitioners of the method of this Indian / Nepalese master, sitting in meditation around his relics. This can certainly be a beneficial mental mark that we can offer ourselves for a few minutes, in this training towards a more peaceful mind and of greater benefit to all sentient beings (simply: beings with conscience).
Today we will visit one of the oldest cities in the world that is still alive today. After breakfast, we will continue to Delhi airport for our flight to Varanasi. Transfer to our hotel and check-in. Time to freshen up in our rooms and then get to know the old part of the city through a millenary ceremony. The fire puja or Aarti Puja, conducted by brahmins (caste of Hindu priests) and hundreds of pilgrims from all over India on the banks of the sacred Ganges, is full of music, symbols, mantras, smells, a lot of devotion and, for those who study the scriptures profound and sophisticated knowledge of the workings of the human mind. Time to go back to our hotel, with all these impressions, practically the same that both Hindu saints and yogis, like Buddha Shakyamuni himself, had in this same place in their walks, training periods and teachings. A good break for a special start to the day, very early tomorrow.
We'll wake up early to get to the Ganges before sunrise. We will board our rowboat up the Ganges and witness the sunrise of the sun god, Surya, from our boat. We will observe pilgrims performing their pujas (rituals) at the beginning of their days in this most sacred place in Hindu tradition. Calmly, led by the goddess Ganga, we will return the journey traveled until a ghat (staircase by the river) a little further on, where we will disembark and have the opportunity to walk through the many alleys, among thousands of small and larger temples, from the old part of the city.
Back in our vehicle, we will have a good breakfast at our hotel and then continue on to Sarnath . We will pass by the place where Buda, after his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, met with his 5 fellow practitioners and then we will visit the important Deer Park. Quiet place, where Buddha turned the Dharma Wheel, that is, he taught for the first time, approx. 2500 years ago. We will be able to do our meditation practice individually or together, sit for a few minutes, walk, read, photograph, as the traveller prefers. We will visit the temple where there are relics of Buddha and a “daughter” tree of which Buddha sat and became enlightened. A simple and always very special visit will be to visit a school where children from nearby villages, in addition to the common content, learn meditation, yoga and how our minds work from an early age. We will see firsthand the practical result of these tools.
We have one more day to enjoy the ancient and so special Varanasi. Today we will visit an important Hindu temple, then the small museum and the temple of the former university of Benares. It will be a good opportunity to get to know an India with very little contact with foreigners, as is the environment on this university campus. After our first visits, we will see India, its history, customs and traditions as we take a walk through the ghats on the banks of the Ganges. End of the day at leisure to explore a little more of the well-known Varanasi.
Today we will travel to the place where Buddha became enlightened, the most sacred place of Buddhism, Bodhgaya. It will be approx. 6am with our own vehicle. We will check into our hotel, lunch and then visit the city's main temple complex, Mahabodhi. It was there that Buddha sat for a few days until he purified all his obscurations and realized the nature of our mind. We can do the same, sitting next to or even under the Bodhi tree, a ficus religisosa (fig tree), in the exact spot where Buddha became enlightened. This place is also called the Vajra Seat, the seat of the diamond or the indestructible lightning bolt as well as our natural condition, our essence. We will be among pilgrims, lay and monastic, from all over the world. Mantras, incense sticks, practices of training the mind from different traditions for our different mental dispositions. After enlightening, the Awakened (in Sanskrit: Buddha) contemplated his experience for a few weeks at different points around the Bodhi tree. These places are marked so that we can contemplate the same reflections in our days in Bodhgaya.
Today, if we want, even if it is available for what we need, we don't need to use our vehicle. We will walk from our hotel, through plantations, to an institute of a very important teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, who offers introductory courses in Buddhism in several languages, in different countries. There is also a medical clinic, allopathic and homeopathic, for Indian peasants, schools of Universal Education, very special. From the Root Institute we will walk to a large Buddha statue built by Japanese, then to a Japanese temple, a Bhutanese one, each with very beautiful and very different styles, and a Thai one, with very beautiful paintings. A very beautiful monastery that is worth a visit is the Karmapa monastery, a great teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. There are good lunch options and cafes in the city and, always, more than so many options for visiting its countless temples and monasteries. We can always reserve the always very welcome and requested free temple, either for shopping or to sit a little closer to the Bodhi tree, reading, walking meditation, photos, as each traveller prefers.
Today we will proceed to a more remote region on the outskirts of Bodhgaya, up to a mountain where there is a cave in which Buddha meditated and practiced austerity before enlightening himself. It will also be an opportunity to observe the pace of life in the most remote villages in urban centers. Like all caves of great masters, it is a very special place to practice. After visiting the Mahakala Cave, we will visit the peaceful place where, when Siddhartha practiced eating just one grain of rice a day, the Surjata girl offered rice milk to the Buddha. At this time, as he fed and observed his mind working better with the stronger body, Siddharta realized that it would not be through the extremes of self-indulgence or self-regulation that he would be enlightened, but through the middle path. Return to Bodhgaya with free time to enjoy the Mahabodhi temple complex, other temples, cafes, walking, reading, as each traveller prefers.
Today is free, no agenda, no need to use our vehicle, which we can use to, for example, enjoy a little more Root Institute, with its library, video library, bookstore, sometimes guided meditations according to the method of this important lineage. We will be able to talk with a lama, monk or nun about what we have seen in India so far, as well as what we will experience in the next few days. It is a day to also process our experiences with the countless traditions with which we have had contact, millennia of study and knowledge of the mind strongly present in these cultures, peoples and travel, rest a little for tomorrow to hit the road again, to a place that is also very special and most important of Buddhism.
We will travel for approx. 3h to Rajgir. We will visit one of the places where Buddha and his Sanghamonastic lived for many monsoons, the Bosque dos Bambus. As Buda and his students were always walking (through the places we are visiting), because of the dangers of a trip like this in the rainy seasons, in these months of each year they stayed in places offered by the kings of different regions. After check-in at our hotel, we'll proceed to the Stupa of Peace, or Shanti Stupa, in a beautiful location on top of a mountain, built by a Japanese Buddhist project for world peace, in many places around the world. From the stupa we will walk to the very special Peak of Vultures, where Buda had a hut. This is the location of the important text and teaching called the Heart Sutra, which we will have with us, as well as comments from great masters. Very quiet, also on a mountain side. We can make use of this special opportunity to train our mind, whether by offering incense, as (invitation) doing a practice, such as reading the Heart Sutra itself and its comments.
In the morning, next to Rajgir, we will visit the archeological site of the very important University of Nalanda. Nalanda for centuries was one of the most important centers of Buddhist studies that attracted students from many parts of the world, especially between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.. There lived about 10.000 students, 2.000 teachers and there was a library larger than the one in Alexandria, for example. Among Nalanda's many great academic masters, known as the Indian panditas, some of them were: Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, Chandrakirti, and Shantideva. For centuries, many of these yogis were invited by Tibetan kings to cross the Himalayas and take their studies of Buddhism to Tibet. Thus, the Nalanda tradition is still alive today, studied and practiced in traditional shedras (universities) and Tibetan monasteries in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, also in important universities in Europe and North America, where there is an important very rich exchange with current neuroscientists, physicists and educators. We will visit Nalanda monasteries, as well as temples, important stupas and its small museum. Certainly a very special and inviting place for us to practice observation, reflection and familiarization of our mind, that is, a meditation individually or together, as each traveller prefers, as well as reading excerpts from important texts of this science written in the same place as we will be, in this millenary university.
We will continue our journey for approx. 5h to Vaishali. On the way, we will pass through Patna, capital of the former Ashoka empire, now in this state, Bihar, and where the Ganges River also passes. Arriving in Vaishali, very close to Patna, we will have our check-in, a good meal and then a walk through the small village near our hotel. Vaishali, who, like Rajgir, is one of the 8 holiest sites in Buddhism, was perhaps the first example of a republic-type government organization, which Buddha visited countless times. It was at Vaishali that Buddha ordered the first Sangha of female nuns, demonstrated miracles, offered his last sermon (sutra), announced his Mahaparanirvana, and this was also where the Second Council took place.. Today we will visit another Shanti stupa, as in Rajgir, and a much older stupa, from the Licchavi Empire, which holds relics of the Buddha. There is a very nice and inviting lawn for our reading, practice and always good conversations.
We will finish our visit to Vaishali in the morning. We will visit the archaeological site of the Kutagarasala monastery, where the stupa of one of the main students of the Buddha is located. Ananda, his cousin and attendant, had a great importance in the first council after the death of Buddha, for remembering all sutras, teachings of Buddha. It was near Vaishali on the banks of the Ganges that Anandapassed to nirvana. Next to the stupa we will see one of the pillars of Ashoka, the great emperor who supported Buddhism in India and several other countries in Asia. Time to continue our journey for approx. 5h across the Gangetic plain to Kushinagar, site of the Mahaparanirvana of Buddha.
On the way we will make a stop at the Kesariya stupa. Built approx. 1500 years in the place where Buddha lived in a previous life, place of one of his teachers before becoming enlightened, where on a previous visit he taught what has come to be called the Kalama Sutra. In this teaching Buddha emphasized the importance of using reason, testing and investigating the teachings on the workings of our minds, as opposed to blind belief and dogmas. On his way to Kushinagar, on his last visit, Buddha here offered his bowl to the Lichavis, the inhabitants of Vaishali.
Today we won't need to use our vehicle. We will walk through the village of Kushinagar, one of the four holiest sites in Buddhism, as the Buddha himself, in his last teaching, instructed his students to visit – Mahaparanirvana Sutra. Walking we will visit the site of the Mahaparanirvana of Buddha, where today there is a statue of the reclining Buddha. We will visit a Myanmar stupa and a small Japanese temple. In the afternoon we will visit the site where the Buddha was cremated, a stupa was built and there is a pleasant lawn to contemplate this important teaching of the Buddha on impermanence., as well as its legacy for the development of the human mind.
We will continue today towards the south of Nepal, a region that is still low, very similar geographically, culturally and ethnically to the regions we have visited in recent days. We will notice small differences due to the proximity and influence of the highest regions of this small and tallest country in the world. After formalities in Indian and Nepalese immigrations, facilitated by Guilherme, we went to our hotel for a good meal and well-deserved rest. Suggestion: very good typical nepalese food! For those who are willing and prefer, we can already visit the Maya Devi temple, where Buddha was born, thus completing the four most sacred sites in Buddhism. Travel by car for approx. 7 am
After our breakfast, near Lumbini, we will visit the place where Buddha lived during his childhood and youth, Kapilavastu. The then Prince Siddhartha was quite protected by his father, with respect to all discomfort and possible suffering. At the same time, with the presence of all the pleasures that our senses can offer us. It was in explorations around his home that Siddhartha had four important visions: for the first time he saw a sick man, an old man, a dead man and an ascetic. We will walk through the same places that Siddharta lived before his enlightenment, from where he followed his Walk, studies and training until he became enlightened in Bodhgaya. Back in Lumbini, when we will complement the four holiest sites in Buddhism, we will be able to visit once again the place where Buddha was born when his mother, Mayadevi, returned to her parents' village, as is traditional to this day, for childbirth of your son. A very special place, sitting around for a while, reading, reflecting and familiarizing yourself are certainly remarkable and very worthy experiences.
Transfer to the nearest airport in Lumbini, approx. 20min, and flight to Kathmandu. Weather permitting, with an incredible view of the highest snowy mountains on our planet: the Himalayas. Arrival in the Kathmandu Valley, transfer to the hotel in the Tibetan quarter, with free afternoon with assistance around the large stupa of Boudhnath to acclimate ourselves with this new, also quite special, culture on our trip.
Around the big stupa (tib: chörten)from Boudhanath in our Tibetan neighborhood, full of monasteries, you will find secular nuns, monks and Tibetans, sometimes great masters, doing their koras (circumumbulations), spinning the famous prayer wheels with millions of Om Mani Padma Hungs, reciting mantras and lighting lamps mainly in the late afternoons and early mornings. Take advantage of one of the cafes or restaurants to observe and assimilate these people who, more directly or indirectly, keep alive until today, all over the world, the legacy of the University of Nalanda that we visited a few days ago.
18 ° KATHMANDU Day Return to Brazil, Extension The Eight Most Holy Places in Buddhism ou More Extensions
We hope that you have had beautiful and important experiences through contact with ancient cultures that until today, in more isolated contexts as in modern contexts too, live values that are possibly quite new to us and will be of great help to us in our daily lives. for days.
For those returning to Brazil today, our hotel is available until noon today. Thus, you can choose, according to your preferences and availability of flights, whether you are flying today, in the morning, in the afternoon, at night or even in the next morning. If you need a late check-out (usually available until 18pm for a fee a little less than one night) or one more night to have the room available throughout the day and the next night, please let us know in advance to check availability and value . It is always possible to store your bags at the hotel reception, so you can take a walk around the city that day, have lunch and/or dinner out according to your flight schedule, and then proceed to the airport with the assistance of our representatives and monitoring each I pass by Chörten.