In the morning and afternoon you can interact with monks of all ages, and if you are lucky you might even get a guide tour of the premises. The monastery has a simple and clean guesthouse available for visitors and it is possible to eat dinner and breakfast with the monks, and even to witness the morning and evening pujas (worship) in the big hall. In conclusion, there are plenty of lodging options at Namo Buddha and staying at the monastery itself is a very special experience. The huge building complex with the golden roof is home to over 250 monks, yet most times many more people live there as it has teaching facilities. Although the stupa is much smaller than at Bouddhanath or Swayambunath, it is a very important one for Nepalese Buddhists.įurthermore, from the stupa a dirt road leads up to the village and to the Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery. Enjoying a snack or a drink in one of the small restaurants there. From the stupa you have a beautiful view of the valley you just crossed. The sounds around change on this part of the trek and the voices of people and sounds of farm animals are replaced by birds and cicadas.ĭon’t miss the stairs to the right after a while around 45 minutes, as they lead to the Namo Buddha Stupa. The monastery lies at 1750m above sea level, so you only have to climb around 250 metres. On the other side, the path starts by climbing up the mountain and the field are replaced by forest. Photo: Bob WitloxĪfter two hours of walking you will reach a small village across a river. And also the hundreds of thousands of prayer flags attached to a pole at the highest point are unmistakable and the golden roofs of the monastery sparkle in the sun. On the way you will have breathtaking views of the monastery and the stupa in the distance. Teashops along the way invite to rest and have a refreshing cup of chia. Depending on the season, you can see the locals planting, harvesting rice and other crops and get a great insight into the village life in Nepal. For the next two hours, the way leads more or less evenly through small villages and rice fields. From there, hikers start the walk by following the dirt road along the river and passing the town’s Hindu temple. If you want to stay the night there beforehand, you could check out the Community Homestay Programme. Panauti, the starting point can be reach in about two hour by public bus from Kathmandu. Walking there from the small village of Panauti can be as a small pilgrimage of its own. Meanwhile, this paper not only studied prospects of pilgrimage tourism in Namo Buddha but also attempted to find out and highlight how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the destination.Namo Buddha is the third most important religious site for Buddhists in Nepal. It also tried to investigate locals’ perspectives on pilgrimage tourism development. Exploratory research has been carried out to examine the religious and economic benefits of pilgrims at this site. Religious tourism and pilgrimage tourism are interchangeably used in this study and the paper is based on both the primary and secondary data. This place offers other attractions and activities besides pilgrimage-based elements such as sightseeing of heritage town spectacular Himalayan ranges paddy field terrains hilly forests soft adventures experience and so on. The place has a huge potential to attract both Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims including international tourists from all over the world. Nepali people call this site Namo Buddha, Newars call Namo Buddha as Namura and Tibetans call it as Takmo Lu Jin. This stūpa commemorates the Buddha Śakyamuni’s sacrifice of his body to a starving tigress and her cubs in his previous life. Namo Buddha stūpa is also considered to be one of the holiest stūpas in Nepal including Svayambhu Stūpa (Svayambhu Mahachaitya) and the Bodhnath Stūpa (Khasti Mahachaitya). Namo Buddha is one of the sacred Buddhist shrines and important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists as they believe the relics of the previous life of Lord Buddha are kept at Namo Buddha Stūpa. A pilgrimage is an ancient form of religious travel where people make a journey to the place of their belief for experiencing spirituality. There is found limited academic work on pilgrimage tourism in Nepal however, no evidence of study could be traced on Namo Buddha that is based on pilgrimage tourism perspective. This paper tries to find out the prospect of pilgrimage tourism at Namo Buddha, Kavre, Nepal. Buddhism, Covid-19, motivation, pilgrimage tourism, spirituality Abstract
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