The History
The Kali Gandaki River corridor in Mustang, Nepal is the home of one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world, the Annapurna Mountain Range Region. The Kali Gandaki River corridor is also the home of the original, indigenous Tibetan Bon Great Completion (rDzogs chen) meditation teachings.
Later, this sacred corridor became the pathway where all the great masters walked from India to Tibet to bring Buddhist Mahayana teachings from India to Tibet in the 8th century and henceforth. Since then, this same river corridor had become populated with numerous cave and hermitage retreat centers where Bon and rNying ma Buddhist yogis stayed in extended meditation retreats developing and perfecting some of the most advanced meditation practices ever developed on this planet.
Currently, all of the spiritual practices of this sacred corridor are at risk of disappearing from this planet forever. None of the great indigenous Bon spiritual centers exist in this region. The last one in Jarpath was sacked and looted, and then converted into a goat stable. The great rNying ma teaching centers left behind by the great master Guru PadmaSambhava in his famous walk from India to Central Tibet in the 8th century to bring Buddhism to Tibet have mostly disappeared, as have the teachings sites of Atisha, another great Indian Mahayana Buddhist master who brought the Buddhist monastic tradition from India to Tibet in the 11th century.
With the disappearance of the monastic tradition came the disappearance of the support and demand for the advanced practices of the cave and hermitage yogis; the region’s population of cave and hermitage yogis which was once 300-500 has now dwindled to under a dozen active practitioners. Since the development of a national education policy in Nepal in 1954 a decision was made that children attending government-sponsored boarding school would learn only Nepali and English, but not their indigenous ethnic languages. Thus, for the past two generations the Tibetan population in Nepal, a third of the country’s population, no longer speaks its indigenous Tibetan language, and therefore can no longer read the sacred texts or practice from them.
The Mustang Bon Foundation
The Mustang Bon Foundation, (MBF) a U.S.-based non-profit educational foundation in conjunction with Nepal’s Mustang Cultural & Educational Center, a Nepali-based non-profit educational foundation, is working to reverse this trend. The MBF Foundation currently sponsors 40 Mustang children to attend Nepalese boarding school and to spend 3-4 hours/day learning their indigenous Tibetan language and spiritual practices once again.
The MBF Foundation is also building a Bon spiritual campus in Jomsom, Nepal consisting of a temple, living and classroom space for 100 monks, living space for 100 children, and a guest house for advanced Western meditators. Our hope is to re-boot this ancient monastic tradition and build a spiritual campus that once again becomes the main civic center for the entire community of Jomsom. We envision Lamas who train to become active in their community doing the harvest rituals, birth and dying ceremonies, protection rituals, etc.
“The Indo-Tibetan traditions of the Mustang Valley are a guide to mental clarity, deeper intrapersonal understanding, and increased compassion for the self and others.“
Revitalizing the monastic centers will provide the infra-structure for the revitalization of the cave and hermitage yogic culture, as this spiritual campus shall supply the provisions to support these yogis in their sustained advanced meditation practices. Our long-term goal is that through these most advanced practices, these yogis can supply the innovations and discoveries that could eventually revitalize the monastic tradition.
At the request of H.H. the 33rd Menri Trizin, the linage holder of the Bon, the MBF Foundation funded Geshe Sonam Gurung translated two important collections of these most advanced cave and hermitage meditations, The Pith Instructions on Bon A Khrid Great Completion Meditation by Bru rgyal ba, and the Self-Arising Three-Fold Embodiment of Enlightenment, by Shar rdza bKra’ shis rGyal mTshan.
This will put these most advanced practices in a form that can be understood and practiced by Westerners. We have also developed a close relationship with one of the great Bon cave and hermitage yogis, g.Yung drung rGyal mtshan, whom based on this trust, is willing to teach the most advanced cave and hermitage meditation practices to qualified Western practitioners.
The Trip Of A Lifetime
Where do we begin. Back in 2019, we offered a once-in-a-lifetime, exclusive trip and training starting and leaving from Kathmandu. Participants were flown by private helicopters from Kathmandu to Jomsom, Nepal August 20th. All participants stayed at a new five-star hotel in Jomsom, the Mustang Resort, situated on a plateau with the best views of the Kali Gandaki River Valley, and on the Annapurna trekking route.
Participants attended a 7-day Bon A Khrid Great Completion Meditation retreat taught by Geshe Sonam Gurung and Zhu La Rinponche. The retreat took place at the Mustang Resort. During this trip, participants experienced the 14 lessons of the A Khrid, a “quick path” to developing the awakened mind, stabilizing awakening, and developing into full Buddhahood. This is considered the “quick path” and only taught by “intense means.”
Participants then traveled by jeep up the sacred Kali Gandaki river corridor, then were dropped off to walk up a mountain side to the sacred site, where g.Yung drung rGyal mtshan resides with his yogini wife. This historic hermitage site is famous for the lamas who achieved rainbow body while dying there (upon dying the body dissolves entirely into rainbow light so no substance remains except for the hair and nails). At this site g.Yung drung rGyal mtshan gave sacred teachings on the secret fasting practices to extract vital essence (bcud len) directly from the universe so as to reduce the need for food intake.
These practices also include supplemental super-foods and high-energy foods. Given the intense modern Western focus of diets, super-foods, and energy-enhancing substances, we thought it would be useful for Westerners to hear the wisdom accumulated for centuries by the cave and hermitage yogis on this topic. These practices lead to improved physical health, sustained alertness, and greater longevity in daily life. g.Yung drung rGyal mtshan will continue these sacred teachings the following day at the Mustang Resort. The teachings will end on August 29th.
Participants were given a copy of the A Khrid book that contains the root text and commentary that Geshe Sonam translated into English for the Foundation. They were also given a translation of the yogic fasting text, that includes a scientific commentary on the supplements, super-foods, and high-energy used by the cave and hermitage yogis.
During the retreat participants had an opportunity to meet the children that the Foundation sponsors and to visit the building site in Jomsom. The last day saw participants transported by private helicopter to Tillicho Lake in the Annapurna Range—perhaps the most breath-taking spot in the world. The next day participants were flown by private helicopter back to Kathmandu.
In an effort to revitalize this great spiritual tradition in its indigenous setting, the MBF Foundation has since built a spiritual campus, boarding school, and guest house in Jomsom, Nepal.
The Trip Of A Lifetime was hosted at Moksha (now Shintamani Mustang), Jomsom, Nepal & Sacred Hermitage Site, on August 20-31, 2019, and included:
- A 7-Day A Khrid Great Completion Meditation Retreat with Bon Lama, Geshe Sonam Gurung & Zhu La Rinpoche.
- A 2-Day Advanced Retreat on Yogic Fasting (bcud len); Extracting the Vital Essence Directly from the Universe with Bon Cave & Hermitage Yogi g.Yung drung rGyal mtshan.
We thank all of you for participating on this once in a lifetime experience.
Geshe Sonam, Jock Gordon, Mustang Bon Foundation
