Geshe Sherab Palden's Journey from Dolpo to Menri

A Personal Reflection

Geshe Sherab Palden and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in BuchenauGeshe Sherab Palden is the chief assistant and personal secretary of His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, the 34th Menri Trizin and spiritual leader of Bon. He also creates His Holiness's itinerary when he travels. Unfortunately, he did not get a visa when His Holiness visited the United States this summer, so Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche invited him to travel to Europe as his special guest during Rinpoche's recent retreats in Poland and Germany. Later, they traveled together in Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Croatia. Geshe-la also had an opportunity to visit his relatives in Europe. During the summer retreat in Buchenau, Germany, Geshe Sherab Palden shared with Ton Bisscheroux the story of how he became a geshe.

Geshe Sherab Palden's father Nyima WangyalI want to dedicate this story to my late father, Yogi Nyima Wangyal, who passed away in 2017. Not only had my father taught me to be an independent and determined person, he had gone through many hardships in supporting me and making me who I am today. Father, you will always hold a very special place in my heart and I will always love you.

I was born in 1985 in Barle Village, Dolpo, Nepal. At the age of 6, I traveled with my father from our village to Kathmandu, about 250 km [155 miles]. After a short stay at Triten Norbutse Monastery, I left my father and went by bus, together with a monk, to New Delhi, India. From there I traveled to Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India.

My journey started somewhere in the second half of 1991. I remember that at that time, Kathmandu was a very popular city and the village people who had returned from their visit told the story of modern lifestyle in the city. As a 6-year-old child, I didn't know there was any other country outside of Nepal. One day, some villagers were planning to go to Kathmandu to seek new opportunities or employment to survive. My father wished to do the same and told me to go with him to the city to study there. I was thrilled with this new opportunity as I would get the chance to travel and see the world. It was like a dream come true for me.

When we left, as part of our local tradition, all our relatives and friends gathered at our house to say good luck and bid farewell. Early in the morning, we started our journey on foot to Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpo. There were eight of us, including my father. After five hours of walking, we finally arrived at Dunai and rested for one night.

The next day, I was very excited to board an airplane. Unfortunately, our Dolpa Airport in Juphal was under repair and maintenance, so there was no flight available at that time. This was a rural area with many remote villages surrounded by forest and mountains, and there was no proper road or transportation to reach any nearby town. The only option left for us was to walk to Kathmandu.

After deciding to travel on foot, we started to gather food, utensils and blankets. The next morning around 4.30 a.m., the eight of us began our journey walking to Kathmandu, which was expected to cover about 235 km [146 miles]. In between, there were some short breaks. During many parts of our journey, I would sit on my father's shoulder, even when he also had to carry a heavy bag on his back. We trailed along the side of the river, and in this remote place there was no way of getting a hotel to stay. Once the sky got dark at around 7 p.m., we would find a cave for cooking dinner and resting for the night.

We would repeat the cycle again the next day. In the early morning we would embark on our walking journey, crossing many mountains and many rivers, burdened by our own heavy bags. Sometimes we needed to overcome obstacles, especially because there was a 6-year-old child in the group. I remember we would avoid surging waters during crossing of the river. One time, I was very afraid of crossing the river and wanted to give up. Fortunately, my kind father helped me by carrying me on his shoulders, along with his heavy bag. Whenever I felt frightened and scared, I would just close my eyes without thinking what was going to happen. With my father's strenuous efforts, I managed to cross many rivers and shaky metal bridges.

One night while we were resting inside an unknown cave, I looked at a faraway mountain and saw a place with many night stars twinkling across it. The scene looked so amazing and beautiful to me. When I asked my father what these twinkling lights were, he said those were lightbulbs powered by electricity. This was the first time in my life I had seen lightbulbs because in our village there was no electricity.

After that, we traveled by foot for almost five days until we finally reached a hotel and rested there. It was late at night and our group was preparing for the next day. In the early morning something would come, and we had to catch it. But I didn't know what it would be. Early the next morning, I suddenly saw two bright lights approaching us. It was noisy, its shape was like a house, so I said to my father, "Dad, a house is coming!" I had never seen any photo of a bus before. It looked strange and amazing. After three days of traveling by bus, we arrived at Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu. Altogether, the journey from my village to the monastery took us almost eight days.

At Triten Norbutse Monastery, we received the blessing from H.E Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and stayed in a tin house near the monastery. After a few days, my father got a job as a cook in the Triten Norbutse kitchen, and we both stayed in the monastery storehouse (today, a shop). Every day, my father prepared food for the monks, and at night he taught me prayers and reverence. While we were sleeping together, I learned the Supplication Prayer (Soldep) of Nyame Sherap Gyaltsen and Praise of the Twelve Deeds of the Buddha Shenrap. While listening to my father's voice, I fell asleep.

During that period, I didn't get the chance to attend any classes. At that time there were only15 monks at Triten Norbutse, most of them senior monks, and they still had to learn how to train children. Although I could not attend the teaching, I got to wear monk robes and attend the pujas (prayers and rituals).

One day after the Tibetan New Year in 1992, His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin Rinpoche came from India with some of his assistants for a short visit. This was when I received the ceremony of ordination from H.H the 33rd Menri Trizin Rinpoche and H.E Yongdzin Rinpoche. As part of the initiation of Tsering Tracha (tsering means long life and trached means to cut hair, done for new monks), I was given my new name, Sherab Palden.

H.E. Yongdzin Rinpoche told my father that I was too young to hang around there, so I should be sent to India to receive proper education. Fortunately, some assistants of His Holiness were still around and planning to return to India.

My father and me at Triten Norbutse with the monk Samten Nyima, who later brought me to India, 1992While my father stayed at Triten Norbutse Monastery, I left for India together with one of the assistants of His Holiness, who came from our village, and two Tibetan friends from Dolanji. We traveled by bus, covering a distance of 1,250 km [777 miles] in about two days. While we were waiting at the Delhi bus terminal for the next bus, I saw many small shops, hawkers and cookies. It was like a big shopping mall to me. I was so excited that I walked here and there aimlessly and forgot the way back. I was lost for a while, very afraid and missed my father. Fortunately, my companions found me at last, and we got onto another bus. Later, after traveling about 10 hours on the road, we reached Menri Monastery in the Dolanji village in the evening. This was the final destination of my journey from my village in Dolpo, Nepal. This was my new home, and I have been staying there since then.

I completed my secondary school in 2005 and became monk in 2005 at the age of 21. And after 15 years of studying philosophy and the vast and extensive traditional monastic studies on the five major treatises of Buddhist philosophical texts, I completed my geshe degree in 2020.

And now, I am the personal secretary to His Holiness the 34th Menri Trizin. When His Holiness goes outside of the monastery, I have to take care of all the arrangements. I am also responsible for his private office. I check and answer his mail, phone and correspondence. If somebody wants to visit His Holiness, I make the appointments. If people want blessing from His Holinesses or to receive teachings, they have to come through me.

As His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin Rinpoche used to say, if anyone has the right karma and monlam connection, they would come to Menri, so there was no need to find them. [Monlam is a Tibetan word that means a prayer or wish, sometimes from a previous life, that happens naturally.] I believe this happened to me too. At that time, I had never heard about the Menri Monastery and my parents didn't have the intention of sending me there, but it seems I was pulled by it.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Geshe Sherab Palden in Montenegro