In collaboration with Himalayan High Treks

February 08 – 25, 2026

From Kathmandu, Nepal

Sign up deadline is Nov. 8, 2025

OPEN TO ALL

Step out of your routine and into the footsteps of the Buddha with an 18-day spiritual journey unlike any other. This is more than a trip—it’s a pilgrimage designed to nourish your heart, mind, and soul.

Guided by spiritual leaders Charok Lama and Paula Chichester, and enriched by the wisdom of local expert Amber Tamang, you’ll visit the most sacred Buddhist sites in Nepal and India: from the majestic Boudhanath Stupa and Kopan Monastery, to the serene grounds of Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace, and the hallowed grounds of Bodhgaya, where he attained enlightenment.

Expect comfortable 3–5 star hotels, private transport, hearty vegetarian meals, and expert support every step of the way—from arrival and departure transfers to guided teachings and daily practices inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice on meaningful pilgrimage.

With mild activity levels, thoughtful pacing, and moments of reflection built into the itinerary, this journey welcomes practitioners of all levels who are looking to deepen their practice.

Why join?

• Experience the blessings of the most powerful holy sites in the Buddhist world
• Receive teachings and practice guidance in community with like-minded seekers
• Travel in comfort, while cultivating compassion, renunciation, and wisdom
• Make heartfelt prayers and offerings at sites visited by the Buddha himself
• Reconnect to what matters

Don’t miss this chance to turn your next vacation into a life-changing experience.

Spaces are limited, reserve your seat on the path today.

Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche about being on pilgrimage

Rinpoche has told us that it is good to do different practices on pilgrimage, to make people’s lives very meaningful and very productive.

“Normally when people go on pilgrimage, they are just like tourists; maybe they take some pictures, and that’s it. They don’t use the places to collect merit or to meditate or to get some benefit for their minds. If it’s just like sightseeing, then it won’t be that much benefit.”

Rinpoche says that by doing pilgrimage, we receive blessings from the holy places where enlightened beings, great yogis, and bodhisattvas have practiced. With the blessing entering our hearts, we are able to soften; our mind becomes subdued; and we are able to decrease the delusions. We are then able to develop compassion for others and to strengthen our devotion, renunciation, and wisdom. Our mental continuum becomes Dharma.

Rinpoche has also advised that when we see the Great Stupa in Boudhanath for the very first time, even from the airplane, we should make special strong prayers. “This stupa is so powerful that anybody who makes prayers to it has their wishes fulfilled. Whatever you pray for, it will succeed. So do your best prayer!”

Spiritual Leaders

Charok Lama (Ngawang Rigdzin Gyatso Rinpoche) is the recognized reincarnation of the previous Charok Lama, Kusho Mangde, a famous mountain yogi and a good friend of the Lawudo Lama, Kunsang Yeshe, the previous incarnation of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He was born in 1995 and at the age of three was recognized as an incarnate Lama. Charok Lama studied at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu and Sera Je Monastery in South India. He was very close to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and remains very connected to FMPT. Rinpoche speaks fluent English.

Paula Chichester is originally from Berkeley, CA and has been interested in Buddhism since she was fourteen. About ten years later she went on retreats with Lama Kunga Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe, and was inspired by their teachings. In 1982 after three months of teachings by Zong Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India she left her Ph.D program at UC Berkeley, to pursue enlightenment full-time.

Guided by Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Ribur Rinpoche—and in partnership with Roger Munro—she devoted the next 23 years to full-time study and retreat. In 2005, after completion of her second four-year solitary retreat, she began splitting her year in retreat with service of the FPMT. These activities have included leading retreats, restarting Land of Calm Abiding as co-director, and completing with Roger Monroe 108 Springs Chöd retreats in Scotland and New Zealand. She has also led a previous pilgrimage to Tibet organized by Himalayan High Treks and led meditations for the Maitreya Relic Tour in Africa and Vietnam.

In 2017 Lama Zopa Rinpoche encouraged the FPMT Centers in Europe to request Paula to lead retreats for them. Another longtime student of Buddhadharma, Geoff Jukes, offered her home in the Shetland Islands where she could live and practice. There she hosts retreats in the little gompa by the sea. For more information about Paula please go to www.braveview.org or listen to this podcast interview with her, Diary of a Yogini.

Guide: Amber Tamang

Amber Tamang is from a small village in the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal— a hamlet not on most maps! Amber became a porter in 1992, to put himself through high school and college. He is an advocate for better working conditions for trekking staff. For his undergraduate law degree, his presentation was on legal protection for workers in tourism. He achieved a Master’s Degree in History, Culture, and Archaeology.

Amber has worked as the local guide for many pilgrimages. An independent researcher in the culture and religion of the Himalayas, Amber has published several articles in Nepali and English. Amber became a guide with Himalayan High Treks in 1995 and has introduced many travelers to the wonders of Nepal, Tibet, and India. Those who’ve traveled with him praise his patience and kindness. They tell how well he describes the local customs of the Himalaya and its people in articulate English. Amber and his family live in Kathmandu.

+977 98510-84961
amber@hightreks.com