Dehra Dun and Buddhist Temple

Susan next to the Stupa

 After two weeks in Rishikesh, we took a taxi to Dehra Dun, about 50 kilometers away, the capital city of Uttranchal State, which used to be part of Uttar Pradesh State.  It has many places to go to and visit, however, almost all of them are from the place we stayed at – Aketa, a three-star hotel. Dehra Dun and the nearby places like Musoorie, are more developed and modernized, partly due to being a military training site, government offices and many academic institutions of international fame.  Because of its moderate climate, the British used this area for their getaways during the colonial period.   Our main goal in coming here was to visit the Buddhist temple.  Since our original plan of going to Dharmasala, the center of Tibetan Buddhism, didn’t work out due to traveling difficulties, visiting this temple was important.

The Buddha Stupa in the middle of the complex

White Tara

A Prayer Wheel

We were immediately drawn into its peaceful atmosphere.  Unlike some of the other holy places we had visited, this temple and its surroundings are kept clean. We were awed by the beauty of all the structures here, especially the stupa of Buddha.  Though there were hundreds of visitors and Tibetan exiles and pilgrims, the place didn’t seem crowded.  We saw men and women walking the trail around the stupa complex and chanting mantras using japamala – a rosary-like chain - with 108 beads.  To learn more about the Buddhist practice of chanting and the use of japamala, google “Buddhist rosary” or visit the site: www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/365.  We were at the site around noontime and saw hundreds of kids coming out of the dining hall after having their lunch.  These are young boys living and studying at the monastery attached to the temple. 

Koshy with two Tibetan Buddhists

One of many advices by Dalai Lama

Buddhism originated in India, it is perhaps more widely practiced in neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Tibet, Myanmar, and in the far eastern countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Japan.  Buddhism began some 500 years before Christ as a reawakening of Hinduism.  Buddha means ‘the awakened one.’ It is interesting to note that around this time there were other religious re-awakenings happening in other places and cultures of antiquity: Confucius in China, Socrates in Greece, and the completion of manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible of 39 books, etc. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism does not discriminate people based on caste.  As many of Buddhism’s tenets were incorporated into Hinduism and as Buddha was considered as one of the ten avatars of Hinduism, Buddhism continued to lose its strength in India while it prospered elsewhere.

On our way to Musoorie, situated at an elevation 7,000 feet, we stopped at another temple, Shiv Mandir, famous among the locals as well as international visitors.  I didn’t find anything striking other than that it is located in a beautiful village on a slope.  As we continued our climb to the top, on a narrow road zigzagging, we were giddy in enjoying the nature in all its beauty spread out as far as eye could see. The constant movement, side to side, in the car made us car sick, causing us to not to stay at the top much longer.  After getting back to Dehra Dun, we took rest staying at the hotel and enjoying a walk in the street.  The following morning we took a train to Delhi.  My brother who had arrived a few hours earlier by train from Ahmedabad met us at the station and together we went to the YMCA hostel, the base of our Delhi exploration.