Ancient Buddhist Monasteries of India: A Pilgrimage (Jan 17 – Jan 31, 2013)

Stephen and Martine Batchelor will co-lead with Shantum Seth a pilgrimage to the ancient Buddhist monasteries of India from 17 – 31 January, 2013.

This pilgrimage will take us to some of the rare surviving sites in the Indian subcontinent where Buddhism flourished on its home soil from the 3rd Century BCE to the 10th Century CE. This journey will include the world-renowned stupa at Sanchi, the rock-cut monasteries of Ajanta and Ellora, as well as lesser-known rock-cut temples, such as Pitalkora, Karla, Bhaja, Besla, Nasik and Kanheri. Exposure to such a wide-range of sites will grant us a vivid and physical sense of where and how Buddhism evolved in India.

Although these monasteries are no longer active as places of learning and practice, many are in remarkably good condition. Not only will we be able to enjoy the sheer physical beauty and solitude of many of these ancient sites, but also have the unique experience of studying classical Buddhist texts and meditating in the places where these activities originated in India. The pilgrimage includes two day-long retreats: one at the remote Pitalkora, and one at Besla. By travelling to locations that are off the tourist map, we will be able to enjoy them in tranquility and at leisure, allowing us to appreciate more fully the skill and artistic genius of those who built these inspiring edifices.

This pilgrimage is particularly recommended for those who have completed the traditional journey to the places where the Buddha lived and taught, and would like to extend their awareness of Buddhist India to those places where the Dharma flourished in the centuries after the Buddha's death.

Led by: Stephen & Martine Batchelor and Shantum Seth

TEACHER BIOGRAPHIES

Stephen Batchelor
Stephen Batchelor was born in Scotland and educated in Buddhist monasteries in India, Switzerland and Korea. In 1972, at the age of nineteen, he settled in Dharamsala, and in 1974 he ordained as a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition and later traveled to Korea where he practiced as a Zen monk. Batchelor disrobed in 1985, when he moved to Devon, England to live and teach at the Sharpham Community and Gaia House. Stephen Batchelor has synthesized a distinctively Western Teaching style, drawing from multiple Buddhist traditions.   He currently lives in south-west France.

His books include: The Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture, Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening, Verses from the Center: A Buddhist Vision of the Sublime,
Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil and the recently published Confession of a Buddhist Atheist.

  
 Stephen Batchelor          Martine Batchelor             Shantum Seth

Martine Batchelor
Martine was born in France and trained as a Zen nun in South Korea for ten years with her teacher Kusan Sunim.  She disrobed in 1985 and returned to Europe with her husband Stephen, where she also lived and worked at Sharpham and Gaia House.  Martine is the translator of Kusan Sunim’s The Way of Korean Zen, and the author of Meditation for Life, The Path of Compassion, Women in Korean Zen, Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits, and most recently The Spirit of the Buddha.  She teaches Buddhist meditation worldwide and lives in south-west France.

Shantum Seth
Dharmacharya Shantum Seth, an ordained dharma teacher, has been leading pilgrimages “In the Footsteps of the Buddha” since 1988, when he organized the pilgrimage for his teacher, Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh.  Shantum lives in India and has been an advisor to the United Nations on volunteering, peace, and social development issues for more than 15 years.  He has co-authored books such as Walking with the Buddha and been a consultant for films like BBC-Discovery’s Life of the Buddha and BBC-PBS’s The Story of India.