In the gap between teachings, I took a trip up into the Himalayan foothills to the little settlement of Namo Buddha.

This was the spot that the Buddha’s earlier reincarnation offered up his body to feed a starving tigress and her five cubs. There’s now a big monastery founded by the late Thrangul Rinpoche, one of the Karmapa’s teachers.

I’m not also a natural at pilgrimage sites, but this one really moved me. The thought of that bodhicitta activity and the fact that historical Buddha, Siddharta Gotama, often came back to this hill to teach.

The forests surrounding the Tiger’sDen are thick with prayer flags and pictures of departed loved ones. It’s a very moving place.