As part of their 2,500 kilometre long cycling trip from Kathmandu in Nepal to the Hemis Monastery in ladakh, a group of about 500 male and female Buddhist monks led by Gyalwang Drukpa of the ladakh based Drukpa order reached the Banbasa check point in Champawat District of Uttarakand on Thursday.
The journey by cycle which commenced from one of the monasteries of Drukpa lineage at Kathmandu on July 3, is now stated to be an annual feature of the order’s efforts aimed at raising the level of public awareness on environmental crises in the Himalayan region and motivate collaborative action for its redressal.
Gyalwang Drukpa- considered to be the 12th reincarnation of the head of the Drukpa order said that the “Himalayas have been the home of the Drukpa lineage for over 1000 years now”. He said, “Recently, the region has faced several incidence of disaster scenarios that caused loss of lives and upset the natural ecosystem. Our aim through this journey is to inspire people to be one with nature instead of being in a constant state of war against it. The Himalayas and the earth were formed millions of years before we were and it is our duty to respect them,” he added.
According to the organisers, the two-month long cycling trip will pass through some of the most arduous routes in the Himalayan region amidst adverse conditions. From the quake-hit regions in Nepal, to the monsoon hit areas in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Pathankot, Srinagar and Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir, the cyclists will conclude their trip at the Hemis monastery located about 45 kilometres from leh in ladakh region. The cyclists are slated to reach the monastery ahead of Naropa 2016 – a spiritual festival that is held once in every 12 years, celebrating the 1000th birth anniversary of the Indian seer Naropam, the patron of the Drukpa lineage.
It should be mentioned here that the Drukpa order which has also elicited focus for its insistence on gender equality and celebration of diversity regularly organises such activities to elicit focus on issues of global significance.