About This Guide

In the Buddhist understanding, pilgrimage is not tourism. It is a spiritual practice with specific purposes and methods:

Accumulating Merit

Visiting sacred sites, making offerings, and performing practices there creates positive karma that supports spiritual development. The merit accumulated at power places is said to be multiplied many times compared to ordinary locations.

Receiving Blessings

Places where great masters practiced retain their spiritual power. By visiting with faith, pilgrims open themselves to receive the accumulated blessings of all who have practiced there.

Purifying Obscurations

The physical hardship of pilgrimage, combined with devotional practices performed at sacred sites, helps purify the mental and karmic obscurations that prevent awakening.

Connecting with Lineage

By visiting sites associated with the masters of one's lineage, practitioners strengthen their connection to the transmission that carries the dharma through time.

Each site entry in this guide includes:

• • Historical background — the stories of founding, the masters who practiced there, significant events
• • Spiritual significance — why this site is considered sacred, what blessings it offers
• • Recommended practices — traditional ways to engage with the site's power
• • Practical information — location, access, permits, best seasons
• • Related sites — other power places connected by geography or lineage

We encourage readers to use this information as a starting point, not an endpoint. Consult with teachers, study the practices associated with sites you plan to visit, and approach pilgrimage as the spiritual practice it is meant to be.

The information in this guide draws from traditional Tibetan sources, historical records, pilgrimage guides written by realized masters, and modern scholarship. Where accounts differ, we have tried to present the traditional understanding while acknowledging variations.

Sacred sites have living histories — they change, are rebuilt, face destruction and renewal. We strive to keep information current while honoring the timeless nature of the blessings these places carry.

If you notice errors or have additional information to contribute, we welcome your feedback. This guide is offered as a service to the dharma community and benefits from collective knowledge and correction.