Lhasa to Nalanda - journey time by foot

[Elliot M. Stern]

Dear Richard,

Thank you for the prompt reply.  The Free Library of Philadelphia apparently
has a copy.

So far as I have been able to determine, there is little or no information
about the route zaantarakSita may have followed.  He is generally thought to
have lived and worked at Nalanda, but one or both of the Tibetan accounts
situate him in "Nepal".  I have developed a somewhat naive notion that he
would have crossed the Kathmandu Valley on the way to Lhasa or environs from
Nalanda, but my knowledge of the geography of the regions involved is so
limited that I do not know what route or routes may have been established in
his time.


Elliot M. Stern
552 South 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
United States of America
Telephone: 215-747-6204
email: emstern at bellatlantic.net



 Richard B Mahoney replied:

 Dear Eliot,

 On Thu, Feb 15, 2001 at 10:55:16PM -0500, Elliot M. Stern wrote:
 > I'm hoping that somebody on the list can answer this question. About how
 > long would it take to walk from Lhasa or its environs to Nalanda in
Bihar?
 > References to 20th century journeys by foot in either direction between
some
 > specified location in India to or from the Lhasa area would help , such
as
 > books about Tibetan refugees' experiences.
 >
 > The aim is to form an idea of how long it might have taken the Buddhist
monk
 > zaantarakSita to travel to Tibet, and return in the 7th century.
 >

 I'm not sure of "Saantarak.sita's route but for that of Marpa the
 Translator you could consult pp. xxvii ff. of:

 @Book{trungpa:life,
   editor =       "Ch\"{o}gyam Trungpa",
   title =        "The Life of Marpa The Translator: Seeing Accomplishes
                  All",
   publisher =    "Shambhala",
   stitle =       "The Life of Marpa",
   year =         "1995",
   key =          "trungpa:1995",
   address =      "Boston \& London",
   note =         "a trans. of `Mar pa rnam thar' by Gtsang smyon He ru
                  ka (1452--1507) by the N\={a}land\={a} Translation
Committee
                  under the direction of Ch\"{o}gyam Trungpa",
 }

 His journeys seem to have been protracted for various reasons not
 the least of which would have been the difficulty of
 acclimatisation.


 Many regards,

  Richard Mahoney

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