Chumik Jangchub (ཆུ་མིག་བྱང་ཆུབ།) in Nepal – literally meaning Spring of Enlightenment is a sacred site opened with Guru Padmasambhava on his way to Tibet. It is one of the eight important places in Nepal that are associated to Guru.
Finding my cousins
The sacred site was visited since time unknown, but what can be seen at the site – the stone steps and footpaths, the old temple, which unfortunately was destroyed by the earthquake in 2015, were all done by a Bhutanese yogi – Lama Rinzin Rimpoche from Rangshikhar in Tashigang. He came on a pilgrimage here in the 1960s and never left. He passed away in 2022 at 95.
He happens to be my father’s first cousin, and thus by extension his children are my cousins, whom I had the good fortune of meeting them for the first time today.
The current siblings-occupants, Tshampa Wangchuk and Ani Choki are rebuilding the place – piece by piece with their hands. They are not in a rush and have no expectations or desires. They were born here and have never left the place. They are both past their 50s. Such a dedication. A humbling experience to be in their presence.
CHUMIK JANGCHUB
Chumik Jangchub is a must-visit for all Vajrayana devotees. There are two things to see here. A self-emanating face of Guru (see picture) under the cave, and the sacred spring.
A paragraph from the popular Barché Lamsel mantra (the Prayer that Removes All Obstacles on the Path) says:
དམ་ཅན་དམ་ལ་བཏགས་པའི་ཚེ། དྲི་མེད་གནས་མཆོག་ཉམས་རེ་དགའ། རྒྱ་གར་བོད་ཡུལ་ས་མཚམས་སུ། བྱིན་གྱི་བརླབས་ནས་བྱོན་པའི་ཚེ། དྲི་བསུང་སྤོས་ངད་ལྡན་པའི་རི། མེ་ཏོག་པདྨ་དགུང་ཡང་སྐྱེ། ཆུ་མིག་བྱང་ཆུབ་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཆུ། བདེ་ལྡན་དེ་ཡི་གནས་མཆོག་ཏུ། སྐྱེས་མཆོག་ཚུལ་བཟང་ཆོས་གོས་གསོལ། ཕྱག་གཡས་རྡོེ་རྩེ་དགུ་བསྣམས། གཡོན་པས་རིན་ཆེན་ཟ་མ་ཏོག། རཀྟ་བདུད་རྩིས་ནང་དུ་གཏམས། མཁའ་འགྲོ་དམ་ཅན་དམ་ལ་བཏགས། ཡི་དམ་ཞལ་གཟིགས་དངོས་གྲུབ་བརྙེས།
When binding the protectors, who abide by their vows, ༔
in that supreme place of power, immaculate and enchanting, ༔
on the very border of India and Nepal, ༔
you grant your blessing, and as soon as you arrive ༔
the mountain becomes fragrant, a sweet scent wafting through the air. ༔
Even in winter, lotus flowers bloom, ༔
and a spring flows there, called ‘Nectar of Enlightenment’. ༔
In this supreme and sacred place, suffused with bliss, ༔
O Kyechok Tsulzang, clad in Dharma robes, ༔
your right hand wielding a nine-spoked vajra, ༔
your left supporting a jeweled casket ༔
Brimful with the elixir of rakta, ༔
you bind dakinis and guardians, who keep their pledges, ༔
and you attain the siddhi of beholding the yidam face to face. ༔
Here, Guru came to be known as Kyechok Tsulzang, Eminent Noble Being, after leaving marks of his power and blessings in the form of a holy spring, which remain available for everyone to this day. A sip of this water is believed to release you from the lower realm and put on the path to realisation.
A WISH I MADE.
Personally this place felt sooooooo blissful that I made a wish to be back here and to be able to build a temple for the benefit of all sentient beings – in this or next life. I don’t remember making such a wish anywhere. Maybe I was just inspired by my two newfound long lost cousins. Yes, they are so simple that they inspire.
GETTING THERE.
Chumik Changchup sits within the forested landscape of the Rikheshwor Jungle, near the village of Daman, 65-100 km depending on the route you take. It is southwest of Kathmandu, at a place called Daman. It is a nice day trip approximately 3.5 hours from Kathmandu.
The drive is long but the scenery is mind blowing. You climb to 2800 meters and you can see the tall peaks of Dhalagiri, Annapurna and Everest. And enjoy local Tamang hospitality on the way.
You can also break the journey by stopping at the sacred Dorje Phagmo (Vajravarahi) nye. It is known as Bajrabarahi Mandir, Chapagaon
Dorji Wangchuk 