An outing to Namobuddha

the story of Namobuddha

Namobuddha has been a place of pilgrimage for buddhists and non buddhists alike. It's a reasonably bumpy ride so if you have back problems, I would strongly disadvise it! It takes about 3 hours to travel from Pharping to Namobuddha. You can go by public bus, tourist bus or by taxi. As we were a large group, we rented a bus for the day which cost 1450 per person. Depending on how much you manage to fill the bus, the price will increase or decrease. We left Pharping at six in the morning in order to avoid traffic and while going down the hill we got a beautiful view of the sunrise

the view of the sunrise from the bus

There are many variations on the story on the story of Namobuddha but they all lead to the same conclusion. I will tell you the one I heard while studying the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva (http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Bodhicharyavatara ). 

the rock where buddha offered his body

In one of Buddha's previous incarnations, he was the son of a king who was traveling through Namobuddha with his retinue when they came across a tigress and her cubs. She looked so emaciated and starving that she couldn't even lift her head up to acknowledge their passing. The buddha stopped and stared at the Tigress and asked his brother what was wrong with her. The brother told him that she was starving and that if she did not eat something soon, she would surly die of hunger. The buddha stared at the tigress with compassion and told his family to go on and that he would meet up with them later on. Once they had left, he made a cut in his arm and offered it to the tigress. He saw that this was not enough to feed both her and her cubs. He then offered his arms, then his legs and finally his whole body. At the end all that was left of him was a small heap of bones. When the king and his family found out about this, they were devastated and they erected a stupa in which they placed his bones. The stupa still stands today. One can also see the very rock where the buddha offered his body 

The stupa containing buddhas bones