Java + Bali 2023

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Our sold-out 2023 tour ventured to the mystical islands of Indonesia, beginning with five days in Java visiting ancient megalithic sites including Prambanan and Borobudur, the largest mandala on the planet, where we received the refuge and Bodhisattva vows from Geshe Tenzin Zopa. Not only were we walking in the footsteps of eleventh-century Buddhist master Atisha who is attributed with receiving the teachings on Bodhichitta originating in Java before transmitting them to Tibet, but we also participated in a historic ceremony led by Zopa and local Javanese master Mongku Jitho who combined to revive the syncretic Shiva-Buddha tantra that once was practiced here five centuries ago.

Onwards to the island of Bali where our tour focus shifted to healing and regeneration, we experienced water purification with a local energy healer, ceremony with a high priestess on a mountain temple, observed alchemist Tjok Gde Kerthyasa’s clinical work with a patient, distributed water purifying equipment to a local community in need, swam in the Indian Ocean, observed regenerative farming at UNESCO Jatilewi rice fields, and concluded with a Medicine Buddha retreat on sacred mount Batukaru. — Dr. Miles Neale