Kalimpong
India
9 pilgrimage sites
Limited access
Bhutan House
Kalimpong, India · 1950s
Bhutan House at Twelfth Mile, where Dhardo Rimpoche stayed for some time. Currently inaccessible to visitors.
Dharmodaya Vihara
Kalimpong, India · March 1950 – early 1951
The first place Sangharakshita lived in Kalimpong — the 'Monastery of the Rise of the Teaching' on the acclivity above town.
Everton Villa
Kalimpong, India · 1954 – 1956
An isolated hillside bungalow on the outskirts of the Development Area where Sangharakshita wrote A Survey of Buddhism.
Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural School (ITBC)
Kalimpong, India · 1950s – 1964
Dhardo Rimpoche's school in Kalimpong — now home to a museum. A significant site in Bhante's Kalimpong network.
Panorama & Guest Cottage of Burma Raja
Kalimpong, India · 1951 – c. 1954
A pair of red-roofed bungalows on the open hillside along Upper Cart Road — the guest cottage became Sangharakshita's home and the editorial office of Stepping-Stones magazine.
Tharpa Choling Gompa (Tirpai Gompa)
Kalimpong, India · 1950–1964
Kalimpong's biggest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, on a spur below the bazaar near Tirpai — founded by Tomo Geshe Rimpoche and the site where the Sacred Relics of the two arhants were received and Sangharakshita had philosophical discussions with the abbot.
The Hermitage
Kalimpong, India · 1956 – 1957
A bungalow near Ninth Mile that Sangharakshita fell in love with immediately. The owners, pleased to have him there, renamed it The Hermitage in his honour.
Tongsa Gompa (Bhutanese Gompa)
Kalimpong, India · c. 1958 – 1963
The Bhutanese gompa near Tenth Mile where Sangharakshita first met Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche — and where the great lama gave him three initiations.
Triyana Vardhana Vihara
Kalimpong, India · 1957 – 1964
The 'Vihara Where the Three Yānas Flourish' — Sangharakshita's first permanent monastic centre, where he received almost all his sadhanas and from which he taught across India.