Asura Caves **Nepal**#trending

ASURA CAVE
&
YANGLESHÖ

THE PLACE OF AWAKENING

“In the rock cave of Yangleshö in Nepal ༔
you accomplish the practice of Yangdak, essence of Great Bliss. ༔
By means of Vajrakilaya you liberate all obstacles and obstructers, ༔
and in this sacred place you attain the siddhi of mahamudra. ༔
To Dorje Tötreng Tsal, we pray! ༔
To the Lotus-born Guru of Orgyen, we pray! ༔

— Le'u Dunma, the Prayer in Seven Chapters

Pharping, 21 kilometer south from Kathmandu is sacred site of Yanglesho where Guru Padmasambhava attained level of a Mahamudra Vidyadhara. Pharping town is a thriving Newari town that’s ancient Buddhist pilgrimage sites have been taken over by large numbers of Tibetans. However more specifically it is referring to two caves in which Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated. One is located on the hillside behind and above Pharping, commonly known as Asura Cave or the 'Upper cave of Yangleshö'. The other one is located slightly below Pharping, about a five minute walk outside of town and known as 'Lower cave of Yangleshö' or simply Yangleshö. 

Pharping, where Guru Padmasambhava attained the level of a Mahamudra vidyadhara. Yangleshö is thus, according to Katok Rigdzin Tsewang Norbu, considered to be for Vajrayana practitioners as important as Bodhgaya because it is where the second buddha Guru Padmasambhava attained the state of enlightenment. Every year the current, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche leads several seminars and retreats in Asura Cave monastery in Pharping. Pharping has not only been blessed by Guru Rinpoche, it has been also visited by many great beings, like long term resident Marpa Lotsawa, who practiced, made offerings, ganachakra feasts, aspiration prayers and so on.

Asura Cave, or the Upper Cave of Yangleshö, is poised in the thick of a forest on the hill immediately behind Pharping. Guru Rinpoche began his retreat focusing on the deity Yangdak Heruka, a wrathful form of Buddha's wisdom heart, while at the lower cave of Yangleshö.