A Pilgrimage Guide 

#1 The First Lawudo Lama Kunsang Yeshe 

It is common for Sherpas to have several houses that are used during the different seasons. These are usually very simple stone structures next to the fields where potatoes or other crops are grown, or in the area where yaks and cattle are taken to graze.

In the case of the first Lawudo Lama, the three places where he lived reflect his spiritual journey—childhood, married life, spiritual accomplishment. For the pilgrim who travels to Lawudo, all three houses can be visited in one day. Amazingly, the place where the first Lawudo Lama was born is just a short distance from the Cave of Blissful Attainment, where he entered long retreat, accomplished the practice, and passed into parinirvana.

Mende

The first Lawudo Lama Kunsang Yeshe was born in Mende, the small settlement just below Lawudo. This was his parents house and it can still be visited. The walls and frame are still standing, but the roof collapsed some years ago after it became unoccupied. Outside the door there is a stone carved with the Kalachakra symbol on a small raised shrine for making incense offerings. The view is spectacular—with the Thamserku mountain range in front and the holy mountain of Khumbila to the side. On the hillside behind the house, Lawudo gompa and cave are clearly visible, as well as the recently rennovated purkhang (reliquary) of the first Lawudo Lama, and the newly built stupa for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the second Lawudo Lama.

Thame

In his early twenties, Kunsang Yeshe married Tsamchi, a girl from Namche, and they moved to a small house he built just below Thame gompa. Thame is one of the three original Khumbu gompa (Pangboche, Thame, Rimijung) established by Lama Sangwa Yeshe and his two highly accomplished brothers—Ralpa Dorje and Khenpa Dorje. At that time, there were no monasteries or nunneries in Khumbu. The practitioners were ngakpa, who would gather for prayers, rituals, teachings, etc and many lived around the main gompa. This house is where Kunsang Yeshe raised his family.

The ruins of this house could still be seen in the early 2000s. The descendants of Lama Kunsang Yeshe eventually sold the house to Thame gompa who demolished it and built a school on the site. The original large prayer wheel of the first Lawudo Lama was removed from the house and, after being restored and repainted, it was installed just below the entrance to Thame gompa where it can still be seen and turned today.

Lawudo

In his late forties, when his children were grown up and his family had enough resources to take care of themselves, Kunsang Yeshe determined that it was now time to go into retreat and actualize the teachings, instructions and lineages he had received.

Initially, he built a small retreat place in Thame but misfortune struck. After further searching, he remembered a cave at Lawudo, above his birthplace in Mende, where goats and shepherds would shelter. The cave was small but when he checked he found it to have various auspicious signs and in a vivid dream he remembered a verse in a sacred text he had seen that seemed to exactly fit the description of the cave. He was convinced this cave was gifted to him by the great Guru Padmasambhava himself and began to enlarge it by digging out the earth and enclosing the inside space with a wall. When he began his practice, signs of having subdued the local protector occurred. Lama Kunsang Yeshe settled into his cave and into long retreat.

Over the years, a kitchen was added to the right of the cave where his daughter, a nun who took care of him, could stay. On the left side, a small house was built where his son—and later his main disciple Ngawang Chopel—could practice and retreat. While the Lawudo Lama was in retreat, his wife Tsamchi would split her time between Mende, Thame and Lawudo. The outer buildings along with the cave fell into ruin after the Lawudo Lama passed away but were subsequently rebuilt when the cave was offered back to the second Lawudo Lama, our precious master Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Lawudo is where Lama Kunsang Yeshe accomplished the highest attainments of Dzogchen Atiyoga and passed into parinirvana.

These are the three houses of the first Lawudo Lama.

Much gratitude to Ven Jamyang Wangmo for her painstaking research in The Lawudo Lama.