Welcome

Welcome to the Parayana main site – for now. Click the links to visit our two Pilgrimage pages; Sakyamuni Heartland and Teachers of the Present.

Parayana means the Way Beyond, and by extension True Refuge. We have adopted the name because our pilgrimages lead us beyond, not just into strange new worlds but also beyond ourselves and towards transcendence.

So we are now Parayana; the way beyond. The Parayana varga from the Sutta Nipata has been an inspiration since the first time I read it – 1992 – my hair stood on end. This was an eye-witness account of the Buddha, I thought. About 30 kms from Buddha Gaya is the famous Barabar caves (E.M. Forster’s Malabar caves). Ashoka and one of his sons excavated the seven highly polished caves – about 2200 years ago. In the same group of hills is Kowadol, the ancient Pasanaka Cetiya, the high impressive and lovely ‘rock shrine’ where the events of the Parayana varga occurred. The Parayana varga and the Pasanaka cetiya are inspirations for what I am doing out here.