In 2002, a group of exceptional people from around the world signed up to explore the country that is home of the Dalai Lamas. But this was no common tourist trek. Guided by the renowned Tibetan Buddhist master Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the pilgrims found themselves engaged in a rare and powerful experience – one in which the realms of great yogis and saints were revealed and personal transformation beckoned closer each day on the trail.
This intense journey takes one directly into the culture of Tibet and its arresting, spiritually-rich landscape in a way that is not often seen.
The pilgrimage was led by the Tibetan master Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who was a native of Nepal and moved to Tibet to study Tibetan Buddhism as a child. Along with many other monks, he was forced to leave Tibet in 1959. He and his teacher, Lama Yeshe, founded the Kopan Monastery in the Katmandu Valley.  Later they developed the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, currently one of the leading Tibetan Buddhist foundations in the world with over 140 centers located in 31 countries.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche approached the pilgrimage as something much more than a normal excursion:

		Normally when people go on pilgrimage, they are just like tourists; maybe they take some pictures, and that’s it. They don’t use the places to collect merit or to meditate or to get some benefit for their minds. If it’s just like sightseeing, then it won’t be of that much benefit.