Well, I managed to wake up early this morning ~ and am I ever glad I did. My last day in Lhasa was absolutely incredible.
First off, we headed out to the Johkang (holiest temple in Tibet!) and
walked the Barkhor Kora surrounding it. We were literally swept up
with the multitudes of pilgrims, all dressed in traditional yak skins,
with hair plaited, spinning prayer wheels as they walked. The truly
devout walk the circuit 3X, and the borderline obsessive perform the
three kora circuits in a strange pattern of prostration ~ literally
lying on the ground, then standing up ~ only moving ahead the length of
one step each time. Incredible to witness.
The Barkhor begins just to the left of the Jokhang ~ all koras are
performed clockwise. Once we reached the front again, we were amazed
to see dozens of devout Tibetan Buddhists polishing the stone floors
with their prostrations....walking past them to enter felt sacreligious
in some way.
Once inside the Jokhang, we joined the massive queue.....you basically
walk clockwise around a central chapel area, entering dozens of smaller
chapels along your way. Most of them were literally the size of
closets, and crammed full of beautiful statues of the boddisatvas,
buddhas, kings, and lamas.
I have to admit it was slightly overwhelming ~ the powerful smell of
hundreds of yak butter candles burning, the scent of juniper incense,
and hundreds of voices murmuring prayers as they shuffled along.
Seeing some of the faces around me, and realizing that for many of
these Tibetans, seeing the Jokhang is the culmination of months of
pilgrimmage from the far corners of Tibet, was definately sobering.
And people were wonderful! Although I certainly stuck out like a sore
thumb, towering over most of the people and, well,being a
whole different colour and all, all I ever got were smiles, warm looks,
and sincere attempts at warming my hands...which were freezing.
The Jokhang was built to house the pure gold Buddha statue, which was
brought to Tibet by Chinese Princess Wencheng as part of her dowry from
China, and faces Nepal in order to honour the Nepalese bride (his 2nd
wife) of the King. The site was chosen by the Princess Wencheng,
chinese bride of the King. Its widely thought that she chose the site
of a lake to be difficult ~ however, the lake was duly drained and the
temple built atop the land. According to some, there is a well within
the temple grounds which still pulls water from that ancient lake.
Legend, however, has it that the Chinese princess chose that specific
spot because her knowledge of Buddhism enabled her to divine the exact
resting spot of an enormous supine demoness, who would have to be
restrained before Tibet could embrace Buddhism fully. So, temples were
built all across the land ~ as far away as Bhutan and modern day
Sichuan province ~ in order to 'hold down' this demoness. The Jokhang
anchors the head of the demoness, and the outlying temples hold down
arms, legs, etc. Crazy stuff.
Anyways, pilgrims carry with them bags or jars of hard yak butter, in
order to 'feed' the numerous candles in each chapel. Some carry
thermoses of melted butter to pour into the candles instead. In the
main chapel, which houses the Buddha image, you are required to hand
over your 'butter receptacle' to a waiting monk, who will add some in
for you. As this happens, you proceed around the gigantic statue,
stopping at each of his feet (he sits cross-legged) and touching your
forehead to his toes. A monk "bouncer" taps you on your back when its
time to move on, usually just a few seconds. I felt a little
ridiculous doing this, but it felt like it'd be more disrespectful to
NOT.
I felt really fortunate to be able to witness something like this ~
people chanting and praying, fingering prayer beads, spooning butter
into the lamps....people of all ages. From the elderly walking with
aid of 2 canes, to the babies strapped to the backs of young
women....people everywhere.
I didn't think it could get any better...and then it did.
In the afternoon, we took a local bus (Y2) out to see the Drepung and
Nechung monastaries. It was a long steep walk up the hill to
Drepung, and we were charged Y25 each to enter and perform the Kora
around the monastary ~ but it was literally incredible. We passed
through a valley of prayer flags fluttering colourfully over our heads
, flocks of sheep just barely parting to allow us passage,
crimson-robed monks who always had a smile and hello for us, and little
old stooped men and women making the pilgrimage around the circuit
along with us. One young monk even walked part way with us, and posed
for some great photographs from the hills overlooking the monastary
buildings. He was very sweet ~ showing us where we were meant to
touch our foreheads to painted rocks, how to pray, etc. Near the end
of the Kora, we could hear some chanting and clapping ~ which we had
read about, but didn't expect to witness...the monks were debating
within an enclosed courtyard down below. They use two sharp claps to
emphasize their points....very, very loud!
We quickly
scrambled down the rocky path and huddled down around the walls of the
courtyard to take a few pictures....some of the monks posed for us, as
well! I finished off my day feeling exhausted and very satisfied.
Tibet is someplace I would definately love to return to one day, but
for now, I feel like I had a good taster of its capital.
Next up will be the cruise on the Yangtze River, taking in the 3 Gorges before they are gone for good.
xoxoxo
Laura
