The Wheel of Dharma
The Wheel of Dharma is one of the eight auspicious symbols in
Tibetan Buddhism. Present in many religious artworks, as well as
underlying some Tibetan Buddhist rituals, it signifies the cycle of death and
rebirth.
Into Thin Air
Trekking
in the Himalayas can be perilous as landslides, avalanches, heavy
snowfalls, gale-force winds, and other more-local factors can block
passes and trap or kill unlucky travellers. Up until 1990 there was a
37% fatality rate for Everest summiteers, and there's still an average
of 4-5 percent chance you'll die if you try. Even lower altitudes are
not without their hazards. Just a few weeks back while we were still on
tour, reports filtered through to us of a party of Tibetan
expeditioners who'd run into some difficulties while crossing the
Nangpa pass west of Cho Oyu on their way to Nepal. According to
eyewitnesses, a number of them, including a 17 year old Buddhist Nun,
were blown away as they attempted the treacherous crossing, with only
43 of the original party of 70+ completing their trek. I don't think
that exact figures of how many were picked off up up off the slopes by Chinese
searchers in the area have yet been published.
Basic Training
At the base of a mountain on the northern outskirts of Lhasa lies
the Sera Monastery. It's one of the key monasteries of the Gelugpa
sect, and is a centre of teaching and learning, housing three monastic
colleges. In a courtyard within the compound, monks gather each
afternoon at 3pm to debate on religious matters. To debate, the monks
split up into pairs (or small groups). One monk (or a small group),
standing, asks questions; the other (or a small group), seated,
responds. The technique used by interrogating monks is well worth a
watch - they clap as they ask their questions, with a backhand being
brought down into an awaiting palm if the answer is incorrect.
There was even one interesting technique only used by what seemed to be
the most stylish and proficient of debaters: the monk performs a
well-balanced 360 degree turn while his right hand circles
anticlockwise around his head. It's all not entirely unreminiscent of
15th century African-Brazilian dance. The dop dop of the monks'
clapping can be heard from quite a distance, by the way;
it's audible hundreds of metres up the mountain, at the top of the
gully that lies behind the
monastery.
Mark well the nation's Houses of Prayer
Whether it's the Catholic Church's historic sale of indulgences, the
prosperity theology of modern Pentecostalism, or the karma-improving
release of purchased birds in Southeast Asian temples, there's few things that go together so doubleplusgoodwise
as religion and commerce. Temples and monasteries within Chinese
borders are no stranger to the spiritually uplifting power of
cash, and it's rare to find one -- of whatever
denomination -- without clusters of shops or stalls selling incense,
books, prayers, statues, charms, trinkets, beads, cards, services, and
other essentials mandated for proper reverential worship.
Lamaseries,
however, have raised the enabling of donations to a fine art, and
the Tibetan faithful repay their efforts by donating with fervent
regularity. Other temples provide donation boxes at important
locations; Tibetan lamaseries provide opportunities to donate every
few steps. Devotees clutching wads of low-denomination notes scurry
from one location to another on their circuit, making their offerings.
There are donation boxes, true, but also plates and dishes overflowing
with takings, notes crammed into every available crack, and statues
whose laps and hands spill forth notes. With such a plastering of
donations, it can be hard at times to see the subject of photographs
and the contents of cabinets and cases - Buddha figurines, statues of
buddhas, boddhisattvas, and high lamas, religious art, and scriptures.
The seat of the Panchen Lamas is Tashilhungpo monastery in Shigatse,
and in at least a couple of major shrines there are table piled with
amulets and other mementos. For a minor fee you can purchase some from
one of the monks manning these posts; I'm not sure how much haggling is
considered polite. Photos
of the late 10th Panchen Lama, a beloved figure among
Tibetan Buddhists, can be seen all over Tibet both within monasteries
and without, by the way. For one reason or another, no other Tibetan
Buddhist figure has a tenth as many
pictures on public display, and some don't even have any.
The Modern World
Such a outpouring of generosity by Tibetans (many extremely
poor) is to improve their Karma, and increase their station and
opportunities in their next life. Standard prayer also works to purify
negative karma, but it's less efficient than the mechanical solution
known as a prayer wheel, a cylinder containing or bearing one or more
prayers. Every time a prayer wheel is turned one revolution clockwise,
it has the same benefit as though its prayers were said once. There
are portable prayer wheels on spindles which Tibetans keep in rotation
as they walk, and larger prayer wheels to be turned at fixed points
inside and outside monastery buildings and grounds. Prayer wheels
don't even require conscious action to be effective - there are prayer
wheels that function by convection as hot air rises from butter lamps,
and others from the flow of water downstream, all equally efficacious
per revolution.
There are Tibetan Monks who have been enthusiastic adopters of
technology. It's common to see them using their mobile phones, and it
was refreshing to see one particularly progressive young monk playing
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at the small Internet Cafe in Langmusi. As
modern hard drives reach 12000 RPM or more, for really good Karma
improvement a computer might be most suitable.
Wheels
A number of Tibetan Buddhists, particularly pilgrims, will
prostrate themselves in-place repeatedly outside a temple; the Jokhong
in Lhasa sees quite a lot, for instance. More widespread is the
kora, which is the performance of one or more circuits around a
particular holy site. As prayer wheels are placed around monastery
walls, etc, they are turned by those walking koras. Some will
prostrate themselves at each pace, which vastly increases the amount of
time required. The particularly devout will perform their prostrations
facing the monastery, which increases the number of prostrations that
they need to do.
Holy sites are not limited to the man-made. Mount Kailash in western
Tibet has a 53 km kora around it. There are those who do their koras
with prostration. There are those whose prostrations face the
mountain. Once is not enough for those doing it. Three is the
standard minimum,
thirteen is better, and one hundred and eight koras supposedly lets you
escape the Wheel of Dharma.
