Our guide was a charmer. She was university educated in India, spending time in Delhi and Dharmsala (current home of the Dali Lama). Her English was fluent and her knowledge of Tibet and Buddhism was stunning. She told us that the Chinese government recently fired most of the guides who were trained in India, forcing all guides to have formal Chinese training. When asked about the seemingly large number of Tibetan men hanging out on the streets, she acknowledged that there is a huge unemployment problem, but also said, “Tibetan men are like yaks- lazy but sure-footed”.
The road to Ganden took us up another 150 metres from our 3600-meter elevation in Lhasa and the altitude change was definitely noticeable. We got a wonderful introduction to the monastery and also to Buddhism from Tsering.
Ganden was the first Gelugpa monastery, founded in 1417 by Tsongkhapa, the reformer of the Gelugpa order. The monastery is filled with images of Tsongkhapa and his disciples, Gyatsab Je and Kedrub Je. Ganden Monastery was also the monastery that suffered the most during the Cultural Revolution. Everywhere you look you can see signs of the destruction from artillery shelling by the Chinese Army and Red Guards. It once had 2000 monks; today it has less than 300.
It also had marvelous views of the Kyi Chi valley. The most impressive part of Ganden is the Golden Tomb of Tsongkhapa. The Red Guards destroyed both the original tomb and the body of Tsongkhapa, but the monks were able to salvage fragments of his skull and built a new stupa (chorten).
Inside the Assembly Hall, there was a group of men doing rubbings from Buddhist woodcarvings.
We found the symbols from our Mongolian rings on one of the woodcarvings. We got several interpretations- 1-they represent the “queen’s soul jewels” and the “kings needle”. 2- they are used in “gebshe- a prayer ritual. A person in danger or dealing with some awful thing calls in a monk who tells the family to perform “gebshe” and use these symbols to make for long life and make evil spirits go away.
Other interesting notes:
* The Tibetans have both an oral and written tradition.
* There is still a class system in Tibet. Although not as dramatic as that of India, there are certain occupations that are considered very low- like butchers and blacksmiths. They have the Muslims do these jobs.
* Tibetan Buddhism has incorporated a part of the native Bon religion, a shamanistic faith that encompassed gods and spirits and exorcism. Most of the popular Buddhist practices such as prayer flags, sky burial, tying bits of cloth to trees and construction of spirit traps have their origins in Bon tradition. Tibetan Buddhism has incorporated much of the Bon spirit worship and the Hindu pantheon of gods.
* You can find local deities in the monasteries and temple. The Tibetans use these local deities to take care of them in this life (and mostly to keep them from getting angry). They use the protector gods (dharmapalas) to protect them in both this life and the next and use Buddha to protect them in past, present and future lives.
* There are over 1000 manifestations of Sakyamumi (Present Buddha), including 8 Medicine Buddhas, 35 Confession Buddhas). The Buddha of Wisdom carries a sword to cut through ignorance.
* Good omens: if someone passes by you with a full pail of water or with a full cart of dung.
* Butter lamps are used to illuminate the way after death.
* The major Bodhisattva in Tibet is Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The Dalai Lama is considered to be a reincarnation/the current Dalai Lama is the 74th manifestation. He typically is shown with 11 heads and 1000 arms. His head is said to have exploded when confronted with a myriad of problems.
* The Buddhist have 3 types of burials: sky burials, high burials (typically for lamas involving embalming with salt) and wood burials (cremation). The very poor are simply dumped in a river.
* After death, the body is kept for 24 hours in a sitting position while a lama recites prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead to help the soul on its journey through the 49 levels of Bardo (the state between death and rebirth). Three days after, the body is blessed, folded up and carried on the back of a close friend to the burial site. Here, special body breakers known as rogyapas cut off the hair, chop up the body and pound the bones together with tsampa (barley grain) for vultures to eat.
* There are 4 major sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The Gelugpa (Yellow Hats), Kagyupa (Red Hats), Nyingmapa, and Karmapa (Black Hats). The Karmapa sect has the largest following in the West. According to our guide, it’s because it’s more esoteric and Westerners think “it’s cool”. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual head of the Gelugpa, but also the political and religious head of all 4 sects.
* They burn the robes of the dead lamas and use them as incense- inhaling the scent for healing.
We headed back to the car, opting not to do the complete kora (pilgrimage) around Ganden. John had the entire village laughing when he got me onto the back of a yak for a short ride.
Other interesting notes:
* The Tibetans have both an oral and written tradition.
* There is still a class system in Tibet. Although not as dramatic as that of India, there are certain occupations that are considered very low- like butchers and blacksmiths. They have the Muslims do these jobs.
* Tibetan Buddhism has incorporated a part of the native Bon religion, a shamanistic faith that encompassed gods and spirits and exorcism. Most of the popular Buddhist practices such as prayer flags, sky burial, tying bits of cloth to trees and construction of spirit traps have their origins in Bon tradition. Tibetan Buddhism has incorporated much of the Bon spirit worship and the Hindu pantheon of gods.
* You can find local deities in the monasteries and temple. The Tibetans use these local deities to take care of them in this life (and mostly to keep them from getting angry). They use the protector gods (dharmapalas) to protect them in both this life and the next and use Buddha to protect them in past, present and future lives.
* There are over 1000 manifestations of Sakyamumi (Present Buddha), including 8 Medicine Buddhas, 35 Confession Buddhas). The Buddha of Wisdom carries a sword to cut through ignorance.
* Good omens: if someone passes by you with a full pail of water or with a full cart of dung.
* Butter lamps are used to illuminate the way after death.
* The major Bodhisattva in Tibet is Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The Dalai Lama is considered to be a reincarnation/the current Dalai Lama is the 74th manifestation. He typically is shown with 11 heads and 1000 arms. His head is said to have exploded when confronted with a myriad of problems.
* The Buddhist have 3 types of burials: sky burials, high burials (typically for lamas involving embalming with salt) and wood burials (cremation). The very poor are simply dumped in a river.
* After death, the body is kept for 24 hours in a sitting position while a lama recites prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead to help the soul on its journey through the 49 levels of Bardo (the state between death and rebirth). Three days after, the body is blessed, folded up and carried on the back of a close friend to the burial site. Here, special body breakers known as rogyapas cut off the hair, chop up the body and pound the bones together with tsampa (barley grain) for vultures to eat.
* There are 4 major sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The Gelugpa (Yellow Hats), Kagyupa (Red Hats), Nyingmapa, and Karmapa (Black Hats). The Karmapa sect has the largest following in the West. According to our guide, it’s because it’s more esoteric and Westerners think “it’s cool”. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual head of the Gelugpa, but also the political and religious head of all 4 sects.
* They burn the robes of the dead lamas and use them as incense- inhaling the scent for healing.
We headed back to the car, opting not to do the complete kora (pilgrimage) around Ganden. John had the entire village laughing when he got me onto the back of a yak for a short ride.
My Yak Ride!
Then we had lunch at the monastery guesthouse with the rest of the pilgrims- fried (re-heated) potatoes and steamed (cold) buns- and a taste of butter tea. It’s made from yak butter, mixed with salt, milk, soda, tea leaves and hot water. The local dogs were circling the tables- as well as the local children. After we had finished, our guide shoveled our leftovers into the plastic bags carried by the local kids.
On the way back, we got a lesson in Tibetan view of the Chinese. According to the driver, “We work and they eat”. The Chinese have justified their “liberation of Tibet” by claiming that Tibet is one of 5 fingers on the hand of China- the Han, Mongols, Uighurs, Tibetans and Hui (Moslem). We joked that we knew which finger the Tibetans wanted to give to the Chinese- and the driver and guide howled.
After all the walking, we were exhausted, but hungry. We headed to Dunya for a huge dinner.
On the way back, we got a lesson in Tibetan view of the Chinese. According to the driver, “We work and they eat”. The Chinese have justified their “liberation of Tibet” by claiming that Tibet is one of 5 fingers on the hand of China- the Han, Mongols, Uighurs, Tibetans and Hui (Moslem). We joked that we knew which finger the Tibetans wanted to give to the Chinese- and the driver and guide howled.
After all the walking, we were exhausted, but hungry. We headed to Dunya for a huge dinner.
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