A visit to Mcleod Ganj

Yesterday we went to Mcleod Ganj in Dharamsala, to tour the main Namgyal temple, in which I didn't take photos, and then we did the circumambulation around the temple. In Buddhism circumambulation is always clockwise, keeping your right side to the holy object. This is the case in Hinduism as well, but there are some non-Buddhist traditions which go counterclockwise as well.

It's known as "cora" and it's a beautiful, around 40 minute mountainside walk. Prayer wheels were prevalent along the way. They're filled with mantras on pieces of paper and when you spin them (clockwise also), the prayers are sent outwards on the wind. Depicted here is our philosophy teacher, Ani-la, which by the way is more of a title than her name, turning the wheels. These are the average size...

but some come much bigger, and are filled with many more mantras.

The mantra "Om mane padme hum" is found hundreds of times along the path, carved into rock and on slabs of rock left along the side, often painted to match the prayer flags' colors.

There were thousands, probably tens of thousands of prayer flags along the walk. Each color represents an element. Red=fire, yellow=earth, white=water, green=wind, and blue=space.

The Tibetan word for prayer flag translates to "wind horse," derived from a mystical creature from ancient Indian folklore. The flags are similar to the prayer wheels in that the prayers ride on the wind, moving outwards.

These are the smiling skulls of Tibetan Buddhism. They are laughing at our attempt to avoid mortality, reminding us that sooner or later, we'll look just like them. They're not meant to be grim, hence why they're happy. It's all about remembering the impermanence of life so you don't spend wasted time worrying about death.

The flags were everywhere, and went in all directions. They were especially abundant near the stupas. Stupas are shrines in which relics are often entombed so that people can come and pay homage to their holiness. The most important ones are those with relics of the Buddha, but many can have relics from other important teachers, and often they don't have to have anything inside at all. Several of the ones along the cora are to prevent natural disasters. There was an earthquake around 1984 which damaged the Namgyal monastery, and in the very early 1900s there was one that destroyed most of Dharamsala, after which the British abandoned it as their mountain vacation spot.

the stupa I was speaking of, and a friendly dog.

reminds me of the roads...

The Tibetans live their lives here, always hoping to return home. The community is immensely appreciative to India but never gives up their hope of reclaiming their country. Certainly the Chinese would never willingly give up Tibet, and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has clarified that he does not want to be independent of China but that the Tibetan people can live free from religious and political persecution. Truly something that all Chinese citizens could use.

Here are two photos I think Gary took on top of the roof when we were playing with my telephoto. I really like this first one.

the top of the Sarha temple

and this is the sunset I found when I walked up to my room at the end of the day, but unfortunately it doesn't look as good when uploaded here

That's all for now.

Painful surprises and switchback roadways

People in India, including those here and the Tibetans, are, on average, a good bit shorter than Americans. So, when they build doorways, passageways, stairwells, they take that into consideration just as we take the average height into our measurements into consideration in America. What I'm getting at is that I am about one inch taller than the average door height, meaning the bathroom door, my room door, the balcony door, classroom door, and kitchen door.

Getting the idea? Now I can't totally remember (probably from the recurring head trauma) but I have hit my head at least once a day on metal and/or concrete, sometimes HARD. At this rate I will need a helmet, or medical attention, as I don't seem to have adjusted to it yet, but I hope that I do soon.

We've started classes at Sarha now, but I had to miss my first culture class today to go to the Foreign Registration Office because my visa is for one year instead of 6 months for whatever reason.
Anyway, I have Tibetan 102 every day with Gen-la Penpa Tsering, followed by Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy with Gen-la Ani-la on MWF or Tibetan Culture and Civilization on TTh with Professor Doyle, or Tara-la.

Gen means teacher in Tibetan, and is an appropriate term for both teachers and elderly people whose names you don't know and can't remember. The "la" at the end is an honorific particle also necessary for teachers and elders, so Gen-la means "honorable teacher." I'm sure those who teach in the U.S. would find this appealing but as we all know, teaching is not nearly as revered as it is here, or as it should be.

Penpa Tsering-la is a monk who speaks little English but is very amiable and giggles from time to time. Ani-la is a German nun here who speaks Tibetan fluently and is revered for her debating abilities by the Tibetans. Debating is an essential part of education here at Sarha for all students, but especially for the monastics who could not continue very long in their studies without being proficient at it. Certainly not something that is stressed in American education, so I'm relieved that I won't be doing any while I'm here. I can't understand them yet but it's characterized by clapping your hands together in the direction of your opponent when you make each point. This means it's very fun to watch.

The FRO was an unpleasant introduction to India bureacracy as the office was crowded because Tuesdays and Thursdays are the only days Tibetans can get their visas dealt with and Tuesday was a holiday so EVERYONE was there. I also don't know how things work but luckily I had someone experienced with me so ultimately I got what I needed and Indian officials won't be holding me at the border when I try to leave.

The drive up the mountain is something I haven't mentioned yet. If you've ever been on a mountain road, it's like that, except 10 times more frightening. There's no such thing as guard rails here. The roads not really wide enough for two lanes, and people don't tend to stay on their side. There's innumerable blind curves, the outside of which is occupied by a 400 foot drop-off. Throw in motorcycles, mopeds, pedestrians, road crews, and occassionally spots with gravel that reduce traction, and you've got the idea. The first time I went up we had an expert driver, which means he goes much faster, which means it is even MORE terrifying. You try to reassure yourself that nobody ever goes off the edge so there's no need to worry but I'm somewhat certain I felt the outside rear wheel go partially over the edge on a couple turns that flipped my stomach. Of course I was fine both times going up and going down, but one with heart problems would do best to limit the number of trips up and down the mountain side.

In a small post-scriptum, there are a few things people asked me about before I left, out of mirth or genuine concern. There are western bathrooms, but not in our dorm. Clothes washing is a two bucket, multiple rinse system with drying on the roof. Showers are not worth it because ice water comes out of the shower head, but with a bucket of hot water, one can rinse off properly using a smaller bucket and determination. The dogs don't have rabies, but they did in the past. The Indian government called for a cull of all stray dogs in the area two years ago but the community petitioned to allow the government to let them vaccinate them so they wouldn't be killed, and now there's a volunteer organization in Dharamsala to take care of emergency situations with dogs, but many need minor medical attention. The driving is worse than you think, the pollution in the cities is visible when you blow your nose, but here the air is great. There's no snow here, only on the mountains, and the past couple days it's been t-shirt weather when the sun's out, but cold at night.

That's all for now, hopefully I can post some more pictures soon. We go on a field trip tomorrow to the Tibetan Museum in Mcleod Ganj and walk the cora around His Holiness the Dalai Lama's temple, which should be very nice.

Written 1-25-10 (yesterday) and photos from the trip

Here's a post I wrote yesterday, and pictures below that I've taken along the trip. This one's fairly long, but I have more to say later. Enjoy


Today after a meeting we had tea with the faculty of the Sarha school as well as our roommates. During introductions amongst my table I was humbled by the realization that I had been calling my roommate by the wrong name. He nicely told me that it is Tsonam, not Tsampo, but part of being in this environment is being okay with making mistakes. A lot of them. Without a certain willingness to be corrected and admit your mistakes, it becomes difficult to learn.

Tsonam is 28 years old and has been a monk since 17. He lives here in India now but is originally from Tibet. Many students were born in India from families that left Tibet years ago, but about forty percent left Tibet to come here. He had been studying in southern India and in 2006 returned to Tibet to visit his family. His passport was expired so he was put into a Chinese prison for three months before being released and coming to Sarha. He told me he has diabetes, which was surprising because he looks to be in good shape but his diet and lack of exercise could have brought it on. I’m not sure what type he has, but clearly he’s been diagnosed because he knows he has it, so I intend to ask about it. He told me last year he had his appendix removed and since then he’s been more concerned about health so he exercises regularly, but with the limitations of monastic life and that there is no gym or anything here, he mostly does pushups and stretches.

I was told he had fairly good English skills but he appears to speak better than many of the other roommates of the American students, and he certainly has better English than I Tibetan, so I ask him what certain things are and learn from him. Today I learned the phrase (this is transliteration) “day-ring nam-shi pay-yak-po dook,” which means: “the weather today is very nice,” which it is.

We had some free time Sunday so the male Americans went down the slope to where the river bed is. Right now it’s more of a stream but during monsoon season it will be brimming. During the height of the season Dharamsala can get around 80 inches of rain, but that’s during the summer so I won’t experience that thankfully. Traditionally the monsoon season is when the sangha, or monastic community, stays together and doesn’t travel not only because it is more difficult but the increase in water brings out many bugs and worms from the ground and so in order to avoid harming them it is best not to travel. In the past monks could only have walked to travel but now they can take cars, buses, trains, etc. but still it’s not as common.

Non-harmfulness reminded me of the Jain temple we visited in New Delhi. I’m not as familiar with Jainism but it has many resemblances to Buddhism and Hinduism. Jain monks tend to be more ascetic than Buddhist monks in their nature. Jainism is usually characterized by the abstention of harming all life, taken to the highest degree. One cannot take any leather or fur (or faux leather we found) into a Jain temple because it represents the harming of life. Jain monks wear cloth over their mouths to avoid breathing in small insects and they abstain from farming, allowing the Muslims to do it instead, because to disrupt the earth would harm the creatures living there. They may also walk bent over, with a broom sweeping the ground before them so they don’t crush anything in their path. Water is filtered several times before boiling to protect smaller organisms, they don’t burn incense attached to wood because it may hurt wood dwelling insects, and you can begin to see how intense their devotion to the protection of life is. They understand it is impossible to prevent the harming of all life, but believe it is necessary to make all efforts to do so.

When we visited we were given a tour by a Hindu and spoke to a Muslim artist who was helping with the renovation of the art on the walls, so the sense of inclusion and cooperation with other faiths is there. Jains usually tended to be gem dealers because it was one of the few professions not harming life and the majority of the biggest and most successful gem/diamond dealers today are Jains, as I understand it. In this way one might suggest their faith has treated them well. However the artist told us that in order to apply the gold flake to the walls (the temple is covered in gold) he mixes it with camel’s blood but doesn’t tell them this. If they knew it they would certainly fire him and strip the walls that he had painted.


Here are some photos, with captions:
This is one view of the stepwell we visited in New Delhi


And this view really demonstrates how large it is, and what it actually is of course. It used to be almost filled with water but in the last several decades the construction has drawn the water out of the ground so now it's completely dry. This photo was from very high up...


These next three are from the crafts village we went to.

Stone carving


beautifully hand-painted boxes, eggs, etc.


metal work on a gate


We saw this web of hijacked electricitiy in the alleys of Old Delhi, and is probably indicative of why there are often brown outs.


this was outside of a Hindu temple. Photography isn't allowed in most temples. In Hinduism there is a deity in the likeness of a monkey called Hanuman, so the monkeys are welcome and seen as holy, so we saw a lot there.
These symbols were on the entrance. What most people don't realize is that the svastika belongs to many asian religious traditions, and is of great symbolic importance. This was the case long before Hitler perverted it's meaning. They can be found going in both directions, one symbolizing spiritual strength and the other physical, Hitler chose the physical. If this peaks your interest, look up the origin of Aryan, you'll see that most of his ideas were taken and distorted to meet his aims.

group photo from the crafts village also, the little girl next to Professor Doyle was a student on a fieldtrip


Near the king's palace, but taken while riding in a rickshaw. Moments later after we got out, our driver was pulling a u-turn and got hit by another car, but he seemed to be mostly okay as he drove us for the rest of the day.


the nature of the alleyways...


There's many beggars in New Delhi, and most of them are probably organized and trying to trick you, but many, like this man, suffer from deformities or illness.


The Red Fort mosque, we went to the top of that minaret, but it was so foggy it was hard to see much


taken inside the mosque



Finally we arrived at the Sarha school, to find ourselves surrounded by beautiful scenery.

this is the view from my rooftop, and what I wake up to outside of my window most days (photo is a little dark)


the walk down to the river..


a beautiful view from the river bed. It's mostly dry now because it's not monsoon season. to the right is a small Hindu shrine

some of the landscape when we went down to the river. (forgive me for it being dark, I haven't gotten the chance to fix it)


this is Alex on our walk back from the river.


I was told that I wouldn't touch the bull. I did touch it, but it turned out to be a cow, and this is me running away after touching it. The cow, of course, didn't seem to notice.


prayer flags on the roof


from the roof...

Dharamsala

I have finally arrived in Dharamsala at the Sarha school. We spent several days in New Delhi being tourists and then enjoyed a 14 hour drive to our location in Dharamsala. We are in the lower altitudes of Dharamsala, but it's still pretty cold. I'm rooming with a 28 year old monk who is going to school here. His name, in short is Tsampo. I say "in short" because Tibetans and monks especially have long Buddhist names so most people call them by a shorter form. He's quite friendly but has limited English, yet it's still more than my Tibetan.

The scenery is gorgeous. I will post pictures (attempt to anyway) very soon, as long as the slow internet allows it. The views from the rooftops overlook the valley on one side and the other is a grand view of the Himalayas. This area is known as the Daodar region, known for the Daodar pines.

We've finally gotten settled here and start class on Tuesday, so hopefully posting pictures will be easier.

There is much more to be said, but not the time to say it. That's all for now.