If you are deciding on your next holiday destination, think Nepal. Once a favourite with tourists, political troubles and global recession have hit this country hard. Few even think of Nepal as an option now. But here are some good reasons to head out to this Himalayan state (I am in love with Nepal, almost as much as my favourite Ladakh even if for different reasons):
*The options are unlimited: No matter what you want, Nepal might have to offer. If you like wildlife and birds, choose from national parks and reserves like Chitwan, Koshi Tappu, Bardia and more. Or head out on some of the most spectacular treks in the Annapurna region besides many others. Enjoy worldly pleasures of food, coffee and shopping in Pokhara and Kathmandu. Go rafting, or on driving holidays. Gamble at the surviving casinos in Kathmandu. Camp wherever you like. Explore the Terai at sea level or go up the highest peak in the world. If you are religious minded, some of the most sacred Hindu and Buddhist spots are in Nepal.
[continue reading…]
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The Takthok (Thagtok) Monastery in Ladakh
Why did so many gompas start out as caves? Tak-Thok (also Thag-Thok, literally “rock roof”) gompa has come up around a cave where Padmasambhava, or the Guru Rinpoche, is said to have meditated during his travels to Ladakh in the 8th century.
The cave, called Duphug (or Tu-Phuk) Lhakhang, is a popular pilgrimage. Buddhists visit to be blessed by dubchu, the sacred water that oozes from its ceiling. A constant drip. Even in winter, when the world freezes over. The ceiling is a greasy black with emissions from the butter lamps that burn nonstop. Devotees have stuck offerings of banknotes and coins all over. Gold-plated statues of Padmasambhava’s eight manifestations occupy pride of place. [continue reading…]
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Hemis Monastery, Ladakh: If you walk up this track, will you spot flying lamas?
If you walk up the mountains from Hemis monastery, you’ll reach Gotsang cave, about 2 km away. Buddhist monk Gyalwa Gotsangpa meditated there in the 13th century.
Monks do so even today. Anyone will tell you this. But Tashi, a local cabbie, has more to tell. These lamas, called Tubas according to him, meditate for years on end, wearing nothing even in the icy winter. This intense discipline gives the lamas the shakti (‘power’) to fly, flit about from peak to peak. Has Tashi seen these aerial acrobatics? No, but he knows people who have. [continue reading…]
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Chemrey Monastery, Ladakh
Many monasteries in Ladakh were plundered by invaders over the centuries. The one at Chemde, or Chemrey stayed safe. How? A tale worth telling.
Seems the Mongols laid siege on Chemde in the late 17th century. He was outnumbered but that didn’t stop the head lama from outsmarting the outsiders. From afar, he shot the Mongol king’s tea cup with a rifle. Stunned, the king thought Goddess Kali ruled over the gompa and he made peace with the monks. A temple to Kali stands at the base of the hill on which Chemde nestles. [continue reading…]
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Amused Buddhist Nuns at Hemis Monastery, Ladakh
This shot of Buddhist nuns was captured during the annual festival of the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. Click on the image for a larger view. You can view and order more such images at the Kunzum Gallery.
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Dancer in Yellow Mask with Flag at Hemis Monastery Festival, Ladakh
This photograph of the masked dancer was taken at the annual festival of the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh. It has also been selected for a permanent display at the Museum of Cannes, France.
Click on the image for a larger view. You can view and order more such images at the Kunzum Gallery.
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Imagine a school where you’re taught how to succeed in the modern world but never at the expense of your culture, your traditions, your rooting. Where you learn to cherish your environment. Where your buildings soak in solar energy instead of expending electricity, you recycle waste, you plant thousands of trees…
Just such a model school is Druk White Lotus School in Shey’s Naropa Palace complex. It was established by the Drukpa lineage in 2001. Students’ fees meet running costs and are also channelled into scholarships for the needy. Of the 506 students, 158 stay on campus. The school expands by one grade every year, and will have all 12 grades by 2014. [continue reading…]
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It’s rare to see nuns conduct prayers at a Buddhist set-up. At Shey’s Naropa Palace, you’ll find this rarity.
About 50 nuns live in and manage the palace built just before the Ornaments of Naropa ceremony in 2004. This event, held every 12 years, was till then celebrated at Hemis but the need for a larger venue prompted the shift. [continue reading…]
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For 800 years, the Drukpa lineage has been the most popular Buddhist sect. But now, it’s transcending its traditional role. It’s engaging with society. It’s telling people to “Live to Love”. Its spiritual leader, His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, says:
“Tibetan Buddhist masters have been perceived as a closed community, removed from communal happenings. However, we don’t live in this world on our own. Our religious practices require us to interact with others, regardless of faiths, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. We live to love, not to hate. It’s time to extend this energy of love to everyone. Live to love isn’t a new idea. Many Mahayana masters practise it. The Catholics are noted for it. With our existing resources, we can start work on the following: [continue reading…]
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Faith moves mountains, they say. And if you’re a follower of His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, you’ll probably scale mountains, following him on an overwhelmingly arduous 400-km, six-week trek.
This year, the pad yatra (walk by foot) on the world’s rooftop started at Manali in end-May to culminate in Hemis for the festival. The goal was to promote the values of the lineage and the causes of the environment, education, health and culture. [continue reading…]
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His muse was a vulture’s nest. In the 13th century, Buddhist sage Gyalwa Gotsangpa (his name means ‘vulture’ [Got] ‘nest’ [Tsang]!) zeroed in on a lofty, secluded, secure location for Hemis Gompa, now Ladakh’s most revered monastery. Nestled amid towering mountains, it assured its monks of uninterrupted solitude. [continue reading…]
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The longest and most interesting dance at the Hemis Festival depicts the eight forms of Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, who is credited with establishing Buddhism as the religion of the people of Tibet and Ladakh in the eight century A.D.
[Click on any image for a larger view] [continue reading…]
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By the ninth century A.D., the rise of Buddhism at the expense of the Bon religion prompted the Bon King of Tibet, Langdarma, to prosecute Buddhists; monks were forced to shed their robes while they saw their monasteries being dismantled. In frustration, a powerful monk Palji Dorge came dancing dressed in a wide brimmed black hat, high boots and silk brocade costumes and assassinated the king with an arrow in Lhasa.
[Click on any image for a larger view] [continue reading…]
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I am sure I have been present at monasteries around lunch time, but only at Karsha monastery did I hear a conch being blown informing all the resident lamas, about 120 in all, it was time for the meals.
The 11th century monastery was built by Buddhist master Zanskar Lotsawa Phakpa Sherab who introduced Buddhism to this valley. Its thirty building, constructed in a cascade style along a hill face, have come up over the centuries and not all at one go. He was followed by other masters like Tungpa gyaltsa Pa, Thapuwa Dhamcheu Gyaltsen and Dupkhang Guelek Gyatso who established Karsha a major scholastic centre of Buddhist studies. [continue reading…]
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When a seven year old lama cries for his family, how do the senior lamas handle it? They give him a sweet to pacify him. If that does not work, a little whack behind the ear certainly does.
[Click on the images for a larger view]
Jigmet and the other lamas, all in their late teens to the early twenties, at the Hemis monastery were laughing when they gave me this answer. However, I got a more philosophical answer from His Holiness, the XII Gyalwang Drukpa, who believes in taking a long term view of what is good for the person. And knowing that the bonds of love are stronger than any iron chains. [continue reading…]
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Buddhist monks (lamas) are supposed to be in their robes all the time, even when they are allowed breaks for some leisure. The exception is when they are in Srinagar, the capital of the disputed Indian Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir; if they are identified as lamas, there is the fear of being shot by Muslims. As a rule, they have to be in regular clothes when visiting Srinagar.
This was told to me by Rigzen, a 20-year old lama posted at the Chamba Statue of the Maitreya Buddha in Mulbeck, a 75 minute drive from Kargil when going to Leh. If what he said is true, it just goes on to show how violent elements do not spare even practitioners of a peace loving religion like Buddhism. [continue reading…]
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Once upon a time, there was a small Himalayan village located 3,050 metres above sea level. In the Lahaul-Spiti valley, mostly a cold desert region. Populated by only a few ‘souls’, their homes being caves found on a mountain face of the village. Living at close quarters were some Lamas practicing their faith in what is the oldest continually functioning Buddhist establishment in India. Going back to as far back as 996 A.D. [continue reading…]
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