Monday, May 01, 2006
May 1: Jokhang & Sera
My impression? The Tibetans place a lot of value in imagery. They come to the Jokhang, prostrate themselves in front of it, do koras, and generally worship the contents. Inside, you find a lot of statues of Buddha Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava, Milarepa, Chenresig and other boddhisatvas whose names I cannot remember. The place is filled with gold statues, ornaments, and donation plates. It's quite overwhelming, actually.
Unfortunately, the majority of the chapels inside were closed and I didn't get to experience the satisfaction of tour groups pushing me inside a tiny, claustrophibic chamber with some statues.
One thing I noticed is that most of the devout Buddhists are either old or crippled. Murray explains this as these people realizing they are at the twilight of their lives and feel the urge to build up as much good karma as possible, since time is running low. There are not many Tibetans in (say) their 30s, postrating in front of the Jokhang for hours on end. But there are plenty of 80 year old Tibetans spinning their prayer wheels.
Another thing I notice is that this is, without a doubt, the most religious place I've ever been to - including the Vatican, where you see a lot of Catholic symbology and opulence and procedure but that's where it ends. Here, there's an air of faith and devition. You can't turn around without seeing a monk along the way. You can't stroll through the Barkhor without seeing someone prostrate. There are small shrines everywhere (some of them quite intimate) and it seems that Buddhism is a way of life for a great many people. Of course, many of them are old.
In the afternoon, I took a trip to Sera Monastery, north of Lhasa. This was one of the major schools of Buddhism in Tibet until the Chinese invasion, and especially until the Cultural Revolution. Fortunately, Sera was largely spared from the carnage. It's a big monastery, built to house around 5000 monks (and that's how many it held - until 50 years ago or so), and is now home to maybe 500. What a difference.
The main reason to go to Sera is to see the daily Monk Debates, every afternoon at 3-ish. You see monks congregating in pairs or small groups, where one monk stands up and makes points. Whenever they make a point, they ritually slap their hand and a big heavy stomp of the foot. I figure the harder the slap, the more important the point. If it's a double-slap, you get a debating bonus. The courtyard where this is held degenerated into a mob of saffron-robed monks (most of them pretty young) slapping their hands mercilessly and yelling in Tibetan. They were, in turn, surrounded by a mob of camera-wielding tourists who find the whole thing amusing. I took pictures, since I'm a camera-wielding tourist and should uphold that reputation where possible.
Some observations:
- This might be the only funny thing about Tibetan Buddhism.
- The whole thing might be just for the amusement of the camera-armed tourists.
- The older monks are a lot less excited about this debating business - they sat in their own corner of the courtyard and looked lazy, cause they have all the answers and don't need to debate any further.
- When there's a firey debate going on, you know it. I was watching one triumverate where one of the seated monks was arguing rather forcefully, pointing fingers, yelling & screaming at the standing monk. The other seated monk had to restrain the boisterious one on a few occasions. It was definitely very amusing.
- I think the Chinese view the camera equipment they have as a status symbol, like a car in North America or a watch in Switzerland. Everyone seems to be carrying the top of the line digital SLRs and big, fancy lenses. I wonder if they know how to take a good picture, of if they hope that the technology will make up for a lack of talent. I, on the other hand, have neither top-dollar equipment nor any talent, so I'm winging it as I go!
Another thing I noticed is that all the statues of the various Boddhisatvas have one of two expressions in their eyes:
- Big-eyed shock & amazement - their eyes look like Arnold Schwarzenegger's in Total Recall when he ends up in the vacuum and seems to be blowing up from the inside, until the air comes out of the underground storage vat and Mars is saved.
- Evil squinty-eyes - the kind of eye you'd give to someone you have a lot of contempt for. Not that I know anything about having contempt for some others....
It seems that there are no other facial expressions in Buddhism.
I'm getting a bit templed-out, and to make the situation worse I am going to Samye Monastery tomorrow. Why? Because Katie recommended it, and I'll take good advice from clued in people. Samye is a 4-hr drive east of Lhasa. Julien & I are going there & back tomorrow. It's a good diversion.
Also, I'm likely going to Everest Base Camp as of May 4th, for 4-5 days (it better be 5 days!). I met with a driver who's taking some other people there earlier today, and his plan was to drvie from Shigatse to Rongbuk & the base camp in one day, an 8-hr drive and a 1200m ascent. As soon as I heard that plan I decided that whoever's planning this clearly doesn't have respect for altitude. I found another agency that was advertising that they need two other people to fill a jeep going to Rongbuk, this time with an acclimatization stop in Tingri (halfway up between Shigatze and Rongbuk). I told the guy there to check who the other two people are to make sure they're not some non-English-speaking Chinamen who'd make my trip an exercise in counting the potholes on the road between Lhasa and Shigatse.
Oh, and there is a place here called The Summit Cafe. It's run by some Western types who've been living in Lhasa for 3 years. They serve espresso, scones, cinammon rolls, and seem to attract the Western traveller crowd. I like it, although it is expensive (a common theme in Lhasa - but that's not surprising given that this place is super-remote). Right now they're playing Loreena McKennitt (go Canada!!!) and earlier they were playing Enya. It's refreshing.
Anyway. Samye tomorrow. Will report once I'm back.
