Tibet 2016 - Lhasa

2016-10-10 Lhasa, Sara monastery, elevation 3681m


Shrine at holy spring, Sara monastery kora

We visited Jokhang temple today. Very unusually it was closed to pilgrims. This meant that we could see what the inside of the temple was like. In the past it has been impossible to move inside the temple without elbows in every part of ones anatomy. The space and time available was unprecedented in the experience of those of us who had visited there before (including Jamin, our tour leader).

We went on to Zhanghung monastery, also in the old town of Lhasa. Like every nunnery I have encountered, the immediate sensation on walking into it was that of joy and quiet happiness. Most of the nuns we saw were writing prayers, and bundling already written prayers into prayer wheels. Being here provided a point of real stillness during the day. Thoroughly enjoyable.

This afternoon we are going to Sera. As I have visited Sera many times before, and have got multiple hundred photos of the debating there, I'm going to do kora round Sara. Jamin, the tour leader, has arranged for another guide for me. This guide, Jompa, proved to be a very good guide. I have only ever had one guide who was better - in Mongolia. Both shared some characteristics: female; young; very, very knowledgable about their subject; and able to cover ground, uphill and on the level, like a mountain goat. Jompa is very knowledgable about Buddhism. She showed me the holy spring at the back of the monastery. I made offerings at the spring. This was a bit of a complicated affair to get to the place where the water came out. I had to crawl under two very large, but very low branches of trees, and over slippery stones. Then it was quite an elaborate ritual of getting water from the spring; straining it into a container; then moving over to the little shrine (to one of the Taras); and putting some water into each of the offering bowls that were there; then washing face and hands; and having water poured over my head - and boy was it cold. It was very touching. It confirmed my view that Jamin had selected Jompa very well indeed. So we did kora and then she showed me into some parts of the monastery. These included some parts which were not part of the standard tour as I remember it. In talking about Buddhism, she reinforced my view that it is better to be selective about one chooses to believe in.