Tibetan Monasteries October 2014
Here in Tibet, the monasteries are the center of learning, history, and worship. Up until the last 50 years, only monks were educated and usually the eldest son was given to the monks (just like Samuel!) to be taught to read, calculate, and perform religious duties. Until very recently, the monasteries held great reverence and power, but the government has curtailed the number of monks who can enter and thus its income.
There are 15 monasteries around Lhasa, and I've visited 5 . The first, PuBengGeng (
Pabonka in Tibetan), is a tiny heritage perched high above our school; it was built in the 7th century to develop a written language. There is now a smooth, winding road on which I was driven by a friend's car the first time, but last month it took us an hour by bike to climb. Needless to say, I was rather hot when I arrived!
The second is the biggest monastery in Lhasa - Sera monastery, where tourist flock to watch the monks debating philosophy in a tree sheltered garden. They present their arguments to their seated elders with a wind-up similar to a pitcher. It really looks like a 'sales pitch'! Sera also has a huge wall on which they unroll a silk
tonka (religious picture) each festival time. Around every monastery there is a
'kora' - a walk where the pilgrims and visitors circumambulate the buildings. One always walks clockwise around! (unless you are of an obscure sect). As we walked around, we could hear the monks sing/chant in their deep voices.
The third is urban Drashilhakong where visitors bring bottles of liquor to offer to the gods. You can smell the liquor from across the road!
The large Jokhang Temple is the destination of thousands of pilgrims each year and is situated in the center of the oldest area of Lhasa. Pilgrims often travel by foot to finally see the great Jokhong and the holiest statue Jowobuddha. Locals circumambulate daily around the
kora and I love to sit in a sunny corner to watch them walk, chant and spin their prayer wheels. You've seen many of my photos already, so today I'll just include the buildings.There are many smaller monasteries throughout the city of Lhasa, usually
behind blocks of commercial buildings or residences, so its hard to
picture them. Another post I will show a Tibetan lamastery in Beijing.
 |
| Pabonka, under a rare afternoon cloud. |
 |
| Pabonka perched on the side of the mountain. You can just see evidence of the winding road - 6 switchbacks! |
 |
| Almost there! Our school is in the distance, and you can see the Potala Palace below | |
|
| the greener mountain on the horizon. |
 |
| Halfway up is a Burial grounds, where they perform skye burials. |
 |
| Pabonka monastery |
 |
| Entrance to Sera Monasterygrounds |
 |
| Main temple at Sera |
 |
| Wall on which they unroll huge tankas for festivals |
 |
| Head gear - thus the term "Yellow Hat Sect" |
 |
| We heard beautiful bass singing/chanting coming from the garden! |
 |
| This sweet lady let me take her picture. She is carrying prayer beads and spinning a prayer wheel. |
 |
| The sign says Entrance to Debating Courtyard |
 |
| This room was lined with thousands of blocks for printing scripture. |
 |
| These mani stones are carved with scripture and carried up the mountain. |
 | |
| Both photos show the Potala Palace in the background. | | | | | |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Drashilhakong monastrey |
 |
| Daily chores |
 |
| The huge prayer wheel never stops turning. |
 |
| The Jokhang Monastery in the heart of Lhasa |
 |
| This was taken in 2012 inside the TashiLampo Monsatery in Xigatse. The monks are beating the large green drums with an attached drumstick as they chant the scriptures. |
