Potala Palace--Lhasa, Tibet

Dalai Lamas from across the centuries have lived here and are buried here at Potala Palace. The original site was used by King Songtsen Gampo who built the first palace in 637 as a nuptial palace for his Tang Dynasty bride, Princess Wen Cheng. 

The red parts of the building are for prayer, the white parts for residences. Only a handful of monks live here and maintain this place today, and much of it is open to Tibetans for traditional worship. 

(Photo: Potala from the front. It's current form was built in 1600s.) 

(Photo: This young man traveled 1300 miles around Tibet using a form of prostration locomotion, a means of cleansing his soul of sins previously committed.) 

(Photo: This "Blue Meanie" guards the door at Potala Palace, along with 3 or four of his demon "friends" who ward off evil spirits before they can enter the Dalai Lama's palace.) 

(Photo: Prior to 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, he would appear at the Yellow Level of this inner courtyard, located high inside the palace walls, to enjoy dances and rituals of worship.) 

(Photo: Each prayer wheel contains sacred blessed scriptures. As you walk passed, you "spin" each prayer wheel to symbolize your incantation of the scriptures within.) 

A Poem at Yamdrok Yumtso

Two Tibetans—a Guide from Lhasa and a Driver from Tsedang—
Take us along the Jade River
Looking for Dharma
 
This Great Jade River lies flat and smooth,
Cuts through the highest peaks the world has to offer,
Its dry banks softened by stubbed evergreens
 
In the Jade River
Life is given and Life is taken
 
Our flags for Prayer are ready
With the names of those we love written on them
And as we drive along the Jade River we think
About hanging the flags at the top of the mountain
Above Yamdrok Yumtso

Rebar

In China it is often easier and quicker to use some of the vast human power to achieve a goal rather than designing and implementing a technology solution. Rebar is a good example. As China redoubles its efforts and expenditures on commercial and residential infrastructure in second- and third-tier cities it requires massive amounts of steel reinforcement bars (rebar). Rather than mining, smelting, and rolling new rebar, the main practice is to hire (very inexpensive) laborers to knock down old buildings and "harvest" the old rebar by chipping away the old concrete. Old towns disappear this way, and new ones rise in their place, all while the West is fast asleep, one day behind! 

Yamdrok Yumtso

Yamdrok Yumtso is one of three Saint Lakes. High above is a towering mountain pass where prayer flags are hung. In Tibet, one never prays for one's self; one prays for others--health, life, happiness. You can write the name of the person you wish to pray for on a flag before you hang it.

Yak fuel

Tibetans are highly self-reliant. They farm, worship, build, and socialize in village lifestyle. Their animals (yaks, chickens, dogs) are quartered nearby the home and seem to be integral to the family life. Most Tibetans in villages have little or no electricity or "modern" appliances. Instead they employ wood fired stoves for heating and cooking. Most families use dried yak dung (patties) for starter fuel and burst capacity.

(Photo: After collecting patties from the field, the dung is "hung out to dry" before being stacked for use later on.) 

(Photo: Two good yaks taking a break.) 

Yumbu Lakhang

This is the first Palace in Tibetan history, built in 2 BC. After a short, steep climb at about 15,000 feet, you reach the ramparts. One or two monks live here to maintain the palace. It is a very sacred place filled with many ancient antiquities (no photos permitted inside).

(Photo: Prayer flags blow circles of closed prayers above Yumbu Lakhang.)

(Photo: The triangular plot of land is the oldest farm in Tibet, located below the Palace.) 

(Photo: John and our driver, Pinto.) 

Get thee to a nunnery...in Tibet

Tibetan Nuns can achieve high holy status but they are not eligible to become Lama. 

Nun's provide many services to communities all over the Himalaya and Tibet. 

The nunnery we visited today is famous because it houses a below-ground cave where a Dalai Lama from the 7th century went to meditate for three years about where to build a place of worship. 

Today, only 20 nuns live here and they run a tea house, a gift shop with blessed gifts, and they create and roll scriptures that are housed inside many official Tibetan prayer wheels and figures of Buddha. 

The nuns I met and spoke with were full of energy and good humor. Click below for a real treat.