a land of Tibet

We're in our coracle on the Yalong Dza chu on our way to Kandze and the temple of Den Gonpa! The Kandze plain stretches south from the Kandze monastery and the castles of two of the Trehor states, Kangsar and Mazur. Not far after this the Yalong changes course to flow in a more southerly direction through the Nyarong Gorge in the Kawalungring mountains eventually flowing to the Yangtze at Dukou in the Sichuan province of China. We're not travelling that far south of course; Den Gonpa is fairly close to the Dza chu itself so it won't be far to go! The woodblocks found there must be wondrous to behold probably much like those at Derge. Two as one we're going to attempt carving one for our prayer flags soon I hope! The Kandze monastery was actually built by the Mongols at the same time as they built their castles. It has a pilgrimage khorlam path around it that is almost eight kilometres or 5 miles long which is about 10 trips from our studio to the Grove and back! Within there are images of the founders of the Kadampa lineage, the Gelukpa and the Nyingmapa. We could guess that Atisha of the Kadam, Tsongkhapa of the Geluk and Yeshe Tsogyel Padmasambhava of Nyingma lineages are probably here! Unlike Den Gonpa it was probably subjected to the ravages of the Chinese communist cultural revolution that destroyed an incredible number of sacred places throughout Tibet since our Footprint Tibet handbook describes it as having undergone extensive restoration for over two decades. It says a lot about the regard that the Mongols had for their preceptors since they placed the monastery on the hill above their own castles. The regard was earned as there are many stories of Mongol Khans subjecting great spiritual leaders to severe tests only to be awed by the mastery over form that they exhibited. We know of Samding Dorje Phagmo the abbess of Samding monastery at Yamdrok Yutso who certainly stunned the Dzungar Mongols! Alas, the Chinese army had no such regard for the wisdom and compassion that they found in Tibet and many practitioners were killed or imprisoned in Kandze including most recently Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Lobsang Dhondup. I'm not actually certain what grain was stored at Den Gonpa although the Chinese made the mistake of forcing Tibetans to raise grains such as wheat in many regions of Tibet where it wasn't sensible. In any case,the imposed collectivized agricultural system the granary represented caused widespread famine as we know from reading the Dalai Lama's book. These are terribly sad things but it isn't possible to be in Kandze without our thinking about them as you know well! There's a lot more to add but as usual two as one we'll add to the notes later beautiful one!


	Through My Eyes * We're in our coracle on the Yalong Dza chu on our way to Kandze and the temple of Den Gonpa! The Kandze plain stretches south from the Kandze monastery and the castles of two of the Trehor states, Kangsar and Mazur. Not far after this the Yalong changes course to flow in a more southerly direction through the Nyarong Gorge in the Kawalungring mountains eventually flowing to the Yangtze at Dukou in the Sichuan province of China. We're not travelling that far south of course; Den Gonpa is fairly close to the Dza chu itself so it won't be far to go! The woodblocks found there must be wondrous to behold probably much like those at Derge. Two as one we're going to attempt carving one for our prayer flags soon I hope! The Kandze monastery was actually built by the Mongols at the same time as they built their castles. It has a pilgrimage khorlam path around it that is almost eight kilometres or 5 miles long which is about 10 trips from our studio to the Grove and back! Within there are images of the founders of the Kadampa lineage, the Gelukpa and the Nyingmapa. We could guess that Atisha of the Kadam, Tsongkhapa of the Geluk and Yeshe Tsogyel Padmasambhava of Nyingma lineages are probably here! Unlike Den Gonpa it was probably subjected to the ravages of the Chinese communist cultural revolution that destroyed an incredible number of sacred places throughout Tibet since our Footprint Tibet handbook describes it as having undergone extensive restoration for over two decades. It says a lot about the regard that the Mongols had for their preceptors since they placed the monastery on the hill above their own castles. The regard was earned as there are many stories of Mongol Khans subjecting great spiritual leaders to severe tests only to be awed by the mastery over form that they exhibited. We know of Samding Dorje Phagmo the abbess of Samding monastery at Yamdrok Yutso who certainly stunned the Dzungar Mongols! Alas, the Chinese army had no such regard for the wisdom and compassion that they found in Tibet and many practitioners were killed or imprisoned in Kandze including most recently Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Lobsang Dhondup. I'm not actually certain what grain was stored at Den Gonpa although the Chinese made the mistake of forcing Tibetans to raise grains such as wheat in many regions of Tibet where it wasn't sensible. In any case,the imposed collectivized agricultural system the granary represented caused widespread famine as we know from reading the Dalai Lama's book. These are terribly sad things but it isn't possible to be in Kandze without our thinking about them as you know well! There's a lot more to add but as usual two as one we'll add to the notes later beautiful one! * courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions. The information for the sketches is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje. ( please click here to return to my spinning for you!)