May 31

Through My Eyes

Saturday May 31

( We journey to one of the great monasteries of Tibet.)

" When the movie Lost Horizon came out in 1937, Europe was witnessing the rise of Nazi tyranny, and the world was tumbling into another devastating war. As things became blackest, people need to believe that somewhere else sanity and humanity prevail. Tibet, that hidden kingdom of spirituality and nonviolence, was viewed as such a place, a living Shangri-la, an oasis of health and happiness. Although aggrandized through myth and hyperbole, Tibet was in reality a fully spiritual and humane culture for centuries before the Chinese occupation. Today, Tibet still struggles to retain its ancient culture, which is centered on a long-held belief in altruism and compassion. I first sensed the physical and spiritual splendor of ancient Tibet at Ganden Monastery, high in the mountains near Lhasa. Ganden was the greatest Tibetan monastery, high in the mountains near Lhasa. Ganden was the greatest Tibetan Monastery to be destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, artillery fire and dynamite leveled the home and temple of two thousand Gelugpa monks into a landslide of rubble that slid down Drokpa Ri Ridge ( not a typo! It's really called the Drokpa Ri) into the valley below. Today, as the monastery is slowly rebuilt, almost four hundred monks live there.

On arriving in Lhasa, I heard that Ganden was located on one of the most breathtaking ridges in all of Tibet. But when I tried to get a driver to take me there, I was told that I needed to be with an official tour group. In Tibet's monasteries, official tours often mean that visitors are programmed to meet only Chinese indoctrinated monks. No free discussion is allowed with Tibetan monks who might gain foreign sympathy. If I tried to get to Ganden, as an individual traveler, I would be turned back at the roadblocks by the Chinese police. But one Tibetan driver said he was willing to pick me up before sunrise, in the hope of beating the early morning roadblocks. It was a risky gamble that he wanted to try. I agreed to the plan.

It was a beautifully clear and cold October morning in 1995 when we started the forty-kilometer drive from Lhasa to Ganden Monastery. As the sun topped the mountains and we drove along the Kyi Chu river, a wonderful pink light was caught in the rising mist coming off the water. Then, suddenly, my driver frantically motioned for me to lie on the floor of the Jeep. A roadblock was dead ahead. I fell to the floor, pushing my face and shoulder into my camera bag. The Jeep slowed and I heard the driver's window roll down. He said a few words, then without coming to a complete stop we were off again. Within seconds the driver was laughing loudly and thumping his fist triumphantly against the steering wheel. He had outwitted the Chinese police.

Along the way we passed small villages with herds of sheep, yaks, and black pigs that wandered out onto the road. Each village had brightly painted carved doorways and defoliated branches, windblown and skeletal, that supported many tattered prayer flags." ( I was going to read from Sarangerel's book Chosen by the Spirits but haven't been able to find it amid the rubble of all the things I'm working on. This happens often and isn't anything to worry about! We'll read again from this book tomorrow." I promise to add more tomorrow...

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

Through my eyes

( I've made more progress. Please click here to see!)

( You'll notice I didn't begin the pages with "here we are" yesterday. You and I have both been seeing together long enough that there isn't any need to say this. Our prayer flag has flown in the wind for 173 days, over 6 months now! I'm sitting in front of the prayer flag banner as I type this and in a short while I will start researching. I'm feeling better after some rest, it must have been the flu or something. The mulch pile is now rather huge, about 2 spans high and 4 wide. I tried to scythe through the rain but when it came down too heavily decided to do work in the studio.

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow.

my one dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight!)


	Through My Eyes Saturday May 31 ( We journey to one of the great monasteries of Tibet.) " When the movie Lost Horizon came out in 1937, Europe was witnessing the rise of Nazi tyranny, and the world was tumbling into another devastating war. As things became blackest, people need to believe that somewhere else sanity and humanity prevail. Tibet, that hidden kingdom of spirituality and nonviolence, was viewed as such a place, a living Shangri-la, an oasis of health and happiness. Although aggrandized through myth and hyperbole, Tibet was in reality a fully spiritual and humane culture for centuries before the Chinese occupation. Today, Tibet still struggles to retain its ancient culture, which is centered on a long-held belief in altruism and compassion. I first sensed the physical and spiritual splendor of ancient Tibet at Ganden Monastery, high in the mountains near Lhasa. Ganden was the greatest Tibetan monastery, high in the mountains near Lhasa. Ganden was the greatest Tibetan Monastery to be destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, artillery fire and dynamite leveled the home and temple of two thousand Gelugpa monks into a landslide of rubble that slid down Drokpa Ri Ridge ( not a typo! It's really called the Drokpa Ri) into the valley below. Today, as the monastery is slowly rebuilt, almost four hundred monks live there. On arriving in Lhasa, I heard that Ganden was located on one of the most breathtaking ridges in all of Tibet. But when I tried to get a driver to take me there, I was told that I needed to be with an official tour group. In Tibet's monasteries, official tours often mean that visitors are programmed to meet only Chinese indoctrinated monks. No free discussion is allowed with Tibetan monks who might gain foreign sympathy. If I tried to get to Ganden, as an individual traveler, I would be turned back at the roadblocks by the Chinese police. But one Tibetan driver said he was willing to pick me up before sunrise, in the hope of beating the early morning roadblocks. It was a risky gamble that he wanted to try. I agreed to the plan. It was a beautifully clear and cold October morning in 1995 when we started the forty-kilometer drive from Lhasa to Ganden Monastery. As the sun topped the mountains and we drove along the Kyi Chu river, a wonderful pink light was caught in the rising mist coming off the water. Then, suddenly, my driver frantically motioned for me to lie on the floor of the Jeep. A roadblock was dead ahead. I fell to the floor, pushing my face and shoulder into my camera bag. The Jeep slowed and I heard the driver's window roll down. He said a few words, then without coming to a complete stop we were off again. Within seconds the driver was laughing loudly and thumping his fist triumphantly against the steering wheel. He had outwitted the Chinese police. Along the way we passed small villages with herds of sheep, yaks, and black pigs that wandered out onto the road. Each village had brightly painted carved doorways and defoliated branches, windblown and skeletal, that supported many tattered prayer flags." ( I was going to read from Sarangerel's book Chosen by the Spirits but haven't been able to find it amid the rubble of all the things I'm working on. This happens often and isn't anything to worry about! We'll read again from this book tomorrow." I promise to add more tomorrow... ( please click here to read of the day with me ) Through my eyes ( I've made more progress. Please click here to see!)* ( You'll notice I didn't begin the pages with "here we are" yesterday. You and I have both been seeing together long enough that there isn't any need to say this. Our prayer flag has flown in the wind for 173 days, over 6 months now! I'm sitting in front of the prayer flag banner as I type this and in a short while I will start researching. I'm feeling better after some rest, it must have been the flu or something. The mulch pile is now rather huge, about 2 spans high and 4 wide. I tried to scythe through the rain but when it came down too heavily decided to do work in the studio. And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow. my one dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight!)