a land of Tibet

We're in our coracle between the Yangtze , the Dri chu and the Yalong , the Dza chu near the shore of Yilhun Lhatso having made our way over the Tro la pass from Derge! The grassland to the northeast of the Tro la generally is called the Yilhun. The shore of the Yilhun Lhatso is, as we know well, covered with prayer stones with mantras carved on them. Mantras serve to purify negativity in a vicinity generally but also when spoken serve to help the mind concentrate; at least that's how I understand it's use from the Tibetan perspective. There's an old Tibetan folk tale teaching about a villager who helped a wizard, perhaps a shaman, and in return was granted a gift in the form of a demon helper. Yikes! Actually the demon was very efficient; the only catch was that it alway had to be working on something because when it ran out of things to do it would turn on it's master and gobble him up. This seemed fine to the villager as he had tons of things to get done. But that demon was too fast! The villager in desperation went to his benefactor and explained the problem. The shaman told him to have the demon climb up a flagpole then return to the ground , thereupon to repeat the process all over again until the villager told it to stop! The demon is likened to the undisciplined mind which when left unoccupied thinks negative thoughts. The flagpole exercise is the mantra, repetition of which ensures a positive focus. The carving must be difficult as the rock here is most likely sandstone created from the sediment deposited on the bottom of the Tethys sea and must very hard! Anyway, I'm thinking a bit about the carving of the script for printing on our prayer flags! It will take some research to figure out how to work on this. Anyway , as our Footprint Tibet handbook describes it, to a person sufficiently advanced, the mountains and rocks transform themselves into a mandala. I never realized this, but the mandala is actually a two or three dimensional design representing the actual palace of a meditation deity. I guess some very accomplished practicioners, Tertons perhaps, had to actually have been able to see these palaces in the first place which must be an awesome experience! 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 between the Yangtze , the Dri chu and the Yalong , the Dza chu near the shore of Yilhun Lhatso having made our way over the Tro la pass from Derge! The grassland to the northeast of the Tro la generally is called the Yilhun. The shore of the Yilhun Lhatso is, as we know well, covered with prayer stones with mantras carved on them. Mantras serve to purify negativity in a vicinity generally but also when spoken serve to help the mind concentrate; at least that's how I understand it's use from the Tibetan perspective. There's an old Tibetan folk tale teaching about a villager who helped a wizard, perhaps a shaman, and in return was granted a gift in the form of a demon helper. Yikes! Actually the demon was very efficient; the only catch was that it alway had to be working on something because when it ran out of things to do it would turn on it's master and gobble him up. This seemed fine to the villager as he had tons of things to get done. But that demon was too fast! The villager in desperation went to his benefactor and explained the problem. The shaman told him to have the demon climb up a flagpole then return to the ground , thereupon to repeat the process all over again until the villager told it to stop! The demon is likened to the undisciplined mind which when left unoccupied thinks negative thoughts. The flagpole exercise is the mantra, repetition of which ensures a positive focus. The carving must be difficult as the rock here is most likely sandstone created from the sediment deposited on the bottom of the Tethys sea and must very hard! Anyway, I'm thinking a bit about the carving of the script for printing on our prayer flags! It will take some research to figure out how to work on this. Anyway , as our Footprint Tibet handbook describes it, to a person sufficiently advanced, the mountains and rocks transform themselves into a mandala. I never realized this, but the mandala is actually a two or three dimensional design representing the actual palace of a meditation deity. I guess some very accomplished practicioners, Tertons perhaps, had to actually have been able to see these palaces in the first place which must be an awesome experience! 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!)