Ganden Monastery kora, Lhasa Tibet

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Sonya

This monastery is located about an hour away from Lhasa. It was one of my favourite places, not so much because of the monastery itself, but its location. It is set high up on a hill above the Kyi-Chu valley and offers beautiful views. When we arrived we started with the kora, a pilgrimage circumambulation walk around the monastery. Some areas heading uphill were quite steep and difficult but once we got into the swing, the kora provided some wonderful scenery of the surrounds as well as colourful prayer flags strung everywhere imaginable. We were joined by pilgrims murmuring as they walked along side us. One side of the mountain is known for sky burials, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual where the dead are placed for birds, usually vultures, to eat the flesh. We quietly watched as some monks prayed for the deceased who had been through the rituals earlier during the day.

On our way back around the monastery, we passed by Tsongkhapa’s (founder of Gelugpa sect) meditation chamber before heading to view the Ngam Cho Khang chapel, Assembly Hall and Chapel of Jampa. We also saw the debating courtyard. There didn’t seem to be much activity as it was supposedly a holiday for the monks. We had a simple lunch of thugpa (noodles) at the Monastery Restaurant next door.

The Winter (Potala Palace) and Summer (Norbulinka) Palaces of the Dali Lama, Lhasa, Tibet

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Sonya

Norbulinka (Summer Palace)

Norbulinka is known as the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lamas. We had previously watched the Tibet featured films Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet and were keen to see how well the films represented the living quarters of, in particular, the current fourteenth Dalai Lama. Our guide told us that during summer and the yoghurt festival, the Norbulinka is full of picnicking Tibetans.

Our first stop was the most recent addition to the complex, the ‘New Summer Palace’ and also known as the Palace for the most recent fourteenth Dalai Lama. It was built in the mid 1950’s, just a few years prior to his exile to India. Inside, we were able to view the audience chamber, the Dalai Lama’s private quarters (even his bathroom), and assembly hall. The rooms were exactly as he had left them so many years ago, and it was a little surreal walking through the palace.

We then visited the palaces of the eighth and thirteenth Dalai Lama. The eighth had some beautiful thangkas (Tibetan silk paintings) and the thirteenth had some interesting vehicles used by the lamas including bicycles, carriages and buggies.

Potala Palace (Winter Palace)

After Nobulinka we headed to the Potala Palace, the once Winter Palace of the Dalai Lamas. The lines were long, with foreign tourists, Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims. Due to its popularity, not only are a limited number of visitors allowed to enter the Palace per day (two thousand), there is a time restraint of forty-five minutes per area. The walk up to the Red Palace was quite exhausting. At over three-thousand metres high, walking up all those steps was challenging! Inside the Red Palace we saw the Chapel of Jampa, King Songsten Gampo’s meditation chamber (the oldest room in the Potala) and a number of tombs for the previous Dalai Lamas (thirteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth). Many of the rooms were closed to the public. We also were able to walk on the roof of the White Palace and view the throne room (where the Dalai Lamas could receive guests), meditation room and bedroom of the Dalai Lama.

Tibet Museum

We had some time in the afternoon to visit the Tibet Museum afterwards, which had some beautiful Thangkas, Tibetan Opera Masks, scriptures and musical instruments.

Barkhor walking tour

Later we did a walking tour of the Barkhor area which included some interesting sites including the Muslim Quarters and the Sangkhung Nunnery.

Barkhor circuit
Tromsikhang Market
Gyüme Lower Tantric College
Meru Sarpa Monastery
Eizhi Exquisite Thangka Shop
Karmashar Temple
Dropenling crafts centre
Ancient Art Restoration Centre
Muslim quarter
Islam Restaurant
Ani Sangkhung Nunnery
thangka workshop
Lho Rigsum Lhakhang

Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet – Debating Monks

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Sonya

Sera monastery is a few kilometres from Lhasa. We headed there mid afternoon with the intention of watching the debating monks. Every day (except for Sundays), the Sera Monastery’s monks undertake a one-on-one (or sometimes two-on-one) debate on the philosophies of life (so we’re told). As we waited until 3pm, quite a few dozens of monks gathered in the courtyard in pairs or teams, and began discussing a particular topic. Usually, one monk was seated on the ground cross legged (or on a mat) with his partner standing above him. The standing monk would pose a question (so it seemed), or make a statement and as he completed his sentence clap his hands whilst at the same time stamping his left foot. It was a fascinating thing to watch, though we had no idea what was being said as it was in Tibetan. Our guide advised that even he didn’t understand what was being discussed as the debate topics were related to their Buddhist studies. We watched the debates for over an hour, intrigued and at times amused, as some monks were quite intense and serious (oblivious to the tourists watching one), others appeared to be joking around with each other. It was certainly an interesting afternoon.

Lhasa, Tibet – Jokhang Temple and Drepung Monastery

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Sonya

Jokhang Temple and Barkhor square

Our first day in Lhasa started with a visit to the Jokhang Temple, walking through the bustling Barkhor Bazaar to the Barkhor square.

By the time we arrived, there were already many pilgrims outside the temple, performing prostrations whilst two large incense burners omitted strong smoke of juniper.

As we lined up amongst the tens of Tibetan pilgrims, we couldn’t help but notice the strong smell of yak butter which we later found is used to burn offering candles. The Jokhang Temple is quite a large complex. We entered courtyard first and our guide Demdah advised that this was the place where important examinations (e.g. to determine the highest lama) sat by Gelugpa Iamas are held.

After the courtyard, we entered the inner prayer hall which is surrounded by a number of chapels. The prayer hall contained six statues – two of Guru Rinpoche, three Jampa statues (Maitreya, the Future Buddha) and the thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara. We would learn later that these statues would be seen repeatedly across many of the monasteries in Tibet.

As per Buddhist tradition, we encircled the surrounding chapels clockwise. Inside the chapels, we were also required to encircle the room clockwise. There were numerous chapels, including the Chapel of Tsongkhapa (the founder of the Gelugpa order, probably the most renown of the four orders), Chapel of Chenresig, Chapel of Jowo Sakyamuni (said to be the most important shrine in Tibet, as it houses the Present Buddha image at age twelve and is thought to have been brought to Tibet by Princess Wencheng, the Chinese wife of King Songstan Gampo – the founder of Tibet). After visiting a number of chapels, we headed to the roof of Jokang to view the surrounding areas, including views of Barkhor Square and Potala Palace.

Drepung Monastery

After Jokang, we headed to Drepung Monastery, located about 8km from Lhasa, stopping by Potala Palace to pick up tickets for the next day (there is a 2000 limit on ticket numbers per day for the popular attraction). Drepung was founded by one of Tsongkhapa’s disciples in the 15^th century and is part of the Gelugpa order. It has a number of key buildings, we visited Ganden Palace, the main assembly hall (with a large Jampa statue), the kitchen (used to cook the lamas meals) and a meditation hut where we were told some monks meditate for years on end. It was our first monastery and I enjoyed walking around and admiring the beautiful deep red and white buildings with their wispy white curtains. We had a lunch of rice and vegetables at the Monastery restaurant next door before heading to our next destination.