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July 1st, 2005, 10:57 AM EDT Subject: A Day in the Life
Dear Family, About to embark into the great unknown. Lands that guidebooks don't talk about and neither our teacher nor our guides have ever been. It should be rugged and rural and I'm assuming unplugged from the the world wide web. But I have been rather shocked before. Right now I am in Chamdo, a semi large city in near the eastern border of Tibet. It has been a goldmine for my topic "the forbidden diety." I just spent three hours in one of the biggest monasteries in this region talking to monks and looking closely at precarious pictures and statues of things not supposed to be seen. It's been an exciting subject because it's very hush hush. One moment I'm having an interview with a very informative monk. Then another monk walks in and instantly the interview is over. These people are literally risking their lives to make critical statements about Chna and controversial figures such as the "big D." By writing his name I have been warned that my e-mail may get intercepted and the internet cafe may get shut down. Saying his name alone could get someone thrown in prison, let alone showing off the fact that they house a secret statue of him somewhere (very sneaky indeed). I feel kind of like a religious studies detective in a cheasy sort of way. It has been an amazing learning experience overall as well as a crash course in Buddhism (the one religion I never really did justice as a RS major). I wanted to demystify the "Shangri-la" idea of Tibet. Every day I am blown away by how far away my imagination was. It's nothing like "Seven Years in Tibet." It isn't people meditating and acting all peaceful, happy little villagers skipping through their towns knitting yak wool sweaters sipping on yak butter tea. I have seen no one levitate. Not all monks smile (some scowl). And believe it or not, they all eat lots and lots of meat. A closer picture: Monks walk up to me throughout the day and exclaim the only two english words they know, "hello - money!" In many areas people are wheeling and dealing everywhere you go, always asking for a price at least four fold the price it should sell for. Pigs run through the streets eating away grime that has built up in the gutters (not to mention they act as cleansing units for the bathrooms - yes the pigs eat poop and then people eat them. You'd think that the only thing for sale is traditional jewelry and costumes (of course in some places this is mostly what you'd see), but in fact it is western suits, t-shirts, ice cream bars, watches, video games, and VCDs (like DVDs). Keep in mind I am meerly focusing on the things you wouldn't expect. There are so many things here that I hope I have begun to convey in these e-mails that are absolutely beautiful and amazing: like the landscape, the awesome temples, the chanting and drumming, the beautiful murals and tankas, the adorable children, the yaks (and various other animals), the monks that light up your day with a single glance, the religious iconography painted onto mountains, the inspiration of learning new things, the people who exclaim the only English THEY know "hello, I love you, nice to meet you!", the delicious food, and so so so much more. Well, I'm off for now, but let me leave you with one experience from today: sitting in a cafe sipping on unlimited sweetened yak butter and black tea, eating momos (like dumplings) stuffed with some delicious veggies and yak (yes I'm eatin the yak). A Tibetan woman wearing a colorful chuba has prepared them for us, from scratch, all by hand right in front of us. Two nomad musicians walk in and seranate us with a some folk music on their two guitars. People crowd around the restaurant watching the singers and crying out in Tibetan (which I am yet to understand much of). A slick looking man dressed in a leather vest, gray undershirt, and black pinstriped dress pants walks in with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He offers to take my friend Whitney as his wife. His claim is that he owns 100 yaks and 1000 sheep - money will be no problem... he is absolutely serious in his offer. Later, a Nyigma monk walks in with two nuns. The nuns sing while chiming little bells, their small sweet little voices resonate with a harmony that softens my heart. We give them a small donation which excites them greatly. After about two hours of hanging out, sipping countless cups of tea and picking at momos, it's time for the bill. It comes out to 6 kuai each, roughly 75 cents. Ahhh.... I do love this life. Peace and Love to All, July 9th, 2005, 12:07 PM EDT Subject: Classic Rock and Community Service Dear Family, There is a certain amount of pressure I experience in writing these little windows to my experience. Let me just make note of how impossible it is to do justice to these experiences here. So much I could never describe, so many feelings that can never be transfered. But that being said, the experience I'm having right now in this moment is fairly trippy. Sitting in this internet cafe, Tibetans and Chinese all around. Muddy, stinky Jyekundo outside, yet I am listening to American Classic Rock on my headphones (AC/DC at the moment) while writing to your world so far away - that for the moment seems so much closer than this one does. Such a great week! We were in the last town, Nangchen, to do some community service in a school up in the mountains nearby. In the parking lot of our hotel we met an American monk named Joshua (a former Religious Studies Major, age 28) who was moving out here for a while. He was on his way out so we said a few words and he was off. Five minutes later he comes driving back because he realizes that we are the students who will be volunteering at HIS LAMA's BROTHER's SCHOOL. The Lama who was just about to leave town stayed around another day to treat us to dinner and then breakfast at his sister's house the next day. I learned how to make tsampa (like dough - made from barley flour, black tea or hot water, yak butter, and the optional addition of sugar) as well as learn about his lineage and some details of his tradition. An amazing man, the house had a certain lightness to it that, in my opinion, lifted the heaviness our group was beginning to be clouded with. After this we drove a few hours into the mountains to a non-profit school for Tibetan nomad children. There we thought hard as to what we could do to help since our former planned task of assembling beds (that our teacher had donated) was already accomplished. We scoped out the site and noticed a disgusting amount of trash around the complex. The primary dump site was located in a river out front which doubled as their water source (not an uncommon sight in Asia). We decided to build a recyling station so they could sort out bottles, cans, and plastics, and burnable papers/cardboard (bottles and cans can be sold in the city nearby). We built three huge closed off areas out of cinder blocks, then collected and sorted all the trash we could grab dramatically making the place cleaner. Then when we found that all their food was rotting in one corner of the complex stinking terribly. We had another team builing a two stage composting area. This was hard and disgusting work, involving picking out trash from the mucky rotting food, shoveling all of the food to one corner, builing two boxed off structures to seperate the two stages, collecting ash (from burnables and stoves), layering the rotting food with ash into a huge pile, and then digging a drainage ditch lined with rocks to relieve excess moisture in the area. In the end the whole area went from sludge muck pit stinking of death to a clean, tidy, smell-free compost zone. Quite satisfying I must say. I got to work on both teams, doing all of the recycling project and a good deal of the compost (a much longer task). What was most satisfying is how dramatically it improved the place and how foreign the ideas were at first. The compost was simply amazing to them and they actually seemed to really understand it in the end. I have been inspired by the idea of sharing some of this simple technology with the world. I can't tell you how much happiness would be spread by giving people the knowledge of something as simple as composting toilets (not what we gave to the school). I can't even fathom the tourism increase if the bathrooms didn't stink anymore (easily one of Asia's greatest faults). Ahhh... I feel the close coming and what song comes on but Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." Not only relevant but one of my favorite songs. I am coming to a close with this part of my journey and thus onward into my solo adventure. The seeds of homesick are certainly present within as I hear of my companions reflect on being homeward bound. But despite those passing cravings for: long bear hugs, eyes that know me, acceptance of my healthy green powder and meditations, salads, a cozy bedroom, quiet redwood groves, readily available clean drinking water, western toilets, and of course the greatest desire - to SEE ALL OF YOU - I will jouney on into this unknown adventure that I have no doubt will continue to strip my psyche to it's very base. Blessings to all of you my precious beloveds. Namaste, P.S. I have loved hearing from all of you. It is very uplifting everytime I come to my e-mail and see the words you all have sent - don't hestitate to tell me about what's going on with you. July 10th, 2005, 12:14 AM EDT Subject: Photos I should be able to send some pictures in the next town since it's as big as the last city I sent them from. I'll just send photo packages of 10 or so each time I can. Then I am also planning to be in Dharamsala and McLeod Gang (the "Big D's" home). It's not known for being good to travelers and having good internet connections. July 15th, 2005, 4:23 AM EDT Subject: Some Further Glimpses Dear Family, Finally a computer that is able to handle pictures! I apologize for the sheer mass of them but I just don't know when these computers will come about. Please don't burn yourselves out - maybe you should look at them in two sessions. I'll probably send a few more in a few days once I get to Lhasa. My train leaves in an hour - today marks the absolute break from the group. Feel much lighter I must say. Well not much time to write, below is a key to all the pictures: Photo 13 - Lhamo Latso - This sacred vision lake, at 17,660 ft. is where monks will visit to meditate on where the next D Lama will be found. Many D Lamas have come to this spot to meditate and obtain insight on troubling descisions they may be faced with. Photo 14 - Dreaded feisty dog barking himself into a fit. He was kind of cute even though he wanted to kill me. He lived in a temple courtyard. Photo 15 - A flower I found in a monastery courtyard (same one as the dog actually). So many gorgeous wildflowers everywhere out here. It's amazing how high they can grow - I even found them at Lhamo Latso! Photo 16 - Little dancing Tibetan children who hung out at a vista sight tourist trap. We were hounded by old women (who I assume worked in conjunction with the children) with costumes who tried to dress us in similiar attire and then ask for money. An interesting way to make a living. Photo 17 - My favorite room thus far located way up in the mountains. The walls were just packed earth which crumbled onto our bed. Somehow though, this dirt was pure and clean to us in contrast to being in a dirty city room. Photo 18 - Two Tibetan Nomad riders checking a few of us out. Photo 19 - The Lamaling Temple. Inside it was shaped like a mandala. Photo 20 - This was us working on the landslide I told you about. It took about a half hour of 15 of us moving rock. This is before the second landslide hit (after we'd just finished getting the cars across) that could have severely hurt a few. Photo 21 - The town we got stuck in called tangme. We usually just call it "nowhere" since it doesn't even appear on maps. Honestly quite a lovely place to be stranded. Photo 22, 23 - Pome, the quiet little mountain town. One of my favorite landscapes. Photo 24 - An example of the strange Buddhist imagry we are constantly imbued with. I've forgotten the name and status of this being but yes - it is a giant clam. Photo 25 - The beautiful Mekong River. Photo 26 - The Shakyamuni(?) Buddha. Photo 27 - Dorje Shugden, the diety I have based my project around. The worship of this wrathful being has been banned by the D Lama. This temple respected the D Lama and yet couldn't bear to give up the practice. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and they didn't take too much time to load. So much love to all of you! July 19th, 2005, 12:24 AM EDT Subject: The Sacred Hoop Completed Dear Family, Things have been going smoothly thus far. I am once again in Lhasa where I flew into 41 days ago (after being in Beijing and Chengdu). This has marked the completion of a complete circle (kora) around the Eastern Tibetan Plateu - it's hard to describe the psychological satisfaction I received from this. Lhasa has been described countless times as "the heart of Tibet". By starting my journey there perhaps it was hard for me to wholly grasp this. While completing the circuit, I met pilgrims who were going on there way to Lhasa - for each step they did a full lying prostration. They said they had been traveling for 9 months and expected another 6 months until they got there. And now I am here, the most sought after pilgrimage site in Tibet. I feel a little guilty at being a Westerner who can so easily (well it did take a 20 hour train and a 16 hour bus) cruise on in when many Tibetans have such great dreams of one day actually making it here. The city has changed even since I was last here. New construction and some raised prices (internet went up 3 fold since I left). I wonder if some of those pilgrims will be disappointed to see what the Chinese influence has done to this place. It's not quite the skyscrapered cityscape that some of Tibet has turned into, yet it has become but it is certainly marketed as a tourist site, and there are plenty of distractions from that spiritual vibration that many imagine this place to be. I don't know if I mentioned the blaring pop music stations and various western goods for sale around the Potala Kora, or the thousands of Tibetan artifacts sold around the Jokang (the most sacred temple in Tibet). These venders act as a good exercise in keeping one's meditative focus while being imbued with visual and audio violation of the materialistic kind. But despite these things, I still feel that pilgrim spirit here. There are people with such faith and passion, they prostrate for hours (with special little blocks they wear on there hands to improve sliding and protect hands) in front of the Potala only to follow that by doing koras all day long in the same manner. There's a level of dedication in the East that the West can hardly touch upon. As hard as I try, I can't quite slip into the mind-frame that comprehends this level of devotion. I can only stand from afar, slightly envious, gazing at the sheer acceptance and inspiration I see worn upon their faces. It is truly quite moving. Last night I was sitting on my hotel's rooftop watching the bustling southerly wind whip against some prayer flags. I felt in that moment a very strong readiness to journey this direction myself. Right now I am searching for a ride to Katmandu (or perhaps a ride that stops at some of the sites along the way - including the Everest base camp) where I have decided to spend a couple weeks. The Nepali Visa costs $30 US and lasts for two months, so I figure why not see what Nepal has to offer. I've been told it is a splendid place to spend some time - nearby National Parks, plenty of temples (one shaped like a mandala), international bookstores, good dancing clubs, and all kinds of other worthwhile sites. I have been looking for a place to take a vacation from exhaustingly long car/bus/train rides. I think this place may grant this intention nicely - then again if I've learned anything - it's not to have too many expectations of what might be ahead. All is well, I've met many international friends here who I have been staying out late with (man can Europeans drink!). It's been good to glory in the celebration of no schedules and the feeling of having little that is solid on my agenda. I shall send some more pictures perhaps later today. By the way, I am truly sorry if they were exhausting last time. When I saw that my email was 2 MB I worried about some of you with slower computers. I should have mentioned a very convenient way that you can view them if the e-mail attachments frustrate you. I have a website created by a friend of mine who updates it (fairly quickly) with the bulk emails and pictures I send out. Here's the link: http://www.summitpath.net/jamiekessler/index.html. I love you all. Thanks for all the great letters I've been getting from you all. Tashi Dele!!! July 19th, 2005, 8:04 AM EDT Subject: Photos Hello All, Here's the last of my photos that I saved to e-mail. There are literally over a thousand total and these are a just some of my favorites (it's very hard to pick!). Sorry that this is another big e-mail - remember, if these take too long you can always check my website: http://www.summitpath.net/jamiekessler/index.html. Here's the guide: Photo 28 - My hand prayer wheel (stuffed with prayers) in prayer action. Alongside me are the bigger hand prayer wheels. Prayer Wheels are inscribed with the mantra: Om Mani Padme Om which is Sanscrit and has no direct translation. Roughly it could be thought to mean paying homage to the infinite or some say that it refers to "the jewel in the lotus" I took this while doing a kora around the Potala. Photo 29 - Me and a blind girl having a very intimate talk. She spoke perfect English, Tibetan, and Chinese. Our class visited this School for the Blind and gave them a hefty donation we had earned washing cars in the states. Photo 30 - I met this monk in Chamdo. I was interviewing him for my topic and suddenly he had to take a call. Notice the SECOND cell phone in his left hand! Photo 31 - The Hindu god Ganesha being squashed by a Buddhist god. Photo 32 - A lovely cactus flower that grows all over the place. Photo 33 - Taken on a drive back to Nangchen, a strange cave structure. I won't say what I think it looks like. Photo 34 - A common means for local transportation. Photo 35 - Also taken on the Nangchen drive. An impressive cave-laden mountainscape. Photo 36 - My first snowy landscape taken at the top of a pass on the way to Xining. Photo 37 - Two Tibetans in full costume who held hands (which is simply a sign of friendship). Photo 38 - This was one of the many crowds that gathered around us in Lhorang. Literally being there was like being a pop star we couldn't go anywhere without people following us and wanting to communicate in the little English they knew: "Hello - Thank You - I love You!" We found out that this particular group had never seen westerners before. Photo 39 - The doorway of a huge Kagyu Temple outside Riwuche. Photo 40 - A river valley we drove past on our way to Jyekundo. Photo 41 - Another mountain shot on the Jyekundo drive. Photo 42 - This was the river outside the school we helped out. This river was also used for drinking. You can see why they needed a trash system so badly. Photo 43 - The team of compost builders after task completion. It looks simple but keep in mind this was a rotting pile of muck and trash beforehand. Not seen is the drainage trench that we dug that passed underneath that wall. Photo 44 - A caged owl I stared at eye to eye at the summer palace. I don't know if the cage sizes have gotten smaller since the Chinese took over, but it was one of the saddest zoos I've ever seen. Photo 45 - The 14th D Lama's quarters at the Summer Palace. Photo 46 - A traditional band I watched yesterday. The sound file PICT0703.wav (changed to "p-046-s.wav" on this website... ed.) goes with this photo. This file is 10 times bigger than the other photo files, so if you're having any trouble opening things you might skip this one. Photo 46 - Sound File PLAY TIME: 1 MIN. 45 SEC. / 820KB Photo 47 - One of the oldest and most sacred building in Lhasa, the Jokang is where the D Lamas used to give teachings. That's all for now. Much Love to all of you! Namaste, |
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