This is what you have to experience in Tibet

Tibet is the most mysterious place in the world. It is a fantastic journey to visit Tibet. Nearly everything is new and different for me, and if I would give some suggestions for my readers, I would say in Tibet there are three things that you must experience: the gorgeous landscape, the sacred Tibetan Buddhism, and the marvelous Tibetan culture.

As my friend Jiling said her impression of Tibet, the sky is too pure and close; it feels you can touch the sky when your hands are up. For me the thing that made me never forget was the water in Tibet. Maybe it was the rainy season in Tibet; on my trip I saw innumerable rivers and lakes. Some of them have names and are very famous, such as NamtsoLake and Yamdrok Lake. These are the hot spots in Tibet, are the must-go places in Tibet. But there are more are the rivers and lakes that I don’t know their names. Tibet is a plateau; trees are hardly to find. Thus, whenever I saw some water, rivers or lakes, they feel open and without boundaries. These lakes or rivers stay there silently and softly wash the human soul. Most lakes and rivers are seasonal; they may disappear when the rainy season ends. People said that the trip to Tibet could wash your soul. I think the reason is those nameless rivers and lakes wash the dirt in your soul and disappear. 

A nameless lake

A nameless river

If you read all my posts, you may find nearly half of them I am talking about the Tibetan Buddhism. Tibet is a place where all Tibetans are Buddhists. Buddhism is deeply enrolled in every part of their life. They are the most devout Buddhists in the world. If you don’t believe that, look at the holy stupas hall in Potala Place or Tashilhunpo Monastery. The countless gold and jewels that decorate the stupas are all from the Buddhists. They bring all their treasures to the temple to decorate the stupas or the Buddha statues. Additionally, look at those Tibetans who kotow in each step and use years to walk to Lhasa. The only reason they do that is to see the twenty-five year old statue of Gautama Buddha, which was made by Gautama Buddha himself and enshrined in Jokhang Temple. In the Tibetan Buddihists’ mind their belief is worth everything.

Buddhists are kowtowing outside the Jokhang Temple

For the Tibetan culture, did you remember my adventure in a Tibet Café? That’s a good way to experience Tibetan culture. I still miss all the food I ate in that café. It is so delicious and non-copyable. It catches my stomach, and calls me back to Tibet. Another way I experienced Tibetan culture was I got a chance to visit Doma’s family. In her home, I tasted their food, wine and enjoyed the song that she sang for us as a welcome gift. What’s more, I got a chance to wear a Tibetan traditional costume and to learn the traditional dance from Doma. That was so interesting and I was very happy to create those fantastic memories.

I am wearing a Tibetan traditional costume

At last, I would like to say, in your whole life, you should to visit Tibet. You will have great times and collect some wonderful memories that you can have an aftertaste for your whole life. I believe that the gorgeous landscape, the sacred Tibetan Buddhism, and the marvelous Tibetan culture will constantly recall you to visit Tibet again and again.

Tashilhunpo Monastery Part 2

As Tashilhunpo Monastery has a high status in Tibetan Buddhism, the visiting time and open areas for tourists are limited. It has the same policy as visited The Potala Palace. We only had 1.5 hours to visit this monastery and all the photographs were forbidden inside every hall.

In that situation, we only chose some special halls to visit. The first one is the Jambu Chyenmu (Maitreya) temple. This temple is the tallest building on the west side of the monastery. Inside that temple, there is the world largest copper Jampa statue, which is 26.2 meters high and decorated with 210kg gold and more than 1400 jewels. If I can stand beside the statue’s face, his nose would be taller than me. The Jampa is considered to be the future Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism. So the statue is in a half-stand and half sit position, which means he can stand up at anytime to rescue people in the future.
 

Jampa Statue

The second place I visited was the Holy Stupas Hall. The Holy Stupas Hall enshrines the stupas for the past Panchen Lama. Inside the hall there are 8 stupas for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Panchen Lama. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the stupas of Fifth to Ninth Panchen Lama were damaged, and the Tenth Panchen Lama, rebuilt them into one stupa in 1989. Thus, inside the Holy Stupas Hall we only can see three stupas. Just like the stupas in the Potala Place, all the stupas in Tashilhunpo monastery were decorated with vast gold and jewelries. And these decorations are all from the Buddhists, who believe all the treasure should consecrated to the Buddha.  

An hour and a half was a very short time for me; I couldn’t have a deeper exploration of this monastery. But on the other hand, it was a good thing for me. It is like a recall for me to comeback to Tibet, because there are too many places that I haven't visited yet. 

Tashilhunpo Monastery part 1

After visiting the Yamdrok Lake, our next stop was Tashilhunpo Monastery. When people come to Tibet, one of the most important things is to experience the mysterious Tibetan Buddhism. Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the major temples for Gelug or The Yellow Hat Sect, which is one of the schools of Tibetan religions. Also the Tashilhunpo Monastery is the home for the Panchen Lama. Panchen Lama is the highest-ranking lama after the Dalai Lama in Gelug. And he is also deemed as the living Buddha.

The monastery is located in Shigatse, which is the second- largest city in Tibet. And the Tashilhunpo monastery is located on a hill in the center of the city. The name of Tashilhunpo is means “All the fortune and happiness would gather here.” Tashilhunpo Monastery was founded in 1447 CE by Gedun Drub who was the first Dalai Lama. Later the Fourth Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyalsten expanded the monastery. Since then, all the Panchen Lamas have resided at Tashilhunpo and continued to expand the monastery.

When I arrived at the monastery, it is only 3 days after its yearly biggest event, the Buddha portrayals exhibit festival. On that day, the Tashilhunpo monastery would exhibit three huge Buddha portrayals on the wall. These three portrayals are 32 meters high and 42.5 meters wide, and reflect three Buddhas: Amitābha，Shijiamouni，and Jampa (Maitreya). Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists will come to the Tashilhunpo and pray to those three huge Buddha portrayals. This is a three-day festival and Buddhists will have the chance to meet Panchen Lama, and receive his blessing by stroking their head.

Although during the Buddha Portrayals exhibit festival, I was in Tibet, but I didn’t get the chance to attend this festival because it was not opened for the tourists. When I arrived at Tashilhunpo I could still find some special decorations for that festival and see a lot Buddhists who stayed in the monastery.

To be continue…

Need more information about Tashilhunpo Monastery? See you on my next blog post.

The Trip to Namtso Lake

After staying in Lhasa for three days, we were getting used to the life in the high altitude area. We still had headaches and other altitude sicknesses, but we felt better. So we decided to visit the Namtso Lake, which is the highest place in our trip. That day was the toughest day in my whole Tibet trip, but it gives me a fabulous experience that I would never forget. 

As we weren’t familiar with Tibet, to attend a tour to Namtso could be a best choice for us. The bus picked us at 5 in the morning. China covers 4 time zones, so 5 in the morning in Tibet is 2 in my province. The first difficult thing I experienced was a little jetlag. When I went out of the hotel, I was freezing. It was late July and its only 3 degrees Celsius (39.2 F) and raining. So I went back to my room and added pants and cashmere sweater, I still felt cold but I already added all the warm clothes I have. On the bus, the guide told us today we had to climb a mountain with an altitude of 5190m and the average altitude for today’s trip was 4800m. It would be very cold today and it may snow when we arrive at the lake. And she brought us to a store and told us to buy a bottle of oxygen and rent a jacket. Some tourists on our bus rented the jacket and bought some bottles of oxygen. For my family, we only bought a bottle of oxygen. Although I still felt cold, but based on the three days experience in Tibet, we knew that the temperature would rise at noon. It would take 4 hours to go to Namtso from Lhasa and the dawn had not come yet, so I decided to take a nap before we reached the altitude more than 4500m.

About two hours later, the tour guide woke everybody up. The bus had reached more than 4500m; it is dangerous to sleep at that altitude. People may die for the lack of oxygen. And she also said it is the time to breath in the oxygen. We needed to breathe the oxygen before we felt the lack of it and the bus was reached the highest point of today. Thirty minutes later, we reached a col of Nyainqentanglha, which has a altitude of 5190m. Because it is dangerous for people to stay a long time in a place which has the altitude higher than 5000m, we only have 15 minutes to stay in that col to experience the landscape. And one of my father’s friends had a very serious altitude sickness when we reached that col. Her face was white and her lips were purple. She can’t stand up and felt dizzy spell. She stayed in the bus for the entire trip, both in the col and the Namtso Lake. I had a headache and a high heartbeat. And my parent’s lips became purple because of the lack of oxygen.

Fifteen minutes later, we left the col and continued going to Namtso Lake. We arrived at Namtso Lake around 10 in the morning. The average altitude of that Lake was 4800m, so our guide suggested that we bring our oxygen when we walked to the lake. It was cloudy when we arrived at the lake. My friend told me that the Namtso is gorgeous on a sunny day. I felt so disappointed to see the lake on a cloudy day when the sky was grey. It gives me a feeling that the sacred lake should make people scared. I thought the god of the Lake maybe listening to my prayer, when sunshine came. Everything was changed. And it was gorgeous! The lake became a big mirror that reflected the sky. The sacred lake was not scary but like heaven.

Cloudy

Sunny 

I thought I was so lucky that I could experience the different feelings of Namtso Lake. The dark clouds made the lake more solemn and scary; and the sunshine made the lake more colorful and gentle. If you get a chance to visit Tibet, Namtso Lake is a place you can’t miss.