Thursday May 28, 2009 - Shigatse and Chanting with the Buddhist Monks

Shigatse (elevation 3840 m), population 98,700, is the second largest city in T. It sits in a plain in Western T. at the confluence of the Yarlong Tsangpo and Nyangchu Rivers. About 97% of the population is T. but it has a comfortable feeling of being Chinese and T. all at the same time. Its an ancient holy city that is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama (who ranks second after the Dali Lama in the Buddhist faith). We liked it. It has none of the chaos of Indian cities and Kathmandu. It seemed so ordered, and peaceful and the people were absolutely charming. You can't have much verbal communication because of the language, but there were many times when women would stare, make eye contact, and a special meaning would pass between us. In addition, a lot of the older men were delighted to be able to say "hello", and a group of younger men were also totally fascinated they followed us for quite a distance, stopped to look at whatever we looked at and smiling profusely whenever we looked at them. We also had fun looking at a couple of 200 and 150 motorbikes and took each other's picture sitting on them, egged on by the amused sales person!!In the morning we went to the Tashilhunpo Monastery. It was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama and was fortunate to survive the cultural revolution. As with most buildings in T. it is built up a hillside. Its quite a beautiful compound containing the monks' residences and the 9 temples or stupas joined together by quaint narrow stone lanes where you catch quick glimpses of the saffron and orange robes of the monks as they scurry from building to building. We went into all the temples and moved all the prayer bells, well, that's impossible, but moved a lot of them, and just marvelled at the incredible art in the buddha statues and the paintings on the walls, ceilings, and pillars. The colours are brilliant and the atmosphere is alive with the chants of the monks and the swish of their robes as they move about. There were three extra special memories: First the 26 meter high Buddha, huge just huge, and his eyes smiled down at you no matter where you were. Second was watching the locals come in and spoon their yak butter around the base of the candles giving their blessings to the Buddha and earning their merit for their current life. Third was the experience of being in the midst of the assembly hall with 200/300 Buddhist monks chanting around me. I never thought we would get to experience anything like that. Surprisingly, some of the monks spoke to us, and said hello. Then all of a sudden there was a loud shout, and the chanting ended, the monks flung off their outer robes, and hurried out of the hall. It was an exhiliarating moment that I didn't want to end.After visiting inside the monastery grounds, we did the kora, or pilgrimage walk around the perimeter along with many others on a pilgrimage. There were many prayer wheels, pretty little chappels, prayer flags, mani stones, yak horns, and the sweetest little blue flower which beat all odds by growing on the barren rocky ground surrounding the perimeter wall.The rest of the afternoon we spent just walking around town. Bought some sunglasses, went into a "mall" and looked at the electronics. They had some neat computerized gadgets, and solar panels, probably for heating water. We thought that a little different as we don't think they've hit the malls in Toronto yet!Late afternoon, we went to the Internet but frustratingly I am totally blocked out of my blog.In the evening we went to Tashi's for dinner. I had a cheese and tomato pizza, with a difference, and Ray had a yak pizza! We sat with a group from the other Truck and Ian and Tamar. Then back to the hotel and bed around 10:45 pm.