The Big Kora, Part III: Compassion

• Lraleigh's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Yading Nature Reserve

Trip Start Mar 21, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Ongoing Next
Entry

  Yading Nature Reserve, China
Friday, November 11, 2005

Do not believe in anything (simply) because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything (simply) because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis when you find that anything agrees with reason
and it is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all then accept it and live up to it. ~ Instructions for Spiritual Practice by Shakyamuni Buddha Kalama Sutta

At the top of the eighth pass, once again I saw familiar sights from two years ago--Wisdom, Compassion, and Power all together forming their triangle; broad and deep glacial valleys leading to dark green and golden forests; and large rock cairns leading to the northwest, down the largest of the valleys. I ate the pilgrim's cheese I had been saving; now was a good time.

I looked at the map and noticed that, even though we were finally On the Map, the trail was drawn incorrectly and our trip would be much longer today than we had thought. As every day had been harder than the last, with unexpected twists at every turn, we hardly took care and continued, following the rock cairns down an icy trail. We also had Chenrezee, the Bodhissatva of Compassion, rising above us.

Below us, Crystal Lake reflected the mountains; we stopped for some more holy water as the sun became warm; the bitterly cold morning was well behind us.

01 Chenrezee

The trail began to circumambulate Chenrezee and was gentle compared to previous trails, bushwhacking, and other off-trail scrambling.

Despite the gentle trail, I was tired, my feet and knees were sore, and we were essentially out of most food: the eggs, vegetables, ginger, and garlic were long gone; the Snicker's bars gone; the crackers gone; the meat gone. We were left with some dried fruits, some uncooked rice and lentils (for days of emergencies), and two lollipops. We were running on empty.

Om mani pehmeh hung, the mantra of Compassion. This I said to myself hundreds of times to keep me going. It's meaning is endless, the union of Sound and Emptiness.

"It has no intrinsic reality, but is simply the manifestation of pure sound, experienced simultaneously with its Emptiness. Through mantra, we no longer cling to the reality of the speech and sound encountered in life, but experience it as essentially empty. Then confusion of the speech aspect of our being is transformed into enlightened awareness."
~Kalu Rinpoche

We continued to the familiar point where I took a left instead of a right turn, two years ago exactly to the day. I remembered the fading light of day and the need to set up camp. I remembered thinking that I had made it around the mountain; it was much bigger than I thought, although hidden from view at this point.

This time, we turned right.

Turning right felt great, despite my feet, knees, and belly; I felt confident we would complete the kora today.

02 Jeremy at the Eighth Pass

The ninth and last pass was before us. In my mind it was the most beautiful pass of all.

We climbed the switchbacks, with whitened cairns surrounding us: "Om mani pehmeh hung," I thought at each step. At one point, all pain left my body and I was climbing with exhilaration and energy. My belly, feet, and knees no longer mattered.

We reached the top, surrounded by hundreds of prayer flags in the late afternoon sun at 15,500 feet. Here we celebrated with the two lollipops I had saved for this occasion--it was all downhill from here.

The trail descended to the north, in shadow, until the sun peeked over the ridge, shining through the prayer flags and the pass high above. The trail in front of us shimmered with the translucent shadows of the prayer flags. Soon thereafter, we passed mani stones and a rock with a natural stain of a human figure. Several thousand feet lower, we entered the larch forests, golden, with the sun shining through their sparse needles. Since we arrived to Yading over a week ago, many of the needles, fallen, now coated the ground, the rocks, and the path in orange.

The path led us to the last of the sacred lakes: Pearl Lake, a manifestation of the consort of Chenrezee. We removed our packs and ate the last of our dried fruit as we encircled the lake. Without a pack, I felt agile and light, a pleasant break.

A half hour later, we reached the end of the kora.

"By Jove, we made it!"

I just felt the need to say "By Jove." Who says that anyway?

"This was the hardest thing I've done in my life," said Jeremy.

That night, we ate like kings, or so it felt--unlimited rice, fried and oily meats, vegetables, and hot water to spare.

03 Crystal Lake

We stayed in one of the cabin areas for the pilgrims, complete with a small shack for a restaurant. I slept soundly.

The next morning, we pondered our situation. As Jeremy was almost out of money, between us we didn't have much. We still needed to get back.

We hiked to the beginning of the trailhead, talking about life and feeling good. My feet and knees were like new, it seemed, and a Chinese couple bought us some noodles to eat.

We bargained with a driver for a ride back and soon were in Daocheng. There, we found a cheap room at the bus depot and went to the bank. Luckily I had a Chinese bank account so withdrew some money; we would be fine. I wasn't ever worried though as this happened to me before in Yading: everything has a way of working out.

We ate fifty steamed dumplings between us, drank some beer, and met with Quza, the monk, who rode with us to Yading over a week ago. Quza was glad to see us and happy that we had completed the Big Kora, or the "Supersize Kora" as we came to call it, as it ended up being a couple days bigger than the "Normally-sized" Big Kora. His gift of prayer beads were wrapped around my left wrist.

Quza had managed to borrow a friend's Bread Loaf van for the day, so he took us to his home, just outside of town. We ate dried apples and tsampa and drank yak butter tea. He beckoned us into his shrine. As we entered through the door, we were greeted by dozens of thangkas, statues, and hundreds of sacred texts. I had never seen such a thing before, even in monasteries.

"These are 1,000 years old and have been passed down through my family for those years," Quza said.

He showed us one of the texts. The old paper was wrapped in cloth, with two dark wooden plates protecting the texts on the top and bottom. Each page was impeccably handwritten with drawings, by sages who lived when Buddhism was in the state of becoming in Tibet. Later, back in Zhongdian, when I told Gomba this, he said: "not many people have those any more. They are called 'Tanger' and most that remained were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Quza said that Daocheng is so remote that the Cultural Revolution never made it here.

Next, Quza took us to the local hot springs, more like a bathhouse. Each room was fitted with a big tub. I turned on the hot spring water and filled my tub, enjoying the feeling of immersion in hot water and being clean. Back at the bus depot, we said our goodbyes.

That night we ate like kings, once again, and left the next morning for Zhongdian. Ten hours later, after a bumpy and dusty ride, we returned to Zhongdian and settled back into daily life.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

04 The Ninth and Final Pass	05 Jeremy at the Ninth Pass	06 Looking Back at the Ninth Pass	07 Gentle Trail of Golden Larches
08 Pearl Lake and Chenrezee	09 Jeremy and Lloyd at the End of the Kora	10 Mani Stones at the End of the Kora

Slideshow Print this entry Share Hong Kong hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry