Samye Monesetary

2-27-07

The alarm went off at 5:00am this morning. It was still dark and cold and I wans't ready to get us. We rode the pilgrim bus to Samye monestary about 200km outside lhasa. It was an entertaining experience, we were the first ones on so it was about an hour of people watching because we apparently were not leaving until the bus was totally full. Some people came onto the bus selling all sorts of random things from Tibetan bread to prayer flags to drinks and other goodies. About 4 hours of dirt roads and Tibetan music later we arrived at Samye.

Samye is an impressive monestary. It is the biggest monastic compound that I've seen in Tibet, it was also the first monestary built in Tibet. It was designed as a mandala which I think is fabulous as the mandala definitely captivates me. There were some amazing epope and places that I saw in this monestary. THe kora around the monestary is totally lined with prayer wheels, we walked clockwise around (as good pilgrims do) and spun each wheel, my fingers were black from the handles.

Our first stop was in a chaple tended to by teh sweetest Tiebtan man, he had the nicest eyes and I could almost feel the joy projecting from them. He walked through the building with usand pointed out the main statues and we all laughed and smiled together. He sat down to drink soem yak butter tea and told us that is good for the heart and the soul. THen he picked up an empty soda bottle and told us that it was bad for our heads. He then got a smirk on this face and motioned for us to join him. He lifted up a tapestry on the wall and under it was a picture of the Dalai Lama. It is illegal to have his picture anywhere in Tibet and it filled my heart with both joy and sadness to see it. It was obvious the love that this man had for him!

Next, we jumped back on the prayer wheel circle and migrated to the next couryard. As sson as we got there I heard the beautiful sond of monks chanting. They were all seated in their place in the hall and a georgeous baritone of Tibetan prayers was making its way out to us. Within that came the occassional addition of the voice of a young monk, it sounded so joyful. I could have sat there listening to that all day. Unfortunately, it ended and the monks began walksing out. I was studying their faces as I felt so drawn to them and their joy and love for Buddhism. Then a most unexpected thing happened, a sheep walked out of the assembly hall. I did a triple take but everyone else seemed to think that this was as normal as could be. Maybe it is a sacred sheep trying to build karma so that it will come back as a human in its next life. Since that point I saw the sheep join the monks when they were debating and in other parts of the monestary... curious.

The thrid amusing incident of the day... Back on the prayer wheel cycle and causing my hands to become even more blackened. We stop at a building that appears to deal with death. But that isn't what catches my eye. I see a nun tossing candy at a poil and I'm intrigued. I look up to the top of the poll and there is a grey harry monkey on a chain sitting there. Now I must say, I thought the sheep a bit odd but the monkey beat that for sure. I decided that lonely planet needs to add a phrase to their phrase book that would tell me how to ask in Tibetan "excuse me, why is there a monkey in your monestary?" Later in my walking I did read that it is belived that a union between an orgress and a primate creates a Tibetan so maybe that had something to do with it.