Choeten Kora, Trashi Yangtse

 The road to Trashi Yangste is not an easy one. Unlike most roads we saw in Eastern Bhutan, the one that branched-off north from Trashigang was particularly bad. 

As we drove on a mud-path cut into steep slopes and dense forests, past recent landslides and rock-falls,  I imagined our final destination to be some sort of one-horse town; one in which there would be a few houses along the roadside; a town where we would have to wake up somebody to cook dinner and find a bed for the night..

It was late evening by the time our Pajero stopped and the driver announced, "We've reached!".  What stood below us was not a tiny settlement but a lovely little town built alongside a river. There were broad roads, numerous buildings, shops, lodges, snooker parlours, and, the biggest surprise of all - a beautifully lit up Choeten sitting like a jewel at the head of the valley.

This was the Chorten Kora, a shrine modelled on the Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, and revered by  people across the eastern Himalayas, from Nepal to Arunachal Pradesh, and maybe beyond.

I visited this shrine early next morning. What struck me the most was the deep sense of order, symmetry and rhythm within the complex. 

Each side was divided into two parts with four sections each. Niches within each of these four sections had exactly six prayer wheels. So as you walked along each side of the Chorten you could swing with your fingers 48 prayer-wheels or 192 prayers with each circumambulation! 

As if to keep time for each step and each breath you took, there were also two large water-driven prayer wheels by the river-side, gently tinkling their bells.

What is the significance of these numbers? Why are prayer-wheels and stupas by the roadside always built in units of 1, 2, 6 or 8?

There is no doubt deep symbolism in each of these elements. 

Is there a book that explains all this?

-----------------------------------------------------

LINKS & REFERENCES

* A brief history of Choeten Kora - https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_06_01.pdf

* Symbolism of the Stupa / Chorten - https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/buddhist-art/stupas.htm 

The Balkh Connection - Resurrection of Persian

A carpet from Balkh adorns our living room. It is a constant reminder old assignments with the UN in Afghanistan, of traveling long dusty roads lined with the relics of various wars, of bustling markets and lovely lilt of Dari language.

Dari is a variant of Persian widely spoken in the country. I had always imagined that the Persian influence on Afghanistan dated back to the reign of kings ranging from Cyrus to Nadir Shah. Today, while communing back home on the metro listening to an episode of the Empire podcast, I realised the extent of my naivety.

There was a time when the Persians ruled most of the territory that extends from today's Punjab to Turkey and North Africa. The mighty Achaemenid kings - Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes - ruled from Persepolis (559 - 330 BC), until the empire was destroyed by Alexander. Then came the Seleucids (312 - 62 BC) who were contemporaries of Chandragupta  of the Maurya empire in India; the Parthians (247 - 224 BC) and the  Sasanians (224 - 651 CE).

Then came a time when the conquerors got conquered. The endless wars between two great empires, the Romans and the Persians, exhausted both and enabled a new kid on the block, the Arabs driven by the zeal of a brand new religion, to colonise  Persia. Over the next 200 years, Arabic took over as the official language, Persian language, culture and religion got subsumed. Amazingly some of the most prominent Vezirs appointed by the Arabs were the Barmakids, a clan of hereditary Buddhist priests ("Pramukh") from the Nawbahar monastry in Balkh who had converted to Islam!  

One of the few holdouts was Khorasan, an area which is mostly the provinces o Herat and present-day Afghanistan. 

It is under the patronage of the Saffarid kings of Khorasan that Persian language survived. The poet, Ferdowsi started writing the epic Shahname under their patronage. However, by the time he finished his magnum opus, the Saffarids had been defeated by the Ghaznavids, and the new king Mohammad of Ghazni was too busy plundering India and did not think much of Persian poetry. 

It is Persia that owes much to Afghanistan - not the other day around!

----------------------------------------------

BUT-SHIKAN  बुत-शिकनبت شکن

This word, meaning "iconoclast", is an honorific adopted by many Islamic rulers in India. Sikandar Shah Miri, a ruler of Kashmir was called Sikandar Butshikan for the zeal with which he destroyed many monasteries and temples.

So the question is - does 'but' refer to icons of the Buddha?

A friend who loves Urdu poetry insists that the word comes from Persian. So did the ancient Iranians also take delight in destroying temples? Turns out that they did - hundreds of years before Persia was overrun by conquering armies from Arabia under the banner of Islam, it was Zoroastrian rulers who destroyed buddhist monasteries and temples in the Khorasan region!

----------------------------------------------

REFERENCES & LINKS

• Empire Podcast - https://twitter.com/EmpirePodUK/status/1747563631653396807 
• Buddhism in Iran - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Iran
• https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/did-you-know-city-balkh-ancient-capital-bactria-and-centre-buddhism-and-zoroastrianism
• https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/buddhism-i
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Buddhists
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikandar_Shah_Miri 

Buddhism in Bhutan

 

What is the difference between Tibetan and Bhutanese practice of Buddhism?

Most of the sights , sounds and smells of Bhutan are familiar to those who have travelled to Tibetan settlements across India. The meticulously hand-painted temples, fluttering prayer flags, the steaming hot momos and thukpa, monks in deep maroon, and the distinct smell of incense. One thing that is missing in Bhutan are the "Free Tibet!" stickers and t-shirts, and photos of HH the Dalai Lama. Why so?

It seems there are four main schools of Mahayana Buddhism practiced in the upper Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau -  Nyingma (8th century), Kagyu (11th century), Sakya (1073), and Gelug (1409).

Padmasambhāva (aka Guru Rinpoche - 'Precious Master', Circa 700 CE) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788), are considered the founders of Nyingma ('The Ancient Ones'), the oldest tradition. A couple of centuries later Tilopa (988–1069) and his students, notably Naropa and Marpa, laid the foundations of the Kagyu ('Whispered Transmission') tradition, which focuses on the practices of Mahamudra. The great 11th century mystic, Miralepa, belonged to the Kagyu school. 

The third school, Sakya ('Pale earth') derives its name from the landscape near Shigatse, where Sakya Monastery, the first monastery of this tradition was established. This time the founder was not a monk who travelled from India across the Himalayas but one who travelled the opposite way, from Tibet to Vikramshila university in present-day northern Bihar.

The first three sects are also referred as the 'Red Hat' schools because its monks wear red head gear.

The fourth and last major school, Gelug ('Virtuous'), emerged after the Mongol invasions of Tibet in the 1200s. Also known as the Yellow Hat sect, they aligned themselves with the Mongol Khans and became the dominant sect in Tibet and Mongolia by the 16th century. The present (14th) Dalai Lama belongs to this sect.

Most of the Buddhists in Bhutan belong to the second-oldest Vajrayana sect - Kagyu - one of the red-hat schools. This sect is perhaps more closely aligned with the traditions set by the earliest monks who introduced Buddhism to the areas beyond the Himalayas. 

Maybe this also explains why the Dalai Lama is not so popular in Bhutan.

Nalanda: A University or Just a Large Monastry?

Nalanda University seems to be in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Last year Arun Shourie mocked Marxist historians for their version of how the ancient monastry had been destroyed. Then came the drama around the resignation of Amarya Sen as the Founding Chancellor of the new avatar of Nalanda University.

Today I read an interesting book review by Andre Wink which asks a more basic question. On what basis are we claiming that Nalanda was India's greatest Buddhist monastry or as the world's first university?

According to Frederick M. Asher, author of "Nalanda: Situating the Great Monastry" there is insufficient credible evidence to even claim that the monastry at Nalanda ever was a university that taught a diverse range of subjects. Many of the structures we see today were built in the recent past using over 100,000 bricks of "large Gupta size"!

Since much of our understanding og Buddhist history is based on Tibetan and Chinese texts, perhaps we should continue to have tracking surveys on Nalanda alumni, and take all  tall claims with a pinch of salt..

-----------------------------------------------
REFERENCES & LINKS

* Arun Shourie (2015) - http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/how-history-was-made-up-at-nalanda/

* Asher (2015): Nalanda - Situating the Great Monastry, Marg - http://www.marg-art.org/p/680/nalanda-great-monastery

* Wink (2015 review): Learning to unlearn, Indian Express - http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/learning-to-unlearn/

Wondering about Mt. Kailash

Pick a random place South Delhi and chances are that it is named after the 'abode of Shiva', Mt. Kailash. You have Kailash Colony, Greater Kailash-I, II, III, IV, East of Kailash and West of Kailash. Elsewhere in Delhi, you will find Kailash Apartments, Kailash Hospitals and...the list is endless.

This fondness for Kailash goes much beyond Delhi. The Buddhists say three of their main Buddhas -- Manjushree, Avalokiteshwara and Vajrapani -- all live there in the mountain. The Jains say Rishabh lives there and South Indian mysticism says their greatest yogi, Agasthiya Muni, who is the basis of South Indian mysticism and is one of the seven direct disciples of Shiva, lives in the southern face of Kailash.

How and when did this mountain located beyond the Himalayan ranges, in far-away Tibet, come to occupy such a prominent place in our imagination?

What makes Mt. Kailash truly exceptional is the fact that it lies well beyond the other popular places of worship in the Himalayas. Most of these are located along the tributaries and glaciers that feed the great rivers. But to reach Mt. Kailash, you need to travel along the Kali river valley that cuts through the breadth of the Himalayas. Then, once you are on the other side Lipulekh Pass, on the Tibetan plateau, another long trek takes you between the twin lakes Rakshas Tal and Manasarovar before you finally reach the Mt. Kailash area.

How on earth did the ancient pilgrims find their way to this mountain??

------------------------------------------
LINKS

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sadhguru/pilgrimage-to-kailash-the-mystical-library_b_3121912.html
Pics from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kailash and KMVN
http://www.euttaranchal.com/tourism/adventure/kailash_mansarovar_yatra_itineary.php

------------------------------------------

Daulat Beg Oldi

 WikiMap: The Tibetan plateau

Daulat Beg Oldi. The first time I head about this place I readily assumed that it had been named after a soldier who died in action. I thought "Oldi" was a nickname.

Much like the Bana Post on the Siachin Glacier, I pictured a small stone memorial  standing dwarfed by the barren, inhospitable Himalayan heights -- the Karakoram range on one side and the Kunlun mountains on the other.

This picture just fell apart when I came to know that Daulat Beg lived & died long before anybody demarcated India or China on any map, and even a few centuries before the "Great Game".  It turns out that he was a merchant from Yarkand who could not take the stain of crossing the Karakoram pass, sometime in the 16th century...

Somehow this puts the recent India-China standoff in an altogether different context. It opens your mind to a world of silk traders who risked life and limb in search of profit,  and of monks who trekked across these very mountains to introduce Buddhism to Central Asia...

And what does "Oldi" mean? Simple - its just meant to tell you that 'Daulat Beg Died Here'!

WikiMap: DBO is at the junction of the pink and grey zones

----------------------------------

LINKS

http://library.thinkquest.org/10131/ladakh_shyok_burtsa_ao.html

Travels of Sven Hedin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Hedin

Daruma: Of Limbless Dolls and a South Indian Monk

Mention the word "Daruma" in Japan and you are quite likely to see faces light up with smiles. Children would instantly recall playing with a "Yuki-Daruma" - the Japanese version of a snowman, while the adults would talk of the cutesy, egg-like doll on which they paint eyes on  New Year's day, to absorb and ward-off evil.

I was mildly shocked to discover yesterday that Daruma tradition has its origins far from Japan. The doll is actually based on a monk who moved from the plains of South India to the Songshang mountains of China.

In circa 520AD, the original Daruma, a South Indian prince-turned-monk appeared at the Chinese port city of Canton (now Guandong). His name was Bodhi-Dharma. After a brief  - and irreverent encounter - with Emporer Wu of the Liang Dynasty, he moved on to the Shao-lin monastry in the Sonshang mountains.

The legend goes that at this monastry, Bodhidharma meditated for nine long years facing a blank wall and came up with a treatise that forms the basis of Dhyana (Zen) Buddhism. It was also during this period that both his legs atrophied away and he tore away his own eyelids to avoid falling asleep during meditation!

Perhaps the legend carries a lot of metaphor and symbolism which can be understood only by those who dive into the deep waters of Dhyana-meditation. For the rest of the lay public mere limbless dolls would suffice, to amuse the children and to remind them about what it takes to really know yourself.

---------------------------------------------------
REFERENCE

Hoover, Thomas (1980): The Zen Experience (Link to Amazon Page)

A note on the commercialization of Daruma's at Wikipedia