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Craig February 23rd, 2008

In the last post, we saw a number of photos of the Dalai Lama visiting a Buddhist temple in Bodhgaya, India. So this seems as good a time as any to take a visit to his homeland, Tibet.

At the bottom of the post under my signature, you can click on the slideshow link to see a full screen slideshow of the images.

Tibet occupies the Central Asia plateau stretching north from the Himalayan range. Due to an average elevation of 4900m, it’s commonly referred to as the “Roof of the World”. It’s southern border with Nepal features some of the worlds highest mountains, including Mt Everest.

Lhasa, at the foot of Mt Gephel is the capital of Tibet. At an altitude of 3700m, it is today home to 255 000 people. Traditionally, the city is the seat of the Dalai Lama, with two main residences, the Potala Palace (Winter Palace) and Norbulingka (Summer Palace).

The Potala is a series of buildings with 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, and reaches a height of 117m above the ground. The site dates back to 637 CE when King Songsten Gampo, the first emperor of unified Tibet, built the first palace for his bride-to-be, Princess Wen Cheng. The present day Potala palace complex was started by the 5th Dalai Lama, Lozang Gyatso, in 1645. Known as the Great Fifth Dalai Lama for being the first Dalai Lama to effectively hold political power over Central Tibet, he was advised that the site of the Potala would be an ideal place for the seat of government, being equidistant from the two major monasteries, Sera and Drepung, and the city itself.

Today, the Potala is a museum and serves as a popular tourist site, and was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1994.

The most sacred and important temple for Tibetans is the Jokhang temple, in Lhasa. Originally built by King Songsten Gampo during his reign, it was originally callen Tsulag Khang, meaning “House of Wisdom”. It is located on the Barkhor, a series of narrow streets that form a kora, or traditional pilgrimage route.

The Jokhang temple is a four-story construction, with roofs covered with gilded bronze tiles. The architectural style is based on the Indian vihara design, and was later extended resulting in a blend of Nepalese and Tang Dynasty styles. The rooftop looks out towards the Potala and features statues of two golden deer flanking a Dharma wheel.

Tibet is home to numerous lakes and rivers. Most of the major rivers of Asia can trace their sources back to Tibet, with the Yangtze, Salween, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Yellow Rivers all originating in Tibet.

Several major lakes are considered to be scared bodies of water. Lake Rakshatal is believed by Hindus to have been created by Ravana, a notorious demon, for the purposes of gaining superpowers from Lord Shiva, who resides in nearby Mt Kailash.

Also close to Mt Kailash is Lake Manasarovar, the highest freshwater lake in the world at an altitude of 4556m. In the Hindu tradition, Lake Manasarovar was initially created in the mind of Lord Brahma. In the Buddhist tradition, it is associated with Anavatapta (Anotatta), the legendary lake at the center of the world, and is said to be the lake where Queen Maya conceived the Buddha after 20 childless years of marriage.

The third major sacred lake is Yamdrok Tso, the turquoise lake. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains and fed by numerous small streams, Yamdrok Tso is said to represent the transformation of a goddess.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief journey to Tibet. Stay tuned because there will be a journey to a Tibetan prayer festival coming up in the near future, as well as some posts featuring south-east Asia. And there are some big reports coming from Taiwan over the next month or two, with elections and festivals all taking place.

Tags: Film Scan, Photos, Tibet

• Travel
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