From Yushu - by Ziva & Tawni - TIBET (Group B)

Tashi Delek,

Here is a note from Yushu, the first city, after about ten days of amazing experiences in the middle of Kham. First there was the orphanage school service project, than an unforgetable home stay in the Shechen monastery where each student stayed with an individual monk or family testing their language skills and gaining a more intimate experience of Tibetan life. The Shechen experience included:

- lessons on death and dying at the local sky burial site (Tibetan practice of giving the deceased's body to vultures, returning them to the earth and completing the cycle of life);

- an inspiring talk by Gangshar Rinpoche (the founder of Shechen orphanage school and one of the main rinpoches in the area) discussing the extreme adversity he encountered when recruiting support for the school ("a rinpoche should be building monasteries not schools or medical clinics!" many said);

- a hike through the upper hills to see where instructor Matjaz did a one-month retreat during his two years in this area, exploring the upper sacred caves and learning local wild edibles along the way (wild onions, rose hips, stinging nettles, clovers, plantain, mustard and dandelion greens, wild carrots, mints, pine needles, and curly docks).

After that we hiked to Ashuk, Tsar tsar monastery, for nine hours. It was a solo hike, which means we all had time to observe our surroundings and our feelings from the first half of the journey. It was time to contemplate the experiences, that left a strong impact on all of us. Hawks soared above us, red-breasted dipper-relatives accompanied us with their song, and marmots wrestled playfully along the side of the road. Even a young antelope came to see us off along the way. We wound our way along the Zachu river valley, passing mounds of mani stones with Tibetan prayers etched into their faces offering blessings for the well-being, happiness and realization of all sentient beings. The only thing, that made a thorn, was the fact, that Kate and Jack couldn't join the entire group on the hike, since their bodies were recovering from past sickness. They came to Ashuk by car, joining us for rests along the river sides.

In the "suburbs" of Ashuk there is a small temple of King Gesar, the ancient and revered warrior king of Tibet. The caretakers and monk Tashi welcomed us with open hands and open hearts. Sometimes it feels that the language is not a barrier at all, since we can share our experiences in silence, and tell even more than with words. Tashi made an impact on the whole group. He is 28 years old, with the history of 8 years of meditative retreat, the personification of simplicity, a humble monk, and a beautiful person.

Tashi brought us to an audience with the main rinpoche of the area who has been the primary driving force behind the tremendous amount of development in the area (a trend we have been seeing throughout our time in Kham) - founding schools, medical clinics and access to better resources for locals, as well as retreat centers, monastic colleges and nunneries for higher Buddhist studies and investigations. Students noted the stark contrast of a politically well-connected and active religious figure to those we have met earlier whose primary activity has been solely in the interaction with students and religious study resources or on smaller scale development projects.

Tashi also showed us around the temple grounds where butt, hand and knee prints of King Gesar's activities were imprinted in the rock - "here's where he killed the demon birds attacking the kingdom as a child," "here's the sword marks of when his step mother tried to kill him, but the blade just went through his body, leaving him unharmed.")

Tashi also led us up a hillside to see an old yogi, who lived almost his entire life in retreat, and gave us blessing prayers and sacred healing water. His eyes reflected the color of the sky and his wide toothless grin, grey scraggly beard and contagious laughter reminded all of Merlin the great.

Students used the greater part of our afternoon processing their home-stays, the creation of culture among a people and observations specific to Tibetan and that of our own American culture. They explored the universals common to all human kind, and the beliefs, practices and perspectives we share as communities and that separate us out as individuals. They also began processing their own mini "retreat" - the solo trek along the way - how do we use our time during these spaces of silence? what do our minds explore? where do our minds wander? what are the challenges and fears that come up? the great joys? the calm interludes in between?

But as everything ends, the staying with our hosts ended too. We drove for twelve hours, through some amazing grasslands, high mountain passes (throwing lungtas - prayer leafs into the air)and passing some horse festivals along the way.

We came to Yushu, where we are staying in a nice local guest house, and the most welcomed thing here were showers, and of course internet and local restaurants (not that the food was not good in the past ten days, but a primary diet of Tibetan tsampa (roasted barley flour) left taste buds yearning for variety). Students still insist tsampa is great, even with a brief indulgence of "the best french fries ever" in the temple of King Gesar - local cuisine by instructor-chef, Matjaz, including veggies and cheese (local yak cheese of course), delighting Americans and Tibetans alike.

Students have enjoyed exploring "the big city" here in Yushu - testing out their chinese language skills to order lunch on their own, checking out local department stores, experiencing a newer mix and customs of greater Muslim populations now, observing rituals at the local monastery on a cliff overlooking the city, and beginning their first lessons in Lhasa dialect Tibetan (even chanting the alphabet mantra-style on our hike up!).

So here we are, packing our stuff again, leaving Yushu, on an 18 hours bus ride to Xining. The teaching of impermanence is present all the time, and that is why, we try to make this experience the best experience of our lives, so that there won't be only the memory left behind, but an imprint in our understanding of the world and ourselves.

From Yushu,

Demo (be happy)

Tibet B group