Friday, November 16, 2007

Potala Palace, Deprung Monestary, Summer Palace

This morning we visited the Deprung Monetary - a beautiful site up on a hill overlooking Lhasa. We saw many more Buddha statues, prayer rooms and thrones for when the Dalai Lama occasionally visited. What made this monastery interesting were ruins leftover from the cultural revolution. The Chinese have cleaned up or restored most of the religious sites damaged in fighting but a few crumbling walls added an extra element of history to this stop. Outside, a chance encounter with a goat provided an excellent opportunity for a photo shoot!
 
After Deprung, we drove back into town to visit the famous Potala Palace, the home to the Dalai Lama before his exile to India. (see pictures) The tombs of many previous Dalai Lamas sets the palace apart from many of the other monasteries and temples we've seen so far. The four tombs we saw were covered in gold plate and adorned with diamonds, pearls, turquoise and coral - certainly the greatest display of Buddhist resources we've seen so far! Although I was happy to be there, something seemed wrong about funneling hundreds of tourists each day through such a holy place. Imagine turning the Vatican's most sacred rooms into a tourist attraction... its just not right.
 
Later in the day we headed to Norbulingka or the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. We saw everything you would expect to see, thrones, meeting rooms, prayer rooms, kitchens, etc. The older palace, originally constructed by the 7th Dalai Lama was largely unremarkable. The newest summer palace, constructed by the 14th (and current) Dalai Lama, was surprisingly modern containing couches and a radio, rather than kneelers and scriptures. I wouldn't call that trip a waste of time but the stop by the holy toilet was a little unnecessary - perhaps its nicer in the summer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love checking your latest blog postings. Not only do they keep me posted on what your doing in Tibet, they bring back fond memories of all the lectures we attended, during Mountain Fest, on those snowy evenings in the Adirondacks. Back then it was famous climbers like Alex Lowe who were showing us photos of the Himalayas, Prayer Wheels, Monks, Monasteries etc. and talking about their experiences. Now it's my children who are showing me photos of their travels, and telling me about what they're seeing and it's even more exciting to know your living those same wonderful experiences first hand.

It must be an incredibly moving experience to witness such Faith, especially when surrounded by the majestic mountains and monasteries which are of such historic importance, as well as being engineering marvels. I remember all the great climbers who had been all over the world, being moved by the incredible beauty of the area and the Faith of the Tibetans. I can't help but get excited every time I think of you being at the "Top of the World"

So you finally caught up with a Goat, are they mountain climbing goats like the ones we saw in Glacier NP ?

XXOO Dad

Anonymous said...

I love checking your latest blog postings. Not only do they keep me posted on what your doing in Tibet, they bring back fond memories of all the lectures we attended, during Mountain Fest, on those snowy evenings in the Adirondacks. Back then it was famous climbers like Alex Lowe who were showing us photos of the Himalayas, Prayer Wheels, Monks, Monasteries etc. and talking about their experiences. Now it's my children who are showing me photos of their travels, and telling me about what they're seeing and it's even more exciting to know your living those same wonderful experiences first hand.

It must be an incredibly moving experience to witness such Faith, especially when surrounded by the majestic mountains and monasteries which are of such historic importance, as well as being engineering marvels. I remember all the great climbers who had been all over the world, being moved by the incredible beauty of the area and the Faith of the Tibetans. I can't help but get excited every time I think of you being at the "Top of the World"

So you finally caught up with a Goat, are they mountain climbing goats like the ones we saw in Glacier NP ?

XXOO Dad