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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781559399944 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Shambhala |
| Publication date: | 01/01/1998 |
| Sold by: | Penguin Random House Publisher Services |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 232 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Chapter One
Karma the Pilgrim
Coral—flower of a marvelous tree.
Turquoise—treasure of the water divinities.
My friend Karma the drogpa, Norbu and I are ready to set off on our pilgrimage. Friends and well-wishers have come to see us off. Karma and Norbu wear chubas that are almost new and they each have a reliquary slung over the shoulder and a rosary around the left wrist. Kagar Rinpoché, the Precious Teacher of Kagar, is wrapped in his fur-lined coat. His long matted hair is piled on the top of his head and wrapped around like a turban. The women of Kagar have interrupted their weaving. With heads raised over the wall of the courtyard where they are working, they watch and talk.
Kagar Rinpoché adds some twigs of juniper to the container placed on the wall facing the temple, making an offering of incense. Domnag, "Black Bear," a Tibetan mastiff, so named because of his size and color, barks with all his might and pulls at his chain; he senses something unusual.
We are finally ready for the lingkhor of Dolpo.
It all began several days earlier in Karma's tent. He had only just changed tents, folding away the winter one made of yak hair and erecting a small summer one of white cotton a little way up the hill, near the houses of Kagar. Seated around the hearth were Karma, Tsorpön Angdü, Norbu, Chögya Tondrup the painter, Chöwang, Lama Jamyang, Lama Urgyen Gyaltsen of Kagar, and myself. Almost everyone there was playing dice, and Karma had just ended a run. UrgyenGyaltsen did not play, but had drunk much chang. As for Lhaki, Karma's wife, she was seated somewhat aside, kneading the fermented barley that she then mixed with water and stirred into a large basin with a willow twig to make the beer.
We had been discussing the condition of the herds and the pastures. Lhaki served the beer; a ladleful just filled a wooden tea bowl. She came back to the hearth and put on the teapot after feeding the fire, placing chips of yak dung carefully one upon the other.
There was a silence; there is always silence in the tent when the fire tells of a brewing in the teapot. Then the conversation revived and we came to the subject of pilgrimages. Karma and Tsorpön Angdü began recalling their memories of their pilgrimages to Kang Tisé in Western Tibet, where they had gone many times. Being then in the second part of the Fifth Month, the time of the nékhor of Shey, Karma, Norbu and I decided to go to Shey and continue on from there and visit all the sacred places of Dolpo. It was late in the night and we began working out the plans for our departure and our route.
We later discussed the itinerary at length with Kagar Rinpoché, who encouraged us and added, when speaking to me, that I would understand the customs better: "Did I not come for this purpose?" Turning to Karma, Rinpoché remarked to him that most of the people of the community did not have the time to make this tour, and that we would acquire merit for them also. Finally, on his advice, the most favorable day for departure was fixed: "The 28th day of this month, preferably early in the morning."
Up till this time I had already had many meetings with Kagar Rinpoché. Evening after evening he would receive me in his personal chapel. Through him, I came to understand the history of Dolpo. His chapel was a tiny room on the first floor of the temple of Kagar. There, he spends his days without going out, seated or lounging on a low couch, half chair, half bed; a small plain table serves for placing his bowl of tea or a book.
At the beginning of my stay in Dolpo, Kagar Rinpoché's dog, a small apso with a reddish coat, would bark when I entered. Later on, the dog stopped barking at me and would remain at his master's feet, resting comfortably in the warmth of a fold of his master's fur-lined coat. Then I would take a seat on the carpet, facing the altar, to await the waking of Kagar Rinpoché. Kagar Rinpoché would raise himself, putting his hair in order; always the same movement of the hands, always a short prayer. He would ring a little bell to ask for some tea and tsampa. Then we would talk....
I was having a lot of trouble with the terms of the religious vocabulary; it was all new to me and I was searching for specific facts with which to support the chronology of events, to place the historic sites and the temples in their proper context. Kagar Rinpoché would respond in terms of the wonderful, the supernatural. He inherited his knowledge from his father, a lama, who had educated him. His father taught him by reading and analyzing the texts of the Nyingma sect. He also taught him painting. But it was, above all, the Precious Teacher of Shang who helped him to go deeply into the doctrine, through his commentaries on the sacred texts. Kagar Rinpoché, in turn, transmitted the teachings he had received to Mémé Tenzin, his younger brother, to whom he was tied by special bonds: Kagar Rinpoché, at the age of thirty, had decided to withdraw from worldly life in order to meditate and he had entrusted his wife to his younger brother, an accepted practice, by whom she had a son, Urgyen Gyaltsen, who in his turn became a lama.
Now a widower, Mémé Tenzin is very active in spite of his sixty-five years and still participates in all the religious ceremonies as well as the public reading of sacred texts. A reputed amchi, he spends much time gathering medicinal plants and preparing medications. This gives him an opportunity to go far from home. With his loquacious nature, he dearly loves to speak about the practice of his skill, all the while trying to locate some item from within a multitude of little skin pouches, each one containing a vegetable or mineral substance which he grinds on a stone plate with a river-washed pebble. His diagnosis is reputed to be unfailing, and when his medicine has no effect, Mémé Tenzin puts the cause on local demons or on the lu, divinities of the springs.
Our preparations began. Lhaki brought out thirty measures of barley to use for making tsampa for us to eat along the way, and Karma and Norbu repaired the stitching of their boots. Soles of yak hide have frequent need of being repaired, and they will apply themselves to this frequently during our tour.
A whole day was spent on the roof of a Kagar house in printing prayer flags on white, red and blue kerchief-sized squares of cotton fabric. This was done by pressing the fabric against inked wooden boards which have ornamented motifs and religious invocations carved on one side. These lungtas are to be attached to stakes, or wedged under stones, along the sides of passes over which our itinerary will lead us.
Konchog Gyaltsen, the smith, was called to sharpen the various awls necessary for the work of sewing leather. A leather bag holds his entire stock of tools. When it is necessary to fabricate or repair something, he sets up his "workshop" under the portal of a house, choosing a big stone for an anvil and scooping out a cavity in the earth to make the hearth. With a blow pipe of potter's clay and his goat-skin bellows, he gets down to his craft. I saw one of his silver pieces on a woman of Dolpo, a long clasp of worked silver resembling a butterfly with outspread wings. Like an itinerant magic show, he always has a crowd around him while working, as he knows how to collect and how to pass on the news of the place. He stops from time to time to drink a bowl of tea or chang and to drop a few decisive remarks that would feed, or shut off, the gossip. The thorny, if not improper, questions that he would raise are summed up in the proverb: "Never put a yak and a dri under the same yoke; besides working, Chogya beds down with Yingji and pleases himself well with her."
One last time before our departure we pay a visit to Kagar Rinpoché. He offers us tea, gives us more information about places to see, and requests us to bring back stones from the various sacred sites we will visit. Then he hands Karma a turquoise, saying, "I entrust this la-yü to you, which all men wear as a stone of luck and good omens. Of all riches, this is the most precious; it protects and it cures. At the end of your pilgrimage, which will go well, I am sure of it, you will return home with all the blessings accumulated on the way."
In Tibetan culture, the turquoise, yü, has a particularly profound symbolic value. Being both a "living" stone and susceptible to destruction, it shares with humans a common destiny. It represents both vitality and death. It also represents both beauty and wealth and serves as a "support" to human life itself. The term la-yü (literally "vital-spirit turquoise") occurs frequently in mythical and legendary themes and in folk tales: la referring to the vital spirit that humans are believed to possess, the will to live, the ability to function as on integrated person. It is this spirit or force that a turquoise guards, conserves, protects and supports.
There are numerous rituals capable of retrieving the la, the vital spirit, should the la abandon the body. Karma had recounted to me a characteristic scene of a ritual, to which he had been a witness: On the large plain to the north, a woman was ill and a medium, lhapa, was called. The lhapa placed a clean copper cooking pot on the hearth, heated by three pieces of yak dung. He then poured into the pot some pure water blessed by the lu and some milk from a blue-haired goat (dri milk or the milk of a blue-haired ewe, or the milk of a woman, would have served just as well). At the bottom of the pot, the lhapa placed the sick person's turquoise, then covered the pot with a piece of white silk. Then, once the tutelary deity (yidam) of the lhapa had taken possession of him, his assistant picked up the turquoise, wrapped it in tsampa dough, and handed it to the sick one, who, using a sling "with nine eyes," flung it away. The medium entered into a trance and, through magic power, caused the turquoise to return to the pot. Such is the power of the la-yü! "If it does not return to its place of starting," added Karma, "the sick one dies."
With regard to the concept of the turquoise as a sog kyob, a life-protecting object mentioned in Tibetan medical texts, the turquoise is believed to contain the energy present in the human body which can escape at any time, particularly from the little finger. The body is exposed to all kind of dangers, above all to ill-treatment by malevolent spirits (to which small children are particularly vulnerable) and this explains why Tibetans wear a turquoise around the neck.
Turquoises are similar to people; they live and they die. Their efficacy is linked to quality, and it is said that the most precious belong to one of three types: yü trugsé, those which are the color of the heavens, white and pale blue; yü trugkar, those which are blue and white; and most valuable of all, yü trugmar, those which are blue with veins of red and black and which come from lakes, which are the treasury of the lu, the protectors of lakes and springs.
The turquoise is also much worn as an ornament. When worn at the top of the head, it expresses a common saying, taken from the marriage ritual: "In the mouth, the good taste of tea; at the top of the head, a turquoise." The turquoise is often seen mounted as an element of decoration in the silver jewelry worn in everyday life—men's earrings, a man's belt buckle, or as a woman's brooch.
The color of turquoise-blue is the color that the Guardian Lioness is adorned with; it is a supremely noble color.
Waking up on the day of our departure, we are many and we collect under Karma's tent.
Karma is of medium height, almost bald, and has lost most of his teeth, which gives him the appearance of an old man. He always wears a felt hat which he bought at the market in Purang.
Karma is a drogpa, and he hails from Shungru, just over the border. Drogpas are nomadic breeders of yaks and sheep and populate the highest elevations of the regions of Tibetan culture. For a long time, the fifty-odd "tent-holds" of Shungru, spread over an area of many square kilometers, have maintained barter-trade relations with the valleys of Dolpo. Karma, whose father had been head of the Shungru nomads, however, settled down with his family near Kagar and looks after the flocks of Kagar Rinpoché.
Karma has the reputation of being an excellent breeder of yaks and horses. Though he may not know how to read or write, he knows the omens and the various forms of divining (mo gyab) with the rosary, with the shoulder blade of a sheep, with salt, with the sling, and with the boot garter string (lhamdrog). He treats the animals when they fall sick and for this he possesses an assortment of protective charms. Kagar Rinpoché does not hesitate to ask his advice regarding the protection of the herds. "The lamas," says Karma, "are powerless before the forces of nature." As leader of a caravan he has made many journeys to the west as well as to the center of Tibet.
The second companion of the road, Norbu, is just twenty years old. He comes from Kyirong, a Tibetan center of trade to the north of Kathmandu. His parents were serfs attached to a monastery, looking after the mill, and had very few personal possessions. His father had three wives in succession. Norbu, abused by a stepmother, left home. A tall man, he has cut his long braids and always wears trousers and chuba of finely woven black wool. With his striking appearance, Norbu stands out from the other men of Dolpo. Possessing an alert and inquiring mind, he is very familiar with the world of nature and has been, like me, an enthusiastic listener to him whom we quickly came to refer to as Agu Karma.
At last we are ready. Norbu puts the sack of tsampa in his pack, as well as a sack of wheat flour, a ball of tea, a lump of butter sewn up in goat skin, some salt, some dried chillies, and a pot for making tea. Karma rolls, his things in the fly-sheet of a tent which, folded, he carries by means of a rope over his shoulders.
We begin our pilgrimage.
Karma wants to offer a butter lamp to the statue of Champa, the "Buddha of the Future." The temple of Champa is located in the middle of the inhabited part of the valley, between do, the low, and uma, the high. Of the original construction, only a group of eight chörten now remain, which have been protected by a small rectangular structure. The temple itself was rebuilt some years ago, with everyone lending a hand. The walls are of stones gathered from the bed of the nearby stream and the beams and small joists of fir came from Reng, from where they were transported on the backs of yaks. In the entrance are the traditional paintings that one always lingers to look at: "The Wheel of Life" which reminds one of the uncertainties of the rounds of existence; the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions and the traditional symbols of long life—the old man who is making an offering, the pair of cranes, the pine tree, the cliff, the waterfall and the antelope. The Assembly Hall, built to a square plan, is lit by a single small window. Inside is a large statue of Champa, with serene expression, hands joined in the posture of teaching. The image, in the seated position, is installed high on the altar and there is a covered and enclosed opening in the ceiling to accommodate the upper part of the figure.
Jamyang, the gönyer or temple custodian, receives us. He possesses several life histories of the saints and is usually ready (in return for some grain) to read one of these works when, in the winter, his duties permit him. Year after year, Jamyang reads the life story of Milarepa. The women and youngsters who gather at the temple, in an enclosure protected from the wind, listen attentively to the story of the unhappy childhood of Milarepa. All that happened long ago, but it could happen again, tomorrow, in a nearby valley or even in the valley of Tarap.
At last we are on our way! In the bottom of the valley the fields have already been planted; they were sown in the beginning of the Third Month. Barley is the only cereal which can be cultivated at such an altitude (more than 4,000 meters), and to a large extent the survival of the local people depends on this crop. This year, however, barley was not sown on the higher terraces due to a shortage of water. The fields, laid out in terraces, are separated by dry stone walls raised to protect the crops against incursions by the livestock.
The yaks and sheep graze the slopes, gradually extending their range higher, as far up as there is growth of grass. The members of each family divide their time between activities relating to the house and the nearby fields, and their pastoral activities. Women perform the greatest number of tasks, in the valley attending to the weeding and the irrigation of the fields and in the pastures attending to the milking and the caring for the herds.
About one hundred meters above the valley floor and the populated area, the condition of the vegetation changes abruptly. Here the land is not so heavily grazed, and wildflowers are abundant: artemisia, asters (called "sheep's eye"), potentillas, primulas.
At the end of an hour's walk, we reach the first pasture, with its enclosures of dry stone walls and its circles of large rocks which surround the tent sites. Sharing Drong (the pasture of Sharing) belongs to the households of Kagar. The pasture is close to a temple whose name it bears. The white walls of the temple stand out sharply on a natural foundation of rock. Higher up the slope are the houses of Traglung, the residences of the religious ones who look after the temple of Sharing.
Pema Puti, helped by two of her sons, Chögya and Nyima Tenzin, is looking after the animals of three households of Kagar. She is pregnant and, in spite of her advanced condition (she will deliver in another month at the pasture), still undertakes all the work in the camp, which consists of milking twelve dri and about twenty she-goats and ewes. She knows our plan and wants to know more about the itinerary; particularly, the temples that we will visit. At her invitation, we seat ourselves under the tent, to the right of the hearth, the place of honor. She offers us creamy clotted milk and tsampa, and then makes us buckwheat bread.
Before leaving Pema Puti's tent, Karma goes over carefully, for the last time, the things he is carrying. Hooked to his belt are a sling, a little dagger with a silver handle in a finely engraved sheath, a punch, some awls, some needles in the copper shell of a cartridge; placed inside his chuba, on level with the belt, in a "pocket" called ambag, he has a tea bowl made of a rhododendron burl, a little spindle to twist yarn, some wool, some pieces of yak hide to repair the soles of his boots, a small sack of dried cheese, and a prayer wheel. He asks Pema Puti for a little yak hair for making thread. Then he carefully examines the contents of his reliquary, jilab tagsa, "the box of blessings." The reliquary's cover' of embossed silver bears the eight auspicious symbols of happiness around a central opening which is shaped like a lotus petal. The copper box itself contains a little image of Green Drolma (Sanskrit, Tara); a paper on which the hand impressions of the Jowo statue of Lhasa are printed, another which depicts the gompa of Chöku, situated on the pilgrim's trail around the sacred Kang Tisé; a piece of the garment and some hairs of the late Venerable Lama of Shang; some medical pills given by the same lama; a piece of togchag, "iron fallen from the heavens," which protects against calamities; and finally the turquoise given by Kagar Rinpoché.
Karma throws three pinches of tsampa as an offering into the hearth, settles his pack by making it seesaw from one shoulder to the other, and we set off.
Having crossed the stream, we look at the tent that we have just left. Pema Puti is standing by the tent, her arms hanging down alongside her body, impassive. She stands there a long time. The trail, much marked by passing herds, follows the stream, between tamarisks and dwarf willows.
Excerpted from Tales of the Turquoise by Corneille Jest. Copyright © 1998 by Corneille Jest. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Table of Contents
| List of Karma's Stories | 7 |
| Acknowledgments | 10 |
| Foreword | 11 |
| Karma the Pilgrim | 15 |
| Trangdrug the Magician | 26 |
| The Quest of the Flower Utumwara | 40 |
| The Shepherd-princess | 50 |
| The Shepherd Who Wished to Understand the Language of Animals | 59 |
| Somaki and the Three Keys | 66 |
| The Tail That Talks | 72 |
| The Myna Bird | 79 |
| The Lama and the Queen of the Witches | 86 |
| The Nine Tricks of the Hare | 92 |
| Balabewa the Innocent | 104 |
| The End of the Demon of the Cave | 112 |
| The Three Children Who Were Saved from the Water | 117 |
| The Middle Kingdom | 124 |
| The Mummy of the Lama of Shang | 136 |
| The Jewel | 144 |
| How One BecomesIntelligent | 150 |
| The Man of Evil Ways and the Man of Good Ways | 160 |
| The Horseman Who Does Not Steal or Lie | 169 |
| How to RidOneself of a Rival | 175 |
| The Child and the Demoness | 179 |
| Tashi Taken, the Gelder | 183 |
| The Battle of Gesar and Demon Akyung | 186 |
| The Identification of an Illegitimate Child | 191 |
| The Cow Ba-tratatrari | 198 |
| The Return to Kagar | 203 |
| The End of the Pilgrimage | 212 |
| Notes | 215 |
| Bibliographical Notes | 218 |
| Bibliographical References | 220 |
| Glossary | 223 |