45) Lhasa - the land of gods

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Lhasa is the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region and has been the centre of politics, economy, culture and religion since ancient times in its history of more than 1,300 years. The city has mainly developed in three distinct phases, the first one in the sixth and seventh centuries, in which the Jokhang and some other temples like e.g. the Ramoche Temple were constructed. The next major period of development stretched from the 15th century, three major monasteries were founded then, to the 17th century when the Potala Palace was built and the 18th century shaped by the construction of the Dalai Lama summer palace Norbulingka. The most recent phase of construction in Lhasa has been carried out under the Chinese occupation (from 1951 onwards), subjecting the city to unrelenting expansion and transformation, its polder buildings obscured by nondescript concrete tower blocks characteristic of many modern Chinese cities. We should later see more examples of China’s rapid growth, but for the moment preferred to stay in one of Lhasa’s most historic districts, direct opposite the famous Jokhang temple in full view of the Barkhor, the greatest market in Tibet.

The Mandala Hotel is situated south of the Jokhang temple in South Barkhor Lam right at the corner to the Jokhang Plaza. When we first saw the room, we couldn’t believe our eyes and had real problems averting our gaze and cameras from the beautiful temple, the colourful market stalls and fascinating pilgrims on their clockwise circuit round Tibet’s holiest shrine. The window was very big and it should become a favourite pastime of ours during our stay in Lhasa to sit on the windowsill and watch what was going on beneath us. When we had transported our luggage to the hotel, we were quite hungry and decided to have a meal on the hotel rooftop. This was unlike many rooftop restaurants we had encountered in the north of India. The last floor was only half a floor or so, that means when moving up we had to bend our backs until we stepped out onto the terrace or reached the first flight of stairs. A couple of tables and decrepit benches were set against the northern edge, protected against the sun by worn parasols. On the other edge, several solar panels were placed and the huge water tank was set in the middle. Once again we had gorgeous views of the street scenes and Stephan discovered that he could even take pictures of the Potala Palace when he climbed on the scaffolds around the water tank. Which he of course did immediately, leaving Klaudia behind shivering and Peter wondering whether he might not climb even higher to take better pictures. All the food and drink had to be taken up from the ground floor (the restaurant was adjacent to the lobby), so we decided not to move up too often in order not to make the waitresses’ lives too difficult. The food was good and the view unbeatable, so we stayed there for rather long.

Next thing for us to do was to find a decent internet café where we could do real work. In the region where we stayed, many internet places were to be found, but most of them were either crammed or used by smoking Chinese adolescents for online games, or both. Stephan found a rather nice place inside the Snowland Hotel, but it was too right for our purposes. Peter was invited to the Chinese harbour city of Dalian as guest speaker at an architectural congress and he had to prepare his speech as well as the parallel slide show. Klaudia and Stephan were once again late with their travelblog and wanted to publish three entries on the Kathmandu Valley. Loads of work! Finally Stephan found the place where we would spend the biggest part of the following days. It was situated inside the Kirey Hotel, one of the cheapest hotels in Lhasa and a backpacker’s favourite. The internet café was above the Crazy Yak restaurant, separated from the bar by partitions. The computers were brand new and the place was generously spacious. Apart from that, the waiter in the bar was Nepalese and could give us precious explanations on some of the pictures Stephan had taken. Many thanks again to this nice person who was visibly happy to see pictures of his home country again. The internet connection was also fine, the only small problem was that the whole system was in Chinese, so the normally simple task of writing a text in MS word turned into a nightmare. And when we asked one of the waitresses hat the comment on the screen meant, she confessed that she did not speak Chinese! Uff! Klaudia and Stephan finally managed reasonably well, but Peter’s task was by far more difficult. He had to prepare a presentation In PowerPoint and did not know the program profoundly. No problem, he thought, he had his son the computer specialist right by his side. Only that Stephan neither knew the program by heart neither liked it very much in addition. So the inevitable happened, once Stephan clocked on the wrong button and within a second erased the whole content of Peter’s memory stick, which left him in quite a bad mood. Nevertheless all of us advanced, dividing our days between working on the computer, eating nice Tibetan food either in our hotel restaurant or in another restaurant within the compounds of the Kirey Hotel, the Tashi Restaurant Number Two. The place was quite run down but the staff was very friendly and the food really cheap and good. We ate a lot of yak meat which tastes like beef only with a stronger flavour. There we also tried Tibetan tortillas that were stuffed with cottage cheese and other ingredients to everybody’s choice and then rolled. Absolutely delicious!

The Barkhor is also called ‘the greatest market in Tibet, where fascinating craftwork and modern articles are to be purchased.’ It consists of innumerable market stalls spread around the Jokhang temple. They sell a lot of jewellery there, mainly silver and semi-precious stones like turquoise and coral and it was not very difficult to finds some new beautiful pieces for Klaudia. Another very prominent article on sale are prayer wheels, in all sizes and materials for those pilgrims who still don’t possess one to accompany them on their circuit. Apart from that they sell shoes, different items of clothing (pants, blouses, t-shirts, jackets lined with yak fur against the Tibetan winter cold), all kinds of Buddhist artefacts (incense, butter lamps, ritual instruments such As bells, cymbals, trumpets, drums, oboes or horns), carpets, metalwork including brass stupas and traditional knives, tons of offering scarves, prayer flags, statues and other items that we cannot distinctly remember. When you are in Lhasa, go and have a look yourself, it is overwhelming. To us, the Barkhor was only a decorative element to accompany the masses of pilgrims who do the circuit around Tibet’s most famous temple, either constantly turning their prayer wheels while murmuring prayers or prostrating themselves all the way or at least at the main entrance. It seemed they were the personification of Tibetan religious life and we were deeply touched by their strong religious feelings. They looked so absorbed in their activities as if they were no longer completely part of this world. We admired them a lot, their religiousness and sticking to the traditions as their way of defying the Chinese invasion. Religion as a weapon against the aggressor, maybe it will work in Tibet, we will see. Most of them wore traditional Tibetan clothes and headwear, also their hair was braided and ornamented the same way we had seen in Dingri Gangkar and the Lhasa pilgrims, too, wore plenty of colourful silver and stone jewellery. We could not get enough of watching them and taking wonderful pictures. When our work was done, the travelblog updated and Peter’s speech and presentation ready, we need some deeper insight into Tibetan culture and went to Zhigatse for two days and spent a whole day inside the Jokhang Temple, about which we will tell you in different entries.

Finally we also had time to visit Lhasa's sights, we started with a smaller monastery on the northeast side of the Jokhang, the Meru Nyingba Monastery. It is one of the six temples built in the first period of development during the seventh century on the site of an even earlier temple. But it was destroyed and rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century, and the latest existing structure dates from the 20th century. This complex is dedicated to doctrinal protectors, especially the five aspects of Pehar, all of them fierce-looking figures encircled by a ring of fire and brandishing some kind of weapon, mostly a sword. The entrance is close to the south-western corner and leads to a narrow corridor lined with the monastic cloisters. On the right side, the oldest existing structure of the complex, the Jambhala Lhakang (= Buddhist temple) is situated. It is extremely small (only 7.5 by 7.2m) with a low ceiling, lying beneath another temple containing a Dakya (= one school of Tibetan Buddhism) protector shrine. Your way automatically leads you to the left side, where the narrow corridor widens into a courtyard, and passing two huge prayer wheels containing mantras of the deity embodying compassion (=mani prayer wheel) you enter the big Assembly Hall (= Dukhang). This south-facing three-storeyed complex, constructed in the 19th century, is an incredibly active temple. Behind the mani prayer wheels at the entrance, the door is flanked by frescoes on both sides, the Assembly Hall itself is as well decorated with frescoes on the left and right wall depicting either protector deities (like the one possessing the medium of the state oracle of Tibet), founders of the Gelupka School of Tibetan Buddhism, saintly Buddhist masters or martyrs in their diverse manifestations. (Have we ever said that the Hindu gods are difficult to understand? Forget about it, Tibetan Buddhism is far more complicated, also because the figures represented resemble one another a lot.) The central image on the altar depicts one of the eight bodhisattvas (a spiritual trainee on the path to full buddhahood) and the patron deity of Tibet. Behind this altar is the inner sanctum containing an image of the guru who established Buddhism in Tibet flanked by an important protector deity and the wrathful images of two gatekeepers. The ceiling as well as the side chapels are also adorned with frescoes of a major bodhisattva, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and a major protectress. Upstairs the Tsepame temple is to be found, containing 1,000 small images of a meditational deity. Are all our readers now completely confused? Don’t rack your brains, just imagine a complex full to the brim with diverse frescoes in unimaginable colours, most of the characters depicted house a wrathful aspect. We were absolutely bewildered and impressed, it is not important to know exactly whom is depicted, it is more vital to admire the artistry and expressionism of the frescoes, what we duly did.

The last day before our departure was dedicated to Lhasa’s landmark, visible from practically everywhere within the city and already from far away, the Potala Palace. We walked there, as the building was only a little more than 1 km from our centrally located hotel. We left the Tibetan part of Lhasa where no street is straight, maybe to better keep out the winter cold or to bar the evil spirits from entering the houses ( a typical Buddhist feature), and were stunned by the difference in the Chinese architecture. Very broad streets with very little traffic, hardly any private cars, mainly taxis, motor bikes, bicycle rickshaws or public buses. Glitzy new luxury hotels and shops which displayed ell arrayed articles and extremely bored shop assistants because there we no (literally) customers to tend to. This situation was not exceptional for one shop, but occurred in all of them. The Chinese had built modern Lhasa ain a very magnanimous way but it did not live up to heir expectations. Before actually visiting the Potala, we went east of it to an office of China Airways to buy our flight tickets from Lhasa to Zhongdian, a Chinese city on the Tibetan plateau. The office reminded us of a drab bus station. Before buying the tickets, you had to fill in a form for each passenger (much like for trains in India, with the destination, the flight number and a lot of details concerning each passenger), only then you were allowed to queue at a counter, your tickets would be provided directly, but the tickets and passports would be kept until had paid at the cashier. Long live bureaucracy to keep many people employed! We certainly did not know about this procedure beforehand and so had to queue twice, thanks God there were hardly any people around. After maybe 45 min we were in the possession of our first flight tickets since the start of our trip, and cheap ones in addition, only EUR 140 one way for a flight of two hours. Before reaching the palace, we crossed a food market offering all sorts of meat and a vast array of fruit and vegetables. We imagined that many of the products had been transported from lower-lying regions of Tibet or China because we could not imagine lychees or peaches growing at 3,000 m or more in rather harsh climate. Out on the street again, we had to walk halfway round the Potala Palace until we reached the Central Gatehouse on its southern side.

We entered through the Central Gatehouse, on the left side we received the first set of tickets which only grant you the right to queue at a specific time in front of the ticket office higher up. To our right we immediately would have entered the 17th century printing press, had the whole array of buildings in front of the Potala Palace not been closed for restoration. We hardly found our way on the muddy footpath, its numerous potholes filled with water (it had been raining more or less for two days) and had some problems avoiding the constant coming and going of lorries. A lot of construction work was going on and the architect in Peter was especially fascinated by the Tibetan way of consolidating flat surfaces. A group of maybe 20 workers, both men and women alike, were standing in several lines, holding a wooden stick in their hands, to the end of which a round stone slab was attached, like a very small mill stone. While singing some traditional Tibetan song (at least we suppose so), they moved to and fro according to the rhythm, constantly pounding the stick onto the fresh special compound in order to make it waterproof. They were supported in their activities by a head-workman clapping his hands so that the workers did not lose the right rhythm. Who needs machines if human beings can work thus efficiently, and furthermore pleasant to look at and listen to? The western staircase was closed, so we climbed the central staircase, a rather exhausting exercise but fortunately we had got used to the altitude in the meantime (keep in mind that Lhasa lies at 3,650m). By this staircase we passed the Tse Lobdra building, an eclectic school founded by the Seventh Dalai Lama in the first half of the 18th century ad finally came to the spacious Eastern Courtyard (1,500 sq m). The four-storeyed eastern façade of the White Palace overlooks this courtyard, the Dalai Lama’s private apartments being in the uppermost gallery, to which we ascended after a short sit-down.

The Eastern Private Apartments are the living quarters of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (the last apart from the present one) and consist of an outer reception room housing an elaborately decorated throne and some fine murals, the private quarters include an audience chamber for informal receptions, a small Protection Chapel and finally the bedroom/dining room. These apartments have a balcony overlooking the Eastern Courtyard, but what he Dalai Lama would see should he ever return there, is a giant square with an atrocious Chinese monument right in its middle, a very communist ‘piece of art’, only recently finished. The Western Private Apartments, the living quarters of the previous Dalai Lamas, consist of an ornate reception hall, a bedroom with murals hand-painted by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933) and an audience chamber. Probably the White Palace’s most stunning room is the large East Main Hall (25.8 by 27.8m), with 64 pillars, extending three storeys in height. This chamber used to be the ceremonial centrepiece of the complex, where for in stance each successive Dalai Lama was enthroned, and its murals depict events from early Tibetan history and the background of the different Dalai Lamas. Although the White Palace was used for administrative functions, it still holds a strong spiritual attractiveness to many believers and we could observe one of them extensively meditating in one of the private quarters.

Unlike the White Palace which was used for administrative purposes and as a residence, the Red Palace, which looms from the centre of the White Palace and was constructed after the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1682), has a spiritual function. The functional part of the Red Palace has four floors, the north façade is constructed on solid rock, while the four floors extending below the south façade are only for aesthetic reasons. The West Main Hall is the central structure of the Red Palace. The hall has four additional chapels. The West Chapel houses three gold stupas of the Fifth, Tenth and Twelfth Dalai Lamas, in which their mummified and perfumed bodies are preserved. Of the three, the Fifth Dalai Lama's stupa is the biggest. It is made of sandalwood, covered with gold leaf and decorated with thousands of diamonds, pearls, agates and others gems. Standing 14.86 meters high, it is covered by more than 3,700 kilograms of gold. The West Main Hall is surrounded on all four sides by chapels two storeys high, entered from the ground level of the atrium; while the upper three floors have running galleries, reached by a series of ladder and trap doors. The galleries of the upper two storeys connect on the outward side with a further series of chapels, and inwardly via footbridges with a central pavilion, which is constructed to allow light to filter into the West Main Hall below. The Red Palace is acceded via an entrance to the fourth floor facing the West Private Apartments, and visitors move all their way down.

The Potala Palace is a treasure house of Tibetan art, the opulence of which reflects the enormous differences that existed between the nobles and the serfs and slaves, who made up 95 percent of the Tibetan population, in the old days. It is now a museum of historical relics and arts and crafts, including 50,000 square meters of frescos featuring lifelike figures, which tell religious stories, display local customs and habits, and often contain biographies of historical and religious figures, and records of historical events. Rich collections of woollen rugs, canopy, religious objects, curtains, silk fabrics, gold and silver utensils, chinaware and stone artefacts often provoke wonder and amazement in visitors. That is exactly what happened to us, after finishing our circuit our heads buzzed with all the vivid frescoes, the many statues and all the precious objects we had just seen!

The holy city of Lhasa really fascinated us, we were deeply impressed by the breathtaking beauty, unique landscape and the holy atmosphere of this religious centre. Three out of the six most important Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries are in Lhasa. Almost one third of Tibetan Lamas practice and live there, home to some of the world's richest religious relics. Still, this is only one aspect, not the smallest one we concede. In spite of being so vivid, Lhasa's religious life is restricted to a few places and the rest of the city is exceedingly modern and Chinese, for us the Tibetan soul was hard to find in its capital.

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Photos

First view of the Potala
The palace is really in a dominating position, it can be seen from all over Lhasa

Jokhang Plaza
Square in front of the famous Jokhang Temple with view of the Potala Palace in the background

Barkhor
Pilgrim circuit around the Jokhang Temple. This was the view we had from our room at the Mandala Hotel

Circumambulating the Barkhor
Pilgrims passing the numerous market stalls of the Barkhor

Prostrating
This pilgrim is doing all the circuit by prostrating himself on the ground every couple of metres. Just look at all his protection equiment!

Pilgrim
Prayer wheel spins to recite "Om Mani Padme Hum"

Tibetan woman
One of many Tibetan women rotating a prayer wheel in Lhasa

Typical hair decoration
Man wearing red tassels in his hair

Jewellery selling lady
Probably her best customer, just look at all these turquoises

Sun protection
Depending on the region they come from, they will wear different types of headwear

Lama with big prayer wheel
Lama praying for donations on the streets of Lhasa

Collecting the public tricycles
Because the Barkhor is a pedestrian zone, the vendors use these public tricycles to transport their goods

Prayer wheels around the temple
These wheels all have the famous prayer "Om Mani Padme Hum" engraved on them and are spun around and around

Oil for the prayer wheels
In order to turn the prayer wheels without effort they are regularly oiled. However this guy was taking some oil for his private hand-held wheel

Statue with butter lamps
The yak butter used in these lamps is a donation of the pilgrims

Colourful shrine
One of many to be found inside the Meru Nyingba Monastery

Blue deity and his female consort
Chakrasamvara in sexual union with his female consort Vajravarahi

Guardian at the Meru Nyngba Monatery
The entrance of each temple is protected by guardians painted in distinctive colours. This one was particularly impressive

Sky burial
Mural depicting the Tibetan custom of "sky burial" in which corpses are dismembered and fed to vultures

Hawkers
Wherever there is a nice spot to take pictures, hawkers would be around and try to sell you some stuff

Stupas in front of the Potala
These newly contructed stupas mark the entrance to the city of Lhasa

Comments

[Clarence]

Lhasa and Tibet
Thank you for your delightful article on Lhasa and Tibet. We leave tomorrow for our trip to visit that exciting city and country. Your preview has made it even more enticing!