Pilgrimage to Mount Kailas and Lake
Manasarovar, Western Tibet
//“To see the greatness of a mountain, one
must keep one’s distance; to understand its form, one must move
around it; to experience its moods, one must see it at sunrise and
sunset, at noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain, in snow and in
storm, in summer and in winter and in all the other seasons. He who
can see the mountain like this comes near to the life of the
mountain, a life that is as intense and varied as that of a human
being. Mountain grow and decay, they breathe and pulsate with life.
They attract and collect invisible energies from the surroundings:
the forces of the air, of storms, rains, waterfalls, and rivers.
They fill their surrounding with active life and give shelter and
food to innumerable beings. Such is the greatness of mighty
mountains……..
There is no other mountain comparable to
Kailas, because it forms the hub of the two most important ancient
civilizations of the world, India and China. To Hindus and
Buddhists alike Kailas is the centre of the universe. It is called
Meru or Sumeru, and is regarded to be not only the physical but the
metaphysical centre of the world…..”//
‘The
Way of the White Clouds’ by Lama Anagarika Govinda
Lama Govinda description of Mount Kailas
was so inspirational that I decide I have to made a pilgrimage
there to see and experience for myself the sacred mountain. So in
late April of 1999, after making the necessary arrangement with a
travel agency in Nepal, and together with 3 others, we flew off to
Kathmandu and from there, on another flight to Lhasa.
Of course we were not totally prepared and
have little idea what to expect. The first inkling comes a few
hours after landing in Lhasa, a pulsating headache starts and it
get worse and worse as the day progress. It lasted for a full 24
hours and with it also the appetite for food. It was then I
realized what altitude sickness was all about. Another thing, try
running up a flight of 10 steps and at the end of it, you would
wish you have not done so.
We stay 3 days in Lhasa to acclimatized,
and start our five days journey to Mount Kailas on a land cruiser
with a ration cum fuel support truck in tow. It was OK the first two days in Gyantse and
Shigatse where the accommodations were reasonable and there were
eateries around.
From Shigatse onward, we were on the road
10 to 12 hours a day stopping for the occasional breaks and to eat
our pre-packed lunch prepared the same morning. Of course, the
pre-pack lunches consisting of rice or Tibetan bread were either
too cold or too hard for consumption and have to be disposed off.
As for dinner? The support truck would
usually make it to the guesthouse an hour or more later then the
land cruiser.
As for the guesthouse, it was nothing more
than a mud hut with dirt flooring and 6 bunks, and no lighting or
water supply available. If you need to use the toilet, you have the
whole wilderness to yourself outside. Of course by the time the
truck arrived, it would be dark, windy and cold and you would have
decided to tuck yourself in bed rather than wait for dinner to be
prepared.
We arrived at Darchen on the evening of the
fifth day and start our circumambulation of Mount Kailas’s 54km
outer circuit the following morning. It takes us 3 days to complete
the circumambulation of Mount Kailas. Why need 3 days to walk the
54km around the mountain you might ask? Well, on flat and gentle
sloping ground you would need to catch your breath every 10 to 15
steps, and on the steepest path up to the Dolma La Pass at 5,650m,
every 3 to 5 steps would required a breather.
There are several well known landmarks
along the route such as the Tarpoche, the great flag pole which is
considered as the navel of the earth; the Choten Gang-in, the three
monasteries of Nyenri, Drira Puk and Zutrul Puk, the cave which
features the great Tibetan saint Milarepa tussle with the Naro
Bon-chung of the Bon faith. There are also many rock formations
along the path towards the Dolma La Pass with have significant
meanings to the Tibetan Buddhists including the huge rock that seat
atop the Dolma La Pass. This Pass is dedicated to Tara, the Goddess
of Mercy.
As to the spiritual experience gain, sad to
say there was little as we went there unprepared for the natural
hardship due to the altitude we will on. It was a case then of
whether we could complete circumambulating sacred Mount Kailas, and
it come as a relief when we did it finally taking the usual 3 days
to do so.
From there we spend another two days on the
shore of Lake Manasarovar and visited Chu Monastery up on a hill
facing the lake. It was supposed to be the place where Guru
Rinpoche Padmasambhava meditated in a cave just below the temple
ground and where he ascended to heaven.
We rode all the way back to Kathmandu
through the Chinese border town of Nyalam. It was certainly a most
memorable 21 days experience. I believe the road systems and
accommodations along the whole route have now improved
significantly since my last visit in 1999. There is also now a
direct flight available from Lhasa to Darchen to lessen the
hardship and travel time of pilgrims.
Before the whole environment around Mount
Kailas and Lake Manasarovar gets too polluted with rubbish and also
becomes too touristy, I hope to make another trip there next year;
this time taking the direct route on 4 wheel drives from Kathmandu
all the way to Mount Kailas. Hopefully, I will be better prepared
both mentally and physically for the trip.
