Lhasa

We were conscious of the altitude so we had paced ourselves. If one attempted to  do anything too quickly, one got breathless.! 

We breakfasted on eggs, toast and yak butter, the latter I liked. It's very similar our butter if a little saltier. 

We met our guide at 0930hrs. A young, British couple  joined us and we set off for Drepung Monastery 

about 8km from our hotel. The morning was pleasant but one needed a jumper but not a coat. Formerly, Tibet was ruled both politically and spiritually by the Dalai Lamas. This monastery was one of the three pillars of the Tibetan state and was purportedly the largest monastery in the world, with 7,000 monks at its peak.

          The religious ceremony area

We did the 11/2 hour Kora around the 15 th century monastery. Luckily the Red Guards did not destroy it during The Cultural Reviolution. It has c. 600 monks residing there at present. 

              The monks' quarters 

There was much climbing and much 'huffing and puffing' from the group. (AMS (acute mountain sickness) is a life threatening condition but if you increase altitude slowly as we did by train, it is usually avoided. To date we have had no symptoms that would cause alarm). We saw the Buddas in their temples (no photos allowed) some large some small - all painted in silver and gold and a select few made of 100% gold!! It appears that when a Buddist dies, jewellery is not passed to his/ her descendants but is donated  it to the monastery, where  it is used to make Buddas!! 

From the monastery, the views of the city below were stunning. 

We were taken to a restaurant near Sera Monastery, where we lunched on excellent chicken and egg fried rice. After lunch, we repared to Sera monastery. 

The temperature had risen and thankfully there was less climbing involved. Founded in 1419, 5,000 monks once resided there but today there are only c. 600 in residence. 

 

The high point of this visit, apart from seeing more Buddas was the monks debating in the monastery garden. 

There is a master and a pupil. The master stands up and the pupil sits. The master claps his hands, asks a question and whoever he points to must respond. The monks practice every day except Sunday. They have an annual session, where the best 5 of the 600 are promoted. All other sessions are practice sessions for 'the big day'. The other point of interest was the mandalas made from sand - yes, you read correctly - sand. Eight monks colour the sand with natural dyes and it takes them 18 days to accomplish the task. It was impressive. 

In the past, one could become a monk as young as 7 years old but today one has to be 18. The monasteries have always provided and still provide the schools, the universities and the post graduate colleges. One can take any degree at the monastery. 

We repared to the hotel and we are now resting. We'll hit the Barkhor for dinner and a little shopping later tonight.