Lhasa - July 18 2007

First full day in Lhasa and a day jam-packed full of temples and monasteries. First of all, for the uninitiated (like me) the difference between a temple and a monastery: a monastery involves studies whereas a temple is just for worship (perhaps this is bleeding obvious, but it struck me this morning). Anyway, first up today we went to a Nunnery: this was quite an experience. Firstly, because of the two cats we could hear, how I can put it, reproducing the feline race as we had the basics of the nunnery explained and then the nuns themselves (I'm not making this up - I promise you).





We were allowed in to see them praying (the nuns, not the cats) and it was quite a special experience. Today was a special day in Lhasa (not sure quite what) and there was a lot of chanting going on. Unexpectedly, I found it quite relaxing and even spiritual - they even let us take photos and I filmed part of it (be ready for film and photo seances, I shouldn't tell you how many I have taken...).

Anyway, after the fun and games at the nunnery we moved on to the Jokhang Temple.

This was quite an experience again, a real mixture of tourists (us and the other 20,000) and the pilgrims. Apparently they (the pilgrims) travel long distances to be here and it did feel rather strange to be visiting their most holy place. Accordingly, we moved quickly through some of the areas.

The main point of interest for me was that all the various strands/sects of Tibetan Buddhism were represented here - the Yellow, Black, Red and White Hats (we've been seeing a lot of the Yellow Hat Sect, the main one - and the one those famous Tibetans belong to - you know who I mean...).


After lunch, we headed off to the Sera Monastery.

In the past, prior to those "local difficulties" there were 7,000 monks here, today there are merely 700 monks. Anyway, the main point of interest here was the open air philosophical debating chamber.



This involved a monk standing asking questions of a seated monk: if the latter produced the wrong answer, the standing monk would clap his hands in an exaggerated fashion. As with the Jokhang this morning, it felt quite a privilege to be able to watch this practice and tradition.

We visit the Potala Palace on Friday and tomorrow is - wait for it - some more monasteries and temples. I should be an expert - of sorts - on my return to Brussels :)

More to follow later,

Rob