Mebartso!

mebartso--the burning lake in bumthang

we stood on the slippery rocks in the rain, staring down into the pool which pema lingpa dove into, finding his ter. and then along came this man in red, excitedly pointing out all the things one can see in the water--zangdopalri, khataks and who knows what else (as he was speaking dzongkha or maybe tibetan)--alas, i saw nothing except rocks and a small bird with a pink tail flitting back and forth. the man scampered about the slippery rocks in blue plastic sandals, kindly and tightly holding my hand, leading me along the rocks to point out this and that, depositing me under the overhang of a cliff where guru rinpoche used to meditate, beckoning me to drink some of the water, to soak my head with it...after, the monk we were with asked to see the hut where this yogi lived, above the lake. we walked by the rock where he sits to practice, amongst hundreds of tsa tsas...until we reached his tiny temporary log house (he moves from sacred place to place, practicing), a cooking fire smoking beside it. "he's a chodpa," the monk told us. "he sits next to the water at night and practices." the monk beseeched him to sing a bit of chod for us and he kindly began, expertly turning his snakeskin drum back and forth, ringing his bell, blowing his thigh bone horn, there beside his hut...so so inspirational! who practices like this nowadays!?