I Promise after this no more pictures of Tibet

Various stupas in Tibet


Om Mani Padme Hung

Kathmandu, Nepal

Elephant Crossing
Trying to make our way through a busy festival and out of town to Pharping
Stopped Dead in the taxi in the middle of festival

Vajrasattva on rock, behind here the dzogchen lung was transmitted
House of Dzogchen Pema Kalsang Rinpoche in the retreat center at Dzogchen Monastery
The Monks who showed us the holy sites at Dzogchen
The Shedra (Monastic College) at Dzogchen
Zangdopalri under construction outside Dzogchen Retreat Center

Dzogchen Monastery Tibet

Patrul Rinpoche Cave
Rock Where Shri Singha Meditated
Inside Shedra Temple
Shedra Temple at Dzogchen Monastery

More of Tibet

Best Momos ever, in Tibet

Glacial Valley on way to Dzogchen, Tibet

A quick stop to spin the prayer wheel and circumabulate the stupa on the Trola Pass

Sick and trying to Practice without any Power in Cold Dege, Tibet

Local Tibetan Women passing by in Dege, Tibet

Few more shots of Tibet

Sunset in Ganzi, Tibet

In the glacial valley outside Manigango, Tibet

Enjoying a break in Kangding, Tibet

Ganzi, Tibet

Ganzi, Tibet

Some More Tibet Photos

In Retreat with Khenchen Namdrol

After 2 days in Pharping, visiting the caves of Guru Rinpoche and performing an 8hr Guru Tsog with Ralo Rinpoche's monks, me trying to keep up reading only in Tibetan, ringing my bell and rolling my Dharmaru we decided we should got to HH Penor Rinpoche's Vajrakilaya retreat center and see if Khenchen Namdrol was in residence. Khenchen Namdrol is one of the three most senior and realized Khenpo's (scholar) of the Palyul tradition that we practice under HH Penor Rinpoche. Khenchen Namdrol is know for his mastery of the study and practice of Vajrakilaya and the foremost teacher of the Guhyagarbha tantra (the root tantra of Nyingma Mahayoga).
We arrived at the retreat center which is on the edge of town, down a winding walkway on the endge of a hill amidst fields of yellow flowers overlooking the Pharping valley. We entered the retreat center grounds and were met by Maya the Sherpa woman who maintains the temple and attends to Khen Rinpoche. She told us that Khen Rinpoche was in retreat and not available, we told her we were students of HH Penor Rinpoche and if possible we would like to meet with Khen Rinpoche. She spoke with him and we were asked to return the following morning between 9 and 10am.
We came back the following day and Maya asked us to wait in the temple for Khen Rinpoche. As soon as we entered the temple from the fornt door Khenchen Namdrol entered from the back door, we offered three prostations and a white Katak each. We had met him briefly before in 2005 when we visited Pharping and also last summer in Upstate New York at HH Penor Rinpoche's retreat center when he had come to visit HH. We reminded him who we were and we talked for some time. I then asked him if we would be able to receive some teachings from him while we were here in Nepal. He said the time was difficult now as he was doing retreat and also working on many projects. He is currently constructing the entire Shi Tro (100 peacfula and wrathful deity) Mandala in elaborate array of statues that will be housed in a new temple. He has 3 bhutanese men living in the retreat center making the statues from clay dug right out of the ground at the retreat center. We saw some of the statues in there early stages and they were amazing, how clay/dirt had transformed into these elaborate deities with all there various ornamenations was amazing.
I then showed him my text that I received in Dzogchen Monastery and he looked it over carefully, he told me it was a very profound Dzogchen text and written by one of the great masters of the Dzogchen lineage. I asked him if he would consider explaining this text to me. He thought it over and asked me how long I would be staying in Nepal. I said we were planning to attend the Rinchen Terzod in Mindroling Monastery in November. He said that was not enough time but that the Rinchen Terzod would not be translated and that it may not be that beneficial without clear understanding of the empowerments being given only in Tibetan. He said we should consider staying here longer and hinted that he would then possibly give me this teaching.
He then asked us to come and stay at the retreat center. He asked about the practices we had received from HH Penor Rinpoche and then offered us an invitation to a teaching he will be giving in California in May. He will be teaching on one of Longchenpa's seven treasures and this particular text goes into great detail on the Dzogchen practice of Thogal. He said this teaching is closed and only those with his expressed permission will attend but that he would like to invite us to attend free of charge and that he thought it would be very beneficial for us, he thought more beneficial than attending the Rinchen Terzod which surprised me. We accepted botht the invitation to stay at the retreat center and tentatively accepted the invitation to the teaching in may depending upon time, money and unforseen factors.
The following day we moved into the retreat center and it began to sink in just what we had stumbled upon. First our living situation is ideal, we are in a newly constructed guest house inside the retreat center compound that has some 20 rooms and it is completely empty, we are the only people to ever stay in this house other than the 30 westernerns who attend Rigpa Shedra for 4 months each year. They stayed here last year before it was completely built. It has recently been finished, freshly painted and now we were staying here. We have a beautiful room that overlooks the retreat center and off into the mountains, we have a balcony to relax on and the entire rooftop. The bathroom is western with hot showers, sink, toilet etc. The living situation is nothing compared to the ideal practice environment.
I have the rooftop, where no one can see to perform my morning and evening Dzogchen practices which Khenchen has authorized me to practice on the roof. I have an entire temple for just Jenn and I to practice in, it consists of a 20 or so foot statue of Guru Rinpoche consecrated by HH Penor Rinpoche over a 3 day Puja, wall murals depicting the life of the buddha, the 8 manifestations of the Guru, the 25 disciples, the 8 Herukas , the Lama Gongdu deities, the 16 offering goddesses and the painted mandala of the 100 peacfula and wrathful deities. Here we do bodhisattva vow, lineage prayers, Guru Yoga and Shine practices, it is an incredible space and we remain undisturbed in there.
Three stories up is a complete Vajrakilaya shrine room and I am the only one who uses it. Everymorning I do my Kilaya practice for about 1 and 1/2hrs. All the offerings are perfectly arranged and replenished each morning before I arrive. The entire mandala of vajrakilaya is painted on the walls according to the Ratna Lingpa Tradition that we practice. Each deity is clearly depicted and labeled, it has improved my visualization practice tremendously. Not to mention the blessings of HH Penor Rinpoche and Khenchen Namdrols own practice in this temple and the numerous Kilaya pujas that have been performed here. In addition the retreat center is a stone's throw form Yanleshod cave where Guru Rinpoche attained enlightenment and the Asura cave where he practiced Vajrakilaya to completion.
Our Mandala of players on the stage at the retreat center is exceedingly small. There is Khenchen Namdrol who awakes at 3am to perform his daily retreat practices and emerges at 10am to discuss various projects with Tsering the office secretary. He then enters back into retreat until 6pm when he comes to the courtyard in front of the temple and is available to answer our questions and offer his insights about the retreat center, his projects, etc. Hopefully this will be the time when we will receive some teachings from him. There is Maya who is the shrine keeper and Khenchen's attendant. There is the cook who cooks us three delicious fresh meals every day and two teatime chai and biscuits. There is Lopon who teaches the Shedra students when they come and has offered me copies on mp3 of all the Shedra classes so far. There is a Nepali man who tends the garden and there are 3 Bhutanese men working on the statues. There are 7 monks in there last 2 months of 3yr reteat who are never seen and never leave the retreat house and our old lama who turn the prayer wheel constantly day and night. Thats it, so practically speaking, durring our practice day there is no one around and we just practice and take meals without distraction will all the necessary supports for each of our individual practices readily available. Only by the Grace of HH Penor Rinpoche is this possible. It is easy to practice 8+ hours a day and still have time to read Dudjom Rinpoche' Fundamentals and History of Nyingma, relax and spend quality time with Jenn. It is a paradise.
Khenchen has offered that we stay here until Dec 15th when the Shedra students arrive and take over the place, we are still deciding between remaining here in retreat or heading to the Rinchen Terzod, I am waiting for some sort of sign, if Khenchen agrees to give us some teaching we will certainly stay. For now we will just relax in this effortless retreat that his Holiness has seen fit to place us and wait for the next move to make itself evident.

Me, Chatral Rinpoche and Several Thousand of my Closest Friends

Chatral Rinpoche is arguably the greatest living master of the Dzogchen tradition, at 96yrs old he is one the last of his generation of yogis. HH Penor Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche and Dodrupchen make up the very short list of completely realized masters of Dzogchen. I have always wanted to meet Chatral Rinpoche and receive some teaching from him but he is as reclusive as he is famous and meeting with him is nearly impossible. The mantra immediately issuing forth from anyone's mouth who is asked about Chatral Rinpoche is "no one sees". We have some connection with him from our previous visit to Nepal when we visited his monastery but at that time he was staying in Siliguri, India for the winter and we were not able to meet with him. Back in America we spent some time practicing with Ralo Rinpoche and I became friends with his Shabje (attendent), he told me when I come to Nepal he will introduce me to Chatral Rinpoche, he said he was very close with Chatral Rinpoche's daughter, Sarwaswati and she controlled who see and does not see Rinpoche. He said it is very difficutl to meet with him but he would be able to help.
So when we arrived in Nepal the quest was on for me to meet this incredible yogi and receive some teaching. When I arrived in Pharping I found that he was indeed staying here though not at the monastery but at a hermitage outside of town. Again I was assured by everyone I asked, "no one sees". I went to Ralo Rinpoche's monastery to see him and his Shabje but they were still in America and I had no way to be introduced to Chatral Rinpoche. We stayed at Ralo Rinpoche's monastery for a few days and soon Ralo Rinpoche arrived but unfortunately his Shabje had stayed in America and will be ther for the next 3 months. (DOOH!)
As if reading my mind and my longing to connect with Chatral Rinpoche, Ralo Rinpoche (a very old and respected ngakpa yogi) who is very close with Chatral Rinpoche reached into his bag that he had placed beside him and scooped out a few large handfuls of Mendrup. Mendrup is a sacred substances prepared according to ritual by high lamas and distributed to practitioners as a support for their practice. Mendrup is said to increase realization and meditative experience and just carrying a small amount is said to offer great protection. Mendrup is often placed in holy objects such as statues and amulets etc. HH Penor Ripoche has told us that the benefits of mendrup prepared by a great lama are inexpressible. Usually these high lamas oversee the production of the mendrup (accomplished medicine) and perform the ceremony. In this case however, the mendrup was none other than Chatral Rinpoche's and Ralo Rinpoche assured me that the mendrup he was giving us had been actually prepared by Chatral Rinpoche's own hands. I do not exagerate when I say there are many a lay Tibetan practioner who would trample over you just to get a glimpse of this, much less to actually take some of this medicine.
Ralo Rinpoche gave Jenn and I some mendrup to take then and then packaged a generous amount for us to take to support our practice. I felt our connection with Chatral Rinpoche strengthening and became hopeful we would indeed meet him. I asked Ralo Rinpoche if we might meet with Chatral Rinpoche and he casually told me where his hermitage was. I thought, "it can't be that easy". We headed off, the place where he was staying was not exactly easy to find but we managed to blindly make our way there. We saw a closed gate ahead of us and I was sure this was the place. Jenn said the gates closed forget it, I didn't care I approached the gate and it opened without resistance. I walked through and there I was inside his mandala, a small, very small temple was there and a house, there was an old monk watering plants and I walked up to him. I told him in Tibetan we were here to see Chatral Rinpoche and he acknowledged this was the place and pointed to the front door of the house. Is he here now I asked, yes he said. This was going way too well to be true.
We walked to the front door and I excitedly approached but Jenn was more hesitant and felt we were intruding, surely we were but how else will you meet with this great being. As I approached the door, before I could even knock a small boy appeared and we said we wanted to see Chatral Rinpoche, he gestured us in. As soon as we entered a woman came from around the corner and said, "yes" questioningly. Again I said we are here to see Chatral Rinpoche, and much like the line "you'll shoot your eye out kid" form A Christmas Story, she uttered the dreaded, "No one sees" (DOOH!). But at the same time she gestured for us to enter another room, inside was a white woman in Tibetan cloths, who questioned us about where we were from and who our Lama was. We told her our guru was HH Penor Rinpoche and she was surprised, the small boy returned and offered us each a banana, "a Chatral Rinpoche banana I thought" I must be becoming obsessed I thought. Then entered a Tibetan woman and she asked the white woman who we were and who our lama was. The white woman gestured for us to stand and introduced the woman as "the sublime daughter of Chatral Rinpoche, Sarwaswati". I told her we were here to see Chatral Rinpoche and wished to offer him a Katag. She looked us over and say we could not see (check and mate I thought). It was just as everyone had told me, "no one sees" and certainly no one gets teachings. A Tibetan man in town told me he had only seen Chatral Rinpoche once in his life and that was from a distance and he tried ceaslessly to meet with him. Why should I be any different I began to think. But then Sarwaswati said, Tuesday 9:30am you come here. (WHAA!)
That was just a few days away and I was gitty with excitement. On Monday the day before the meeting, we were walking back to Khenpo Namdrol's retreat center where we are staying from dinner and Jenn and I were teasing eachother and fooling around as we walked home. She was mocking me and I was mocking her and we were laughing. I was imitating her chomping on her gum and dooing a little dance, my mouth open wide and acting a fool when right then Chatral Rinpoche drove up. I frooze, mouth wide open looking like an idiot and there he was less than 2 ft away from me in traditional Nepali driving style (the closer the better). He was in the passenger seat on my side of the road, in his red wool hat, dark sunglasses and long white beard. My mind stopped, I instantly recognized him but it took time to compute and then he was gone. There it was the first in person sighting of this great Lama. I knew the next day we would see him.
On Tuesday morning when we arrived at Chatral Rinpoche's home it turned out that not only was I here to see Chatral Rinpoche but so were several thousand people. He was going to give a lung (loong) and blessing. I was not disappointed at all. Seeing Chatral Rinpoche is one thing, but receiving a teaching from his is even rarer. We took our seats right in front of where he would sit on a small balcony to give his teaching. I went to his front door and just before I knocke Sarwaswati answered, she said, "your here" I said, "yes, here is a Katag and offering for Rinpoche, can we see him" She said, "yes you can see him when he comes on the balcony, sit over there". I thanked her and we sat up close and waited. While we waited, we received many generous gifts from Chatral Rinpoche, we received more mendrup, we received a beautiful picture of Rinpoche, we received a copy of the text to keep that would be transmitted, we received a blessing cord from Chatral Rinpoche and we were offered food and drink. Behind me thousands of Tibten monks and nuns and ngakpas and lay people began to pile in. A table was arranged just in front of us for objects to be blessed by Chatral Rinpoche and I placed my new bodhi seed mala that I got near the cave where Guru Rinpoche practiced Vajrakilaya on the table to be blessed.
We waited in the hot sun, watching all the people, I had never seen anything like this except when HH Penor Rinpoche would give a large empowerment in India. After some time Chatral Rinpoche appeared and took a seat in front of us. A large group of monks made an extensive Mandala offering and we all chanted along. Chatral Rinpoche then read from the text we were given and performed the Lung (reading transmission), he read for a while then offered a few words of auspiciousness and blessing. I stared at him for the longest time, just like HH Penor Rinpoche something was entrancing about his presence and visage. His voice was deep and coarse and carried across the crowd. He stood up and looked at all the disciples gathered and wished them all happiness, he leaned over his balcony and blessed on the objects on the blessing table including my mala (prayer beeds). He then blessed the crowd of people by chanting prayers and throwing rice on our heads.
He then was gone back into his abode, I felt totatly satisfied, not only had we seen Chatral Rinpoche, we had received the Lung, we had a blessing cord, we had received some mendrup, I had the text that I could study and practice and we had a beautiful picture from him to place on our shrine. As I approached the blessing table to get my mala, a feeding frenzy had broken out, people were diving over eachother and trampling just to get a grain or two of rice that Chatral Rinpoche had thrown. I thought he had given so much but it is so rare to see this Lama and so rare to get a hold of anything he has blessed that these pilgrims were anxious to get whatever they could. I also found a small piece of rice that had fallen on my mala and ate it. I grabbed my mala and Jenn and I squeezed our way out and back to our quiet retreat center with Khenpo Namdrol.

The Lung cont.

We were speeding down the off road of the Tibet-Schiuan highway into the fields of Manigango in our little toy van. The road quickly disappeared beneath our wheels and we undulated over mounds of dirt toward Dzogchen Monastery. All trace of buildings disappeared and the rolling hills were dotted with black nomad tents billowing smoke and endless herds of yak grazing on the green. We were surrounded by large mountains on all three sides and heavy clouds began to loom overhead. I was desperate to get to this monastery carrying the loss of not making it to Palyul but I kept my eye on the storm hoping it would wait for us to traverse the pass. The roads in Tibet often fluctuate between paved and non-existent, this road was dirt but seemed ok if it would hold up. I asked the driver " Di Lam Ya Pon Dug" ( Is this road good?) hoping to find out some information about the next 1hr and 1/2 of travel. He said, " Di Lam Ya Pon Min Dug" (this road is not good), "Pem Po Jab" I said (sucks to be us). He barreled on and we climbed and climbed and climbed in our little van and the road roughened and roughened. Like so many times before in eastern Tibet I got the feeling we were out there, out there in the wild. As we climbed it began to rain and the road started to turn to mud, I wasn't too worried we would make it there but I began to wonder if conditions would permit our return. The pass was beautiful and nerve wracking, the rain remained fairly light but still taxed our barely functional wind shield wipers.
After about 2hrs into the mountains we saw the Dzogchen Village, bordered by large Stupas. We descended into a glacial valley (altitude unknown, later we learned higher than even Derge). We travelled through the little village and into the monastery compound. The grounds were untamed and wild, hermitages and temples seeming built right into the mountain side. There was a monastery, a shedra (monastic college), a nunnery and a retreat center, all complete with their own temples and communities. The retreat center was surrounded on three sides by a glacier. There was a large tent community of pilgrims and lay Tibetans residing outside the retreat center constantly engaged in practice. There was an undeniable energy in the entire valley and Jenn found it a bit overwhelming, I felt like I wanted to stay here forever.
We had so many temples to choose from, we were not sure where to go first and our driver didn't offer much advise. I pointed to a smaller temple straight ahead and we drove there first. We gathered our camera, our katags our texts and anything else we might need and headed toward the temple. As we walked toward the temple compound three monks mounted the hill and I asked them "Di Gompa Ka re re?" (what temple is this). They told me " Di Shedra Gompa Re" (this is the monastic college temple. They instantly became our guides, one monk happened to be the key holder of the temple and let us in. We were alone in there with the monks and we began to do some practice together. The temple was beautiful and ornately decorated, the head Lama's (Dzogchen Pema Kelsang Rinpoche) picture sat on a large throne.
My Tibetan language skills improved miraculously as I somehow communicated with the monks who we were, where we had come from, what we were doing there, etc. I somehow understood when they told me they were students of the shedra and that they would take us to see the sacred spots of Dzogchen. One of the monks ran to his room and returned with mendrup (a sacred medicine made in the monastery and taken as a blessing pill to increase the experience of practice). He also gave us a picture of Dzogchen Pema Kelsang Rinpoche. I asked if we could meet with the high Tulku and they said yes and pointed to the retreat center.
The three monks then guided us into the hillside explaining to me (I couldn't beleive how much I was understanding) and I translated to Jenn, all the sacred spots here. We first went to the rock where Shri Singha meditated on his way from China to India to meet with Manjushrimitra to receive the Dzogchen teachings. Shri Singha is one of the most revered and historical figures of Dzogchen. Next they brought us to Patrul Rinpoche's cave where he worked on composing one of his famouns texts. Paltrul Rinpoche was one of the most famous Nyingmapa meditators of his time and composed many elegant texts explaining the view, meditation and conduct of our current tradition of practice. They then took us to a large rock where Khenpo Ngachung had revealed a terma (treasure teaching) on Dakini (enlightened female) practice directly from the rock.
Now this pilgrimage to Tibet had taken root in me, we were here at the places I had read about, paying homage to the lineage masters of the past and connecting with the living tradition of today.
We then headed to the retreat center and on the way down the road I saw a large rock with a painting of Vajrsattva on it, I told Jenn, " I have to go there before we leave". We visited the retreat center and cirumambulated the temple, we spoke with some more monks and arranged to meet with Dzogchen Rinpoche. We waited while he remained in meditation but the clouds continued to loom and Jenn urged me to head back. I conceded and gave an offering to one of the monks to deliver to Dzogchen Rinpoche for me and we headed toward the car. As we were heading away from the retreat center I saw the large painted rock again and asked the driver to stop.
I was sure this was a spot where I would find some holy object, cave or other pilgrimage site and climbed up the steep hill to the rock. I snapped a photo of the beautiful painting and a lay Tibetan man appeared from behind the rock. He laughed at me and pointed up the hill. I pointed in the same direction with a questioning look on my face and he nodded and pointed again. I climbed the hill, short of breath and the car disappeared behind me, I figured there was another cave this way. As soon as a mounted that hill another lay Tibetan man was there and he pointed up at a small hut, again I pointed and he acknowledged. This must be the cave of so and so I thought. I reached the steps of the small wooden hut stuck right into the mountain and looked back one more time at the man and he gestured for me to enter. I took off my shoes and walked up the steps.
As soon as I crossed the threshold I saw a yogi/monk sitting in his bed/meditation seat, he looked at me with some strange recognition and smiled. I offered three prostrations and entered at his request. I offered a katag and he smiled and we talked in my broken Tibetan. He was attended by a monk from the monastery and was remaining in retreat in this small cabin. It was just four walls maybe 5ft by 6ft with only a bed/cushion inside. I mentioned Dzogchen practice and he looked at me straight in the eye, he held there for probably 10sec, it seemed like over a minute, I didn't blink and I felt like he was looking right through me. He smiled and reached into his bed, he pulled out a text. He asked me to read the title to him in Tibetan and I did, this pleased him. He then said, this text is very very profound, written by one of the great lineage holders of Dzogchen and contained the pith instructions of the Dzogchen path.
He began to chant invoking the blessings of the lineage masters of Dzogchen and his attendant shrunk out of the cabin and we were alone. He performed further prayers of aspiration and then began to transmit the text to me (LUNG pronounced LOONG in Tibetan). I sat silent and listened to the transmission, dark fell and he read from the text in the dimming light. I soaked in the sounds of the dharma and soaked in the ambiance of this small hermitage and this man. Why was he giving me this transmission, could this really be happening, here at Dzogchen Gompa in eastern Tibet tucked into the side of the mountain overlooking the whole of the monastery and the glacial valley, I was sure this was why His Holiness Penor Rinpoche said it is the right time for me to go to Tibet, despite the fact that His Holiness Karma Kuchen told me it was not a good time to visit Palyul.
I had come to Tibet to visit Palyul, but Tibet had different plans for me, both Penor Rinpoche and Karma Kuchen were right and in this moment I felt like I had accomplished my goal of the pilgrimage to Tibet. How all the causes and conditions had to assemble for this moment to take place.
The yogi/monk explained he was the Dzogchen Khenpo Pema Ranjung and placed the text on my head. He wrapped the text in a white silk scarf and handed it to me. He asked me to spend the night there but I had to apologize, we had to get to a lower altitude and I knew Jenn was waiting. He said no need to apologize and we dedicated the merit of the transmission together. He said he hoped we would meet again and I agreed. Then I was off as quickly as I had came and this short dream was over.
As we headed back up the mountain I was still trying to process what had just taken place as I held this text on my lap. As we climbed in our little van the road had washed away quite a bit and the clouds loomed all around. Jenn began to recite mantra and I just relaxed knowing if we were to slide of this mountain now it was what was meant to be because we were certainly meant to come here. As we reached higher on the pass we were swallowed by a cloud in a complete white out and the driver burst into mantra, at that moment I was a little worried.

The Lung, by Keith

Well even the best laid plans often fall through. We had been in Derge for more than 3 days and as I circumambulated the Derge printing press where over 70% of the extant Tibetan Buddhist literature was stored, it became painfully apparant to me that 70+ year old ladies with canes and a severe limp were lapping me. I began to think maybe the altitude is getting to me (4,000m or 13,200ft). We were doing our best to rest before heading to our final destination in eastern Tibet, the mother monastery of Palyul. We were a mere 4hrs away by hired car but my head cold had progressed to a chest cold and sleep was getting more and more fractured. Jenn began to experience worsening breathlessness at rest and began to develop the early symptoms of the same respiratory infection I was trying to fight off. We were really enjoying our time in this cultural center of Tibetan Buddhism, hanging out at an elevation 1,500ft higher than the claimed rooftop of the world in Lhasa.
We went to bed planning to take a car the following morning to Palyul and I was sleepless with excitement. My excitement was superceded by Jenn's anxiety as she felt she was continuing to worsen with the head cold and breathlessness. I also developed a deep cough and awoke suddenly feeling short of breath and had to prop myself up in bed. We agreed to visit the doctor in the morning and decide from there whether we would be able to leave today for Palyul or continue to wait for the cold to pass before heading onward.
We got a real wake up call when we tried to find a physician and realized facilities were inadequate and english was non-existent. My rudimentary Tibetan had helped us with bus connections, hotel reservations and keeping ourselves nourished with food, but explaining complex physiologic processes and symptoms was not happening for me. (To hear more about the horrific visit to the doctor see Jenn's recent post)
Finally we were told not to continue onward and instead to head back down the mountain to Chengdu as quickly as possible. I was devastated I had travelled all this way and used every resource I had to get us this far and I was so close to Palyul I could almost reach out and grab it. I talked it over with Jenn and it was clear that continuing on would only put us in greater danger and further from any reasonable medical care. We decided we would have to head back and I had to give up my attachment to attaining this goal of pilgrimage to Palyul.
I was happy with what we had seen and how far we had come, with only my limited Tibetan skills and no outside help with regards to how to get from A to B, we had made it Derge some 30hrs drive from the nearest city. We had seen the Nyingmapa monastery Dorje Drag and several others along the way. We visited Derge and the priniting press and had seen an area of the world I had always wanted to see, yet I still felt something was missing, somehow I had not done what I had come to do. I felt I was just to fixated on the goal of reaching Palyul and practicing in our teachers home monastery. I had to let it go.
We decided we would hire a car and head 8hrs to Ganzi and put some distance between ourselves and the high elevation of Derge. I remembered that a 2hr detour from Manigango on the way to Ganzi would put us at the most famous Nyingmapa monastery in all of eastern Tibet, the famed Dzogchen Monastery. Through our previous practices in the Dzogchen lineage of Longchen Nyinthig we had a connection with Dzogchen Monastery and decided we should make the detour.
Unfortunately travelling back to Ganzi required another harrowing trip over the Trola Pass (5,000m surrounded by 6,500m peaks). This time in nothing more than a minature toy car version of a van with wheels that looked like they had been stolen from a wheel barrow. We decided this was what was meant to be and headed of with the driver up, up and up some more. It is clear that all roads in Tibet go up, even the one's that are taking you down, and you never go up just a little, you go up until you are all the way up. The driver spent most of the trip with his head out the window looking at the tires, tires I thought would never support this little van all the way up that pass. He didn't seem to think the tires would hold up either. Every time he leaned his head back in the window, I would say "Di Motar Ya Pon Min Dug" (This car is no good) and he would laugh, "ya pon dug" (Its good) followed immediately by sticking his head back out the window and staring at the tires.
We arrived in Manigango 4hrs later and visited the holy lake of Yilhun Lhatso. We trekked on horse back to the glacial lake and were surrounded by mantras carved into the stones. There was a large stupa and countless prayer flags fluttering in the wind. It started to seem like we were heading toward something instead of away from it.
It took quite a bit of convincing to get my driver to agree to the detour to Dzogchen but finally he conceded and we headed west into the mountains. To Be Continued.

Trola Pass 5,000m (16,000+ ft)

Trola Pass 5,000m (16,000+ ft)

Disclaimer these pictures are not nearly as scary as the actual pass, durring the worst parts there was no chance to take pictures

Guest blogger Keith's Trip to Tibet

We arrived fine in Chengdu took about 5 days to get over the jet lag and get on schedule. It was exciting to be in an Asian city again. English is vitrually non-existent here and it is a lot different than Thailand or even India. The city was modern though and it was easy to get everything we needed for the trip to Tibet though a lot of gesturing was involved. My medical training came in handy at the drugstore as all the meds had generic english names and I got everything we would need for any kind of sickness. I large bag full of meds. With that we headed to tibet.
First we took an 8 hr bus to Kangding, straight up the most beautiful tropical mountains, shrouded in mist with a raging river in the gorge below. Kangding was a great city, modern but remote with two peaks hanging over and a fast moving river running right through the middle of town. The hotel was not all that but we did find good food and they had an ATM to get cash for the rest of the trip. We met the Dalai Lamas step-nephew in town and he was the first english speaking (all be it broken) person we met on the trip. He helped us get bus tickets for the next leg of the journey bought us Tibetan tea at a Tibetan tea shop and even bought us Dramamine for the next leg of the trip (I should have realized what that meant). We went out to dinner with him and so some traditional Tibetan girls siging, though it was for a bunch of chinese goverment officials.
Next we took a 12hr bus to Ganzi, a crazy ride up a high pass and into the most dramatic and beautiful scenery we had ever seen. Jenn was starting to get really anxious as we continued to ascend and go deeper into what seemed like nowhere but I remained blissfully ignorant. The bus was not exactly new and the road at times non-existent as we trundled through the grasslands surrounded by the highest mountains I had ever seen. we saw traditional stone tibetan houses and nomads living in tents and of course yak after yak after yak, we saw colourfully dressed Khampas on motorcycles with women in intricate stone studded headdresses. I really felt like I was in Tibet a dream come true.
Then we arrived at our destination in Ganzi a city, town more resembling India than China and I started to think, shit we are way the hell out here and it is getting more and more rural. The English language was completely unknown even at the so called tourist hotels but at least people spoke tibetan and I could get by on that, my chinese is now only a few words. That night I started to get a little anxious, where are we, where are we going and how the hell are we going to get there, a 12 hr bus ride through nowhere will give you time to think about these kind of worries.
Regardless Jenn and I mustered the courage to go for the next leg an 8hr megolith of a bus ride to Derge. The bus was late arriving to the station and I was sure we missed it, but it did arrive and they shoved us on the bus bags and all. Thats when we met little guide. Little guide was a scruffy crazy eyed tibetan boy who "loves americans" our second experience with an english speaker but his was even rougher than Nyima (Dalai lama's nephew) Little guide would utter creepy sentences such as "best friends, faraway friends, forever friends" and then go to sleep on Jenn's shoulder. Little guide said we must meet his momma when we reach Derge. It reminded me of a similar incident in India that did not turn out exactly well (another story). Little guide showed us his book of english that he had learned in preparation for the 2008 olympics, stories about the friendship between Tom Hanks and Wilson his volley ball, the ever wonderful coby bryant and other such nonsense. I practiced my Tibetan with little guide until we arrived in Manigango 4hrs later.
Manigango a collision of dramatic and beautiful landscapes, the famous Dzogchen Monastery and the most beautiful glacial lake of Yilhun La-Tso together with a swarm of relentless beggars and severly downtroden folk, just waiting for the next bus of passer bys to stop in for the obligatory lunch stop. Now I started to think wow, civilaztion is melting away and mountains and grassland will be our new home, at times inviting at other times completely inhospitable. Anyway I took my much needed bathroom break in an unspeakable "bathroom", "ah India all over again, here we go"
I should metion that I remained excited and very happy to be where I was and just tried to soak it in as much as I could but still it is what it is.
The next and most heroing portion of the trip is forever burned in my mind. As we continued to fill our seats at the very back of this old bus that continually lauched as three feet or higher toward the ceiling, we marched on. We approached the might Trola pass. This is nothing to take lightly. We climbed a "road" of mud and washed out cliff up 5,000m (16,500ft) with no guard rale in the snow, with a straight drop off of at least 10,000ft. It should be mentioned my bus driver had an urge to get there and was constantly passing these huge trucks taking supplies over this pass. At one point we were at an impass, a truck coming toward us and us pushing forward until we were both stuck. I kid you not at the very fricking top of this pass, dumping snow. We finally grinded our bus up against the side of the cliff and squeezed pass this truck some 20min later. Jenn began to freak out. Her worst nightmare realized passing an impassable pass and at an altitued that would make anyone cough up a lung. This all in a smoke filled bus (yes they smoke on the bus constantly).
I began to laugh, I really beleived we were not going to make it down this thing and some how it struck me as hilarious. Jenn had a different take and her white knuckles wrapped around my aching hand told me she was not happy. I laughed again and little guide slept like it was christmas eve. Finally we began to head down and as I looked over the edge and gave it a little though, "up was the easy part", "what if we skid on the way down, what if this blizzard whites us out, what if this nut of a driver decides passing on the way down is just as fun as passing on the way up (he did)". I took pictures of what may be the last thing I see, the Trola range over 20,000ft high and sharp like knives carving the skyline. It was awesome in the scary sense of the word, but strangely I liked it and this is what I had travelled out here to experience, Jenn not so much.
Then we arrived at Derge the cultural center of eastern Tibetan and it was an incredible relief the town in filled with what appear to be happy people greeting us with smiles, inquisitiveness and the traditional Tashi Deleg. My Tibetan continued to improve and we found a nice hotel, although expensive. And then we crashed, 4,000m (13,200ft) up and we couldn't move. Jenn was short of breath and I felt like I was made of lead. We dragged ourselves to a Tibetan restaurant and shoveled some thugkpa (soup) down and headed to the hotel. I caught a nice Jet Li movie in Chinese and slepted the whole night through. We were really happy to be in Derge it has a great feeling and we know we are only 4hrs from our much awaited destination of Palyul.
The next morning Jenn felt short of breath and anxious she learned for the first time we were at 13,200ft and began to have a freak out. I had been working on a head cold and it blew up. We were aching all over from that unbelievably bumby bus right. And the altitude had made us imobile invalids in bed. Jenn worried about cerebral edema, pulmonary edema and other catastrophic consequences of high elevation she had read about. I rushed through tissue after tissue and coughed covered in as many blankets as I could find. Yes we had arrived.
As the day progressed we adjusted to the altitude and slowly walked around town. We circumabulated the Derge priting press which contains over 70% of the written material on Tibetan Buddhism and chatted with the locals. We are feeling much better and getting ready to head deeper into the countryside tomorrow or the next (we will see how we feel). We will keep you posted.