Buddhist cognac

The world can be divided into those who8217;ve visited the Samye monastery in the heart of Tibet, and those who passed it by either out of ...

The world can be divided into those who8217;ve visited the Samye monastery in the heart of Tibet, and those who passed it by either out of ignorance or because they were refused a Chinese permit. It was here in the monastery at Samye in the 8th century AD, where the local king Trisong Detsen decided to avenge the killing of his father by the local Bon followers, and invited Indian Buddhist masters Shantarakshita and Padmasabhava to build a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. As we, visiting Indian journalists, paid wonder-struck obeisance, it seemed as if the wheel had come full circle.

The smallish monastery has been modelled on the Udantipora temple in Bihar and built in the form of a 8216;mandala8217;. The three-storeyed temple is remarkable in the fact that the architectural style of the ground floor is Tibetan Buddhist, the middle floor is Han Chinese and the top floor is Indian. The roof of the structure is built in the shape of the imaginary Mount Meru. The interiors are a glorious embodiment of these distinctive styles, the richness of the 8216;thangkas8217; and brocade tapestries overlaid with the warm, beautiful glow of yak butter lamps. An empty bottle of Remy Martin cognac comes in handy at one of the altars.

Civilisational majesty

Samye8217;s location, behind a series of inky-blue hills alternating with sand-swept rocky mountains, is part of the enchantment. You have to cross the Yarlung Tsangpo, the mighty mother river that gives life to Tibet before it loops southwards and becomes the Brahmaputra. Across the wide expanse of the river, the landscape swings between low shrubs and crescent-shaped dunes. Often, the river intrudes irreverently into this reverie, creating picture-perfect islands of water around rows of planted willows far away from its main course. Overhead, cotton swabs of clouds descend to claim the mountain crests on the roof of the world.

As if the majestic beauty of the Yarlung Tsangpo wasn8217;t enough, Tibet8217;s Himalayan massif is also home to some of the world8217;s most important river systems. Amongst the Chinese rivers there are the Yangtze Kiang, the Yellow river, the Lanchang and the Lu. A tributary of the Tsangpo, the Lhasa river, feeds the city of Lhasa. Then there8217;s the Ganges, the Indus, the Mekong, the Salween, besides the Brahmaputra, cradling a variety of civilisations. The Mekong for example, which flows across South-East Asia, and partially into the Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, may have been responsible for sustaining the monarchy of Jayavarman in the 10th century, also said to be the author of the Angkor temples.

Pilgrim8217;s progress

Tibet8217;s connections with India are lost in both history and imagination and among those that survive in the present, is the annual, arduous pilgrimage that Indian pilgrims take to the Mount Kailash and the Mansarovar lake at the foot of the mountain. Both holy sites are located in western Tibet and are also considered sacred by the Tibetans, who believe that the Buddha sits atop Kailash or Kang Rimpoche.

So when Tibetan officials were asked whether and why they were resisting opening an alternative, easier route for Indian pilgrims to access Kailash-Mansarovar, they simply nodded in return. 8216;8216;A new route is easy in Indian territory, but difficult in Chinese territory,8217;8217; vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Tuden Tsewang said. Comrade Tuden didn8217;t explain why, only adding that both countries, India and China, were 8216;8216;deliberating8217;8217; on this issue. Seems New Delhi has been very keen to open a second route in addition to the one being currently used, because this is susceptible to landslides and sudden rainstorms. But mutual territorial claims have hampered the mapping of an alternative route. The border talks between the two Special Representatives, J N Dixit and Dai Bingguo, have got one more reason to succeed.