Footsteps of a Pilgrim - Circling Around Mt. Kailash - World's Holiest Mountain (Part 3)
Episode 16
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Legends say if you die on the pilgrimage circling around Mount Kailash, you will die with honor, happiness, and completeness.
Every year, faithful pilgrims come to Mount Kailash from all over the world.
Some never make it back.
..............................................................................................
PART 3: TRANSFORMATION
(Continues from Part 2)
I woke up in the middle of the night.
My head was spinning like I was in the middle of a tornado. I felt I was going to vomit all of my internal organs out.
Struggling, I reached the tablets Cheryl gave to me, and took one.
The storm began to calm down, everything returned to normal after a while. The next moment I regained consciousness, it was when Peter was pushing me trying to wake me up.
I quickly brushed my teeth and ate some dry instant noodle. To my own surprise I felt just fine. Then I took another tablet of the anti-altitude drug Cheryl gave to me, just in case I get unwanted physical reactions while climbing the 18,500 feet Drolma La Pass. After meeting with everyone outside of the monastery, we were on the way.
It was 5 o’clock in the morning. However, because that part of Tibet was in fact 3 hours behind the official Beijing time, it was actually 2 o’clock local time – the sun was nowhere to be found, and everywhere was pitch dark. We couldn’t even see Mount Kailash’s gigantic and intimidating north face even with our head torches on, although we knew exactly where it was. The only thing we could sense were the gravel path in front of our eyes under the headlight and the sound of running streams somewhere in the dark.
Not only was the surrounding feeling like a black hole that sucked all sources of lights into the seemingly perpetual darkness, the temperature was also cold – my water went frozen by the time we made to our first rest stop. Considering it was already June and we were merely 500 kilometers northeast of New Delhi, I felt like I was in a totally different universe than the one I was familiar with.
Our guide told us the reason why we were departing so early was because he wanted us to reach Drolma La Pass before 8:30 am – when the sun rises. That way it wouldn’t be too hot and it would also be easier for us to climb the high pass.
However, the guide moved faster and faster, eventually even surpassed the porters. Meanwhile all of our group members were trying to stick together in order to prevent someone from getting lost in the pitch dark. The terrain got rougher and rougher, we had to climb up using both hands in some occasions. For the whole time at that point we were following a flashlight signaling us in the front, presumably from our guide.
Eventually, the signal totally disappeared in the darkness. We had no choice but to keep going. The path we were on was completely rough, and we noticed that we were walking along a very steep cliff. If someone slipped, the consequence could be really bad.
Suddenly one of our group mates noticed that there were lines of lights at the bottom of the cliff. We realized that the actual pilgrimage route was down there! This narrow path on the cliff we were on was some sort of shortcut, or maybe it wasn’t even a shortcut at all.
We panicked and felt stranded. We shouted our guide’s name, but there was no response. I tried to phone him, but he didn’t answer. We flashed our headlights to people on the pilgrimage route, hoping to get some help from them, but no one acknowledged our signals as we were probably too far away. I looked up the hill, and found something unusual.
I found human cloth scattered in the area. There were also human hair on the ground. Without a moment of hesitation, one term jumped into my mind.
Sky Burial Site
I urged my group mates to keep going, as it might not be safe to stay at the same spot or linger around. If there were wild dogs near the Sky Burial Site, we would be in big trouble.
As we continued to explore the way to the kora on our own, a flash light signal suddenly appeared somewhere not far down at the bottom of the cliff. We followed that light, then encountered our porters half way through. Under their help, we were able to reach the source of that flashlight signal – our “lost” guide.
After getting off from the cliff, we climbed up again - this time on the main pilgrimage route. The pitch dark sky began to show its true color. The snow reemerged on the top of the towering peaks around us. I looked towards the path we took, everything became clearer and clearer. We no longer needed head torches to see what was around us - a surprisingly peaceful the Sky Burial Site. If the light could come earlier, we wouldn't be scared and walked on the wrong path at all, with or without our guide. However, the problem was, and had always been, that light might not always be there for you at the right time. In many cases, light would never come at all.
Then I spotted a white robe at the Sky Burial Site, wondering whether there was a story behind it.
Looking back, Mount Kailash stood like a compass pointing directions to pilgrims and trekkers alike on the kora. As the color of the sky became brighter and brighter, it was only a matter of time that the sun would cast its first light on the top of the holy mountain.
After crossing a frozen stream, we soon reached the bottom of Drolma La Pass. It was a very steep hill with lots and lots of prayer flags on the top. We decided to take a break before going through the hardest part of the kora. After all it was this place that stopped the dreams of many Hindu Pilgrims, and where some others died with honor.
Right before we started to climb, I took out a can of Red Bull and drank it. It was my first time drinking that energy drink, and to be honest I did not like it at all. I also had the tablets Cheryl gave to me on my hands, just in case I needed them. As Mount Kailash fired up by the sun, the quest to the top of Drolma La Pass began.
Once again, our guide went ahead by himself. I followed a group Buddhist pilgrims instead. The pilgrims were singing and chanting mantras together. I recognized one of the mantras they chanted:
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
Om Mani Padme Hum
This was a mantra found in many places along the kora we were walking on, carved deeply into the stones, as well as in my heart.
As I kept climbing, I noticed that I didn't feel any discomfort with my body. The top of the pass was getting closer and closer to me.I looked around, there were message boards along the kora written in both Tibetan and Chinese. As I read messages written on those boards, I began to think about my life. I have to admit that I was somewhat self-centered, like many people living in a developed western country. I often made decisions solely based on my own interests, without thinking how the others, especially my closest family members and friends who could be hurt by those decisions, would react. I often thought that my life was my own, and I could do whatever I wanted with it. As a result I barely listened to those who had the patience to tell me how I could become a better person, because my heart and mind were locked up with my selfishness and stubbornness - thinking that I knew things better than everyone else and nobody was more important than me.
But I was wrong.
I thought about what happened the night before: I imagined the crying faces of my parents if I ended up dying right here in the middle of Tibetan Plateau - one of the harshest places on earth. I pictured the grief my family would have to endure if I couldn't make it back safely.
Everyone is waiting for me to return home!
At that moment I told myself that I must complete the kora, no matter what.
Which means I must reach the top of Drolma La Pass
Because I must make it home.
Because I wanted to see everyone again
.......
Suddenly I entered an ocean of prayer flags. I had never seen so many prayer flags in my life. I knew that on each prayer flag, there were mantras written on it. When the wind blew over the prayer flags, it functioned the same way as these mantras were being chanted out. In the middle of the ocean, there were pilgrims hanging new prayer flags over the ones that were already there. I closed my eyes, and I could hear the voice of millions chanting the mantras in my head.
When I opened my eyes, I saw my uncle and aunt. The only reason why I would ever be interested in Tibet was because when I was little, my uncle brought me a postcard from Mount Everest. I thought one day I would visit the Roof of the World just like he did. I also thought about when I was young I often agitated my aunt by not listening to her advices on how to be a better human being. I made her angry all for absolutely no meaningful reason but self -pride - thinking that I knew everything.
For every step I made towards the top of Drolma La Pass, I thought of one family member. Tear began to drop down from my eyes. Every step was a memory of a family member's grace to me, and every step was my repentance for all the mistakes I did sometime in the past which caused suffering to both of us.
.....
I took out my phone. It had only 2% of battery on it, mostly used during the time we were trying to reach our "lost" guide in the pure darkness earlier. I looked at a picture of my father and my mother. I would never forget that exact moment.
8:45 AM
I made it to the top of Drolma La Pass.
I am going home.
........
I looked for Aurelie and Cheryl on the top, but they were not there. I looked back, Cheryl was a couple of steps away from me almost reaching the top of Drolma La Pass, going very slow. Behind her, Aurelie was there climbing up, with the help of our porter from Kangding we spoke to the day before. I headed back down to Aurelie and the porter. Together all three of us reached the top of the 18,500 feet tall pass. Without the kind encouragement from both Aurelie and Cheryl, I wouldn’t be psychologically ready for reaching the top of Drolma La Pass. From the bottom of my heart, I felt truly thankful that I could travel with these two amazing ladies.
We stayed on top of Drolma La for a couple of minutes, watching the sun rising over the mountains that surrounded us in the early morning. Afterwards, we descended the high pass. On the way down, there was a frozen lake on the right hand side. Many called this lake the “Lake of Compassion”, and there were countless myths and legends stemmed from different religions related to the lake.
I could feel a wave of compassion coming into my heart. I felt the mercy of the mother nature, knowing that my life could have been taken away at any moment. It was the compassion of the world and the hands that kept it in order determined that my life wouldn't end there. I further realized that my life was not my own, nor do I really have much control of what would happen to me. My life belonged to those who cared for me and those who wanted me to live well.
After crossing some frozen terrain, we encountered a steep downhill just right before reaching relatively flat terrains, I decided to take another one of the anti- altitude sickness tablets. Then there came Cheryl:
"Hang on, how many tablets have you taken so far?"
"3"
"If you read the package, it tells you should take it once a day, no more than two every 24 hours. "
I took 3 in 12 hours.
"Now give them back to me. It's very dangerous!"
......
The downhill was very steep - to the level that there were signs telling you that if you were not careful, you would spring your ankles. Once half way through the downhill, a river valley appeared. I could tell that it was another one of the sources where a mighty river in the subcontinent started. After reaching the bottom, we all entered a tent in the rest area.
The tent, just like the other ones we had been to, sold instant noodles and butter tea. But there was something else that caught my attention.
On the merchandise shelf, there was a small vacuumed pack of chicken leg. I grabbed it, and checked the expire date.
It had expired 5 months ago.
I took out my wallet, paid for it, and swallowed it.
I really needed it.
...........
From the tent, the route back to Darchen became pretty clear. The bell shaped Naimonanyi stood as the indicator of the southern direction. In the west, it was the East face of Mount Kailash. To reach Darchen, all we needed to do was heading towards Naimonanyi and then turn towards where Mount Kailash was.
Along the way, I began to spot animals drinking water on the side of the pilgrimage route. It was evident that the condition was way better on this side of Mount Kailash in compare to the region west of the holy mountain. We occasionally encountered some pilgrims who were doing the kora counter-clockwise. Many of them gave us a huge thumb for what we had accomplished.
In early afternoon, we arrived at Zutulpuk Gompa. We headed straight to the guesthouse right beside the actual monastery. There we had our very first real meal during the whole pilgrimage – fried rice with eggs. While eating, a group of Tibetan pilgrims joined us. A lady was very gracious to offer us some Tsampa. It was indeed great food for gaining much needed energy on the long trek.
After lunch, the path got narrower and narrower, and the whole kora began to go gradually downward. The stream started to cut the flat landscape into two sides, forming steep gorges. Naimonanyi became closer and closer to us, and mountains that blocked in front of it became less and less as well.
At one point, Lake Rakshastal reemerged. The kora took a sharp right turn towards the west. In distance, we could see the town of Darchen standing in the wilderness like a human settlement on a different planet. Our porters constantly reminded other Tibetan pilgrims to keep right while passing a Mani pile, whereas children chased after us just to say “Hi” (and then ran away).
Around 6 o’clock in the afternoon, we made it back to Darchen, thus finishing the pilgrimage around Mount Kailash.
When we headed back to the hotel, we saw Niail, Rose, and Ross in the courtyard together with Val. It turned out that the team was unable to finish the kora in one day because they had altitude sickness issues near Drolma La Pass. So they stayed at one of the tent shops near Drolma La Pass for the night and finished the kora around noon.
As we were talking, the boss man came out of the hotel building. Beside him was a dog that looked somewhat familiar. The dog walked to me and sat right beside me. I asked him about the dog as I did not remember him having one before the trek.
“Sometimes we see wild dogs following trekkers and pilgrims back to Darchen. We just feed them and let them wander around.”
Rose told me that the dog followed them from somewhere on the kora all the way to the hotel.
I had definitely seen this dog before.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The road back home was beautiful, but He never realized it when He traveled through the first time – the time when misery and resentment were the only things on His mind.
He still didn’t know why instead of confronting Mahākāla and demanding an answer for all the misfortune that happened to His life, He chose to help someone He didn’t know for that person’s funeral. On their way back to the town from the Sky Burial Site, He noticed how the two sons of the Hindu Elder were greeted warmly by the local residents. After talking to the locals, He learned that the Elder and his sons had done many great things to people they met on their way from India to Tibet. Many poor families received food and clothing from the three, some young adults were even sponsored to attend colleges in Lhasa and Shigatse.
It was His first time seeing someone living their lives like the Elder and his two sons. He learned that human life can be full of compassion and goodness, if people were willing to commit to these good natures.
If the world is good, there should be no place for hatred and retribution.
If the world is good, it makes no sense to take revenge on Mahākāla anymore.
If the world is good, you will be the one who benefit from it, together with many others.
......
After months of traveling, He finally made it back to his own village. The whole journey made Him realize that He must conquer all the tragedies that happened in His life. The only way to achieve that was to practice compassion and love, so others who lived in hatred and misery could see that there would always be hope.
It was already late evening when He arrived. He noticed that the door of His home was tightly shut. Bright lights came out through the supposedly dark window. He pushed the door open.
He was shocked.
Upon finding their father at the door, the two children ran straight towards Him. On the table where the family put all the statues and pictures of Buddhist deities, He saw a picture of Himself – the family thought that He was dead!
The curtain to the kitchen was raised, His wife walked out.
“Jamphel!” Dolma couldn’t believe what she just saw.
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7
Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode13 Episode 14
Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18
Every year, faithful pilgrims come to Mount Kailash from all over the world.
Some never make it back.
..............................................................................................
PART 3: TRANSFORMATION
(Continues from Part 2)
I woke up in the middle of the night.
My head was spinning like I was in the middle of a tornado. I felt I was going to vomit all of my internal organs out.
Struggling, I reached the tablets Cheryl gave to me, and took one.
The storm began to calm down, everything returned to normal after a while. The next moment I regained consciousness, it was when Peter was pushing me trying to wake me up.
I quickly brushed my teeth and ate some dry instant noodle. To my own surprise I felt just fine. Then I took another tablet of the anti-altitude drug Cheryl gave to me, just in case I get unwanted physical reactions while climbing the 18,500 feet Drolma La Pass. After meeting with everyone outside of the monastery, we were on the way.
It was 5 o’clock in the morning. However, because that part of Tibet was in fact 3 hours behind the official Beijing time, it was actually 2 o’clock local time – the sun was nowhere to be found, and everywhere was pitch dark. We couldn’t even see Mount Kailash’s gigantic and intimidating north face even with our head torches on, although we knew exactly where it was. The only thing we could sense were the gravel path in front of our eyes under the headlight and the sound of running streams somewhere in the dark.
Not only was the surrounding feeling like a black hole that sucked all sources of lights into the seemingly perpetual darkness, the temperature was also cold – my water went frozen by the time we made to our first rest stop. Considering it was already June and we were merely 500 kilometers northeast of New Delhi, I felt like I was in a totally different universe than the one I was familiar with.
Our guide told us the reason why we were departing so early was because he wanted us to reach Drolma La Pass before 8:30 am – when the sun rises. That way it wouldn’t be too hot and it would also be easier for us to climb the high pass.
However, the guide moved faster and faster, eventually even surpassed the porters. Meanwhile all of our group members were trying to stick together in order to prevent someone from getting lost in the pitch dark. The terrain got rougher and rougher, we had to climb up using both hands in some occasions. For the whole time at that point we were following a flashlight signaling us in the front, presumably from our guide.
Eventually, the signal totally disappeared in the darkness. We had no choice but to keep going. The path we were on was completely rough, and we noticed that we were walking along a very steep cliff. If someone slipped, the consequence could be really bad.
Suddenly one of our group mates noticed that there were lines of lights at the bottom of the cliff. We realized that the actual pilgrimage route was down there! This narrow path on the cliff we were on was some sort of shortcut, or maybe it wasn’t even a shortcut at all.
We panicked and felt stranded. We shouted our guide’s name, but there was no response. I tried to phone him, but he didn’t answer. We flashed our headlights to people on the pilgrimage route, hoping to get some help from them, but no one acknowledged our signals as we were probably too far away. I looked up the hill, and found something unusual.
I found human cloth scattered in the area. There were also human hair on the ground. Without a moment of hesitation, one term jumped into my mind.
Sky Burial Site
I urged my group mates to keep going, as it might not be safe to stay at the same spot or linger around. If there were wild dogs near the Sky Burial Site, we would be in big trouble.
As we continued to explore the way to the kora on our own, a flash light signal suddenly appeared somewhere not far down at the bottom of the cliff. We followed that light, then encountered our porters half way through. Under their help, we were able to reach the source of that flashlight signal – our “lost” guide.
After getting off from the cliff, we climbed up again - this time on the main pilgrimage route. The pitch dark sky began to show its true color. The snow reemerged on the top of the towering peaks around us. I looked towards the path we took, everything became clearer and clearer. We no longer needed head torches to see what was around us - a surprisingly peaceful the Sky Burial Site. If the light could come earlier, we wouldn't be scared and walked on the wrong path at all, with or without our guide. However, the problem was, and had always been, that light might not always be there for you at the right time. In many cases, light would never come at all.
 |
| Early morning on the kora |
Looking back, Mount Kailash stood like a compass pointing directions to pilgrims and trekkers alike on the kora. As the color of the sky became brighter and brighter, it was only a matter of time that the sun would cast its first light on the top of the holy mountain.
 |
| Scenery near the Sky Burial Site |
 |
| Mount Kailash shortly before the sunrise |
 |
| Frozen stream |
 |
| Drolma La Pass |
 |
| Morning sun casting the first sunshine of the day onto the top of Mount Kailash |
 |
| Mount Kailash in early morning |
 |
| Mount Kailash in early morning |
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
Om Mani Padme Hum
This was a mantra found in many places along the kora we were walking on, carved deeply into the stones, as well as in my heart.
 |
| Tibetan pilgrims camping along the kora (motorcycle!?) |
 |
| Early morning on the kora |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
But I was wrong.
 |
| Looking back on the kora |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
Everyone is waiting for me to return home!
At that moment I told myself that I must complete the kora, no matter what.
Which means I must reach the top of Drolma La Pass
Because I must make it home.
Because I wanted to see everyone again
.......
 |
| Sunrise on the kora |
 |
| Looking back on the kora at the foot of Drolma La Pas |
 |
| Cheryl and Aurelie climbing the Drolma La Pass |
 |
| On the way reaching to the top of Droma La Pass |
 |
| Prayer flags |
 |
| An ocean of prayer flags |
 |
| A sign saying "Breaking promise is a sin in Buddhism. You can admit your sin here" |
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| A sign saying "paying respect and tribute to your parents" |
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| Looking back on the way to Drolma La Pass |
.....
 |
| Pilgrims hanging new prayer flags near the top of Drolma La Pass |
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| Looking back on the kora while climbing the Drolma La Pass |
 |
| The way to the top of Drolma La Pass |
8:45 AM
I made it to the top of Drolma La Pass.
I am going home.
........
 |
| Top of Drolma La Pass |
 |
| Prayer flags on the top of Drolma La Pass |
 |
| View from the top of Drolma La Pass |
 |
| Looking back on the kora from the top of Drolma La Pass |
 |
| What was ahead of us |
 |
| Descending the high pass |
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| The eternal frozen "Lake of Compassion" |
 |
| View of the lake from the kora |
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| The lake from the kora |
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| The kora route after Drolma La Pass |
 |
| Scenery along the kora |
 |
| Scenery along the kora |
"Hang on, how many tablets have you taken so far?"
"3"
"If you read the package, it tells you should take it once a day, no more than two every 24 hours. "
I took 3 in 12 hours.
"Now give them back to me. It's very dangerous!"
......
 |
| The frozen terrain we had to cross |
 |
| Pilgrims crossing the frozen terrain |
 |
| Crossing the frozen terrain |
 |
| The frozen terrain seemed to be a frozen river/ maybe a glacier |
 |
| Cheryl and Aurelie descending the steep nhill |
 |
| Descending the hill |
 |
| The valley |
 |
| Strange rock formations on the kora |
 |
| Scenery along the kora |
 |
| Scenery along the kora |
It had expired 5 months ago.
I took out my wallet, paid for it, and swallowed it.
I really needed it.
...........
 |
| Mantras carved onto the rock near the tent |
 |
| Scenery near the tent |
 |
| Naimonanyi |
 |
| Mantras on the rock and Naimonanyi |
 |
| East face of Mount Kailash |
 |
| Two horses |
 |
| A herd of yaks |
 |
| East face of Mt. Kailash |
 |
| On the kora |
 |
| Scenery on the kora |
 |
| Near the lunch stop |
 |
| Looking back on the kora |
 |
| Mighty mountains along the kora |
 |
| A frozen waterfall |
 |
| Looking back to the kora |
 |
| Yaks on the bank of the river |
 |
| Looking back on the river valley |
 |
| Lake Rakshastal reappeared |
 |
| A Buddhist mantra carved onto a rock |
 |
| Prayer flags hanging over the river |
 |
| Looking back to the kora |
 |
| Looking back on the kora |
“Sometimes we see wild dogs following trekkers and pilgrims back to Darchen. We just feed them and let them wander around.”
 |
| Naimonanyi |
I had definitely seen this dog before.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The road back home was beautiful, but He never realized it when He traveled through the first time – the time when misery and resentment were the only things on His mind.
He still didn’t know why instead of confronting Mahākāla and demanding an answer for all the misfortune that happened to His life, He chose to help someone He didn’t know for that person’s funeral. On their way back to the town from the Sky Burial Site, He noticed how the two sons of the Hindu Elder were greeted warmly by the local residents. After talking to the locals, He learned that the Elder and his sons had done many great things to people they met on their way from India to Tibet. Many poor families received food and clothing from the three, some young adults were even sponsored to attend colleges in Lhasa and Shigatse.
It was His first time seeing someone living their lives like the Elder and his two sons. He learned that human life can be full of compassion and goodness, if people were willing to commit to these good natures.
If the world is good, there should be no place for hatred and retribution.
If the world is good, it makes no sense to take revenge on Mahākāla anymore.
If the world is good, you will be the one who benefit from it, together with many others.
......
After months of traveling, He finally made it back to his own village. The whole journey made Him realize that He must conquer all the tragedies that happened in His life. The only way to achieve that was to practice compassion and love, so others who lived in hatred and misery could see that there would always be hope.
It was already late evening when He arrived. He noticed that the door of His home was tightly shut. Bright lights came out through the supposedly dark window. He pushed the door open.
He was shocked.
Upon finding their father at the door, the two children ran straight towards Him. On the table where the family put all the statues and pictures of Buddhist deities, He saw a picture of Himself – the family thought that He was dead!
The curtain to the kitchen was raised, His wife walked out.
“Jamphel!” Dolma couldn’t believe what she just saw.
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