The Fruit, Wheel of Dharma, and Nirvana (Part 1)
Episode 17
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The yak was on the run, desperately running for his life. He felt heartbroken and betrayed. For his whole life, he worked very hard for the humans in the village. He worked not only for the food and shelter for the present, but also for the food and shelter for the future.He hoped that one day when he is old, he will be taken care of.
But the yak's hope all went busted just five minutes ago.
The people of the village determined that the yak was too old to work. His speed slowed down. He became tired more often. The people decided probably it was time to end the yak's life and get his meat for the upcoming festival.
The same people whom the yak worked so hard for his entire life are now trying to kill him.
The yak was on the run, desperately running for his life.
............
On the way back to Lhasa, the sky turned grey. The holy Mount Kailash was nowhere to be seen from the window of our fast moving vehicle.
We were sure glad that the rain didn't come the day before, during the time we were completing the holy kora.
We were exhausted, both physically and mentally. Most of our group mates were falling asleep on the bus. Suddenly the bus stopped. We found out that there was a huge herd of sheep and yaks in front of us. Everyone got off the bus for some fresh air, and waited for the herd to go by.
During this time we were trying to get a shepherd to take a group photo for us. However, the shepherd did not know how to use a camera. Instead, our guide found a truck driver - who was also stuck like us to do us the favor.
In the evening, we reached Saga once again. Because of the miserable experience at the hotel we stayed last time we were there, our guide arranged us arguably the best available hotel in the whole town. Aurelie and I entered the room, only to find out that most of lights were burned out.
"I hate Saga!" Aurelie put her head in my arm, pretending to cry.
After putting our luggage into the dysfunctional hotel room, we all met for dinner. Peter's son Francis didn't feel well after carrying his and his father's bags all the way from the beginning of the kora till the very end - so he couldn't join us for a much needed delicious meal.
After Saga, we stopped for another night in Shigatse. On the way back to Lhasa, we went for the route through the Yamdrok Lake we didn't take on the way in. About 2 hours later, we arrived in the city of Gyantse. Gyantse was one of the cultural centers in Tibet. The Dzong in the city was used by the British forces to train the Tibetan army during the reign of Dalai Lama 13th (The Dzong was also the site where a large anti-colonial resistance took place, which inspired the production of the movie Red River Valley). The main reason why we were there, was to visit the Kumbum inside the Palcho Monastery.
The Palcho Monastery was surrounded by walls that traversed over some very steep cliffs. The Kumbum had the eyes of Buddha painted on its exterior, which was quoted by Aurelie as the main reason why she wanted to visit this monastery. The Kumbum also happened to be the largest stupa in Tibet.
Shortly after leaving Gyantse, our bus suddenly stopped. We saw a yak running towards our direction. Behind the yak were villagers trying to capture the yak. Eventually it took about 10 men to tie up the yak and load it into a truck. After the road was cleared, we continued our journey back to Lhasa.
We stopped at the Karo La glacier. It was very magnificent. However, due to climate change the size of the ice shield had decreased quite a lot in the past decades. During my time in Tibet, I have witnessed the society's effort to curb the climate change by not only switching to renewable clean energy, but also introducing these technology to areas that were way off the traditional power grid. The significance, was that many Tibetans saw electricity for the first time ever in their lives. Yet these electricity were produced by wind and solar power, which meant that the first light these people saw were 100% clean, 100% without guilt.
What I saw in Tibet convinced me that we were definitely not the generation who would see the most advanced technology.
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Jamphel sat down with Dolma. His two children were sitting on His laps.
He asked them what exactly happened.
"Two men kidnapped Tsering and Kelsang while they were playing on the street" Said Dolma, "I saw everything from the window, but when I got there, it was too late. So I followed them.They were trying to take our children to the west and sell them for money!"
Jamphel already knew this part of the story. He was more curious about what happened next.
"Then we met two uncles and one grandpa from the other side of the mountains" Tsering, the older daughter said. "We stayed at the same guesthouse. They heard us crying. The grandpa talked to the bad people. He asked the two uncles to pay for our ransom. We followed them for a while. The grandpa got really ill. Then mother showed up and took us home........We really wanted to help that old grandpa. He saved us!"
Jamphel suddenly realized that in this world, there are no causeless nor fruitless actions. It's just the effect might kick in before you even know it. When He saw the whole picture, He realized that it was the repentance and the change of heart at that one moment paid off not only his debt to the Hindu pilgrims, but also saved himself from the total self- destruction hatred had brought upon him. He admitted that He was blind, but now He sees.
(To Be Continued in Part 2)
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7
Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14
Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18
But the yak's hope all went busted just five minutes ago.
The people of the village determined that the yak was too old to work. His speed slowed down. He became tired more often. The people decided probably it was time to end the yak's life and get his meat for the upcoming festival.
The same people whom the yak worked so hard for his entire life are now trying to kill him.
The yak was on the run, desperately running for his life.
............
On the way back to Lhasa, the sky turned grey. The holy Mount Kailash was nowhere to be seen from the window of our fast moving vehicle.
 |
| On the way back to Lhasa |
 |
| Sheep grazing along the highway |
 |
| A stupa |
 |
| Shepherds and sheeps |
 |
| Tibetan Yaks |
 |
| Sceneries on the way back |
 |
| Cows drinking water near a lake |
 |
| Nomadic Life in Tibet |
 |
| The barrenness of Tibetan Plateau |
 |
| The wall of Palcho Monastery |
 |
| The Kumbum inside the Palcho Monastery |
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| The eye of Buddha |
 |
| A fort inside the monastery |
 |
| The Dzong of Gyantse |
 |
| A lake on the way back to Lhasa from Shigatse |
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| A ruin standing by the shore of the lake |
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| A Tibetan village |
 |
| The Karo La glacier |
 |
| The Karola Glacier |
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Jamphel sat down with Dolma. His two children were sitting on His laps.
He asked them what exactly happened.
"Two men kidnapped Tsering and Kelsang while they were playing on the street" Said Dolma, "I saw everything from the window, but when I got there, it was too late. So I followed them.They were trying to take our children to the west and sell them for money!"
Jamphel already knew this part of the story. He was more curious about what happened next.
"Then we met two uncles and one grandpa from the other side of the mountains" Tsering, the older daughter said. "We stayed at the same guesthouse. They heard us crying. The grandpa talked to the bad people. He asked the two uncles to pay for our ransom. We followed them for a while. The grandpa got really ill. Then mother showed up and took us home........We really wanted to help that old grandpa. He saved us!"
Jamphel suddenly realized that in this world, there are no causeless nor fruitless actions. It's just the effect might kick in before you even know it. When He saw the whole picture, He realized that it was the repentance and the change of heart at that one moment paid off not only his debt to the Hindu pilgrims, but also saved himself from the total self- destruction hatred had brought upon him. He admitted that He was blind, but now He sees.
(To Be Continued in Part 2)
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