my pilgrimage to mt. kailash

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My Pilgrimage to Lake Manasarovar and Mt. Kailash

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I cant rememberexactly when I got theidea to make a trek-cum-pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash

and Lake Manasarovar, but it was at least ten years

ago or more. I am not a Hindu or Buddhist, but I am

deeply interested in eastern thought and religion. The

idea of making a difficult journey to a place that is

both extremely remote and sacred appealed to my

spirituality and sense of adventure. Each year, I

would resolve to make the trip, but inevitably work,

family commitments or some other circumstances

conspired to make me postpone my plans. Finally,

this year I had a realization that if I didnt do it now, I

might lose the opportunity altogether. Im 57 years old

and, while still healthy enough to handle to physical

rigors of the trip, there was no guarantee as to how

long I would remain so. Moreover, the Chinesegovernment continues to impose ever-increasing

restrictions on travel to Tibet and there seemed to be a

real possibility that Tibet might be closed to foreigners

altogether. But what clenched the decision was the

passing of my father. Though not unexpectedhe

was 89 it affected me much more than I expected.

We had a difficult, complicated relationship and there

was much that was unresolved when he left. I was

filled with so many emotionsregret, remorse, anger.

Somehow, I felt, if I could make this spiritual journey,

it might help me find peace. I was working on a large

building project in Mexico City at the time which I

didnt want to abandon, but I felt it was at a point thatthings would not suffer too much if I was away for six

weeks. In any case, I decided that if it doing the trip

meant giving up my job, so be it. Surely on my death

bed I would not find myself wishing I had not

undertaken this journey of such significance so that I

could work on some corporate offices for a multi-

national bank! Initially, my employer granted me a


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leave of absence, although later he reneged and I had

to give up my job.

On May 6, I boarded a flight from San

Francisco to Kathmandu. From there I took a flights to

Nepal Gunj and then on to Simikot in western Nepal

where our trek began. It is not possible for foreignersto travel alone in this part of western Nepal and Tibet

and so I used the services of a trekking company. Ours

was a very small party consisting of one other client,

Mary Lou, a 76 year old woman from Seattle and me

along with a guide, Dorje Sherpa and our cook

Dhalbahadur. For the Nepal portion of the trek we also

had a number of local porters and helpers to carry our

tents, food and cooking gear. We quickly fell into the

pleasant rhythm of trekkingup a dawn, tea,

breakfast, break camp, walking along the trail for 4-6

hours with an hour or so for lunch, arriving at a new

village and camp site in the afternoon, usually a few

hours to explore, sketch or just relax, dinner and

retiring just after dusk. Our route followed the Karnali

River. The first two or three villages we stayed at were

populated by Khasa people who are Hindus originally

from the southern plains of Nepal. Further west, the

villages were of Jad or Thar people who are Buddhists

originally from Tibet. In these villages we saw several

Gompas or monasteries where novice monks still

study traditional Tibetan Buddhist texts.

All was going smoothly until just before we

reached the Tibetan boarder when our porters

informed us that they would not continue and cross the

4560m Nara La pass unless we agreed to pay Rs. 3000

(about $US 35) per man, which represented over four

times their normal daily wage. This was nothing less


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than extortion, but we had no choice, and so

reluctantly agreed. The trekking company was very

apologetic and later reimbursed us. They said that thissort of thing never used to happen, but ever since the

Maoist civil war, many people in the area had become

greedy and unethical.

The next day we crossed Nara La and

marched to Hilsa at the Chinese border where we paid

off and dismissed the porters. The following day we

entered Tibet where we were met by our Tibetan

guide, Pemba and driver Dorze. Dorji Sherpa our

Nepali guide and Dhalbahadur also stayed with us.

The Chinese soldiers at the border were polite, but

very serious. They carefully inspected all of our gearlooking for any books or picturs of the Dali Lama,

which are strictly forbidden in China!

Soon we were at Lake Manasarovar, which,

like Mt. Kailash is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains

and Bons (the ancient religion of Tibet). It was

magnificentso blue and pure, surrounded by snow-

capped peaks with Kailash itself to the north and

Gurla Mandata to the south. At an elevation of 4600m

(15,000), it was still very cold and the lake was

mostly covered with ice. We camped for two days on

a deserted beach on the northwest side of the lake.There were birds everywhereducks, grebes and

black-faced terns that looked like sea birds. Near our

campsite was a famous monastery called Chiu Gompa.

Below it is a river that flows between Lake

Manasarovar, which represents wisdom, and Rakshas

Tal, to the west, which represents violence. Thus the

Gompa has come to symbolize the triumph of wisdom

over violence. There are also some fine hot springs

below the Gompa where I was able to take a very

relaxing soak.

We spent several more days driving in ourLand Cruiser visiting other places in western Tibet,

including ruins of the Guge Empire, whose ruler,

Yeshe O rekindled Tibetan Buddhism in the 11 th

century. Finally we came to Darchan, the starting

point for the kora around Holy Mt. Kailash. We were

concerned about altitude sickness, so we spent an

extra day to make an acclimatization hike to a small


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peak of about 5100m above the town where we were

rewarded with a spectacular view of the south face of

Kailash.

The next day we set off, starting at Darboche,

site of the Saga Dawa festival which was to start in a

couple of days, and a very interesting sky burial site.

Tibetans, like Parsis, practice sky burial in which the

body of the deceased is placed on a special platform

where birds consume the flesh of the body after thesoul has left it. The first day of the kora was relatively

easy. We walked about 15km up a gentle grade. The

mood was festive as we shared the path with Tibetan

pilgrims as well as many foreigners including Indians,

Europeans and a surprising number of Russians. We

saw a number of Tibetans making the kora by

prostrating themselves slowly along the path. In this

way they complete the 55 km in about 20 days. By

mid-afternoon we arrived at a guest house in Dira

Phuk on the north side of the mountain. We visited

the monastery there and had the good fortune to get an

audience with a high Lama Ten Zen Num Jel. I could

not understand his words, except for the mantra Om

mani pedme hum1, but I was overcome by a deep

sense of spiritual energy and connection coming from

1O Avalokiteshvara, please bestow the precious jewel of

enlightenment to liberate all livingbeings


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him. The next day my companion, Mary Lou and I

made another acclimatization hike up to a glacier at

the base of the north face of Mt. Kailash, to 5400m.

Most of the trail was covered by snow and we had to

take care not to fall into the roaring stream coming off

the glacier. When we finally reached the base of the

mountain, we found that glacier was all butnonexistent, another sign of global warming. Still, it

was magnificent to see the perfect form of Mt. Kailash

so close to us.

The third day of the kora was the biggest

challenge of the entire journey, we had to travel 22 km

and cross Dolma La, the 5660m (18,600) high pass of

the kora. It had been unusually snowy this year and

the pass was still covered with heavy snow making it

impossible for horses or even Yaks to cross. Many

pilgrims who could only travel by horse had to turn

back. We set out before dawn, advancing one slow

step at a time. Meditating as I walkedOm nama

shivaya Om mane pedme hum the thin, clear cold

air at that altitude focused my mind. The sun rose and

warmed us. The light reflected off the snow was

brilliant. After about three hours we reached Dolma

La. It was covered with prayer flags and discarded

pieces of clothing left by pilgrims. I had brought

some photos of my mother, father, sisters, wife and

children along with a small calligraphy of a meditation

that my wife had given me before I left. I placed these

under a small rock cairn and tied a silk khata around it.Quietly, I wept as strong feelings of joy, love and grief

all came up at once. Here is meditation from my wife

that I left at the Dolma La.

Knowing that I will get old, I breathe in

Knowing that there is no escaping old age, I breathe

out

Knowing that I will get sick, I breathe in

Knowing that there is no escaping illness, I breathe

out

Knowing I will have to give up all that I cherish, I

breathe in

Knowing that I cannot avoid giving up all that I

cherish, I breathe out

Knowing that I will die, I breathe in

Knowing that I cannot escape death, I breathe out

Knowing that my actions are my only possessions, I

breathe in

Knowing that I cannot escape the consequences of my

actions, I breathe out

Vowing to live mindfully every day, I breathe inKnowing the joys and benefits of living mindfully, I

breathe out

Vowing to bring joy to my beloved, I breathe in

Vowing to ease the pain of my beloved, I breathe out

--Thich Nhat Hanh

END


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Trekking Route

Trekking

Land Cruiser J

Overnight Sto

Tibet Staff: L-R Dorze, Driver; me;

Pemba, Guide

Nepal &Tibet Trekking Party: L-R Dorji Serpa,

Guide; me; Mary Lou Krause, Dalbhadur, Cook


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my pilgrimage to mt. kailash

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