Travel Stories

Travelling in Tibet, by Joe Wagner

Now in Jykundo, aka Yushu for those of you looking it up on the map. we made it up the terrible road and spent a few days receiving empowerments from the 86 year old lama who used to live in a cave. i'm so very grateful he doesn't live in a cave now. He was beyond description, but I'll try. Wild long hair which he kept tied up, for the most part, on top of his head in a bun, destroyed teeth, the ability to sit in the full lotus position for meditation, and an amazing powerful feeling about him and his entire monastery. He looked into our past lives and his spiritual wife wrote his description for each of us in beautiful calligraphy. We ate balls of dough (pak, that is, roasted barley flour or tsampa), had long and interesting discussions with a helmet-haired monk, and did a circumambulation (khora) of the holy mountain where the monastery is. Rinpoche (Precious One, a respectful title for advanced teachers) told us to go to another center "just a few hours away" where most of his monks and nuns were receiving empowerments from the Chokling Tersar cycle of practices.

We hired a jeep-like vehicle, and for 8 straight hours were bounced, smashed, whipped, and flipped over high passes, through raging rivers (I only wish I were kidding), around terrifying, hair-raisingly dangerous paths, and over rickety bridges, only to arrive at night at the monastery we were sent to. We were greeted by the abbot, an incarnation of Chokgyur Lingpa as well as the main student of the old lama, who has never cut his hair and wears it tied up like a giant dumbbell on top of his head.

We have been there for the last few days receiving the empowerments, visiting holy caves on the mountain, and meeting with the abbot, who showed us amazing statures and commanded me to return in the summer with a professional camera so we can travel together to the 140 holy mountains consecrated by Chokgyur Lingpa the first and get to know one another.

I'm still reeling from this, but will try to convince Cindy to come back with me in June, either this year or next. It has been, perhaps, the most powerful time in my life. For those of you interested, we met and received a blessing from the 17 year old Trungpa Tulku, or incarnation of Chogyam Trungpa who founded the center in Boulder and Shambhala International. He was nice.

there is plenty more to say, but I'll leave it here.

much love from the top of the world in every way except sanitation, Joe

Read more CircleThePlanet: Travel Stories