Every morning Tibetan Buddhists walk clockwise around various objects of veneration such as monasteries, stupas or sacred mountains.  I’ve watched hundreds of devotee’s make their way around the koras of monasteries and mountains in spite of their arthritic hips, knees or backs.   Many walk for hours keeping track of each circumambulation with prayer beads or small stones placed at the starting point.

Mani wheels of all shapes and sizes are found everywhere in Tibet.  The mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” is written on papers inside the wheels as well as the outside.  Spinning the wheels in a clockwise direction helps the devotee focus and calm the mind so they can spread spiritual blessings and well-being.

Devotees throw small “mani papers” into the air on mountain passes and various ritual locations to help spread prayers for well being.  Juniper branches are burned for incense and to sanctify the air and help spread the blessings.

Butter lamps are a conspicuous feature of monasteries and homes throughout Tibet.  Typically Tibetans light a butter lamp every morning and place seven bowls of pure water as an offering before the images on their household shrine.  Pilgrims visiting monasteries supply butter to the burning lamps in order to gain merit.  They use the butter lamps to help focus the mind and aid their meditation.

These devotional practices are part of the Tibetan recipe for well-being and happiness.  While in Tibet I stopped and asked myself “What makes me happy”?  How does my culture guide me in this pursuit?  A diet of new cars; big houses; millionaires and billionaires; young beautiful faces; celebrity and tons of stuff bombard me daily.  This is what I’m encouraged to aspire to in order to set myself apart from the crowd!  What a contrast to the Tibetan pathway that strives to dissolve the “illusion of separateness” by conquering the “self cherishing” attitude.  I think about my own personal ambition and desires and my culture’s dependence on ever expanding economic growth and consumption—a dependence that is being exported to the rest of the world.

I just finished my first Kora (walk around) Mt. Kailash in Western Tibet.  The 52 km trek that crosses one pass at 18,600 ft has served as a spiritual quest for thousands of Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and the pre-Buddhist Bon Po of Tibet.

Serter, 39—Has been a porter on the Kailash since he was 9. He remembers when the glacier to his right reached the valley floor.

The Tibetan Plateau contains in its glaciers the largest amount of frozen water on earth outside of the North and South Poles and as such is known as the ‘Water Tower of Asia’ supplying nearly 1.5 billion people with their water.  Mt. Kailash lies at the center of an area that is key to the drainage systems of the Tibetan Plateau.

Pilgrim on the Kora around Mt. Kailash

I have wanted to get here for years.  It has always been a long difficult several day journey over bone rattling roads to reach Kailash.  The road from Lhasa is now partially paved and will be fully paved within a year.  There is also an Airport that just opened this year about 100 miles from the mountain.  The runway at 14,600 feet makes it the highest commercial airport in the world.  Certainly this new access will increase the number of people coming to Mt. Kailash in the future.

Tsering Omo, 45—Pilgrim at the pass

I am heading back to Mount Kailash and the western Tibetan Plateau to finish my next book documenting the rapid lifestyle and environmental changes occurring on the plateau.  Arranging for support and logistics for a trip into the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) presents its own set of challenges.  First of all in addition to a Chinese Visa, permits are required just to get into the TAR.  Once there depending on where you want to travel you will need a handful of permits to travel to your desired destinations.  In addition the permits it is necessary to find a government approved guide and driver and a properly approved vehicle.  A simple internet search will reveal several agencies that can put a package together providing you with the necessary permits, car, driver and guide.  I have had great experiences with both FIT in Lhasa and Tibet Connections in Xining.  This time I will be using Tibet Connections.

Finding a good guide is always hit or miss for me.  When I have arranged for a guide that I haven’t worked with before I always take him/her out for a day of taking portraits before heading out on a several week trip.  I’m mainly looking for someone that’s good with people.  They don’t have to speak perfect English but I’m watching how they interact with their own people.  This process will begin for me next week when I arrive in Lhasa.  I’ll try to keep up my blog posts to let you know how things are going as I begin my month long trip.

Inigo de Angulo, a photographer from Spain, also accompanied me on one of my trips to Tibet in May. It was such a pleasure to watch Inigo interact with the people as he shot and gave Polaroids to his subjects. Inigo has been working on a long term project documenting many religious practices around the world. Here is his description of how the experience affected him.

“What impressed me most of the Tibetans was their devotion: they intensively live their faith at every moment. It is not something reserved for a special day in the calendar, but a constant presence in the way they understand their lives. From the way people greet you, humbly, with both hands together at the chest level; their chanting of the “On mani padme hum” mantra while spinning the prayer wheels; to the prostrations on the ground while circumambulating a temple.

And the most significant thing is that they not only pray for a better life for themselves or their family, but always extend their prayers to the peace and well-being of all the world. Before this trip, I saw some rituals of religions different to mine as something somehow weird and striking. Now I understand better that those rituals represent the way people live their faith, connect to God. I’m more open not only to accept but even to participate in them. I feel closer to the people and through them to God.” Inigo de Angulo

To see his full body of work on Tibetan Devotion go to http://www.enekoertz.com

On my last trip to Tibet in May I decided to take two photographers with me to help cover expenses.   I had met Stevan at one of my lectures at PhotoPlus and Inigo at one of my workshops in Los Angeles.   It turned out to be a great collaborative experience with me learning as much or more from them as they did from me.  My worries about having two extra foreigners show up vs one turned out to be unfounded.   Both Stevan and Inigo were great with the people.

Here are some images and a recollection from Stevan:

An early morning walk on the dirt paths of Langmusi (Chinese) or Taktsang Lhamo (Tibetan) revealed approximately 35 motor biking nomads.  These rough riding types rode over 100 kilometers to tithe to the Kerti Gumpa (monastery). What a sight to see these characters with camera phones.

They found me as much of a mystery as I did them.  They sat and prayed with monks in this village that straddled the border between Sichauan and Gansu.  The monks took their donation and draped their motorbikes with prayer flags.  In quick order the nomads sped away to place the flags at the highest peak of the village. The display of prayer flags on mountain tops is widely seen in Tibet.  It is an act of building merit and goodwill as the wind flutters the mantra stamped flags voicing the faith of Buddhism to the world.  It was humbling to experience the devotion of an unlikely group of men. 

It is one of those moments that will always stay with me.

To see more of Stevan’s impressive images visit  www.cielostudios.com. 

One of the things that amazed me as I traveled through what was formally Kham and Amdo on the Tibetan Plateau was the amount of new construction at many of the Tibetan Monasteries.   It was not only the amount of new construction but the size and quality of the new monasteries and prayer halls that were being built.  I saw multimillion dollar construction projects that left me wondering where the money was coming from.

One very elaborate Temple that was being built in a very remote area in Qinghai Provence was literally out in the middle of nowhere.   I was told that the funding came from a wealthy individual in Hong Kong.

In another remote area of Sichuan Provence the world’s largest Stupa (Buddhist Shrine) was being built.   Half completed with a construction crane on top it looked like a ‘Stupa condominium’.   I was told it was being financed by ‘someone from the West’.

I was excited to see this resurgence of energy in the Tibetan monastic community.  However, I met a Tibetan documentary filmmaker who had a different perspective.  He felt all this new money coming from the outside was interfering with the historic relationship the monks and monasteries had with the local villages that had historically supported them.  He said, ‘It’s just human nature.  If you are getting millions of dollars donated are you still willing to bless someone’s children or their house for a few sacks of Tsampa {barley flour}?

As I travel through the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, one thing has become very apparent. Tibetan Buddhism is enjoying a strong resurgence.  Almost every Monastery I visit is building a new temple.  

World’s largest stupa – 8 stories high near the remote Miwa Monastery on the Tibetan Plateau.

Evidently the funds for all this building is coming from the local Tibetan communities along with some support from Western organizations.  The omnipresent prayer flags cover entire hillsides and mountain tops.  

 Monk walking the kora at the Temple of Princess Wencheng, near Yushu.

My guide said that this proliferation of prayer flags has just happened in the last 5 years.  I just purchased a few flags and can’t imagine the resources that have gone into covering these hillsides.  I am reminded of the work of the French artist Christo.

World’s largest Mani wall in Hongyan, Tibet. A Mani wall is composed of millions of individual rocks carved with the Tibetan mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum.

However, the highlight of our time with him was a visit to a ninety-year-old Ani (a nun named Sadia Tsomo) who went to a cave in a mountain side to meditate when she was twelve.  Choqhua and other members of his monastery and the local villagers have provided her with food water and firewood over the years.  Choqhua told us they consider her to be the manifestation of the ‘great mother’ protective deity Green Tara.  He also told us she had never seen a foreigner before.

The thoughts of meeting this woman who had spent 78 years meditating in a cave inspired me to climb the mountain to her 13,000 ft retreat.  Choqhua said that she does come down from her cave once a year to visit the monastery, but that she had never seen a foreigner

As we approached the entrance to her cave Choqhua had us stay back as he went in to meet her.  Twenty minutes later he came out to let us know that she was too frightened to see a foreigner.  I gave my camera to my guide Trashi Dhondrup who was able to go in and meet her and take a few photos.  Tashi is from Yushu where the April earthquake hit and destroyed the town and the guest house he was building.  He asked her to pray for the friends and relatives that he had lost in that tragedy.

News sent from Phil while working on a second book in Tibet:

I’m in Gansu Province on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau adding to my collection of stories of people who live on the plateau.  I’m traveling with Stevan from North Carolina and Inigo who is currently living in Singapore — Both are photographers that I met in my workshops.  Vincent, our Tibetan guide pointed out this group of monks camping out in the middle of nowhere.  Monks camping!?!  There were six monks that were on a 129 day pilgrimage moving their campsite every two days.  They would retire to their tent and chant for two hours praying for a good growing season and health for the livestock of farmers and nomads in the area.   They did this six times a day!

We watched as they joked with each other, carved mani stones and fed the ants.

The One HEART Staff in happier times.

Today I learned that Arlene has decided to donate all of the One HEART assets in Tibet to the Tibetan Staff in hopes that they will be able to continue their work.  They are currently looking for foundational support out of Hong Kong.  It’s great to see that they are not giving up!  I just hope they make it. 

After Arlene left I decided to stay and document some of the drokpa families (nomadic families) in the areas where One HEART was about to expand its work.   Since I couldn’t document One HEART’s work I decided to document the typical families they were working with.   I hired a guide and three yaks and took off on a five day trek into the beautiful high mountain valleys north of Lhasa.

I watched nervously as Tenzin the Yak herder put my camera bags into a flimsy gunny sack and precariously roped it to the back of a Yak.

Yaks have three times more red blood cells than the average cow.  With its long hair and ability to survive in oxygen depleted air the yak thrives in the high altitudes where cows would perish.  Just as the buffalo was central to the life of Native Americans the yak is critical to the survival of the Tibetan nomads.  The milk is made into cheese, yogurt and butter which is used in butter lamps and the omnipresent butter tea.   The yak hair is woven into tents, blankets, bags and rope.

Yaks are great pack animals but are almost impossible to herd when they are alone.  So anytime you need to hire a yak for a trek you need at least two.  The typical price is about $6 per day per yak—the yak herder is free!

I held my breath every time the Yak crossed a river or creek and prayed it wouldn’t decide to lie down to cool off.   I carry my equipment (Canon Mark III 1ds; Sony EX1 Video Camera; lights and sound equipment in two bags).