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

During the month of May an obscure fungus becomes the major focus of people living on the Tibetan Plateau.  The Cordyceps sinensis fungus is known locally as Yartsa Gunbu or Caterpillar Fungus.  The fungus devours and eventually mummifies its host, the ghost moth caterpillar, from inside out during the caterpillar’s hibernation on the mountain grasslands between 10,000 and 16,000 feet.  The caterpillar dies just below the ground and then the dark brown/black mushroom emerges through the soil from the head of the body.

The growing popularity and belief, especially among the Han Chinese, that the fungus is an aphrodisiac and promotes longevity has fueled a modern day gold rush on the Tibetan Plateau.  The fungus came to the world’s attention after some Chinese athletes at the National Games in Beijing extolled its virtues. 

It is estimated that today over 40% of the income of rural Tibetans come from the Caterpillar Fungus.  I was told that one Kilo of the fungus is worth $10,000 and that the children of Nomads can each collect as much as a Kilo per month.  In late 2007 the value of the best-quality Yartsa GünbuDbyar rtswa dgun ’bu in Lhasa (Lasa) traded for around CN ¥80,000 (nearly US $12,000) per pound (JIATS, Danial Winkler).  Since the Nomads are most familiar with the areas where the fungus grows they have become the greatest beneficiaries.   

I would walk into empty monasteries because the Monks were either hunting Yartsa Gunbu or home tending to the animals so their family could be out hunting.  You can imagine what this does to school enrollment of Nomadic children during the month of May.  Almost everyone I met –Monks, Nomads, Hui Muslims, and Urban Tibetans were involved in harvesting or trading the fungus. 

According to field mycologist, Daniel Winkler, the value of Yartsa Gunba has increased by 900% between 2007 and mid 2008.  Unfortunately, arguments over grazing rights has lead to community disputes.  The violence has caused injuries and even a few deaths.  There were many occasions during my travels when we ran into road blocks and interrogation by officials who let us continue our journey after they were assured that we were not collecting the valuable fungi.

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.

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).

The article states:  “There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”

I just returned from a heartbreaking trip to Tibet where I planned to continue my work on women’s issues.  I went to document the work of the NGO ‘One HEART’ which has been addressing the high rate maternal and infant mortality — especially among Tibet’s nomadic population.

Tele who is 63 with his grandson Sonam Choedon. Sonam was born near Lake Namtso where One HEART hoped to start working this year. Like most Nomad children he was born only with the help of family members. Luckily the birth went without complications.

As in many parts of the world, indigenous people don’t get or seek medical help because of different cultural beliefs and misunderstandings.  Many Tibetan Nomads believe that in the critical moments after birth the infant is very susceptible to a ‘Hungry Ghost’ that can jump onto and occupy the newborn.   These ghosts that can be carried by any stranger are believed to make havoc in one’s life.   Needless to say a Nomad doesn’t want a doctor or midwife that they barely know attending the birth of their child.  They also believe that the blood of childbirth offends the spirits of the house.   Therefore many births take place in a cold and dirty stable away from the warm fire in their yak-hair tents. It’s no wonder that an estimated three women died for every 100 births and one in ten infants did not survive their first year of life.   

Adu, 26 and her husband Tadro, 31 live at 16,000 feet where they raise yaks and goats. Since the Tibetan’s have never had a midwife tradition, both of their children were born at home without any prenatal, birthing, or postnatal care.

To address these cultural beliefs One Heart’s Tibetan staff trained local nomadic women to be midwives and provided a plastic sheet to contain the ‘spiritual blood pollutants’ that could be taken out of the tent after the birth.  The ten year old program has been extremely successful.  Last year there were no maternal deaths in the two counties they worked in.   Unfortunately, One HEART’s contract to continue their work was not renewed.  

It is often said when a mother dies the family dies—students drop out of school to help take care of younger siblings, and fathers strain under the added workload.  It is such a shame that a program that was so successful at saving families from the devastating effects of losing a mother had to end.

Nomadic life in Tibet is changing fast.  Solar panels, cell phones and satellite radios are starting to appear.  The cell phone is becoming an important tool in the campaign to reduce maternal mortality.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I welcome your comments and look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Phil Borges

PS: If you didn’t have a chance to read my previous blog postings from Tibet they can be found here:

Microsoft Pro Photo Blog – Post 1 of 2

Microsoft Pro Photo Blog – Post 2 of 2