We met Choqhua, a monk from the small and remote Trakkar Monastery near Labrang in Gansu Province. We spent 3 days staying with him in his little cottage. He took us to the tiny remote village where he grew up and to a nearby cave where the 9th Panchen Lama was said to have meditated.
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.
David Leland Hyde
Many people might not recognize it, but it is a privilege to meet someone who has meditated in a cave most of her life. They say there are people in Tibet, China and India who have lived hundreds of years meditating in caves. They never reveal themselves to strangers and feel that interaction with typical people will rub off and cause them to die sooner. One man I know tried to find them but could not for two trips to India. On his third trip to India he finally met an old sage who was 200 years old and on subsequent trips he met people who were much older. Of course nobody believes any of this and I highly doubt that you will ever meet any of these people because you are blogging about your experiences on the internet. However, I do believe it because I have studied the science of immortality, as taught by the Eastern Mystics and originally by Jesus when he returned from the Orient. It is okay if you think I am completely nuts but maybe you don’t if you are there meeting these kind of people. I realize a photographer has to keep his level documentary head.
Phil Borges
David, I have found that many people don’t even know their age. They will say, I was born in the time of the big drought, etc. So, I really have to wonder when someone says they have lived for 200 years. I am very gratiful to have had this experience.
Mike
Trashi did a pretty good job, huh?
This post is immensely inspiring, at the beginning I was tense with anticipation that you’d be able to take a picture of her. THANK YOU for sharing this!
Did you give Trashi any pointers? Or did you just say, “point and click.”
Phil Borges
Hi Mike. I did take a good amount of time to talk to Trashi about f-stops, shutter sheed, ISO, etc before he took this picture. Thought it wasn’t until after that we discussed composition.