Buddhism in Tibet

         

After Tiger Leaping Gorge, we traveled across more mountains to Tibet. Tibetans are a special kind of Buddhists. Buddhism is a part of daily life, like a job or going to school. You see Tibetan Buddhist shrines all across the countryside.

We drove to a Tibetan temple called Song Zan Lin Si. It is the second largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in the world. 

Does that look like a long way up? Well, it was (although not as high as the Great Wall). You usually have to climb up to Buddhist temples because Buddhists believe that life is a journey. Struggle is good for you because it helps you become a better person.

It was dusty at top, and smoky because of the incense. I coughed radically.

But Dad lent me some money, and I bought some incense to burn. Giving incense to the Buddha is respectful because it sends your prayers to Heaven.

There were a lot of crows flying overhead. Crows are sacred to the Tibetan people, because whenever people die, their relatives cut them up into little pieces and leave them for the crows to eat. Killing a crow would be like killing your ancestors.

These are Buddhist monks. They take care of the temple and do the chants. There are thousands of monks living at this temple. Boys come at a young age and grow up there. I saw a little boy monk who looked like he was five or six standing by himself and looking out over the temple. I wondered if he was homesick like I used to be.

Obviously, these lions weren’t very protective. They had to tear down this building because it wasn’t earthquake-proof. There are a lot of earthquakes in this area. Do you see the statues at the top of the building in the back?

Hang on! They’re actually people. No, wait! They’re workers.

All the temple building entrances were covered with big curtains. Inside the curtains were Buddhas and statues and offerings. Sometimes monks were inside chanting. Mom saw two monks beating on a big drum and blowing conch shells. I saw some ringing cymbals. The drums sounded like thunder, and the cymbals sounded like rain on a metal roof.

           

Since we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the buildings, I did sketches. The right sketch is a Buddha. The real Buddha statue was about two stories high – as big as our house! The left sketch is a kind of protective bird guy.

You could take pictures of the many beautiful paintings outside the temple. These are the Four Heavenly Kings, who guard the four corners of the earth.

 

These painting were of stories that Buddhists tell. The one on the left is about an elephant, a monkey, a rabbit and a bird. At first, the animals were friends. Then they started arguing about who was the best. They only became friends again when they realized that they were all equal. None was more important than the others.

One way that Tibetan Buddhists worship is by spinning prayer wheels. Many of the wheels have sacred scriptures inside. By spinning the wheels, worshippers spread spiritual blessings. You always have to spin them clockwise. I think this one looks like a ballerina.

Sometimes they aren’t that easy to spin. This one has hundreds of books inside.

            

We got two hand prayer wheels. One was a little metal one. The other was a big wooden one. It was hard for me to spin the big one, but easy to spin the little one.

             

Tibetan Buddhists also put up prayer flags. They believe that the wind carries the prayers across the land. The flags come in five colors: red for fire, green for grass, yellow for earth, blue for water and white for clouds.

I feel like I’m a little bit of a Buddhist. Temples make me feel peaceful. It makes me feel good to draw at them.

 

 

Getting down was a lot more fun than climbing up.