Hi I have just come out of the woods for a day to Garze, Kham, a town big enough to have internet... I have reemerged only to buy an ax for the monastery in the amazingly beautiful Dzogchen valley where I have been staying since arriving in Kham a couple of weeks ago. My job there is to chop wood and carry water, which I am told will be no different after I acheive enlightenment in some distant Aeon from now. But oddly, there was no ax at the monastery so I have actually til now been merrily smashing the boards I could with a sledge hammer, a spectator sport for the nuns and monks, a visualization for me of my own ego-dismantling process. On arrival I saw some little nuns swinging the hammer like pixies at the side show trying to ring the bell and so took over the work from them. Now the smashables are exhausted so I am making my small extra contribution to the Monastery by taking the trip to Garze to buy axes and such. There's lots of axable wood around there. I will ride the five hour bus back to Dzogchen tomorrow morning.
The monks don't seem to do much work, but they smile and laugh a lot and a big group of them did build a nice bridge yesterday (the pics I wanted to share, sigh) but in general, feminism hasn't reached Kham yet. And last week I helped one monk put the final touches on the head altar where the Buddha statue sits at the recently rebuilt Gompa. My height came in handy for painting and nailing the brass plaques into place. The Chinese are tolerant enough to allow the rebuilding of monasteries these days, though all the monasteries in the area were demolished during the Cultural REvolution. It was a great loss but doesn't Buddhism teach the impermanence of all things and didn't this give the artisans a chance to do some great new work?
The valley itself is at the foot of a glacier with high granite spires on three sides and is a moraine rather like the one formed by glaciers at Wallowa Lake. Here the river that flows through the valley pours out of a hole in the rock wall below the glacier. A hundred meters away from this is a cave where one of the great modern Tibetan Masters, 19th Century, Patrul Rinpoche wrote a bible called Words of My Perfect Teacher. This is considered one of the holiest areas in Tibet and so beautiful it is clear why this is so. When I am not chopping wood and carrying water from the river to the kitchen in two buckets held by cords a bamboo pole draped over my shoulders, the humble job for which I am given a room and food at 15 Yuen ( about $2)/ day, I am having a great time exploring this and the neighboring valleys. If it was not so remote, took three days on rough busses to get here, this would surely be a major destination for trekking. As it is there are few westerners. I have pictures to attach but I cannot figure out how to get them from my USB pin onto the yahoo, just tried for ten minutes, tough to read Chinese, pics may have to wait, but take my word for it its amazing here... not just the scenery but the people. these Khampas are still old style Tibetan. They are very curious and friendly, love having their picture taken and I am for them a walking circus attraction, no end of amusement over the size of my feet and my height.
Right now there is a high level initiation at the monastery so it is filled with monks and lamas from all over. Not being a monk, and very unlikely I will become one, I can't attend and wouldn't understand a thing anyway. But in August there will be some teachings for foreigners, mostly Chinese, and for this there will also be English translation. I am very interested in these and will probably stay here abouts until then traveling to other monasteries and treks within a days travel, may not be back on line before getting back to Chengdu August 29th just in time to get out of China before my visa expires. I have decided not to go to northern China or through much of China at all, it'll be there later, has been for about 5,000 years now. I want to stay here and just get to know this area and the people rather than just going to the tourist places among the Borg. This area is Borg free. REsistance is not futile after all.
I am meditating a bit too, maybe 5-8 hours/day depending on the definition of meditation, and have discovered that until one does this, one really has no idea how crazy one's mind is. Hope you are all insane enough to find out yourselves one day...Well, the 4th Noble Truth says there is a path and get on it, so as Allen Ginsberg wrote in "America", I am putting my queer shoulder to the wheel even if I aint queer and aint in America!
Tashi Dilek! and hugs to you all yes you! Kevin or Tree depending on your choice...
Happy Birthday Mom and Kathy, may you both have a great many years of good times to come, love to you both... __._,_.___
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