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Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, is located on a
plateau 3,660 meters above sea level. It is surrounded
by snow-capped mountains and its lofty position has
learned it the nickname 'roof of the world'. Tibet
itself is enclosed on three sides by mighty mountain
ranges - the Himalayas, Karakoram and Kun Lun mountains. For centuries, Lhasa remained one of the most isolated
and mysterious cities. It is the spiritual home of
Tibetan Buddhism sometimes known as Lamaism because the
monks are known as lamas. During festive occasions the
monks will wear their distinctive pointed head dress
which is either yellow or red in color. The height of
the crest of a lama's hat shows how much he knows. Their
religious head is the Dalai Lama, who was head of the
religious order and government in Tibet before the
Chinese invasion in 1950.
The amazing Potala Palace, a massive red and white
building, overlooks the whole city. Built in the 17th
century, the Potala Palace consists of 13 storeys and
rises over 110 meters in height. Its two parts, the
White Palace and the Red Palace contain libraries,
prayer halls, shrines with over 1,000 rooms in total. It
was the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. The title
'Dalai Lama' comes from the Mongolian language and means
'ocean of wisdom'. It was a title bestowed by a Mongol
ruler on a monk called Tsong Khapa in 1578. He was the
head of the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism which
eventually took control of the government in Tibet.
After nine years under Chinese control, the Tibetans
rebelled against the Chinese authorities and the Chinese
army responded by destroying many monasteries and
killing many monks. The Dalai Lama fled to India
together with thousands of Tibetans. Before the Chinese
invasion, a large proportion of Tibetan men became
monks. Boys could enter the monastery at any age to be
trained and take their vows as monks.
Now only a few
monasteries remain.
Since the Chinese invasion, many modern Chinese
buildings have been put up in Lhasa and a large part of
the city's population is Chinese. In the old part of the
city, however, Tibetan life continues much as it has
done for hundreds of years. Barkhor Bazaar is the city's
market, selling traditional Tibetan goods such as prayer
flags, ceremonial scarves, semi-precious stones, silver
bowls, leather boots embroidered hats and sashes.
Many Tibetans still wear their traditional dress, the 'chuba'
although many now wear western or chinese-styled
clothes. The chuba is a long thick cloak of wool or
sheepskin, belted at the waist. Both men and women like
to wear jewelry, including lucky Buddhist charms made
of silver, gold or semi-precious stones such as
turquoise or amber. Hats of all shapes and sizes are
worn.
The temple or the monastery is
a focal point in the
lives of the Tibetans. Ordinary people visit them to say
their prayers, make offerings, chant hymns and do their
worship rituals. Worshippers walk around the holy place
in a clockwise direction because they believe that they
should walk around the Buddha in the same way that the
planets move around the sun. As they walk, they set
prayer wheels spinning. The wheels contain scrolls on
which prayers are written. As the wheel spins, the
prayers and the blessings are released into the world.
Prayer flags fly from every temple and monastery. These
flags have prayers printed on them which soar off into
the world. |
