The Journey to Mustang

We have arrived at the caves in Mustang and the caves were filled with much more than we ever could have dreamed of! There are scrolls everywhere, drawings on the walls, amulets as well as a stupa. We have also found a skeleton, but I have not heard whether it is of a Lama or a King or a pauper. All of this will take our scholars and those proficient in history and archaeology a long time to decipher. Our village will be so excited when we return. But I am moving too fast. The adventure arriving here was exciting and perilous and I wish to begin there. So please excuse me while I digress …

I woke up the morning we were to leave for our adventure from a dream that had burned itself into my waking mind. I understood this dream to be important for the journey ahead. In it, I dreamt that I was a bear moving along the trail, which way was forward I did not know. Sniffing along the trail, I noticed a sweet scent from over the hill; the direction the trail headed. As I walked up the hill, in front of me was a majestic mountain, rainbows and coloured lights were firing from every angle! Notably, there was a multi-coloured halo arising from the peak. I knew this to be a beyul and felt instantly at peace. I have arrived. At that moment, I felt clear in my understanding of emptiness. All the world about me, including myself, is impermanent. While I exist, so do I not exist. Not in any way I believe myself to. This now I know. As I experienced the fullness of this moment in the dream, I heard a whooshing noise. I looked left, right … then I looked up just as a huge rock was rushing down towards my head. Just before it hit, I awoke.

I did not understand what this dream meant, nor did I try to understand it. I had had premonitory dreams before and so I merely pondered the dream and replayed it in my mind. I also replayed the feelings felt within the dream in the parts of my body which became excited from the experiences. When I feel those excited parts in my body arise again as we travel, I will know when the dream is being lived. As it happens, by doing this, I was able to save the life of one of Shelby, one of our team. But please allow me to return to my story chronologically.

I packed up my items and medicines needed for the trip and met everyone in the village. Our yaks, carts and Sherpas were waiting for me as I arrived. As the rest of the team arrived, we made our way towards the mountain. The sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains and beams fired from spaces between mountain tops towards our team, a positive and auspicious sign. When the weather is good it means that the gods will be there to support our journey. I breathed in a sigh of relief as my anxiety turned to excitement. We are meant to find whatever is in those caves. I also remember the feeling I got in my dream when discovering the beyul.

The journey was difficult. There were two days in the jungle where we were constantly being drained by leeches. It does not matter how well your body is covered, a leech will find its way onto your skin. I remember how every night I removed at least ten of them off of my body. I know they cannot help themselves. It is sad karmically that these being can only survive by drinking the blood of other animals. It reminds me to pay attention to my intentions in order not to be reborn as a leech. It is the continual creation of karma which keeps all of us entrapped within this state of khor ba (Samsara). I avoid my own pain which deepens my karmic suffering, I pretend others pain is not my own and again I deepen my karma. Even happiness can deepen my karmic suffering, because happiness will similarly change. If I cling to my pleasure or pain in the moment, I will always continue to develop suffering. The truth is in mi-tag-pa, in impermanence. What is the need to cling to what only will change? When I first learned of mi-tag-pa I chose not to believe it. I thought that I would find it to be false (it is good to question the authority of teachings, but do not tell that to my fellow villagers, especially the monks) but I cannot discover one thing that does not change. Even the mountains will one day crumble. Even my body will one day bloat, will pus from every orifice and will decay, emitting a horrible smell that will scare even the strongest of warriors. Even I will die.

Luckily, this is not the journey that I will die in. As I travelled, I made sure to keep my eyes open for any medicines that I could either use or take back to the new medicine factory being built. I am very very excited for the factory. Our village and neighbouring villages will gain much merit once it is built. Our village will become a beacon of healing in the mountains.
Once we opened out into more barren lands, Shelby came up to me feeling somewhat dizzy. I took her pulse, and found nothing too strange in her condition. I gave her water and a few precious pills to take. Two now, and two in the evening. I made sure to keep my attention on her.

When we finally arrived at the caves, my heart leapt! We were all so delighted to finally have reached the destination of our journey! Who knows what treasures we will find inside? Now, before anyone climbed up the dangerous looking rock face to reach the caves, two of us performed a purification ritual. We stood at the bottom of the caves and burned juniper while chanting mantras for the smoke to take upwards to clear the path of any dangers. Sadly, this purification must not have reached every part of the area. When Shelby tried to climb up, she fell, and I was reminded of my dream. She fell onto her back. This was not a good sign. I quickly made my way to her and found her unconscious. I felt around her body and feared that her back or neck was broken. When the solidity of the body comes in question, Tibetan medicine works with Badkan, the earth and water elements. I took her pulse again in her state and felt that there is still a chance to help her. With the aid of two of the Sherpas, we moved her body, carefully, back to our camp. From here, I began treatment for cracked bones. I used sen-bug dal-po, Khad-med hDon-pa to create gentleness and speed healing. I also used Rus mThono dBye-ba Klad-ba to help heal the fracture in her head as well as bsDoms-pa (dressing the wounds). I cannot go any further into her healing until she has awoken.

This is all I can get into at the moment. While the others are up in the caves exploring the ruins, I will remain with my patient, I will recite mantras to help speed her healing and keep any demons at bay with ritual. I have seen and healed worse.