The Other Day I Met a Yak
It has been a very long time since I have written in my journal and because of this long time, I am unsure as to where to begin. So many events and discoveries over the last month and rituals around the consecration of sites or re-consecration leaves my mind a little scattered. The expedition to the caves last month brought back some of our history which was hidden in texts and has led to the discovery of a stupa within our village which had been lost to us. With the repair and re-consecration of the space we are now able to benefit again by this presence. I have made a point to go and to circumambulate the location each day as part of my discipline in study and this, along with my continued work with the library over near the hills east of my hut, I find I am quite engaged.
Although the winter in the valley is not as harsh or as cold as in the hills, we still must work at just staying warm. Burning dried dung from the yaks seems to provide enough warmth with good clothing but it is the solar panels that have made a difference in these villages now. They do not charge enough battery for everything but they allow us to have lights more and to use our computers and stay a bit warmer. I am not sure I could have survived in this village one hundred years ago.
Last week, as I walked up into the hills, I came upon a lone Yak which had not had his hair clipped and he just stared at me. He was quite magnificent to see. He had some sort of holes or piercing in his ear which showed up when his head turned and the light from behind came through it like a beam which caught me off guard. Attached to the back of the animal’s fur there appeared to be old prayer flags or possibly just coloured fabric attached and tangled within but he was not allowing me to approach too close so I could not see if there was anything printed upon them. I have since learned that this magnificent, rather smelly, beast was probably a yak which was “liberated” during last year’s celebrations around the date of the Buddha’s birth as a gift from one of the villages nearby. This is a practice that happens here. They would have been using ceremonies and rituals specific to the liberation and motivation of the ritual but we cannot be sure why. I learned from the nuns at the library that an animal might be liberated or freed for many reasons, as a scapegoating practice, in appreciation for the work which the animal has offered during the years previously or as an offering to align ones relationship with the deity. Here, in Tibet, the ritual of freeing an animal is called tshe thar and may take place during the Sa ga zla ba or birth month of the Buddha which is in May 2015. The Avalokitesvara’s mantra might be included within the ceremony as this mantra embodies the compassionate salvation of all sentient beings trapped within the six realms of existence (Samsara): the Heaven realm, the demi-god (Asura), human, animal realm, hungry-ghost and hell realm. This Bodhisattva’s mantra aids in the salvation or extinguishing of samsara. Even though only one animal may be freed, the compassionate ceremony is directed toward all sentient beings. The hope is that through the chanting of the Amitabha Buddha’s mantra all sentient beings will gain rebirth into his Pureland. It is the recognition that, although all things are impermanent, the merit of liberating living things will help with the escape from samsara in some way. The Yak I saw was marked by the piercing of the ear and the attachment of prayer flags to act as a symbol of this wisdom. Now when I see a beam of light, I remember the precepts a little better.
I am still working in the library as an artist and as a student. The building now has prayer wheels around it under the overhang so that when you perform a circumambulating meditation before entering, you can spin them which is a recitation of the Dharma. Nagarjuna, who was a Buddhist philosopher, stated that if you write down a text, like the Avalokitesvara mantra in the way it would be spoken and place it within a cylinder then by spinning it, the lessons of compassion written would be given to all. The fourth Panchen Lama, a reincarnation of Amitabha, actually teaches in his writings that if a person spins the prayer wheel just once he or she will benefit more than going on retreat for up to seven years. It not only purifies through the spinning recitation but also gives merit to those who activate it. I spin the wheels as I walk and meditate before entering the new Library each time. I fear my body would not stand even one full year of retreat some days.
So many rituals and so many ceremonies have taken place. The new found history of our village, the new medicine factory and the new library have all begun to create changes happening within us, not just our village. The New Year is approaching and the celebrations and the rituals for purification will be plenty. Juniper has begun to be collected and I was asked to help paint some new Tormas. The Yak is my reminder that compassion for all things, all living beings is required. At the same time I am working of reading a little of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras (Prajnāpāramitā) but I find I am most often like Sriputra in not understanding. I have put a likeness of Majusri on my wall to help. In this likeness he is carrying a large sword and sitting on a lion but as the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, he can offer his help and maybe his sword will cut through my ignorance and wrong sight. The concept of two realms of reality, conventional and ultimate is visible to me and occasionally I begin to get a glimpse of the idea that these two realities are just forms and in that, they are “empty of inherent existence” but then it slips away again. It is the Bodhicitta path which is the desired. The glimpses flash up now and then in front of me but my own faulty thinking prevents me from seeing clearly. I will keep reading and talking with the nuns and learning from the sutras where I can.
