FATE OF THE GUGE KINGDOM
Written by: Dr. Sam Osmanagich
Western Tibet
May 2017.
I’m on a flight Llasa to Ngari (Ali), from east to west Tibet. Endless space, stone deserts framed by the mountain chain of Himalaya, eternally under the snow. Here and there were the lakes, but nothing green.
Ngari is at 4600 meters of altitude. No airplanes at the new airport recently converted from military to civil purpose. We came down by the stairs with the sunny weather, welcoming us, but it is five degrees below zero. The air is thin, very thin. The lungs inhale faster, seeking for the oxygen.
To me, Tsenko and Boris, the passports were taken for the control and the four permits as well. They made a copy of them. Finally, we met the guide Djang Chu. He is 38, Tibetan. He lived in India, and he has learnt five languages (English, Hindi, Nepalese, Butane and Mandarin). He always wished to go to Europe. He has a Chinese ID card, but not the passport. He passes from India to Tibet avoiding the border pass. Until 2015, he lived near Nepal with his mother, wife and son. After the catastrophic earthquake, he moved to western Tibet.
The five-hour ride is following the Himalayas. They are long as it’s the horizon. You can’t see the beginning or the ending. We know that all the way to the west is Pakistan and on south below them is India. On the top of the mountain chain, stands the mountain dome several hundred meters tall. Regular, as if it’s sculpted. Hang Mon is its name. Tibetan call the Abi Kali Mountain, the “Holy Mountain”.
Tsenko told me how he, from time to time, gets the information from the spiritual world. Beneath the Himalayas were the civilizations living, but not in the physical form as ours.
We stop at one hill with a beautiful view on the stone canyons. I focus upon the dome mountain and close my eyes.
MEDITATION
An image appears to me of a green, scaled, dragon head. Dark eyes, sparkling yellow pupils. With my hand, I pointed in the direction of the dome Abi Kali Mountain. Suddenly, as the wall of glass was raised, as a barrier. Only the white mountain tops. The spiritual access isn’t allowed.
***
I spoke to Tsenko about my experience. A very, very old civilization is underneath that mountain. However, they control the spiritual access and disallow it to us, the humans.
He tells that he felt the same thing, but I’ve described it better.
***
Tholling is the location of the most famous Buddhist Monastery in Ngari. It was established by Yeshi-O at the beginning of the 10th century. It isn’t only the one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Tibet, but also the one most respected. Before, it had many golden Buddha statues, 108 Buddha terracotta towers and numerous murals with the natural size figures.
The Monastery is actually the complex with the temple in the central part in the shape of the Mandala, and seven more temples with many drawings, statues and murals.
The beginning of the Mao’s Cultural Revolution in 1967 resulted with the destruction of the religious, spiritual and cultural heritage which wasn’t in accord with the rigid communistic norms. Tibet, because of its profound spiritual roots suffered especially in the impact.
The Tholling complex is mostly destroyed. Mandala temple is totally devastated in the inside, the statues, the murals, the paintings. The systematic destruction lasted until this complex was unrecognizable.
Before in Thooling, 200 Buddhist Monks have lived, today there are thirteen.
I enter the only remaining opened temple. One monk speaks a little English. Small, thirty-year-old man shows me the place where once stood the statues. Today they are gone. On the walls were the remains of the paintings, erased in the greater part.
“This is original, almost a thousand years old, and this is 800 years old. This, 500 years. This statue is new, a gift for us, this one is also new…” he was explaining.
“On this photography is the ninth Lama, this is the tenth, and this one thirteenth”, he goes on.
“Where is the fourteenth, Dalai Lama?” I asked.
He lowers the voice.
“No, no, it’s forbidden”.
He clenches his hands into the fist, extends them, and then crosses them. I understood, he would end up in prison to put on the photo of the Dalai Lama.
***
Sad, I left the temple.
“How the Tibetans, the Buddhists, earned the karmic punishment like this?” I asked myself.
***
Around the monastery is the village with several hundred inhabitants. We checked three “hotels”. Ten very modest rooms with one bathroom on the floor. It’s interesting that there is no separate toilet, but each one has Internet and mobile phone signal. At the village on the main street, the most beautiful office is China Telecoms. The sewage is disputable, there is no hot water most of the time, and the heating is something that exists only in imagination. The temperature in the rooms was equal to the external (during the nights it’s below zero). This little place has two military outposts in the main street and the police station with the jeeps circling around.
One needs to be objective. With the Chinese occupation of Tibet (although the Chinese say that Tibet has always been their territory) the elements of the civilization have arrived. Today everything is electrified, heated and with organized sewage in Llasa, with water, roads, post, communication means. The Tibetan villages rarely have the toilet inside the house; in the need, they use the outdoors. The hygienic habits are on the medieval level.
Two days in Tholling we had only rice with eggs and tea. Internet signal was solid, but in China, there is no access to the You Tube channel and Google or other browsers. Therefore, if you type any search term you won’t get the search results.
For me, this was the acclimatization period on 3600 meters of the altitude.
***
The residence of the Guge Kingdom is just twenty kilometers from Tholling. The first King of Guge took the leadership in the region of the west Tibet from the neighbouring Shan Shu Kingdom in the 10th century. He started spreading the new religion – the Buddhism. On a steep, rocky elevation, right above the river, they started excavating the caves, creating the first structures, and then came the time for the temples. The Kingdom grew and in the capital, there were ten thousand inhabitants. They ruled with the vast spaces.
Whole seven centuries, the Guge Kingdom was the defense pillar of the Tibet for the enemy intrusions and the protection of the Buddhism. So it was until the year 1630 when the ruler of the Guge Kingdom sent the army to the war which they lost. Since then, this Kingdom lost its power for forever.
That what remained preserved until the arrival of the Chinese Red Army was impressive. Numerous temples, statues, murals, drawings, stone sculptures, manuscripts…The Cultural Revolution in 1967 has brought the Chinese soldiers, which destroyed orderly the interiors of the temples and everything that was valuable inside them.
A huge canyon, bigger than the Grand Canyon in Colorado, takes us to the capital of the Guge Kingdom. Millions of years before, here was the big lake and the continuous horizontal line is clearly visible on the rocky cliffs when the period of drain came and the huge winding water flow was formed. Now we are in the last phase when the small river reminds on the geological shifts. But this was enough for the establishment of the large community around the water.
The passage through the gate takes us to the city which is composed of the inhabited artificial caves, brick and clay houses and temples. The first temple is the “White Temple”. They unlock the padlock, we enter, and the photographing is forbidden. The murals are partially destroyed. The base of the Buddha statues was empty. In front of the fence are the photos from 1925 made by the English photographer during his visit. They show how the statues looked before the Chinese soldiers have destroyed them.
The central Buddha statue is destroyed as well. The smaller, substitute one is placed beneath the stand. It’s hard to describe the disbelief and sadness in these moments. Simply, you are incapable of saying anything sense full or to offer the solution.
I decided to do the focused meditation.
MEDITATION
I can see the horseman coming out through the gate. Plenty of flags. The times of glory and progress. They imposed the Buddhism in the region and violently erased the earlier beliefs. It was the time of the greater force and less spirituality.
My telepathic message will be heard. I only need to show the honesty and modesty.
***
We continue to ascend. Climbing to 3800 meters isn’t simple. You get exhausted twice as fast and you get twice as less oxygen. Therefore, there is no need to rush.
The next is the “Red Temple”. With the same picture. Crippled spiritual tradition.
From the “Red Temple,” we move to the top. The caves are mostly in the lower parts. They were usually built for the soldiers, one person. Some are bigger, for more persons, the poor families. In the walls the spaces for the shelves are carved, niches. Sleeping on the firm ground. The cold air entered for the most of the time in the year.
The constructed building is composed of the bricks and mud in combination with the stone, making separated lines. The rooms were of the modest surface always, but protected better than the caves.
We approach the top. The stairs took us to the narrow openings, as if to disable the access to the King’s enemies. However, this city was never conquered. It was well established on the steep side.
Finally, we reach the top. It’s actually a larger plateau, which has one more temple, the Kings home and larger fenced space. Djang, the guide said it was the stalls. This sentence ripped my ears. That would be very impractical.
“It is, 100% that was the stall. The ticket seller told me so,” Jang was convincing me.
The fenced space is 30×20 meters. It has three narrow doors and a broad entrance.
I sit and close my eyes.
MEDITATION
At first, I had a thought of a “summer ceremony”. In this fenced space the ruler was receiving the audience the foreign rulers with the delegations. Great holiday festivities took place here. The prominent members of the Guge Kingdom came here from the distant regions. Parties were held for the higher class from the Kingdom’s capital city.
The Guge Kingdom brought the Buddhism to Tibet, but at the same time, self-imposing determined the Karma. A thousand years later the Chinese invaded Tibet.
The connection between the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun and the Holy Pyramid Mountain Kailash will be something that will be heard and seen at need. My telepathic thought will be directed to China. To soften them to have the moderate attitude towards the Tibet and Tibetans. More and more Chinese will be receiving the Buddhism. Chinese which travel the world will be able to know the true history of Tibet and the role of their government six decades ago. China will start to finance the reconstruction of the temples.
Tibetans will gain the historical chance to come back to their homes. But, it will be up to them whether they will preserve the tradition and to have the will to extend it.
***
I share the information which I obtained during the meditation with our small company
“In Guge Kingdom, there was the army. In it the commanders, generals. Artists. Priesthood, wealthy traders and prominent members from this, but other cities as well. They used to come to their capital city and here, in this fenced closed space, the festivities were held. The dance was followed by the music.
From time to time the foreign delegations came from the distant regions. They would enter the small doors, head bowing. The King and his escort and security would enter trough the special, the biggest gate connected directly with his residence.”
Djang listened and then he translated my words to the Buddhist priest. And, he commented:
“I agree with you completely. You would have to meet our Buddhist monks in the temples studying history and knowledge. You are the professor and you have the knowledge, they know, so you would have a lot in common.”
***
Dalai Lama with his peaceful politics and his gentleness and human affection, spreaded the spirituality and showed the respect for all, is an example for the Tibetans. I hope they will follow his messages and that the different and more favorable context for the new Tibet will be formed.
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