Leh - Part 1

Leh...

...turned out to be amazing. It's the longest I've stayed anywhere on my entire trip – second only to my time in Brisbane with Jenny and Dave.

But the journey to get there is a total nightmare. The jeep leaves at 2am from Manali and arrives at 10pm the following night. The road is rough, bumpy, and has sheer vertical drops to the valley below. If a jeep was to go off the road - everyone would be killed.

A few pics from the route – India's Karakoram Highway:



Me – at the top of one of the passes:



The road to Leh:



And to make it worse – the same guy drove the entire way. He looked terrible at the end – and had to keep wiping his eyes which kept running all the time.

Thankfully I met up with Gabe, Jo, and Brock, and we passed the time chatting and taking photos on the way.

It was a huge relief to finally arrive...

The next day we didn't really do that much – just hung out to recover from the journey and start the process of acclimatizing to the 3800 meter elevation.

Someone told us that His Holiness the Dalai Lama was teaching near the town and that the next day would be the last day of the event.

So at 5am we got up and headed out to find the field where the teaching was being given.

It's estimated that between 20,000 to 30,000 were in attendance – and it was – a totally unique and privileged experience.

Waiting for His Holiness to arrive:



Monk's gathering:



The teachings are given in Tibetan and translated into Ladakhi. For the foreigners: a simultaneous English translation is also given - which luckily meant we were all sat near the front.

After waiting for an hour and a half – His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived, and while he prepared himself to speak Tibetan monks debated.

One thing that is immediately obvious about His Holiness is that he is a very unassuming man – and does nothing to draw attention to himself. There's absolutely none of the rock star syndrome displayed by so many of today's leaders. He arrives – does what he needs to do - and then goes. His humility is obvious, and adds to the power of his message.

His Holiness arrives – minimal fuss – and no attention seeking:



For anyone who's interested – here's a summary of his teaching:

1) Tibetan Buddhism has something to offer the world and other religions. While science is trying to understand the mind, the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism have a great deal to say about the mind, and finding a place of inner happiness and peace.

Because of this, His Holiness believes that Tibetans should gain a good western education so that they don't fall behind and can share their own teachings with the world.

2) There are many forces which are working against Tibetan Buddhism in the world. And because of this it's important to study and understand the teachings of Buddhism.

His Holiness also repeated his much repeated teaching that those in western countries should not convert to Buddhism, but should remain with the religious traditions of their own geography. This is not only because of the familiarity with the teaching, but because these religions have the infrastructure to provide each person with the support they need.

3) It's important to retain purity within Buddhism. Just because someone wears a Buddhist monks robe doesn't make them good. It's important for people to remain pure to the teachings they've received. Modernization is all fair and well – but shouldn't be an excuse to replace core teachings with modern thinking.

4) To remain pure one must let the Dharma (Buddhist religious teachings) become a part of each person, letting it become like a light that shines from within.

5) His Holiness also talked about the various strands and traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and taught that while it was important to remain within the tradition one had received, it was extremely important to understand and have an appreciation for the other traditions and to learn from them. They were, he said, like strands in a cord.

This was followed by a teaching on the tri-partite nature of humanity, and the existence of a distinct self which is separate from the body and mind. Luckily – I'd studied this as part of my degree so it was interesting to hear him speak about this from a Buddhist perspective.

As it was the last day of the teachings, the event ended with an initiation for some of the monks. The monks chanted for a while, and then the ceremony took place, which was concluded with a led meditation by His Holiness. It was great to have some time out to think – and during the meditation I came to the conclusion on something I'd been spending a lot of time thinking about...

His Holiness The Dalai Lama concluding the teachings:



It was one of the absolute highlights of my trip, and a real privilege to be able to listen to such profound and yet practical teaching.

The crowd leaving the field – it looks and feels so much like Tibet – it's easy to wonder which side of the Himalayas your actually on: