Lahaul: Garsha Khandroling, Land of the Dakinis

Lahaul is known by Tibetan meditation practitioners and adepts as Garsha Khandroling, Land of the Dakinis. Dakinis are energetic female spiritual guides often depicted as blissful and fierce dancers.

Lahaul has an illustrious Drukpa Kagyu lineage of highly realized yogis and yoginis who do the Six Yogas of Naropa, esoteric methods bestowed by master to disciple in direct teachings. These are the meditators who go into seclusion in caves or simple dwellings for years or decades in order to realize spiritual liberation–that is to say, Buddha-nature through tantric wisdom and compassion practices.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have heard about some of the mind-over-matter feats that yogis demonstrate which confound conventional explanations, such as levitation, miraculous healing of the sick, making snow fall, taking bad karma upon oneself for the benefit of another. Another perplexing thing, upon death, the bodies of many advanced practitioners do not decay according to the normal time frame of most people. They are believed to be fully aware in the bardo state, the intermediate stage between death and rebirth.

Well, I’ve learned that while it’s difficult to wrap one’s rational mind around such reported phenomena, sitting on the I-don’t-know fence is a flexible and open-minded place to be. After all, outside of spiritual matters we can’t explain, for example, quantum entanglement or what Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” but it appears to happen!

Garsha has attracted and hosted countless masters and disciples in pursuit of enlightenment for over 2000 years in unbroken continuity. Inspirations for pilgrims include the sacred abodes of Chakrasamvara at Drilbu Ri Mountain opposite Keylong; Avalokiteshvara at Phakba Temple in Triloknath; and Varjavahari at Markula Devi Temple in Udaipur.

Keylong, Lahaul’s largest village, has several important monasteries only a few kilometers away. These were flourishing Buddhist centers centuries ago, such as Kardang, Shashur and Tayul Monasteries. The oldest one, Gandhola (Guru Ghantal) dates to 1^st century C.E. according to archeological evidence. I visited each of these places and to come will be posts featuring them.

The delight to be found in Lahaul is that over time, masters have left legends, relics, shrines, stupas, sacred paintings, sculptures, and other spiritual encounters that dot the landscape awaiting discovery by travelers and seekers. The more you look, the more you will see, but it takes some uncovering. For example, what looks unimpressive on the outside may contain a treasure on the inside, such as Jabjes Monastery in Kardang Village. Or one has to do a bit of breathless hiking up a mountain to see some of these old monasteries, hidden meditation caves, and charnel grounds.

However, I’m told by locals that most visitors just pass through Lahaul, heading to the more tourist traveled and trekked sites in Ladakh or Spiti. What a pity!

More readily noticeable and understood by travelers is that Keylong stretches along the main trade route between the Rohtang and Baralacha passes above the Bhaga River. Besides being a thoroughfare between Ladakh, Kullu and Spiti regions, it is also the district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, with strategic military presence. In addition, above and below the village one sees lush farmlands growing barley, peas, potatoes, corn, cabbage, mustard greens, squash, and much more. Apples and other fruit orchards are plentiful. My local driver D told me that agriculture is the economic mainstay of Lahaul, and judging from some of the mansions built by some farming families, the wealth of this abundant agrarian heartland is evident. The food harvested is transported all over India. I would not have guessed that at an altitude of over 10,000 feet there would be such a cornucopia!

D’s ancestral farmland is in the Manali area of Kullu Valley, but he lives and works in Keylong to service the tourist industry as an extension of the family business. Indeed, it’s all in the family. I’ve learned from Lahaulis and Spitians I met that relatives live and work together. This was always the tradition, and it largely continues today.

Another thing I learned was that unlike Tibetans, Lahaulis, Spitians and Ladakhis, while culturally and historically part of Tibet, are indigenous to their regions, and as such are not refugees in India but full citizens. In addition, they have their own language and customs. In fact, the Indian government recognizes them as ethnic “tribals,” who may therefore qualify for certain affirmative action positions or opportunities.

It isn’t only just the passerby tourist who may miss the treasure to be found in Lahaul. I realized that my driver, while he probably identifies himself as a Buddhist, is fairly uninformed about the great legacy of his roots. At one point in our travels, he asked me how much I knew about the Dalai Lama and Buddhism. I thought it was a prompt for me to in turn ask him what he knew and be enlightened by his local knowledge, but it was not a segue way to that at all! He told me he tried to find books on Buddhism in Hindi, but could not. It pained me to hear this–that someone looking for knowledge could not access it.

D said that Lahaulis are educated in Indian schools, are fluent in Hindi but not Tibetan, and frequently not English, either. I noticed this is especially true of the women, who largely live domestic lives caring for family and have little contact with others. English is spoken mainly to communicate with foreigners. Feeling affinity for Indian culture and language, many Lahaulis have assimilated to a large extent in recent generations. Most cannot read the readily available contemporary books in Tibetan on Tibetan Buddhism to fill in on the lack of local education on this topic. Books in English are plenty, but nor can they read these since the written language is “too deep” to understand. It was an exquisite and sad irony that I, a foreigner from the other side of the world, knew more about his spiritual roots than he did. That he, a resident in the incredible Garsha, a descendent of the local culture, could not find one book he could read to study Buddhism deeper!

It’s a double whammy of cultural distance and spiritual loss. Without being able to study Buddhist philosophy and learn about its unique teachings on dependent origination, one runs the risk of meaningless ritual practice with no or limited realization of freedom from life’s delusions and sufferings.

What’s more, Tibetan Buddhists have a marvelous literary and scholarly tradition, founded on the translation and study of original source materials. Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo’s translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Tibetan has not only preserved a written heritage now lost in India but produced a renaissance of tantric study and practice. This was during the late 10^th to 11^th centuries, a flourishing period referred to as the second great propagation of Buddhism. It is the Indo-Tibetan history I’ve been trailing through the sacred art of mandalas, monastery murals, and sculptures.

In fact, a (French) Tibetan Buddhist nun, while living in Keylong, discovered the very same thing–that Lahaulis did not know much about the dharma history of their own land. Furthermore, part of why Lahaul’s Buddhist legacy is little known is due to a dearth of literature on it. So she wrote the book Garsha: Heartland of the Dakinis in 2011, published by the Garsha Young Drukpa Association. I have a copy in English, the language it was originally written in. Currently, it needs to be translated into Hindi for local readers.

It is a remarkable small book, jam-packed with a wealth of information about Garsha’s ancient history, the Drukpa lineage masters, dakinis, the founding of monasteries, anecdotes, local legends, descriptions of sacred sites, miracles, reliquaries, carved stones, and much more. It is probably the most, and perhaps only, comprehensive account of Lahaul’s history from the Buddhist perspective. Because it is written by a monastic with open access to living lineage teachers, and unpublished historic materials in Bhoti/Tibetan, the book is a treasure trove of knowledge.

I learned about the book and purchased it from Khandro Thrinlay la when I met her in Manali en route to Spiti (see earlier post here). She is a lama and direct descendent of the Drukpa Kagyu Shakya Shri lineage, with very close spiritual ties to Lahaul. My travel companion J was happy to find it available for sale later in Keylong because she wanted to buy it and donate copies to Tabo Monastery Library in Spiti and The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. Funny thing, though, she did not find it in a book store but at a small travel agency/internet cafe establishment run by a lovely Lahauli man keen on the book. You see what I mean? The more you look, the more you will find around here!

All photos © 2013, Eva Lee.