Hot Yogis of Kardang Monastery

Sept. 11, 2013     Lahaul visit begins…

Yesterday, J and I came to Kardang Monastery to meet resident yogi and monastery head Lama Paljor-la. After learning about my project, he generously shared stories with us about the murals, objects, and photos in the main temple. J knows quite a lot about the Drukpa Lineage so they both had much to discuss.

Kardang today is perhaps the best known monastery in Keylong owing to its association with the Shakya Shri Drukpa Lineage. Lineage is of terrific importance in Tibetan Buddhism because tantra is a living spiritual tradition transmitted orally in teachings from master to disciple. In this way, there is a connection from generation to generation which can be traced back to the Buddha himself.

Drubwang Shakya Shri (1983-1919) was an exceptional yogi who started out as a cook in a Drukpa monastery in Tibet. His lineage is unique because, through deep, whole-hearted practice, it is said he received his enlightenment directly from Vajradhara, the primordial Buddha. He was widely recognized as an incredible adept by other masters, including His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama. With pure connections going back only a few generations, Shakya Shri lineage is known for its effective master-to-disciple teachings which guide practitioners swiftly along the Buddhist spiritual path. Shakya Shri mastered Mahamudra in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition, and also Dzogchen through the Nyingma lineage. He was later known for being involved with the Ri-me (non-sectarian) movement.

It was Shakya Shri’s disciple Jetsun Norbu Rinpoche, who returned to Lahaul from Tibet after his master had passed away. As holder of his teachings, and in particular of the Six Yogas of Naropa and Mahamudra, he soon attracted 2000 followers from all over the Western Himalayas. Though his hermitage was thriving, he preferred to live in a cave above Kardang Monastery.  In time, Kardang became known as a yogic training center.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you may have heard of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners who can do unusual physical things. It was some of Shakya Shri’s lineage yogis whom Harvard scientists studied in the 1980s doing tummo practice, in which they can raise the temperature of parts of their body by as much as 17 degrees! One study involved the yogis scantily clothed spending a Himalayan winter’s night outdoors on a rocky ledge at 15000 feet altitude where temperatures reached freezing. The yogis demonstrated they could remain warm and slept through the night without incident. I think most of us would have suffered hypothermia! It occurs to me that Lama Paljor-la could have been one of these yogis.

Kardang Monastery is believed to have been founded about 800 years ago, but nothing seems to remain of its original temple. The current main temple was first built by Norbu Rinpoche in the 1930s, but was rebuilt several years ago by Lama Paljor-la, a disciple of lineage holder and former monastery head Apho Rinpoche. I have had the pleasure of meeting three of Apho Rinpoche’s children in Manali en route to Spiti and coming back from Lahaul: lineage holder Sey Rinpoche, his brother Jampal who is also a recognized reincarnate but prefers to live a quiet life with his family, and Khandro Thrinlay whom I wrote about previously here.

Kardang Monastery is situated directly opposite Keylong on the other side of Bhaga River. See this 360 degree video view below.

[vimeo 145002351 w=600 h=331]

 

When one enters the main temple, one sees a mixture of old and new murals on the walls. The older ones, possibly no older than the 1930s, were painted originally on canvas so they were removed and reinstalled. They collage the walls alongside newly painted scenes.

At the altar are Buddha Shakyamuni statue on the middle, Vajradhara on the left and Padmasambhava on the right (also known as Guru Rinpoche, who introduced Buddhism to Tibet in the 8^th century).

The monastery has a large library which includes the complete Kangyur, given to Norbu Rinpoche by the king of Bhutan, and the complete collection of the Wisdom Words of His Holiness the 4^th Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual leader of the Drukpa Lineage.

Above the main temple is a room that had belonged to Apho Rinpoche.  On the walls are paintings depicting Milarepa’s story that were originally painted on canvas and reinstalled in this new temple.

I’m spending the night here tonight in one of the monastery guest rooms. There’s an Ani-la (nun) who has kindly cooked for me, but mostly Kandang’s community of eight monks and seven nuns are lone retreatants living in simple huts and cooking for themselves.

J left this morning, and took the bus back to Manali. It was wonderful traveling with her, and I’ll miss her company to share travel discoveries with. Yes, so I’ll be here for several days on my own devices, until my next travel companion K arrives and we drive together to Ladakh. On my list of things to do here are to see Shashur and Tayul Monasteries.

Tomorrow I plan to walk back to Keylong via trail and footbridge across Bhaga River.  I hope the paths are clearly visible and I don’t get lost! There’s no taxi to be had here unless I call for one from Keylong.  And as Khandro-la’s assistant had told me, Lahaul does not have so much in the way of Indo-Tibetan mandalas, but is rather itself considered a Chakrasamvara mandala manifest, one should experience it on foot.  Even though we are at over 11,000 feet altitude, it seems not too hard to go downhill and not terribly far to walk perhaps 5-8 kilometers, so I think I should follow this advice and experience Garsha. After all, I am over the worst of altitude adjustments. I had vice-grip headaches at night which made it hard to sleep, but the head pain progressively improved, and by the end of the first week, went away. So while I’m a bit short of breath sometimes exerting uphill, it’s not a hardship.

All photos © 2013, Eva Lee.