These are photographs of Yarchen Gar, an encampment of Tibetan Nyingma Buddhists in the westernmost part of Sichuan Province, near the border of Tibetan Autonomous Region. It has of the largest concentrations of Buddhist monks and nuns in the world.
Webpage established: 9 October 2015
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Fig. 5.8.1. Part of the settlement of Yarchen Gar, mainly monks with a scattering of Han visitors; we stayed in one of these huts with Han nuns and laity. A roaming dog bit my companion within an hour of our arrival. Such dogs made using the outhouses at night impossible (June 2010). |
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Fig. 5.8.2. The second day after arrival--visiting the main ritual site. |
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Fig. 5.8.5. Tibetans coming for the ritual stay for the week in tents. This slope has been converted into a temporary outhouse. |
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Fig. 5.8.6. Ritual dancers, wearing flags. They seem possessed when they dance. A Han Tibetan Buddhist clarifies that they are absorbed in an experiental understanding of emptiness, a form of wisdom which is the opposite of conventional possession by a spirit. |
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Fig 5.8.3. Flagpole in part of the ritual site. |
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Fig 5.8.4. Han Chinese Buddhist visitors. One is a wealthy patron of Tibetan Buddhism; another is considering becoming a monastic; a third is a avid practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. |
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Fig 5.8.7. A ritual dancer up close. |
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Fig. 5.8.8. Temporary quarters of an important lama. |
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Fig. 5.8.10. Visiting student nuns, wearing their ID cards. |
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Fig 5.8.12. The edge of the ritual dance site. |
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Fig. 5.8.9. Tibetan nuns visiting from the Larung Gar Serthar Institute. |
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Fig. 5.8.11. Looking at the ritual dance site through the rope perimeter. |
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Fig. 5.8.13. A yak wandering through the grounds. They can have a bad temper, so if you meet one while crossing a narrow bridge, you should turn back and wait for it to cross first. |
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Fig. 5.8.14. Stone incantation written on the hillside--something seen all over Kham. |
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Fig. 5.8.16. Tantric statues, not in use, in a back corner of a monastery. |
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Fig. 5.8.15. The local police station in Yarchen Gar, with slogans advocating social harmony. |
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Fig. 5.8.17. The bridge over the river to the nuns' section of the encampment. |
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Fig. 5.8.18. Two rival gangs fighting over turf. You want to walk around the area in daylight, when you can see gang members. You also want to walk quietly while carrying a big stick. |
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Fig. 5.8.19. Images of this famous Tibetan Buddhist tulku could be seen around the ritual site. This is in the tent of a senior lama. During the ritual gathering, local police were outnumbered 10,000:1 or so, and many of the Tibetans I saw carried long knives. So it was not a great time to crack down. |
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Fig. 5.8.20. Another view, senior lama's tent. |
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Fig. 5.1.21. Speaking with some Tibetan monks (17 June 2006). |
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Fig. 5.8.22. In our hut, with one Han nun (left) and a Han laywoman who had graduated with a degree in dance from a university in Beijing. |
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Fig. 5.8.24. Prayer flags on a sacred hill; the beach below is sometimes used to dispose of corpses into the river. |
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Fig. 5.8.23. Spells carved on pieces of rock and stacked around a stupa.
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Fig. 5.8.26. The banners and prayer flags near sacred sites are so numerous as to be in need of a cleanup operation. |
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Fig. 5.8.25. More camps of visting Tibetan pilgrims. |
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Fig. 5.1.30. Besides yaks and horses, one also finds herds of goats wandering around the grounds. |
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Fig. 5.8.28. Photo of the main ritual site from the top of the nearby sacred hill. |
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Fig. 5.8.27. A horse next to one of the vistor's camps. |
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Fig. 5.8.29. Pro-vegetarian propaganda installed on a small local stupa. |
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Fig. 5.8.31. The site for "sky burials" (i.e., exposure of the corpse). A flock of vultures awaits eagerly on top of the hill. |
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Fig. 5.8.32. There are numerous bags of juniper, used as incense, in hallways and rooms on the third floor of the main monastery.
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Fig. 5.8.33. Photographs or dead or missing people have been taped to the wall of a monastery. I was told this proximity to the rituals performed in the monastery will allow blessings to be transferred to the persons in the pictures.
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Fig. 5.1.34. The mummy of the monk Puwen. In Tiantai xiayuan, Jiuhuashan, Anhui (Douglas Gildow, 4 July 2009). |
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Fig. 5.1.35. The mummy of Huineng, enclosed in a glass case. In Nanhua Monastery, Shaoguan, Guangdong (Elizabeth Kenney, 17 July 2007). |
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Fig. 5.1.36. Posted photo of the mummy of Dantian. In Nanhua Monastery, Shaoguan, Guangdong (Elizabeth Kenney, 17 July 2007).
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