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| 5.8.1 |
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| 5.8.2 |
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| 5.8.3 |
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| 5.8.4 |
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| 5.8.5 |
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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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| 5.8.7 |
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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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| 5.8.10 |
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| 5.8.11 |
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| 5.8.12 |
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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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| 5.8.19 |
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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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| 5.8.25 |
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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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| 5.8.33 |
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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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