Our Tibetan Journey
by Ashleea Nielsen

After leaving Katmandu, we passed through the remaining lush green terraced land of northern Nepal and wound our way up the rocky mountain passes. At one point along the bumpy dirt road, we passed through a glacier, where all of us had to get out of the bus and hike a bit, while they put stones under the wheels of the bus so the bus could move ahead. Just a week earlier we were told this had been a glacier cave; but most of it had already melted off by the time our bus was passing through. There was talk of some danger....perhaps the glacier would suddenly fall! When we finally walked across Friendship Bridge, the long-awaited border between Nepal and Tibet, we were all very excited. It was an exhilarating moment for us as we felt we had passed the first difficult test of the Chinese: allowing us through customs. As it turned out, the Chinese in uniforms and in plain- clothes were always keeping an eye on our group. We felt that this was standard procedure with them, as they did not harass us.

We spent the first night in Tibet at a sterile- looking modern hotel in the small village of Zhangmu. This was a surreal experience as the hotel was chock full of Chinese military personnel, and they had a look right out of a Hollywood casting call. They didn't seem to take much notice of our group, but the locals gawked at us, and we stared back for this was our first experience with Tibetan natives. For the most part, they seemed curious, rather dirty and hungry. They begged with such sad eyes. This early group of Tibetans that we encountered were the most impoverished, and later on the voyage, we witnessed much healthier, happier and prosperous natives. It was this evening that I ordered my first cup of the Tibetan brew called butter tea, which is a staple in Tibet and drank morning, noon and night by all Tibetans. This tea is made of a concoction of tea, yak butter, salt and soda, and it's really not as bad tasting as some people had reported to me that it would be. I had heard stories about this tea and how difficult it is for those with Western taste buds to appreciate. I rather liked it, and I figured I must have a strong affinity with Tibet to enjoy this tea, for not many in our group could get it down! I also enjoyed another Tibetan favorite: tsampa which is ground and roasted barley, and I became addicted to momos (Tibetan dumplings) during my visit there. While many of our group were finicky eaters for fear of getting dysentery, I heartily ate all the meals everywhere we traveled.

At one small establishment enroute to Shigatze, after we had ordered and were awaiting our food, smoke started billowing out from the kitchen. However, at that moment, the waitress served me a most delicious smelling soup, and I decided to chow down despite the smoke. Three of us were the only ones that remained slurping soup while smoke quickly filled the restaurant, for all other customers cleared out. Having traveled in many Third-world countries and having contacted serious dysentery on one trip which stayed with me for a long time, I have searched for and discovered the trick to remain healthy! Now when I travel to locales where there is possibly food and water pollution and contaminants, I always pack large bottles of my favorite brand of colon- cleanse, and I faithfully take this powder in juice or bottled water every night upon retiring. Whatever I might have contacted in the food I've eaten each day is moved right on through my colon and out the next morning.

As we continued on our trip, we encountered sights that gave us a thrill. We screamed with delight at the first sight of an adorned yak with red plumes, bells and harnesses. These stately animals work the farmlands with the natives, and are quite large compared to the diminutive Tibetans. The yak is to the Tibetans what the American buffalo was to Native American Indians, for the yak is similarly used: the milk and flesh for butter and meat; the hair for ropes, tents and jewelry; the hide for boots and baskets; the horns for agricultural tools, and the dung for fuel.

The second night was spent at a quaint motel in Tingri West called Mount Everest where we viewed a full moon rising above Mt. Everest and the Himalayan ridge. After dancing exuberantly under the Full moon, I joined friends and Tibetan families gathered in the kitchen/dining room/bar/family headquarters. It felt homey for the children were drawing, writing, and doing homework, and other family members were cooking and talking. Many of our group didn't make it out of their bedrooms as the elevation was already getting to them and they were quite ill. I drank beers and chatted up the waiters as best I could with my few words in their language and their broken English. Despite the warning that drinking beer at this altitude was courting disaster, I enjoyed several beers and I figured if I was going to make the transition to the Other Side, then I was going to pass-on relaxed!

I rejoiced that we had survived this far, considering the treacherous roads we had been on! One of the things we learned about the Tibetan tradition is that they are taught to think about death and not fear it as much as some other countries and traditions. They remind themselves often of the deeper truth of impermanence. According to the Tibetans, when people die, it is because of three factors: your life-force is exhausted, your merit is exhausted or your karma is exhausted. So if all three are exhausted, you really don't have a choice, but if only one or two are exhausted, you can still prolong your life.

Another mode of transportation that we used on our pilgrimage was an ancient- looking barge to travel to the oldest monastery in Tibet, Samye Monastery. We crossed the river with only our backpacks to spend one night there at the monastery. This is the only way to get there and is used by everyone.... tourists, locals, and school kids, and we all sat contentedly together on the barge. After traveling for about an hour and half on the river, we were escorted onto a military-style truck where we hung on for dear life to the sides and crossbars on the top of this beat up old truck. We held on this way through the bumpy roads of a desert landscape until we finally arrived at the glorious golden-domed monastery. What a vision it was to see this extraordinary monastery in the wilderness!

One way to describe Tibet is the word "old." Everything in Tibet seems old, even the young children carry the light of an "old soul" in their eyes. Tibet is an ancient world struggling to survive the new. Although the country is becoming modernized through the influence of the Chinese, it is rare to see something that looks brand new, so that when you do walk into one of the few modern hotels or department stores in Lhasa, the capital, the newness feels out of place. I didn't much care for the "new" that I encountered, for it felt false and strange, and I was delighted with the reality construct of the old which strangely enough felt familiar to me. The only time that I truly appreciated the new was with the modern bathrooms and toilets, for I have been spoiled growing up in the West. Along our road trip, the only toilets we could locate were horrible holes in the ground with an incredible reeking stench. If you were brave enough to actually enter one of these toilets, you had to take in a strong, deep breath and try to hold it all the time you were in there! Many of our group chose to go behind a rock instead!

I had discovered through my research into the water situation in Tibet that nuclear dumping on the Tibetan plateau had contaminated the sources of Asia's five largest rivers, and that Tibet supplies the water to these rivers. What if another energetic matrix could be added to these waters there to shift this pollution pattern? Thus was born the inspiration for the Healing Waters to Tibet Project.

I sent out the call...through snail mail, through e-mail, through the coconut telegraph.....for contributions of sacred healing waters. The response was immediate, and through the months prior to my journey to Tibet, I collected these precious waters. These waters were sourced from sacred springs throughout the world, from ceremonial activation and from technologies which increased their healing qualities. They came from the healers of light and love from all over the planet....England, Australia, Hawaii, Thailand, Alaska, Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, California, and many other special locations.

Throughout the history of time, water has been used as a Holy Sacrament, whether it has been for baptism, cleansing or the fountain of youth. Healing waters have been discovered all over the planet, and humanity has continually flocked to these sources to partake of the healing properties they find there. The awesome potential power of these waters is this: for every drop of activated water empowered with higher frequencies, this one drop can then assist in the clearing of a large amount of polluted waters. My sidekick on this mission was Quan Yin, the embodiment of compassionate loving kindness. Quan Yin is known in Tibet as Tara. As the Bodhisattva of Compassion, she hears the cries of all living beings. I believe her to be one of my main guides, and many clairvoyants describe her as being with me in my energy field. In many images, she carries the pearls of illumination or pours a stream of healing waters from a vase, blessing her devotees with physical and spiritual peace. She is said to have taken a vow that she will enter Heaven last of all, denying herself full enlightenment until after all others have completed their cycles of lives. By meditating on the qualities of Quan Yin, which everyone contains in potential, we begin to cultivate compassion and a deep sense of service. In doing so, we not only help others but also act more more peacefully in our world. The story of Tara is very similar to Quan Yin. The ancient texts speak of Tara whom at one time was the Princess Yeshe Dawa. Her practices were so great and her offerings so numerous that she was told that she would become enlightened in her next lifetime is she chose to return in a man's body. Naturally, she refused and vowed to remain in a woman's form for the benefit of all sentient beings until the current cycle of samsara ends and there is no more suffering in the world. She became known as Drolma, the Mother Who Rescues.

In Tibet, all the various lineage's of Buddhism worship Tara. There are many stories of how she has saved people from tragedies and certain death, rather like Mother Mary in Christianity. Attaining enlightenment is not an end in itself, for the real job of helping others lies ahead. The bodhisattva vow is to help relieve others of their suffering and help others achieve their own enlightenment. All of the buddhas take this vow, and there are many beings that have already have achieved buddhahood. Many of these buddhas are not so famous, and you just never know who might be a buddha! Some of them could appear as outcasts and beggars. The nineteenth-century master Patrul Rimpoche said that there's one quality that stands above the rest: that the master has a heart filled with "bodhicitta"--the real desire to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings. I wore a lovely Quan Yin necklace to remind myself of her presence and involvement in the Healing Waters Project. Quan Yin's radiance, strength, peace and compassion were invited to become a part of my nature, and I felt her energy strongly, especially at the Wesak Festival which was performed on the banks of the River Bhramaputra on the afternoon of May 11.

My friend, Cindy Paulos, offered to video the ceremonies. Cindy is a well-known television and radio personality on Maui and founded Bright Light Productions, a video business that specializes in spiritual and human interest videos. Cindy also brought along a Polaroid camera with lots of film which made her immensely popular with the natives, for most of them had never seen their picture before. The video camera she brought had a viewer that would flip to the side so that the Tibetans could watch themselves "live". Needless to say, Cindy was always surrounded by curious and fascinated onlookers. Because of all the close-ups she shot there, Cindy put together a very tender video titled "Eyes of the Soul" which allows everyone to get a close-up of many of the soulful, incredible eyes that she filmed.

The most important Healing Waters Ceremony was organized to coincide with the Wesak Celebration which in 1998 fell on May 11th. The Legend of Wesak goes like this: At the time of the first full moon of May in a valley lying in the foothills of the Himalayan-Tibet ranges, gathers a group of the Beings who are the custodians on earth of God's plan for our planet and for humanity. These are the ones that are the good guys that lead us from darkness to light. The Buddha appears and wisdom and love are poured forth as he blesses a crystal bowl of water, and when he disappears, the crowd of pilgrims and holy people gathered there take portions of the water in the bowl to distribute to others after first drinking themselves. This is the Water Ceremony of Communion that is reenacted every year.

With the assistance of Tashi and the bus driver, Bob, Cindy and myself journeyed outside of the second largest city in Tibet, Shigatze, to the banks of the River Brahamputra. This holy river is one of the largest rivers in Tibet and begins near Mount Kailash in northern Tibet, the sacred holy mountain of Tibet, and ends at the Bay of Bengal in India. A far distant mountain shaped like a pyramid was used to site the location where our foursome constructed a medicine wheel from the local river rocks we found nearby. We blessed the rocks, the great sacred river, the location, and then I invited the local guardians of the land, the local spirit protectors, to participate prior to beginning our ceremony. I requested Tara and the Master Kuthumi (whose subtle abode is headquartered in Shigatze) to join us. Cindy had her video camera set up and running and then Bob, Cindy, Tashi, the bus driver and myself all joined our voices in "Om-ing." Each of us spoke out loud our prayers, and then we began the Healing Waters Ceremony. I poured each water into the river with the intention of honoring, purifying the pollution and gifting the energies from the many sacred sources that were contained in each little bottle. I envisioned the rivers happy, flowing and healthy. I held the highest intention that the many talents and gifts of everyone on the planet would manifest in an uplifting and inspiring fashion. I held the intention that all polarities could integrate in a positive way, and that everyone all over the world could live their treasured, most loving dreams. After the completion of the ceremony, the river water swirled into the amazing design of the yin/yang symbol in a creamy brown shade, and we truly felt that a balanced energy had been obtained. This was a very auspicious omen.