A Step Away from Paradise: A Tibetan Lama's Extraordinary Journey to a Land of Immortality (48 page)

‘Now I’m in my late thirties. I feel something maturing in me. I’ve got these inner feelings, and maybe even abilities, which I’ve never allowed myself to develop. Sometimes I feel the time is coming. I’d like to go on the three year, three month and three day retreat that the lamas go through as part of their training. But I don’t want to do it with the set routine of the practice as it is traditionally done. I want to go somewhere quiet, maybe to a cave, and I want to become a
nagpa
. I want to let my hair grow long and not cut it. I want to wear it in a knot on my head. I will let my fingernails grow. This urge comes from deep inside me. I want to go there and be quiet and let what is inside me come out.’

Raju’s wife walked into the room. She had been at a neighbor’s. Behind her walked in their twelve-year-old son wearing a T-shirt with a tiger on it with the caption ‘Family’. His wife gave a quizzical look, wondering what these two Westerners were doing sitting on the floor with him sipping tea. Raju introduced us, in much the same way I had introduced Barbara and myself to him.

‘They’ve been living in the Kullu Valley for almost three months,’ he said. ‘Barbara is an anthropologist working on her thesis on long life in Tibetan medicine.’ He paused just long enough for his wife to wonder what that had to do with him. ‘And Thomas,’ he said, winking at me, ‘he’s a writer. He’s writing a book,’ he paused for the theatrical effect. ‘He’s writing a book about … ME!’

The End

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Glossary

Beyul
—
Tibetan
. Literally Hidden Land.

Beyul Demoshong
—
Tibetan
. The hidden land in Sikkim (see Demoshong).

Bonpo
— Often regarded as the original Shamanistic religion of Tibet, whose spirits and gods were subdued by Padmasambhava and turned into ‘protectors’ of the dharma or Buddhist teachings.

Chorten
—
Tibetan
(Stupa in Sanskrit). These sacred monuments originally derived from cairns and burial mounds in ancient Asia. Stupas are found throughout the Buddhist world. The Tibetan chorten is usually filled with the relics of a lama or other realized being or with holy objects, texts, etc., and is situated in auspicious locations. Their geometric structure with a square base, hemispherical dome and conical spire crowned by a crescent and disk signifying the moon and sun represents the Buddhist cosmology. Chortens are often found near temples, though they may stand alone, and they usually have a well-worn path called a
kora
around them along which the faithful circle in a clockwise fashion reciting mantras.

Daka
—
Sanskrit
. Male
dakini
(see below).

Dakini
—
Sanskrit
(
Khandro
in Tibetan). Literally: Sky Goer, or Sky Dancer. A female spiritual entity that sometimes takes human form. She can appear to a lama as a vision and act as a guide or revealer of hidden knowledge. If she takes human form, she can not only act as a guide to hidden stores of wisdom but can be his physical consort as well.

Demojong
—
Tibetan
. Literally: Valley of Rice. This is the Tibetan name for the Kingdom of Sikkim, so named because the kingdom’s fertile valleys falling away from the high Tibetan Plateau are well suited to the growing of rice.

Demoshong
—
Tibetan
. Literally: The Great Valley of Rice. This is the name for the Hidden Land, or beyul, that Tibetan tradition maintains is hidden within the Kingdom of Sikkim. Paradoxically, this hidden land is supposedly many times larger than the kingdom itself.

Dharma
—
Sanskrit
(Dhamma in Pali). Literally: that which upholds or supports. In its widest sense, it refers to the order that upholds the cosmos. In the context of this book, it refers to the teachings of the Buddha, especially as understood in a Tibetan Buddhist context.

Dip shing
—
Tibetan
. Literally: invisibility stick. A concoction made from a variety of materials that confers invisibility, so named for one of the main ingredients, a stick from a crows’ nest that when thrown in a swiftly moving stream flows upstream.

Dorje
—
Tibetan
(Vajra in Sanskrit). Means both thunderbolt and diamond. Sometimes used as a name, it refers to the double-sided brass implement used by lamas during religious ceremonies.

Dungsay
—
Tibetan
. An honorific title for the son of a high lama. Thus, Tulshuk Lingpa’s son Kunsang is known as the Dungsay Rinpoche.

Golok
— A relatively small region of eastern Tibet between the Kham and Amdo regions. Some consider it part of Kham, others, part of Amdo.

Gompa
—
Tibetan
. Monastery.

Jinda
—
Tibetan
. Sponsor, especially of a lama or monastery.

Khata
—
Tibetan
. A ceremonial scarf, traditionally of silk, now commonly synthetic, which is presented to lamas or other respected members of the community as a greeting or sign of respect.

Kham
—
Tibetan
. A region of eastern Tibet known for its fierce warriors.

Khampa
—
Tibetan
. A person from Kham.

Khandro
—
Tibetan
. See
Dakini
.

Kora
—
Tibetan
. The circular trail or way around a monastery or other sacred site in the Tibetan world, around which the faithful circle in a clockwise direction reciting mantras. Used also to describe a circumambulation.

Lama
—
Tibetan
(similar to Sanskrit Guru). Loosely analogous to a priest. Strictly speaking, a monk or practitioner of a certain standard. Lamas can be married or not, depending on which branch of Tibetan Buddhism they belong to. The Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelukpa branch of Tibetan Buddhism; he was also the temporal leader of Tibet. His position as compared to other lamas would be roughly analogous to the position of the Pope to other priests.

Lepcha
—The indigenous people of Sikkim and the Darjeeling Hills. Also the name of their language. Known for being a peace-loving people, they rarely put up a fight when others encroached on their land. Thus they often ended up living in the most inaccessible land and were subsequently named the Rong by the invading Nepalis. Rong means ‘Ravine Folk’. The Lepchas believe themselves to have been created from the high pristine snows of Mount Kanchenjunga. They call themselves the
Matanchi Rongkup
, or Mother’s Beloved Children.

Lingpa
—
Tibetan
. A special class of lama with the gift of being able to find hidden treasures (terma: see below) and hidden lands. The more common title for treasure-revealing lamas is terton (see below). While there is no consensus on exactly how a
lingpa
differs from other
tertons
they are generally seen to be the elite of the
tertons
.

Mala
—
Sanskrit
. The ubiquitous rosary of Tibetan Buddhists with 108 beads, used to count the recitation of mantras.

Mantra
—
Sanskrit
. Sacred syllable or set of syllables repeated in meditation or while circumambulating sacred sites. The most common mantra in the Tibetan world is the mantra of Chenresig, the Buddha of Compassion,
Om Mani Padme Hung
. Another common mantra is that of Padmasambhava,
Om Ah Hung Vajra Guru Pema Siddi Hung
.

Mayel Lyang
—
Lepcha
. Literally: Hidden Land. The indigenous Lepchas’ name for their land, which comprises modern Sikkim, the Darjeeling Hills and adjacent parts of Nepal and Bhutan.

Melong
—
Tibetan
. Mirror. In the context of this book, referring to the convex polished brass mirror used in divination.

Myonpa
—
Tibetan
. Crazy person.

Naga
—
Sanskrit
. Serpent deities, often connected with water, springs and moist places.

Nagpa
—
Tibetan
. A Tibetan tantric yogi who doesn’t cut his hair, commonly wears a white robe instead of the burgundy robe common to other lamas and often has sexual relations.

Nyingma
—
Tibetan
. The oldest of the four main branches of Tibetan Buddhism. The others are the Kagyu, Sakya and Geluk.

Neyik
—
Tibetan
. Guidebook to a hidden land.

Pecha
—
Tibetan
. Unbound religious scripture written on long rectangular sheets, which are stacked between wooden blocks and wrapped in cloth.

Puja
—
Sanskrit
. Ritual.

Purba
—
Tibetan
. Ritual dagger, often made of brass and whose blade has three surfaces, used in Tibetan ritual and during the religious dances.

Rinpoche
—
Tibetan
. Literally: precious one. The term reserved for highly respected and spiritually accomplished lamas, often appended to their names.

Sang
—
Tibetan
. Incense made from the needles and branches of various pine and cedar trees.

Shambhala
—
Sanskrit
. Literally: source of happiness. Mystical kingdom of Tibetan tradition hidden behind a ring of snow peaks somewhere in the Himalayas or perhaps north of western Tibet. First known to the West in the writings of the seventeenth century Jesuit missionary Estevao Cacella, this hidden kingdom has fired the imagination of the West ever since. Such mystics and artists as H.P. Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and Nicholas and Helena Roerich wrote of the kingdom and even claimed to be in touch with the hidden adepts there. A very important Tibetan religious text, the Kalachakra Tantra, is said to have originated there.

Shangri-La
— The hidden mystical valley of lamas and wisdom in central Asia that the survivors of a plane crash find in James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Now synonymous with any hidden place of refuge or Utopia, it was even the name first given to the US presidential retreat now known as Camp David.

Stupa
— see Chorten.

Tamic
—
Tibetan
. Literally: picture eye. The special ability to see prophetic images in the burnished brass mirror during the divination known as
trata melong
(see below). This ability is most often found in girls and young women.