McLeod Ganj, India: Home of the Dalai Lama

It is a sad story that started over 50 years ago and continues to this day, although it seems to be thought of as an incident of the past. Over 130,000 Tibetans live in exile in India and throughout the rest of the world. Those that still live in their homeland live in a police state and are forbidden to say the Dalai Lama’s name or carry his picture and the Tibetan flag is outlawed; the penalty is time in a Chinese prison. We met former monks who were tortured in Chinese prison for their beliefs and to this day still suffer from their injuries. While we were in Nepal (stories yet to come), a couple of Tibetan nuns were shot in the back by Chinese soldiers as they tried to escape over the Himalayas, and yet the incident was ignored by the international community. This tragedy of human injustice is still happening and it seems as if the world has abandoned the Tibetans to their fate.

McLeod Ganj, in the Himalayan region of India, is the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. For those of you not familiar with the Dalai Lama, he is the rightful spiritual and political leader of Tibet, an area now encompassed within China. China invaded this peaceful Buddhist Kingdom at the ‘roof of the world’ in the early 1950’s, feeling that they were helping a poor nation in need by giving them infrastructure and reuniting the Tibetan and Chinese cultures, when in reality, they massacred thousands of Tibetans and nearly destroyed their way of life with the “Cultural Revolution” where hundreds of monasteries were destroyed, monks were killed and forced to kill each other at gunpoint and forbidden to practice their religion, and the Dalai Lama, in 1959, was forced to flee to India on foot over the Himalayas, in fear of his life and the lives of his people. Since then, thousands have followed him, trying to rebuild their lives and retain their fleeting culture, but many have died trying to make the journey. Each pilgrim that reaches McLeod Ganj is personally greeted and welcomed by the Dalai Lama himself. In 1989, the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in trying to free his country in a peaceful manner. Rion and I were hoping to hear him speak during our visit, but he happened to be in Canada at the time.

Bare Himalayan peaks rise above the green mountainous landscape of McLeod Ganj. Lhasa, the former capital of Tibet, lies in a valley on the Tibetan plateau, at 3800 meters.

The Tibetan Handicrafts Coop is one organization that keeps the craft of traditional carpet weaving alive.

Tsuglag Khang is the Dalai Lama’s temple complex, comparable in function to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. It houses the main temple, the monastic body, and the home of the Dalai Lama.

Surrounding the temple complex is a meditation trail lined with many shrines and prayer flags. Monks, nuns, and pilgrims walk this trail in a clockwise direction, carrying prayer beads and saying prayers.

To see more pictures from McLeod Ganj, please visit the following link

McLeod Ganj, India: Home to the Dalai Lama

Amritsar, India

Amritsar, near the India-Pakistan border, is the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion. Inside the walls of the chaotic old city is the Harimandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple, the most sacred site in Sikhism.

Inside the walls of the temple complex, pilgrims pray and bathe in the holy waters that surround the temple. There is also a free kitchen and dorms and all people, regardless of sex or faith are welcome.

A Sikh pilgrim, enjoying some shade inside the temple complex at midday.

Another reason to visit Aurangabad is to see the flag lowering ceremony at the India-Pakistan Wagah Border crossing. It is a spectacle that I think is an absolute must-see and thousands of people, on both sides of the border, show up every evening to watch the pomp of it all.

The audience first gets involved by running to and from the gate with flags from their country, followed by a bit of dancing. Then, the guards steal the show by marching at each other, while showing as much contempt for the other side as possible with their bodies instead of their guns, by stomping their feet, gesturing with thumbs, and getting in each others’ faces, and it is all completely choreographed! The crowds’ excitement surges as they finally lower the flags, at the exact same pace, of course, so one country doesn’t look better than the other, and with a brief handshake the gates are slammed shut one last time. It’s pure, brilliant male machismo at its’ finest.

To see more pictures, please visit the following link:

Amritsar, India