From Brahma to Buddha, Spring 2007

Primary Locations: Tibetan Communities & Culture of the Himalayas

Semester students watching the moon rise over the Himalayas in Ladakh

Ladakh

Few things could be lonelier than that landscape of storm-beaten rose-brush and rock, and yet I never felt alone. All round me, along the path, in the willow grove, by the stream, on and between the rocks, there were signs that others had passed the same way. Prayer flags shook out their yellow and red rags from the heart of a gully or from the tops of crags above me; stones arranged in half circles, in sacred letters…I came to the fork in the path and looked up. There, half a mile above me, was the monastery; there Go-Tsang was at last, high in its cradle of rock, with nothing but the wide, burning sky behind it.
--Andrew Harvey, “A Journey in Ladakh”

High on the Tibetan Plateau in India’s northern-most region is the former kingdom of Ladakh. Known as “Little Tibet”, Ladakh has been open to foreigners only since 1974. Prior to 1962, when the threat of Chinese invasion prompted the rapid construction of a road into the region, travel to Ladakh involved several weeks of difficult walking at high altitudes. Over the centuries, many teachers, nomads, traders, and pilgrims did make this journey over mountain passes, across vast plains and from one sparsely settled town to the next, most with ancient monasteries built into the cliffs above the villages. Because of the nearly impassable Himalayan ranges to the south and southwest, almost all of Ladakh’s cultural influences came from its neighbor in the other directions—Tibet. As you walk through some of the quiet side streets of Leh, Ladakh’s capital, it is easy to think that you’ve stepped back in time and are wandering through a traditional Tibetan town before the Chinese invasion. In fact, as many experienced travelers have noticed, Ladakh is one of the very few regions in the world where Tibetan Buddhism and all its cultural forms have flourished without interruption since introduced more than 1000 years ago. This continuity and endurance of a religious tradition and the people that support it, set in a landscape of austere and formidable beauty, help make Ladakh one of the world’s most magical destinations.

Nightly worship ceremony in Varanasi

Varanasi (Benares)

Banares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old of all of them put together. Mark Twain

Banaras is a magnificent city, rising from the western bank of the River Ganges, where the river takes a broad crescent sweep toward the north. There is little in the world to compare with the splendor of Banaras, seen from the river at dawn. The rays of the early-morning sun spread across the river and strike the high-banked face of this city, which Hindus call Kashi—the luminous, the City of Light. The temples and shrines, ashrams and pavilions that stretch along the river for over three miles are golden in the early morning. They rise majestic on the high riverbank and cast a deep reflection into the water of the Ganges. Long flights of stone steps, called ghats, reaching like roots into the river, bring thousands of worshippers down to the river to bathe at dawn. In the narrow lanes at the tops of these steps moves the unceasing earthly drama of life and death... But here, from the perspective of the river, there is a vision of transcendence and liberation…. Diana L. Eck, from Banaras, City of Light

In Varanasi (also known as Kashi or Banaras), our students have the opportunity to enjoy an intensely thriving city located above many of the most sacred ghats of the Ganges River. It is here where Hindu bathers such as Brahmins, sadhus or other yogis stir in the dawn's misty, incensed air to seek a ritual dip in the cherished Ganges. Varanasi is also a place where Jains, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and other devoted worshippers have made their home and practiced their own forms of religion for centuries. It is amid this vivid, inspirational celebration of life and transformation that we immerse ourselves, live with families, and participate in service projects. In informal daily sessions, leaders in the community will also help us explore the history, religion, philosophy, arts, language, and politics that make Varanasi so vital. Here we will observe festive celebrations, as well as somber cremation ceremonies on the funeral pyres along the banks of the Ganges. Walking among the narrow cobblestone streets of the Old City, we can visit the most sacred Shiva temple in all of India. We will have the opportunity to watch traditional dances performed on the steps of a Hindu temple, attend a candlelight sitar and tabla concert and drink many cups of chai with inhabitants of this intriguing city.

Eleven kilometers away is the holy Buddhist city of Sarnath, where the Buddha delivered his first teaching after reaching enlightenment. A visitor to Sarnath can listen to Zen monastics chanting and drumming in the Japanese temple, hear monks offering Tibetan prayers and take a turn spinning prayer wheels at the Tibetan temple, and make visits to Chinese Buddhist and Thai Buddhist temples to witness examples of religious ritual and tradition from those cultures as well. Each of the Buddhist temples in Sarnath is constructed in the traditional style found in the host country that built the temple. Resident monks from all over Asia maintain temples in this holy city. Visiting other Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the region is possible on weekend excursions from Varanasi. Rajgir, where the Buddha gave sermons during the monsoon seasons and Nalanda, a center of Buddhist learning for over seven centuries and famed for its master teachers are both in this region. (In the seventh century, more than ten thousand Buddhist students and scholars conducted their studies in Nalanda.) We can also visit Vaishala and Kushinagar, where the Buddha gave his last sermon before passing into Nirvana.

Semester students enjoying a private audience with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala