I am thinking that the Buddha must have been female....

A mandala based on the lotus in beautiful, downtown Lhasa.
The lotus is viewed as a sacred flower, as in "the jewel in the lotus",
as in "om mani padme hum,"
the central mantra of Tibetan Buddhist practice.

I am thinking that the Buddha must have been female; at least in Tibet.

(The gods, as we know, are shape-shifters.)

There is so much of cycles there.

Above and below: sand mandalas in the Sera Monastery in Lhasa.
Each made with the intention of its own
dissolution; as a reminder of impermanence in the universe.
Photos by Ariel Tarpey.

Of mandalas

containing all of the directions at once

and all of the seasons.

All of space and all of time,

radiating outward from a single point.

Mural of the Wheel of Life or the Wheel of Samsara outside the sanctuary
at the Sera Monastery in Lhasa.

Of the wheel of life.

Of the understanding that

day gives way to night

and night to day.

That life that gives way to death

that gives way to life once more.

Of karma.

Of "what goes around 

comes around."

Prayer wheels, each of them designed to
 revolve like tiny planets in a prayerful universe.

Of approaching the sacred obliquely,

in clockwise circles.

Of orbits.

Of revolutions;

of both seeking and being 

the fixed point,

because the fixed point is god.

For more posts about my time in Tibet, click here, here, here, or here.

dispelling gravity....

My personal prayer wheel, purchased in Lhasa, Tibet this summer.
Prayer wheels are cylinders that spin around a central axis.
They contain printed prayers,
which are sent out into the universe by the spinning motion.

Prayer wheels

kept in motion by the hands of believers 

and sometimes by tiny moons on chains

orbiting around them,

gathering momentum,

dispelling gravity.

A bank of public prayer wheels in the Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet.

"Everything is motion.

To the motion be true."

Bruce Cockburn, The Gift

For more posts about my time in Tibet, see here, here, here, or here.

six red doors and a blue one….

Door inside Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet.

I don't know why Tibetans paint their doors red, 

but I love them.

Doors to the Debating Room, Sera Monastery, Tibet.

A red door in an orange wall, inside Jokhang Temple.

A red door on a commercial street in Lhasa.

Across the street from my hotel in Lhasa, Tibet.

The non-conformist.

For more posts about my time in Tibet, see here, here, here, or here.

people-watching in Tibet….

Little Tibetan boy, peeking out at my daughter from behind his mother. Photo by Ariel Tarpey.

People-watching in Lhasa must rank amongst the best in the world.

Newly arrived tourists with their white scarves. Nomads in traditional dress, come in to the city to sell their wool, long hair in a single braid wrapped around the head with a scarf woven into it. Stylish young Chinese girls wearing 6" heels. Boys in black leather and skinny jeans. Women wearing surgical masks made out of sari silks to shield their faces from the sun, to keep their skin white. Young people wearing t-shirts with unlikely English slogans -- do they know what they mean? The young and the edgy, with prayer beads firmly in hand. Small children peeking shyly or staring openly at my white-skinned, purple-haired daughter. Pilgrims prostrating themselves in prayer. Others spinning their prayers to god, prayer wheels kept perpetually in motion. Red-robed monks hailing taxis, checking their cellphones. 

Rickshaw drivers competing with cars and trucks. Cyclists and motorcyclists by the swarm. I watch them to see how many things they can pile on, and how they will balance them.  Whole families on bikes, no helmets on. Kids on parents' laps in cars, or leaning out the windows. Kids everywhere, picked up and carried by parents -- no strollers, no backpacks, no shawls. Pedestrians crossing busy streets at their own risk, guided by rules -- or luck -- that I can't discern.

People playing dice, or washing their hair on the streets. Bartering for goods, or measuring lengths of cloth in street-side tailor shops. Street vendors following us down the street. Beggars and bold children asking for money. Thoughtful Tibetans with their hands full of small bills, doling out compassion, turning the wheel of karma.

Top left photo: an older man spinning prayer wheels on a street in Lhasa.
Top right photo: Linda from Lhasa with my daughter.
Bottom right photo by Ariel Tarpey.
Bottom left photo: a Chinese tourist with my daughter.

Monks inside Jokhang Temple.

For more posts about my time in Tibet, click here, here, here, or here.