Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

The morning of the 16th we woke up to head for Potala Palace, arriving there a little before 1:00 PM. We had to wait a little while, since our tickets were timed, to gain entrance – so we just walked through the nearby parks and the area outside Potala. It is quite stunning when you walk right up to Potala, once you really understand the dynamics of the architecture. The entire surrounding area is completely flat, yet Potala has been built up on a hill to overlook everything. While the structure is very large with 1000 rooms (999 rooms + 1 cave-room,) it is granted the optical illusion of seeming even grander by being built on a hill encircled by flat. This hill was used since the 7th century as a location of authority by King Songtsen Gampo. The Potala has served (since being built by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1645 AD and completed 50 years later) as the seat of authority over the Tibet area from the 7th Dalai Lama to the 14th Dalai Lama. The extensive rooms were needed to house the Dalai Lama’s political, economic, and religious staff, as well as guards and military.



Thank you to Wiki for the numbers on the palace:

“The building measures 400 meters east-west and 350 meters north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings – containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues – soar 117 meters (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor.

Tradition has it that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet." Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara.”



It was a LONG hike up those stairs leading to the palace – not an easy one either! But it did grant us with some amazing views over the entire city of Lhasa below, including the former Shol Village which used to be an active little village with a ‘red-light district’ that one of the naughtier (the 6th) Dalai Lamas used to frequent. The village also contains the protected ancient homes of former Tibetan local officials, residences of lay and monastic officials and those of employees. Unfortunately, the view also granted us with the image of a huge memorial built directly across from the palace which celebrates the ‘liberation of Tibet’ in 1959. Getting closer to the top let us look at the two palaces, the white palace (which was built first and served as the Dalai Lama’s living quarters) and the red palace (which served as the Buddhist religious center.)





A side note: We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the palace, so you’ll have to settle for the few that I found online. This is sad, because the inside of this palace is one of the most impressive things we’ve seen on our entire trip, hands down! We did learn that some illegal antique art dealers sell items to museums and private collectors based on photographs they take at the actual site of the item before stealing it to sell to the collector. So I guess no photos is probably safer then, but still a shame.



We saw various carvings in the stones and on some of the walls as we walked up and asked Ray what they were. Buddhist symbols, he informed us, the following one specifically representing the 8 auspicious symbols of Buddhist and indicates stability. As we looked at the carvings, we noticed the walls of the palace seemed to be made of something strange… looked like plants! Turns out those tight, dried-out clusters that we realized made up the palace walls are ‘Benma grass,’ a subtype of bamboo plant that gets stronger as it gets older and has 5 times the density of other bamboo. Rain doesn’t destroy it, and the architects were able to build higher as a result of the material’s light weight.

Red mud ‘paint’ is put on top of it to hide the grass itself. It’s actually a common construction technique invented by rural people, but later used only on ‘special people’s’ houses or houses of worship. Here is the specific method of construction I found from the Tibet Information Center: “After being peeled off and sun baked, the Benma branches and trunks are chopped into sections 30 centimeters long and, in bundles as thick as an arm, are then piled up to form Benma walls. When building up such walls, a layer of clay stones would be placed on a layer of bundled Benma branches and then tamped down. Then, one after another, the walls would be built up to the top and waterproofed. The reddish brown paint that is used gives the distinctive coloring of the Benma walls.” I have to say, how awesome that it is still standing!



The White Palace was the first we explored, specifically the Eastern Sunshine Apartment used by the 13th Dalai Lama. We entered through a colorful gate which displays deities of daily life on it and is surrounded by a porch with a triple staircase. This palace, as I indicated before, was used as the Dalai Lama’s personal chambers. We got to see his bedroom, living rooms, meeting rooms, his personal prayer room, etc. The Dalai Lama’s teachers would come directly to his bedroom, known as the Chimig Namgyal or Everlasting Victory (Over Death) Room to give him his daily lessons. His mother would also visit him here although, as at the Norbulingka Summer Palace, she wouldn’t be allowed to spend the night. Another popular room was the Chamber of Takten Paltseck or the Everlasting summit meeting room (used by the 13th/14th Dalai Lamas) where on display are 3 bronze longevity Buddha statues, Tara, Amitayus, and Vijaya, hoping for the Dalai Lama’s long life. The Dalai Lama also had his private prayer room/ Protector Deity Chapel here – which he used for his private worship. Next door was a carpeted waiting room for guests which would have guards posted. The offices of staff members and printing house were also located here.











The Red Palace, which we ventured into next, is divided into the Great West Hall, The Saint’s Chapel, the North Chapel, the South Chapel, the East Chapel, the West Chapel, the First Gallery, the Second Gallery, the Third Gallery, and the Tomb of the 13th Dalai Lama. Here is a run-down of each area’s contents (help from the Wiki greatly needed as everything really tends to blend together in these palaces unless you are an expert scholar); I’ll elaborate on the ones that really impressed us:





The Great West Hall had 4 chapels dedicated to the 5th Dalai Lama. The Saint’s Chapel led us to a cave where Songtsen Gampo studied Buddhism, but it was closed at the time we were there. The North Chapel, “…centers on a crowned Shakyamuni Buddha on the left and the Fifth Dalai Lama on the right seated on magnificent gold thrones. Their equal height and shared aura implies equal status. On the far left of the chapel is the gold stupa tomb of the Eleventh Dalai Lama who died as a child, with rows of benign Medicine Buddhas who were the heavenly healers.” (Wiki) The South Chapel (Knowledge Holder Chapel) had a silver image of Indian sage Padmasambhava (good old Guru Rinpoche!) along with 8 holy and 8 wrathful manifestations on display on either side of him.





As we walked through the tombs we learned that there are 8 types of stupas. From a website on types of stupas: “Stupa is actually Sanskrit for "pile" as in a heap that gradually accumulates when each visitor to a grave leaves a small stone as a momento or calling-card. All over the ancient world we find that the tombs of great individuals were covered in stones so that a tel, hill or cairn is eventually the result. The erecting of a ready-made cairn is certainly a related practice.”



The Eight Types

Each of the eight kinds of stupas commemorates an important event in Buddha's lifetime:
1. Stupa of Enlightenment
2. Stupa of many auspicious doors
3. Commemorating victory over Mara
4. Evoking the lotus heap
5. Reminder of the miracles gratifying gods and men
6. Commemorating the Teacher's descent from Tushita
7. Marking the victory over all misadventures
8. Commemorating the appeasement of existence and nirvana

Continuing with the East Chapel, this chapel was dedicated to Tsongkhapa, the religious teacher who founded the Gelug tradition aka the Yellow Hat Sect of Buddhism, of which the Dalai Lama is the living leader. The East Chapel also includes images of other more minor teachers from Sakya monastery. The West Chapel was one of the stand-out chapels, containing the mummified body of the 5th Dalai Lama. When we walked into this Chapel, Ray warned us “not to break our necks” as we looked up in amazement. Although we couldn’t see the leader himself, on display was his 49 foot high stupa which is made of 8,000 pounds of solid gold and 18,000 pearls. One of the extremely rare pearls was supposedly taken out of an elephants’ brain! In the same chapel are the stupas (tombs) of the 12th, 10th, and 13th Dalai Lamas as well. The Tomb of the 13th Dalai Lama was another insane display, this stupa contains 1 ton of solid gold. The First Gallery through Third Gallery are all halls with murals on them, with various adjoining rooms that have huge collections of bronze, copper, and gold figures.





Once we finished with the palace (at just a couple minutes under an hour, barely making our time limit inside) the four of us walked back down to get a taxi to take us (yet again!) back to Lhasa for something to eat – yak burger for Sam and Henk; I got a grilled cheese that wasn’t the best – for lunch at New Mandala. Later that evening Henk went out to get us some dinner from Snowland again (it’s like one of the best places to eat in Lhasa!!) which was again yak stew and butter chicken! Now I’ll let Henk take over again and lead you out of Lhasa and into the countryside of the Tibet Autonomous Region…





Francesca