The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

Went for a stroll with Tulku-la this afternoon. out to the old Gelugpa Gompa. Although there appears to be slight controversy surrounding the monks, alcohol and women, I found no evidence in the lhakang (temple) - only a handful of earnest American tourists with unholstered cameras.

The monastery is on the periphery of the town, the last stop before the charnel grounds, which are the last stop for the area's Buddhist population.

The charnel grounds figure prominently in Buddhist culture. In ancient India such places were places of terror: the dwelling places of ghosts and cannibals and the refuge of outcastes.

For Buddhist yogis and yoginis, however, they were - indeed are - places of retreat and meditation. Where better to reflect on the impermanence of life when you're surrounded by corpses and the stench of death? How better to conquer fear than to live in it's own back yard? From a psychological perspective, the charnel grounds, always portrayed at the periphery of mandalas, is the process of transforming fear and unresolved issues which fester away in the subconscious mind creating all manner of negative mindstates.

We found an old man camping out by one of the pyres and joked that he could be a modern day Heruka. You never know ...