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The
glory of Ladakhi Buddhism is undoubtedly the gompa which means a
‘solitary place’ and a few places like Hemis and Ridzong
are certainly that
Many
others are situated near and usually above a village. Often built on
a slope or near the summit of a craggy hill they rise tier upon tier
as much as seven or eight storeys, dominating the landscape all
around. With their massive walls and small windows they might be
mistaken for fortresses, if it were not for the chortens and mani
walls scattered all around about the approach and the prayer-flags
fluttering gaily everywhere. The chortens are the stupas of ancient
Indian Buddhism. Their origin is supposed to be the grave-mounds
erected over the divided ashes of Gautam Buddha. They serve the
purpose of reliquaries. Those near the gompas also contain sacred
objects.
The
spiritual leaders are the lamas who are seen everywhere in their
bright terracotta robes. Although they look and dress alike, the
lamas of Tibetan Buddhism are divided into a number of different
orders. A simplistic division is that of the Red Hats and Yellow
Hats. They have a great influence among the Buddhist laity, as
preachers, teachers and in their role as priests and ministers on all
solemn occasions of family — births, marriages, and deaths and
the great new year festival of Losar. They are advisors on the
efficacy of various actions and exorcists with powers to banish evil
spirits. The lamas live congregated in the gompas. The head lama of
each gompa is a kushok, the incarnation of some holy man of long ago.
The kushok enjoys the courtesy title of Rinpoche, the Precious Jewel.
Like the monasteries of medieval Europe, many of the gompas are
supported by endowments of agricultural land. The rest of their
requirements, they receive from the villagers in kind.
Buddhism
is divided into different sects. The two main ones are Hinayana and
Mahayana. While the aim of the Hinayanis is to look after their own
nirvana, or enlightenment, the Mahayanis believe in nirvana of all
living creatures to be their aim and objective. That is why they are
named Maha or Great, and the other as Hina or inferior. According to
Hinayana, in order to attain nirvana, one has to adopt the life of a
sanyasi or monk.
The
Mahayanis on the other hand believe that it suffices to love all
creation and worship Buddha with one’s heart in order to escape
the bonds of rebirth. Everyone — the ordinary labourer,
businessman, a King — has an equal chance of attaining nirvana.
Mahayana gave rise to a third sect — Vajrayana, the vehicle of
the thunderbolt. In the 11th and 12th century, Buddhism was gradually
losing ground to the onslaught of resurgent Hinduism south of the
Himalayas. Meanwhile, Tibet emerged as an important centre of
Buddhism in the northern Himalayas. For as long as Buddhism was a
living religion in India, the land of its origin, Ladakh continued to
look in its direction for inspiration but, when the decline set in,
as it did in the 12th century, Tibet took its place and adopted a
kind of pontifical authority. The early established system of novices
being sent to monasteries in central Tibet for training must have
been the most effective channel through which Tibet’s religious
culture was transmitted to Ladakh. The overwhelming influence of
Tibet on Ladakh’s religious culture is evident everywhere.
Ladakh is part of the great Tibetan plateau and cut off from India by
the formidable barrier of the great Himalayan ranges whereas it is
separated from Lhasa, the cultural and political centre of Tibet by
only 1,500 kilometres of comparatively easy road. The population of
central and eastern Ladakh displays predominantly Tibetan racial
features and the Ladakhi language is a dialect of Tibetan.
Thiksey
is one of the largest and most impressive gompas in Central Ladakh. A
motorable road connects the monastery to the road below. Thiksey was
probably established in the middle of the 15th century and is modeled
upon the famous Potala Palace of Lhasa, Tibet. There is an image of
Maitreya in an unusual manifestation — sitting in the lotus
position. The murals behind the image represent scenes from
Maitreya’s life.
The
village of Matho is situated at the mouth of a gorge running out of
the depths of the Zanskar Range directly opposite Thiksey. The Matho
gompa is famous for its annual festival of the oracles which takes
place around the Buddhist New year. The oracles are two lamas chosen
by lot every three years who when purified by months of fasting and
meditation become the receptacles of the spirits of a particular
deity. Once possessed by the God, the oracles perform all sorts of
dramatic feats cutting themselves with knives, and cavorting
blindfolded along the parapets of the gompa. In this state, they
answer questions about the welfare of Ladakh and all other individual
queries.
As
a monastic site, Lamayuru is be-lieved to be the oldest in Ladakh and
to have been a holy place of the Bon-chos before the advent of
Buddhism. Perched on a spur high above the Valley, it is one of the
most picturesque of the gompas.
But
perhaps the most serene and beautiful gompa is that of Alchi. The
village and chos-kor (religious enclave) of Alchi form an oasis
cradled in a bend of the river just opposite Saspol. Alchi is one of
the few places where there is formal provision for visitors to spend
a night or two in an inn. The extent and richness of the chos-kor
seem to suggest that in its day it must have been a religious centre
of great importance. The extraordinary state of preservation in which
many of its murals remain can be attributed to the fact that it was
abandoned as a living centre of worship for reasons altogether
unknown. Thus iconography of the earliest period of the spread of
Buddhism in Ladakh is miraculously preserved here. The style is quite
different from that of the later gompa-paintings whose inspiration
came wholly from Tibet. The murals show the thousand Buddhas in a
detailed and fine style and the ceiling is made of attractive,
decorated panels.
How
Alchi survived the repeated advances of the iconoclasts of Islam
remains a mystery. But the mud-plastered walls with their murals
remain a rich heritage and all the gompas of Ladakh stand testimony
to a great culture with peaceful, non-violent and spiritual
elements, which the consumerism-weary individuals from all over
the modern world, are turning to, for the ultimate salvation —
nirvana.
The
Vajrayana way
While
the central principal of Vajrayana Buddhism is not different from the
other two sects, tantric elements adopted from Hinduism and
introduced into it made it extremely complex. These elements were in
the form of a feminine principle, in a state of simultaneous
polarity and fusion with the masculine one. It was further
complicated by inclusion of some pagan elements. In Tibet, the old
religion was the pantheistic and shamanistic Bon Religion which was
characterized by a highly developed cosmic system having a
multiplicity of Gods and demons. Buddhism as it spread made no
attempt to suppress this ancient cult altogether, but rather absorbed
as many of its beliefs and practices as were not in conflict with its
own. Thus many Bon deities appear in the Vajrayana pantheon as
Dharmapalas — Guardians of the law. All this resulted in an
immensely difficult and ramified system of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
Gods and Goddesses, beliefs and rituals, magic and mysticism, in
which the whole cosmic order, and the human person in his totality —
body, spirit, senses, mind, emotions — everything is involved.
There
has developed in Buddhism a deep rift between popular practice and
belief and the higher level of theology because of its inherent
complexity. The Buddhist laity for the most part seems to be content
with an uncomprehending observance of outward forms, based on a few
simplistic beliefs and show little understanding of the complexities
of their faith. The common Ladakhi spins a prayer wheel, scrupulously
keeps a chorten or mani wall on his right as he passes without
necessarily thinking of the turning of the Great Wheel of Life, yet
he exudes a tranquility reflecting the central Buddhist attitudes of
compassion for all living things.
The
iconography of Vajrayana is very complex and adheres strictly to the
dictates of its Tibetan authority. A great degree of symbolism exists
in the way the characters are represented and the colours used. Some
divinities recur in almost all the monasteries. Prominent among them
are the Dharmapalas, Guardians of Law. Particularly noticeable is
Mahakala, the divinity associated with time. Other guardian
Divinities are Yamantaka, the God of death represented with many
arms. These are the divinities, who with their fearful aspect play
such an important part in the annual dance-dramas held by each
monastery on the days of its own particular festival. These dances
are carried out by the monks of the monastery and huge crowds of
villagers gather to witness them. They wear massive masks of bizarre
description and over their robes they wear fine brocades and silks.
Accompanying music is also provided by the lamas who blow into
immense copper and brass horns and play massive cymbals. It is
indeed a colourful spectacle. Tangkhas are scrolls of cloth with
paintings of the various deities. Some gompas house very old Tangkhas
(paintings on silk scrolls) which are exhibited once every so many
years — the huge Tangkha of Padmasambhava embroidered and
adorned with pearls is ritually displayed every twelve years.
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