Songzhanglin Monastery

The Songzhanglin Monastery was, for me, one of the most touching places we visited in China. Not only was the art and architecture stunning, but I have rarely ever been in a place that felt so much at peace. Though there were film crews documenting the making of a mandala, construction teams building new halls, and dozens of tourists milling about, I never once saw an ounce of concern, impatience, or frustration on the face of a single monk. While Percy, Spring, Roy, and Tao each made their devotions and circles around a Buddhist shrine, I was focused on the monk who was watching their ministrations. Now, I spend my life trying to sort out truth from lies based not only on evidence but on body language and social cues. I watch to see how questions cause people to react. I look to see which direction their eyes move when I ask them to remember something inconsequential so I know how they will react if they are relaying something truthful. I watch for fear responses, frustration, submission, or guilt. I have come to expect that nearly everyone I meet in my professional life has an agenda. But when I looked into the eyes of that monk I was struck to the core. I have never experienced eyes so clear. They were totally free of worry, doubt, fear, or intention. They were simply good. Clear, kind, and good. Meeting him was one of the most memorable parts of my trip even though it only lasted a moment. Just being in his presence made me want to be a better person.

Mandala

"Are they actually making a mandala?" I whispered to Percy in the Songzhanglin Monestary outside of Shangri-la. I couldn't believe my eyes. Creating a mandala is no easy task. First the monks must memorize numerous texts that specify the symbolism, names, lengths, and positions of the circles and lines that define the basic structure of a mandala, and then they must learn the physical techniques to create them. Part of the process actually involves using their fingers to vibrate a tiny metal funnel that nearly liquefies limestone sand in order to paint with it. The symbolism of each mandala is infinitely complex. Since it is a representation of the whole universe, every color, line, and form has a specific meaning. The entire process can easily take a month to complete, but once the mandala is finished it is destroyed to illustrate life's impermanence. The mandala below was created to honor 1.2 million Tibetans who died due to religious or political persecution during and after the Cultural Revolution. This mandala is dedicated to the deity Yamantaka, Conqueror of Death, and represents his celestial palace. A meditating Buddhist proceeds from the outer rim inward, moving from the earthly world to various levels of spiritual growth and knowledge. The ultimate goal is to attain total enlightenment, or nirvana, at the center. There Yamantaka is represented by the blue vajra, or thunderbolt, symbolizing compassion. In the mandala’s outer corners, symbols of the five senses are reminders that true knowledge comes through spiritual enlightenment, not from our fleeting perceptions. Smell is represented by a perfumed elixir bubbling up from a conch shell (upper left). A lute (lower left) stands for hearing, and a blue disc mirror (lower right) for vision. Peaches (upper right) symbolize taste. A flowing silk scarf, for touch, appears in all four corners. The circular rim’s outermost ring, representing the earthly world, shows eight burial grounds with images of suffering and decay: skeletons, floating limbs, scavenging animals, trees, mountains, and burial mounds called stupas, symbolic of the Buddha’s life and teaching. Next comes a circle of flames in a rainbow pattern of bright colors, then a ring of vajras, and finally a band of lotus petals, signifying spiritual purity and representing various deities. Now we encounter the square walls of Yamantaka’s palace, with gates at the four compass points. The palace is filled with symbols, including masked guardians, umbrellas, jewel trees, wheels, and deer. Within the innermost square, which is divided into triangular quadrants, is a circle containing symbols of nine Buddhist deities, with Yamantaka at the center. This is the realm of perfect enlightenment.

Jesus Christ Superstar

"Why have you forsaken me!" I heard someone scream in English. "What the f..." I thought to myself as I spun around and fell to the ground under the awkward weight of my unbalanced pack. Popping my head back up to make sure no one saw me, I peered around the corner only to come face to face with the last person I expected to see in Shangri-la. Jesus Christ. Or at least William Dafoe. There, in our little hostel, were two Canadian teenagers sprawled on a couch watching Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" with Chinese subtitles. Given their manner of dress I could have sworn they were BC climbers. And once we found the giant pot plant in the courtyard, I was pretty sure of it.

EZ123

Woo Hoo!!! I can ski! Sort of. And it rocks!!! When Sue and I arrived at Stevens Pass this morning the place was nearly deserted. My EZ123 group lesson had only one person in it. ME! So I had an amazing private lesson and, with Sue's expert help in the afternoon, I made it down either Tye Creek or Easy Street 15 times!!! My morning instructor, Andy, taught me all about parallel turns, slide slipping, and how use my poles. Sue, my afternoon instructor, taught me how to time my turns and even coxed me down the bottom of a blue run. By the end of the day I was skiing circles around those knuckle dragging snowboarders. It was awesome.

Escape of the Leaping Tiger

On our way from Lijiang to Shangri-la we encountered one of the world's most amazing natural wonders, the deepest river gorge on earth. Flanked on each side by the Jade Snow and Dragon Snow Mountains, both over 18,000 feet tall, the Leaping Tiger Gorge has been worn down by the River of Golden Sand for five million years. Legend says that there was once an enormous tiger that roamed the terraces which flank the Jade Snow Mountain, but the poor tiger was relentlessly pursued by hunters. One day, as the tiger was running for his life, a large rock dislodged from the mountains and landed in the narrowest part of the river. The tiger was able to leap the gorge using the rock and forever escape his pursuers. At it's narrowest point, the Leaping Tiger Gorge is still 100 feet across. No wonder the tiger was able to get away.

Given it's immensity and the water's phenomenal flow rate, it is not surprising that the Chinese government is planning to build eight dams across the Leaping Tiger Gorge to harness the river's hydroelectric power. While losing such a natural wonder is heartbreaking from a preservation standpoint, the real tragedy is that the resulting flood will destroy dozens of villages, displace millions, and cover some of the most fertile land in the region. In a country where only 10% of the land is productive for farming such a loss of agricultural land is potentially devastating to the rural poor for whom the price of transported food is often prohibitively expensive.

The Participants

Mark Twain said that "I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." Fortunately, I really like these people. Neehow everyone!

From Back to Front and Left to Right:
Spring, Gail, Doug, Roy, Tao
Shelly, Mike, Percy James

Old is the "New" New

While most of us were shopping, Roy decided to get in touch with his inner buddha and venture to a temple within the Old Town of Lijiang. Though the town is technically old, much of "Old Town" was built in this century, and the temple is no exception. In 1996, a monstrous 7.2 earthquake shook Lijiang destroying 186,000 buildings and killing thousands of people. In the aftermath of the earthquake, millions of aide dollars came pouring into the city and much of the money was spent on restoration of classic structures to preserve the history and character of the town. As a result of the publicity from the earthquake, and due to the town's unique character, millions of people flooded the town creating a tidal wave of tourism that continues to this day. By visiting the temple, Roy avoided the crowds and was even able to find something unique to buy...a monk to say good prayers for his family for a month. I feel compelled to add that he was too cheap to buy the really great prayers and simply settled for the good ones.

Meanwhile in Lijiang....

On our trip there were three Chinese speakers. Spring and Tao were obviously fluent, and Mike knew just enough to keep him out of trouble. After spending an entire night out (literally) cavorting in Lijiang, Mike agreed to take Percy and I to see the sights and help us do a little shopping. Purchasing anything in Lijiang is a fine art. You have to haggle for every item from street food to ancient antiquity knock offs. Percy and I were overwhelmed by the mere prospect of it but Mike had bargaining down to a science. Phrases such as "dor shao chyen?" (how much is it?) or "boo yao shay shay, tai gway" (I don't want it, it's too expensive) were immediately followed by wild gesturing and price negotiation. By the time we left Lijiang, Mike was more of less out of money but had a treasure trove of gifts to mail back home. Percy and I were less successful. I think we were both expecting Lijiang to be a simple rural village, but it is really more of a vacation resort. It's like going to Las Vegas to experience Native American culture. Mike was able to accept and enjoy Lijiang for what it was, a tourist destination, but unfortunately I didn't figure that out until it was too late. Oh well. Next time I am going to dance in the square, sing with the girls, and play 'till my heart's content.

Deal or No Deal

Could someone explain this game to me? Suitcases, Howie Mandel, and people yelling at you. I just don't get the appeal. I was totally lost today when we were forced to play the on-line version as part of this conference. The whole crowd was in hysterics, "pick 24! pick 12! No deal!!! NO DEAL!!!" In all the commotion I was both smacked in the face and spashed with coffee. I think I kind of hate Howie Mandel.

Brief Disruption

I leave tomorrow morning for a business trip to Columbia, South Carolina. It will actually be colder there than it will be here! 21 degrees! That's just wrong. At any rate, there might be a brief disruption to the blog. I am going to try and post while I'm away, but between the heavy food (I am still looking for a salad that doesn't have something fried and creamy on it) and the slow southern pace, I expect to be asleep by 8:00pm. That's okay. The grits make it all worth it.

Dirty Laundry

My first morning in Lijiang was by far my most difficult in China. I was feeling ill, self conscious, and totally out of my element. I was also worried I would make a bad first impression on the other members of our little group given my introspective state of mind. So it was with a heavy heart that I stepped out of my room and onto the balcony to sit at a little table and take cleansing yoga breaths. It was only then I noticed an oddly familiar smell, the strangely soothing scent of camp suds and wet polyester drying in the sun. "It is going to be fine," I told myself, "underneath our softshell layers we all have a little dirty laundry to air."

A few minutes later Doug and Gail popped out of their adjacent room and immediately put me at ease. Between Doug's kind and unflappable demeanor and Gail's humor and graciousness, I instantly felt better for having met them. Particularly when Gail asked, in all seriousness, if I had tried the fried bugs. "They're delicious!" she exclaimed, "they taste just like potato chips!" Okay Gail, I'll take your word for it.

The Mao Wagon

After another long day of traveling, we finally reached the Old Town of Lijiang, a small village of cobblestoned streets, canals, and ancient towers, encompassed by a modern city the size of Seattle. China is nothing if not dichotomous. After winding our way through a maze of narrow streets, we finally found Spring who directed us to our happy little hostel. Percy and I gratefully flopped onto two of China's amazingly hard beds and immediately fell asleep. I awoke six hours later to a god awful sound and Percy's mutter of "what the hell is that?" Peaking one eye from her Korean Airlines complementary face mask, Percy looked out the window and laughed, "it's some kind of Mao Wagon!" she exclaimed. These three wheeled one cylinder diesel engine wagons, totally unheard of in other parts of the world, were developed indigenously by rural farmers and are now so popular that they consume one fourth of the diesel fuel in China. They are almost as ubiquitous as yaks and equally suprising when you first see one!

Just for Steve

Steve has twice requested more political diatribes. Since I am surreptitiously blogging at work I have to keep my full blown rant to a short aspersion. Yesterday our (now former) U.S. Attorney confirmed that he was fired without cause. Someone leaked our 2006 DOJ evaluation to the Seattle Times which only served to show how excellently our former USA performed. Now the story has made front page news both here in Seattle and nationally. More and more it is looking like he was pushed out in favor of a Bush operative and now the Main Justice Department is backpedaling under pressure from the Senate and the Judiciary. If you are interested, here is a link to the story. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_on_re_us/us_attorney_seattle

I think the Happy Bunny best expresses my feelings on the subject.

Lost in Translation

When Tao told us on our second full day in Beijing that we were going to visit the Lamas, I am embarrassed to say that I honestly thought he meant llamas. For about thirty minutes I pondered why there might be a herd of llamas in the middle of an urban jungle like Beijing. "Cows are sacred in India," I thought, "maybe there is a certain percentage of the Chinese population that is partial to llamas. Never mind that llamas are indigenous to North and South America, they might be perfectly happy wandering around Red Square." It didn't actually dawn on me that we might be visiting a Lamasery until we stopped to purchase incense along the way. I clearly deserved to be whacked upside the head by Manjushri's Sword of Wisdom. Seriously. What is wrong with me?

The Yonghegong Temple, or Palace of Peace and Harmony, is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in the world and was lucky to survive the Cultural Revolution. Originally an Imperial palace, it is now a massive working monetary with such an impressive statue of the Maitreya Buddha that it actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. No photos are allowed in any of the buildings, but I found this somewhat official picture of the statue. It is made from a single piece of White Sandalwood.

Five Weird Things About Me

I'm told by my friend Mary, who has been blogging for years, that every good blogger should have a post listing five weird things about them. Sadly, it only took me a few minutes to come up with mine!

1. I can't stand the sound of socks shuffling on carpet. It makes my fillings zing like I'm chewing on tin foil. Seriously, it's worse than nails on a chalkboard.

2. In the second grade my best friend Victoria told me that you have to raise your feet while driving over railroad tracks or risk losing your boyfriend. Ever since, I must, absolutely must, lift my feet while driving over railroad tracks.

3. My ears are freakishly flexible. I could actually preform stupid human tricks on David Letterman.

4. After a really bad day the only thing that cheers me up is singing Aerosmith's "Cryin'" at the top of my lungs. Surely someone else remembers Alicia Silverstone bungee jumping off the bridge at the end of that video?

5. I like to read Accidents in North American Mountaineering before bed, even though it causes me to dream about rescuing all my friends off of an erupting Mt. Rainer.

Happy Birthday Dana Leigh!

That Really Is One Heck of a Wall....

As young adults my Grandparents visited a mystical place called "the Far East." They returned with a number of treasures, including a book that featured an old sepia toned photograph of the Great Wall of China. Even at 5 I remember being a bit shocked by it. It had taken my father days to lay all the railroad ties that ringed our backyard so how could anyone hope to build anything that big? At 29, while standing on the Wall myself, I was filled with the same sense of awe that overcame me as a child. The Wall is at least ten feet high and wide enough to fit five horses abreast. It runs for more than 4000 miles!!! How did they do that? While it is easy to quip that one can achieve anything when one has vision, determination, and an endless supply of expendable labor, the bureaucracy and industry they must have established to organize millions of laborers, coordinate supplies, administer budgets, employ architects and engineers, and carry out the mission to guard the empire from Northern invaders is an astounding accomplishment. Even more so considering the project started in 220 B.C.! Here is an link to an interactive 360 degree panorama video of the Great Wall. http://www.thebeijingguide.com/great_wall_of_china/index.html Simply amazing.