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LOON SAMBA
Monday 11/14
Up
and out of the Hinku Koala today. Finished about three in the
afternoon. Really beat.
We
are camping at a spot that we had used coming in. Not my favorite
spot. It has a stream but the water is contaminated with human and
yak waste and the campsite itself is not much better.
We
have been following a yak herder and a dozen or so yaks, and are
now surrounded by them. Looks like fresh yak milk in the morning.
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We had followed them for quite a ways and it was fun helping
to herd these beasts up the steep, heavily wooded terrain. I
felt like sixteen again. Too bad my 46 year old body does
not feel like sixteen at the moment.
Today we saw the Loon Samba Gompa. A legend in this part of
Nepal. It is a Gompa that really is only a shrine and has no
resident monks to attend it. The shrine sits on the side of
the canyon, up, off the trail a 100 yards. It is not a
building in the traditional sense; instead, it is a cavern
created on the underside of a gigantic boulder and enclosed
with stone and rough hewn boards. Inside it is pitch
black. Sharp shafts of light penetrate between the
boards separating the interior, between the seen and not
seen. A small cut square in |
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wall acts as a window, giving the illusion of letting more darkness
out than light in. The door is low and, when opened, casts a grey light into
the darkness. |
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Out of this grayness appear three beautifully carved wooden
Buddhas each sitting in the Lotus position, and each with
a different hand gesture. The statues have a sheen like
porcelain finish: white, brown, and red, representing the
people of this earth. They are three feet in height and sit
shoulder to shoulder on a rock ledge. In front is a small
area to burn candles.
Dawa collected and burned cedar boughs for good luck. The small flames brighten
the interior and the statues moves to the beat of the
flickering flames. It is a shrine for the people, and most tourists
bypass it, not knowing of its existence just a short
distance away. I am again fortunate, for Dawa shows me the
way. |
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Paintings On Boulders Indicate A Holy Site |
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Page 82 |
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