An Ancient and Magical Land

Howard Wallace

Howard Wallace

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This is a thread to explore some of the magic of Nepal. I hope to be able to entice Bill and others who have been there to post some pictures and experiences that will communicated the flavor of the land where these khukuris originate.

My experiences in Nepal occurred 20 years ago, and Bill tells me that some things have changed since then. But I’ll start off with a reminiscence about prayer flags.


flags(3).jpg


This is a ridge top in Nepal, days from the nearest road. The pole next to the hut is flying prayer flags. These thin pieces of cloth have prayers printed on them. They exist in the elements often until the wind and the rain cause them to return to the place they came from. I mentioned to Bill that I find these flags to be among the most charming of ephemera, and a constant reminder of my mortality. Perhaps that is what I was contemplating when this picture was taken.

[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 16 August 1999).]
 
Howard, I can't see the picture but I think it must be the same one you sent me personally awhile back. It is a beautiful picture. Try again. I'll post something a bit later.

And many thanks.

Uncle Bill
 
<img src = "http://members.aol.com/yangduspag/pict58.jpg">

Here's some prayer flags. This is a losar celebration (new year's for Tibetans and Sherpas). I am the guy kneeling in the bottom pix. The one who is not a Sherpa.

Uncle Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Martino (edited 15 August 1999).]
 
Thanks for the reference Berkley. There’s a great shot in there called “Sunset on Machhapuchhare.” It makes me think it may be time for Bill to repost his “Phokara Sunrise” essay. There is another great shot of “mani stones” and prayer flags. It was always amazing to me to walk in the hills and find some kind of incredible artwork, unattended. I recall once reaching the crest of a ridge and finding a little hut. When I went inside I saw the ceiling planks were covered with 16 or 20 Tibetan Buddhist paintings. They were not defaced or stolen, although they were of such a quality that any museum would be proud to have them in its collection. I have some pictures of those planks, but I wont be able to scan them for a week or so.

Although the land is hard to get to, almost roadless, it has been populated for millennia. Once back in the hills I encountered a man sized prayer wheel, driven by water power. This incredible contraption would turn day and night, sending automated prayers to the cosmos.

There is a certain intimacy in these inhabited villages, so hard to get to. Bill has posted about Ganga Ram’s smithy. You have to ford a waist deep river to get to it, after walking a few days from the road. Many of the river crossings are on footbridges like this, although they’re not all this solid.


<img src = "http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/footbridge(3).jpg">


Bill, On a technical note, yes, that is the same shot of flags I sent you. I can see it just fine. Are you still unable to see it? My ISP may be on an obscure byway of the internet, and the photo may not be available to everyone.

[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 16 August 1999).]
 
:
Thanks Howard and Berk and Uncle.
Howard I can't see your pix either.I find some of Uncles pix like this late at night, very early morning.

Although I can't see your pic of the footbridge I did get to watch a special on the Discovery Channel the other night.It is called X-Creatures.Watch it if you get a chance.The scenery in Nepal was beautiful!! If it comes onagain I will watch it once more just for that!
I was more interested in that than the story although I did perk up when the Old Sherpa Religion was mentioned. I took it that it was older than some of the standard religions in Nepal.
There were a couple of shots of a bridge I sure would be nervous to cross.

I find it fascinating to see women in long skirts like the Cherokee have worn for a long time. I think it was due to the weather where we come from too.The Choctaw womn wore little of nothing around the bottom and nothing on top in the warmer climes. I suspect we did too before the coming of the Eurpoeans and the cloth for clotheing.

I think I could adapt well to the simple life in the hills without the convienences of the modern world.
I went to a camp in S.D. a few years back. There were no facilities except what was brought in.Cell phones were not allowed!!
smile.gif

It just so happened that the original old outhouse from Wounded Knee '73 -'74 was there,bullet holes and all.The men had one from somewheres else without the bullet
holes.
There was little to eat and amidst the beauty of the hills and being in a spiritual setting with several Sweats going on daily,the Drum and the singing and the whole atmosphere t didn't matter.I came home after a week and really didn't get home until a week after that.
Y'all know what I mean.


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&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;---¥vsa----&gt;®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.
 
My first time back to the US after being in Nepal for some time made me quickly realize just how much I had absorbed and been absorbed into the Nepali culture and the country itself. I knew that I had been changed forever and I did not and do not regret it.

Somewhere back on the old knifeforums I posted a funny story of going to a shopping mall in LA my first or second day back.

Uncle Bill
 
I remember returning to the US. I had long since traded my sleeping bag and clothes away for native garb and a homespun cotton blanket. Seeing everyone dressed in nylon was strange. And to go into the supermarket and see all the food wrapped in plastic and metal also struck me as unusual. It was as if Americans were trying to insulate themselves from the world by wrapping themselves in plastic film.

Now it all seems normal again. I use as much Saran wrap as anyone.

Perhaps the smoke illustrates the difference.

<img src = "http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/meal(3).jpg">

We often try to avoid the smoke. Yet in Nepal much of the cooking is done indoors over an open fire. The concept of the chimney has not really caught on, so the smoke often builds up in the houses in incredible thick blankets. I found that trying to resist the smoke just made the crying and coughing worse.

Jumping wholeheartedly into the play in the dust by the side of the road has a liberating quality. And I really don’t get scolded too much for coming home dirty. But the passers-by on the road may look at me with a quizzical expression.

[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 16 August 1999).]
 
I believe Howard is the guy who mentioned once that you can't know your own culture until you know another one.

I'm sure Nepal is magical, but once you've found magic anywhere you know how to find and appreciate it, and can carry it in you wherever you go. Except cities. I'm sure some can find magic even there, but cities are just too intrusive for me.

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited 10 August 1999).]
 
Rusty,

The quote wasn’t mine, but I think there is a lot of truth to it.

How long did it take you to come by the wisdom in your post? For me, it was a hard –won realization, after searching out many hidden and exotic places. I finally came to realize that if god is real, then there is nowhere you can’t find his glory.

But my head is unusually thick, and what should be obvious often isn’t.

 
Sometimes I lament the fact that Yangdu and I cannot go do puja at Swayambunath or Boddhanath and she will remind me with a hand over her heart and the other hand pointing at our little puja area with thankas, prayer wheels, Buddhas and similar icons, that "Swayambunath and Boddhanath are here."

Of course, she is right but I am somewhat like Howard. My head is thick and hard and the obvious often eludes me.

Uncle Bill
 
Couple things, Howard:

The first is the old saying that all you need to know about God, to start, is that you aren't Him ( It, Whatever ).

The second is that to believe, all you have to do is stop disbelieving.

Short of being in a life or death situation, there aren't many that don't just give these things lip service. They don't comprehend how true they are. I used to joke that one should do his/her daily prayer and meditation ( edit correction - mediTation not mediCation )in the bathtub because being naked and in hot water improved one's listening skills marvelously.
( LOL, we see eye to eye on that don't we Yvsa! ).

For me Andrew M. Greeley's Sociological studies of religious experience for the National Opinion Research Center which have shown consistent patterns in what is basically thought of as paranormal experiences brought me to suspend disbelief.
I don't know what is shaking those bushes, but it's gotta be huge.

(With the running joke about my medication on this forum, I would have to trip up on that word! I have long suspected that whatever is out there has a very juvenile sense of humor)

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited 10 August 1999).]
 
:
Sure do Rusty.
I feel that many or perhaps all of us that come onto this forum see eye to eye about things spiritual.
When a person takes themselves out of the picture then all that is left is
Him,It,or a Combination.
I don't know that I believe in a First Source and Center as such or just know the Presence because It is aways There.

Someone said once I understand that if God hadn't of Created man then man would have had to Created God.
Or something to that nature. It works for me.

I just had a very hard time realizing that in the end it doesn't matter who or what you believe the end result is the same and the First Source and Center is what we all talk about.

IMO the so called athiest confirms the existence of "God" merely by denying that existence.

I have been told that I am an "Old Soul" and that this is my last time around.I most certainly hope that is so.There is more,but I had better stop with that.
smile.gif


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&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;---¥vsa----&gt;®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.
 
I doubt that you will escape without coming back, Yvsa. Dangerous for me to judge so call it a guess. This because Nirvana is so very hard to find.

Uncle Bill
 
Russ,I`ll `fess to authorship.YVSA, Rene Descartes said that if there were no God, man would have to invent him, if only to keep the servants from stealing.
 
The rhododendron is the state flower of Washington State, and it is the national flower of Nepal. The bushes in Nepal are a wee bit larger though. Here is a picture of a little one. I’m standing underneath, and my Nepalese guide Rama is in the branches.

<img src = "http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/rhodey(4).jpg">


[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 16 August 1999).]
 
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