Thursday, June 6

Keychok is a monk at Sera Mey who plays a major role in the coordination of ETSI.  He is a pleasure to talk to, welcoming and open to questions and with very good English.  I showed him the picture above today, and he explained to me that this is a stupa.

Every time a lama (similar to a chief or high priest) passes away, a new stupa is built containing a piece of their hair, a piece of their fingernail, and perhaps some other body parts as well.  In addition, writings which were precious to the lama are included.  Many Tibetans believe that circumambulating a stupa (typically clockwise) generates good karma, which can have positive effects in the present life or in one’s subsequent reincarnations.  Though my further research did not corroborate this so I may have misunderstood, Keychok said that the construction of the stupa is also a representation of the mind and its constituent parts.  For example, perception may be symbolized in part through the eyes on the higher portion of the stupa, and speech is represented by the writing on the plaque at the stupa’s base.

The Crocodile

Thursday, June 6

When I saw this, I have to admit that the last possibility running through my head was that this is a crocodile.  I think Molly described our impressions best, as a “lion dragon tiger elephant thing.”  As it turns out, the monks completely agree that it looks nothing like a crocodile, but it does have a very interesting meaning and story behind it.  The following is my understanding from a conversation with one monk about the statue.

In the landlocked Tibet, he tells me, the crocodile and all aquatic life are symbols of naga, or wealth.  This is a desirable sort of wealth as the monk explained to me, rather than a negative worldly distraction from the studies and practices of a monk.

This representation of a crocodile originally came from a Chinese design which made its way into Tibet.  In families of artists, sons copied the designs of their fathers, iteration after iteration – none of them ever seeing a crocodile, of course.  After hundreds of years and changes with each iteration, the monk tells me the result is “not even a little bit like a crocodile.”  I had to agree and we had a good laugh.