Migratory Musings: Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market

Asian Adventure: Roof of the World Tour Overview
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston

We'd landed in Lhasa the day before and now we had two full days to explore. Our first morning was spent in the pedestrian-friendly area of the Barkhor Market, which is the large area around the Jokhang Temple.

Our buses let us out near the entrance of the large plaza that houses the Barkhor Market. There was a quick security check here, something we found at other tourist sites. The Jokhang Temple is a Buddhist place of worship and is considered to be the spiritual center of Tibet. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, the oldest portions of the building date to the mid-650s AD. Over the course of history the building has served a variety of purposes, both religious and secular, based on whatever group was in power at the time. It was most recently renovated in the early 1980s.

Before we even made it through the security entrance we began seeing worshipers praying and this only continued as we got closer to the temple. If you've ever seen exercises called "burpees" where you stand straight (sometimes with hands overhead) then kneel down and extend your hands all the way forward until you're nearly prone, then slid your hands back toward your knees, kneel up and then stand up again, that what these folks were doing as they prayed. Most had knee pads or something soft to kneel on and pads with straps where they could slide their hands into them to make the kneeling and sliding actions easier but they were doing this dozens, if not hundreds, of times in a row. We were told they may do this all day long.

Morning Worshipers just outside the secured area

We had passed a number of folks praying like this as we walked through the plaza and by the time we reached the temple there were over a hundred people doing this praying beside it. After we toured the temple and were walking through the market area we'd see people in random places - usually tucked out of the way but sometimes in the middle of the walkway between stores - facing the temple and praying. We were told it would be intrusive to take photos of all the folks praying so I did not do that.

Plaza area before reaching Johkang Temple

The Johkang Temple is the most holy one in all of Tibet and people from all over the region come to worship there. We were told many even walk from remote regions just to be at the temple.

As we waited to begin our tour, our local guide, Pen, pointed out all the colorful flags on various buildings and on a central flagpole. Once he achieved enlightenment Buddha has a six-colored aura and the flags are meant to represent that:

Blue – the Spirit of Universal Compassion
Yellow – the Middle Path, which is the Eightfold Noble Way discovered by Buddha that leads to liberation, which is the process that frees one from the cycle of rebirth
Red – The Blessing of Practice – achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity
White – The Purity of Dhamma which leads to liberation
Orange – The Wisdom of Buddha’s teachings
Maroon – The Truth of Buddha’s teachings, the essence of light

Flagpole in the plaza

While the flags looked pretty worn, we were told that in just a few days a large number of pilgrims would be descending on the city and the old flags would be retired and replaced with new ones. It seems that after we left Lhasa, it was basically closed to travelers as neither Tibetans nor foreigners would be allowed into the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) during the 10 days that the Chinese Communist Party National Meetings were being held in Beijing

Flags and Prayer Wheels decorate this building

We went into the temple and found ourselves in a courtyard that was the last place inside where we could take photos. That's probably a good thing because the inside was so different from anything I've experienced that it would have taken forever to get through.

The circular item on the banner is a Wheel of Dharma

A balcony of the temple

Detail of the decorations on the pagoda roof

One of the images of Buddha

The current Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959, when he was 24, and nearly 60 years later his throne still waits for his return. As Pen was telling us about the areas around the courtyard we noticed a man listening in and assumed it was a tourist trying pick up some free info. Later we realized he was listening to see if Pen was advocating for a free Tibet. If he had been, it could have resulted in punishment for Pen. We were told that Tibetans were not allowed to leave the country due to the political situation. I assume the "country" was China and not the TAR.

The throne of the Dalai Lama

Remember the pushy young woman on the plane ride to Lhasa? Perhaps she learned her manners from the pilgrims inside the temple. Apparently part of the protocol is to walk through the temple, stopping in front of the statues and praying though others seemed to be making laps through the temple. Even though it was quite crowded some folks just continued to push even when there was nowhere to go. It was rather dark inside and incense was burning in a number of the rooms, combine that with a large number of people and it would be easy to feel claustrophobic inside. I was glad there was no emergency because there would have been a stampede trying to get out.

Both in the temple and the plaza outside we saw various kinds of prayer wheels. Some people had small ones mounted on a stick - kind of like maracas but with wheels stacked horizontally on the ends - and then there were larger wheels usually near street corners.