The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 7 - Part 5

Book 2: Chapter 7: Part 5: The Beyuls of Guru Rinpoche are discussed

Master Ang Tsering heard the monks from Choku speak of the happenings in the valley of the Kang Renpoche Mountain during the rainstorm. He was concerned. He had been aware that there could be surprising events, unexplained occurrences and enormously intensive spiritual experiences in this region. He had never known of such a series of events, so very totally unrelated, across so many locations, to people who did not know each other, and all these events happening during one stormy night. This had never happened.

The monks from Choku had begun to once again retell the story of the sighting of the wild yaks in the rainstorm. Sardar Amarpal Singh seemed to be excited about the fact that the wild yaks had gone out of sight in front of the Choku monastery. He kept nudging the monk from Nalanda and repeatedly pointed at the slopes of the Kang Renpoche. Shenshe, the policeman, looked up startled at the excitement of the Sikh holy man. Looking at the head monk of Gyangtrak, Shenshe spoke in Chinese, “I hope this holy man from India is not planning to walk up the slopes of the Kang Renpoche. He wants to do that. I do not want any trouble if he goes up the slope.”

Startled, Master Tsering asked, in Chinese, “What do you mean? He wants to walk up the sacred slopes? And, you brought him here, to Gyangtrak, to the entrance to the inner kora? Why did you do that? You are responsible. I will inform the Superintendent at Shiquanhe or your senior officers at Ngari if he does that.” He knew that the policeman would worry about that threat. Master Tsering knew what was to be done with enthusiastic pilgrims. He had done that earlier. There were methods to do so in a peaceful manner.

Sardar Amarpal Singh spoke to Sonam Sangye, the monk from Nalanda, “Brother, did I not tell you that I saw something on the sacred Sumeru? I was correct. See, these monks are telling us that those twelve men and the very large wild yaks and the wolves disappeared from view near the Choku monastery. Did I not tell you that there was no rain on the sacred Sumeru during the rainstorm? These monks are also saying the same thing. They are saying that there was no rain for some time in the area near the sacred Sumeru.”

Master Tsering decided that it was time that he took control of the discussion. He spoke to Sardar Amarpal Singh, Brother Sonam Sangye, Shenshe and the monks from Choku Gompa, “Brothers, let us focus on what is being requested for action to be undertaken. This is the valley of magic. Anything can happen here. Let us not question about what has happened. We are not here to question the reasons about why they happen. We need to determine what is to be done in the future, and what is our role in it. We are at the correct location, at Gyangdrak.”

“We are at the inner kora, and this is the most sacred of all the locations around the sacred Kang Renpoche Mountain. We have been here the longest, and we are the guardians of this valley. We are not a museum, we are here with a purpose that has been given to us for nearly a thousand years,” Master Tsering continued, “From the times of Ghuya Gangpa, who was the rdordzin, we are older than some of the various communities of the different religions. And to this day, we cannot ever say that we know all the mysteries of the Kang Renpoche. And of those mysteries that we know about, we do not know the secrets of these happenings.”

The younger monk from Choku Gompa bowed in respect, and said, “Master, we come here, therefore, to seek your guidance. Our Master has instructed that we request you to inform us about the secrets and the teachings of Guru Rinpoche, and of the secrets of the mysterious Beyuls, the hidden valleys. After all, this was also the region where three different kingdoms existed, since the Zhang Zhung empires. It is possible that there may be a list, or an ancient book, or a Thangka painting that could inform us about the hidden valley behind the Dirapuk gompa. There may also be mention about the existence of the herds of large wild yaks.”

Shenshe interrupted, “Wait. I am not bothered about valleys and wild yaks, and whether there was rain and whether it stopped or did not stop. What is this that you tell me about twelve pilgrims who sat in the open and disappeared in the night? Where did they go to?”

The younger monk from Choku Gompa replied, “We do not know. That is the reason why we are here today at the sacred Gyangdrak Gompa. They were sitting out there in the open, in the outer kora, and they sat there during the rainstorm. Now they are no longer seen in the kora, or near the Dirapuk Gompa, and nobody has seen them at Darchen or Tarboche. We are unable to say what happened to them. We are here at the sacred Gyangdrak Gompa to enquire for more information and guidance.”

Sardar Amarpal Singh spoke to Brother Sonam Sangye, who in turn translated for Shenshe, and said, “My brother, the Sikh holy man, says that he thinks that the twelve pilgrims walked up into the slopes of the sacred mountain. You may wish to follow them into the mountain, if you wish, since you are the policeman in this region. He is joking, of course, my friend. But, he asked me to tell you this. You cannot tell if he is joking or not, for he does not look like he is smiling. But, I know him for many days now, and I know that he is joking.”

Shenshe sat quietly, sullen, at the leg pulling by the Sikh holy man, at his expense. Master Tsering replied, to the younger monk from Choku Gompa, and said, “The reality of the mysterious valley, in this land, is older than the Most Enlightened One, when this land was of the Bon. It is also said that the first great master of the Bon, Tonpa Shenrab, was also an earlier manifestation of the Most Enlightened One. But that is of course, argued, depending upon who is telling whom.”

“The Bon call this the land of Olmo Lungring, and this name was for what is almost the entire land of the Ngari, and to the west of Ngari, and some lands in other nations outside China and Tibet. I have heard mention of what you say of the circle of stones, and pilgrims who have come to this sacred land, from west of Ngari, and this is mentioned in some old documents that refer to an ancient land of Staggzig, but I have to search for these records,” Master Tsering continued, “It used to be said that anything can happen in the land of Shambala, but all that is romantic stuff. It is not from the records and diaries of our ancient masters of the gompas in this land.”

The monks of Gyangdrak and Choku Gompas gathered around Master Ang Tsering, as he began to speak about the sacred land. Brother Sonam Sangye sat in excitement. Sardar Amarpal Singh sat patiently. Each person knew that what they would hear from Master Tsering, here at the entrance to the inner kora, could not be told by anyone else, and could not be read about in any book in the outside world. On his part, Shenshe could not care less. He was more worried about the team of government officers to come from Ngari in five days to enquire about the garbage thrown about by the pilgrims at Darchen. Somebody had complained and somebody high up in the government had been called from some embassy of China in some important country, and the officers from Ngari had been asked to enquire into the matter. And, here he was, in this remote monastery, following a Sikh holy man and a Buddhist monk from India, and hearing stories.

Master Tsering, bowed his head in reverence, and continued, “There are ancient books, and records, that the Bon call the gzermig, I think, that the Beyuls exist in actual fact. They are not mysterious and they are not confined to mythology. The mystery is about what may exist inside these Beyuls. We know of the Amitabha Buddha, and we know of the bdebacan of the Sacred Master, that the people from the holy land of India, think to be sukhavati. Ancient scriptures in India, for Hindus, this is also the mystery of lands hidden inside the dzambuigling, or as they call it, the Jambudvipa.”

“The Kang Renpoche Mountain was known to the Bon, to the ancients who learnt from the Most Enlightened One, of those who followed the Buddha Amitabha, and to the ancient Hindus, this sacred mountain was known as the Yungdrung Gutseg or as the Gyungdrung Dgubrtseg, and this is known to the modern Christian world that questions everything that we know, as the axis mundi, whatever it is that they mean. The Bon, the ancient Hindus and the ancient Buddhists or the Jains, did not think this to be so. They knew that this land was the center of the planet. The heavens of our gods exist here. Our ancients spoke of the hidden lands as the Beyuls. These could be the lands of our gods. You cannot expect to walk inside these valleys and meet our gods or holy spirits wandering about, waiting to meet you.”