The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 2 - Part 5

Chapter 2: Part 5: The rainstorm hides the mystery of the pilgrims’ trail.

They waited through the night, sitting it out in the hailstorm behind the low wall of the stone stupa below the Choku monastery. The rain did not let go. It continued to rain steadily. There was no thunder and there was no lightning. The rainwaters did not fall down from the skies. It looked like there was a great wall of water standing between the Lhachu valley and the skies above the Kang Renpoche. The roar of the storm was tremendous. The wall of water did not break down and the hailstorm began to gather in large hailstones.

Dawa and Brother Tameng could not dare to run for the monastery. Not after what they had just seen out on the trail. Had they really seen wild yaks, wolves, pilgrims who did not fear the rain? What else could happen on this night? Dawa did not want to contribute to any disaster or personal damage by being foolish by running out in the hailstorm. Brother Tameng was too awestruck by the magic of the events that he had just witnessed. What could they understand from what had happened here?

It was totally dark out on the trail. The hailstorm was pelting down on them. They were able to just about hide below an abutment on the stone stupa that barely gave them some protection. There was no wind, thunder or lightning. There was just the sound of hailstones crashing on the hill slopes. They broke upon hitting the low wall around the stupa and the broken pieces and shards were hitting them from all sides. The rain clothes and robe were their only protection. After a while, Dawa and Brother Tameng began to pile up stones and rocks around them to build up a small wall to block the hailstone pieces flying about.

Dawa wondered about what was happening out on the trail. Were the wild yaks standing out there at the circle of stones? What made the wolves come out near the pilgrims? Had the wolves followed the wild yaks? Where had the yaks come from? He had not heard of any news or gossip about such a strange herd of extremely large yak bulls moving about together. Usually yak bulls moved about alone. They were known to prefer grassy outer slopes on the lower hills. Sometimes they were known to have stayed around the banks of the lakes around the hills. He had not seen bulls of such a magnificent height and body volume. They were large, extremely large. Their horns had made them seem much larger.

What were the pilgrims doing at the circle of stones? There was no protection out there. How would they survive the hailstorm? Had they seen the wolves on the lower trail, behind and beyond the wild yak herd? There were so many questions, thought Brother Tameng. Instead of finding answers, they had only discovered more questions. He wanted to discuss everything that they had seen, and he simply did not have the strength to talk.

They never knew that the dawn had come and gone by, and that the day had begun. The rain had not ceased, and the dark storm clouds had continued to cover the pilgrim trail on the Lhachu valley. The first sign of the day came when the clouds began to lighten up, and as suddenly as it had begun, the hailstorm stopped. The day came out of the clouds and the sun shone down on the trail. Dawa and Brother Tameng peered down from the stone stupa at the circle of stones. As he had feared, Dawa could not see anyone. The wild yak herd had gone, and the wolves were not to be seen. The circle of stones was empty. The pilgrims who had sat at the spot had disappeared.

They waited a while at the stupa and looked up at the Choku monastery. They could see Master Rinchen and the younger monk looking at them from the windows. They were waving at them. Dawa and Brother Tameng waved back and stepped out of the low wall around the stupa. They walked down to the circle of stones. There was nothing out at the spot. There was no sign that a group of men had sat down at the place. The plastic sheets had gone. The pilgrims had gone with their bags and other belongings. Dawa ran out to the lower slopes, searching for signs and tracks of the wild yak herd. Brother Tameng continued to search for any sign of disturbance or presence of the pilgrims inside the circle of stones. There was no sign. There were no tracks. The stones were not disturbed. Nothing seemed out of place.

They went down to the river stream that was flowing by with more and more water rushing down from all around. Master Rinchen could be seen watching them from the high windows of the monastery. Dawa searched for tracks of the wolves. It was not possible that there could be tracks of any kind. Not after the strength of the hailstorm that they had waited through the night. Any sign or track would have been wiped away. They climbed back to the circle of stones and searched up and down the trail. There was no sign of any movement right from the faint view of Dirapuk and all the way down to the turn of the trail to Tarboche.

Dawa went up to the exact spots where they had seen the herd come and stop outside the circle of stones. He was searching for signs of yak hair. Domestic yak would always leave obvious signs that they had moved through a place or if they had rested at any location. Yak had different types of hair, and it was the matted shaggy coat that always left signs of its presence. He could not find any trace. Where would they have gone? How did the pilgrims move away so fast, right out in the open, within the fierce hailstorm?

Brother Tameng looked up in wonderment at the higher slopes of the Kang Renpoche Mountain. Would the answers to this puzzle be hidden in the sacred mountain? What had really happened out here in this stormy night? He had received resolve yesterday, at night, when he had sought courage from the statue of the Dharmakaya Amitabha Buddha in the prayer hall of the Choku monastery. He had known that this region had more unknowns than any other region in the highlands of Tibet. The numerous stories were not even understood properly. Most were passed on, person to person, community to community, temple to temple, religion to religion and had yet to even begin to know exactly the number of stories of merely the Lachu valley.

Dawa shook his head in wonderment and called out to Brother Tameng, “Let us go back to the monastery and look out at the slopes from the terraces of our buildings. We cannot get anything from this location. The rain and hailstorm has washed away all signs and tracks. The pilgrims have disappeared. What had happened three years ago, and before, and before, has happened again.” Except, he thought to himself, this time, the mystery began to get more complex. How could one explain the wild yaks and wolves? And why did the pilgrims not get frightened?

They returned to the monastery. Brother Tameng went straight to the statue of the Dharmakaya Amitabha Buddha and stood before it, lost in his prayer and thoughts. Dawa stood with the Master Rinchen at the window, watching the circle of stones. The Master said, “Peace be with the two of you, my old friend. We had not moved away from the windows through the night. At one moment, when the rains had stopped, I could see the herd of wild yaks, standing near the circle of stones. I was also able to see the wolves standing out there on the lower trail and near the river streams. I saw that the pilgrims stood their ground, unafraid, and courageous. I never saw what happened after that. The rains and the hailstorm did not allow us to peer inside the water curtain that stood out there in the valley.”

Dawa replied, “O Master, I am happy. I was wondering if I had not imagined the entire night. I know that Brother Tameng was also with me, but I was frightened for him also. I am happy that you saw what we saw. What we did see is what we know. I am puzzled by what we saw and what we are unable to accept. Is that why we do not understand? We saw twelve pilgrims who sat out there in the rain, and waited for the storm to come. They knew that it was to rain on the trail. They waited for it. They sat together and did not move, even when it was very cold and the downpour became heavier. It did not affect them. Master, did they know that the cold and the rainstorm would not affect them? They were not like us at all.”

Master Rinchen nodded, and said, “Yes, my friend. We are in a puzzle about it because we think that the pilgrims were also people like us. They stood with courage, when the wild yak walked up to the circle of stones. We would have run away from the spot right when we would have spotted the yaks walking down the trail. These pilgrims did not walk away. They stood there and looked at the wild yaks without fear. They knew that they would not be harmed. They are not like us. How did they know that they could sit out there? Who were they? Where did they come from?”