The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 6 - Part 2

Book 2: Chapter 6: Part 2: Brother Tameng decides to join the Beyul team.

“Would Dharmakaya Amitabha Buddha show the direction? Would there be a sign? Would there be an indication of what was to be done by him in this strange turn of events? Was this why he had joined the monastery? Was there some purpose in his life that was to be revealed now?” wondered Brother Tameng. He sat, quietly in meditation, thinking within himself, trying to clear his mind, trying to focus on the most revered Amitabha Buddha, trying to absorb the vibrations of this magical land of the Thousand Living Buddhas.

Master Rinchen and the younger monk watched him quietly. They sat patiently, nearby, away, to a corner, out of his line of sight, so as to allow him to come to a decision by himself. This was a difficult moment, Master Rinchen thought to himself. He could guess the dilemma inside Brother Tameng’s mind. The young boy was a dedicated monk and had come over totally inside the realm of searching for knowledge and truth, as would be shown to him by his own efforts. He had to make this decision and he had to be able to carry the courage of what he would determine.

Brother Tameng sat in meditation. He tried to blank out everything from his mind. He removed event upon event, out of mind, one after the other. He removed the thoughts of the rainstorm. He searched for the images he had of the twelve pilgrims that had sat out there in the circle of stones. He searched for a definite set of images inside his mind, and removed them. He blanked them out. His breathing began to get more even and his face looked calmer to Master Rinchen. The yak boys and horse boys who had gone together to accompany Brother Tameng came inside the prayer hall and sat quietly, watching him. They knew there was some special prayer going on.

He continued to search for other images and kept removing them. The herd of large wild yaks, the strange behaviour of the wolves accompanying them, the fearless manner in which the twelve pilgrims stood up, facing the wild yaks and the sudden hailstorm. These images were all sought out, one after the other, and removed from his mind. Brother Tameng knew well within himself, that if as Master Rinchen suggested, that this was a sacred and mysterious Beyul, then it was a sacred mission for him and the team that would explore it. He wanted to be prepared for the survey and the journey, physically and spiritually.

A group of Russian pilgrims, trekking through the route from Darchen to Tarboche to Choku had come inside the prayer hall. The two pilgrim guides who were to accompany Brother Tameng gestured to the Russians to stay quiet and to make themselves comfortable in a farther corner of the prayer hall. The pilgrims complied dutifully and went to the farthest corner and sat down, waiting for a signal to allow them to unpack. One of the yak boys went outside, picked up two jars of water and placed it near the Russians and gestured that it was safe for drinking.

Brother Tameng was sitting straight up, still, silent. He did not seem to be in any sort of trance, but could be seen to be very calm, peaceful and content. He had achieved a sort of a blank space in his mind, when he saw nothing, thought of nothing and contemplated nothing. He did not even think of the Dharmakaya Amitabha Buddha, and did not think of the valley of the Kang Renpoche Mountain or the mysterious valley. He was in a position of absolute non-being, if there could be such a term, and was just waiting. He knew that he would be told in some manner. He was waiting, but also, his mind was not waiting.

This is a difficult concept to explain. You have to be there and you have to know how to achieve this stage in meditation. There is no one who can teach you to reach that exact point and there is no book or theory that helps explain how to do it. You are only told that you can reach such and such point of nothingness in meditation, and you need to keep trying and trying and trying. Brother Tameng had spent years in meditation and so had Master Rinchen. They had never come to a situation where they could claim that they had achieved a stage of total nothingness. The paradox, of course, is that when you are at that stage, you know that you have achieved something that cannot be shown off to others. Brother Tameng was now at that point in his meditation, wherein he had kept on removing image after image of the situations that had occurred during the night and day, and now he could search for directions without allowing them to decide it for him.

He understood what he had to do. He had to go to the mysterious valley, and join the team that had gone ahead. He had left behind the aspect of the twelve pilgrims, the circle of stones, the wild yaks, the wolves and the hailstorm. These would not be the reasons for which he would enter the Beyul. He would go to the mysterious valley, because, just because, it existed. There was the valley, north of Dirapuk, and people had not entered it. It could be a sacred Beyul, and Master Rinchen and the monks of the other monasteries in this region would begin a search for any documents, records or parchments that may turn up. But, he would not wait for any information.

In the absence of any expectation, and in the absence of any dual purpose of trying to seek reasons for the turn of events, Brother Tameng knew that he would be ready to accept any situation that he would see, and he would not avoid any chain of events that may develop because he had been taught differently, or that the world had known of only a particular aspect or logic. He would not see it as being illogical, irrational, impossible or non-spiritual. This would be a Beyul that he would have to accept, as it would reveal itself.

Brother Tameng came out of his meditation and looked up at the Dharmakaya Amitabha Buddha and hummed a slow prayer. Master Rinchen and the younger monk came near and sat alongside. The yak boys and the horse boys and the pilgrim guides sat respectfully behind them, at some distance. Master Rinchen led the prayers, humming slowly, turning his prayer wheel, and gesturing to the younger monk to use his chanting beads. The prayer continued until the entire string of beads was turned and the younger monk stopped at the master bead. He waited at the master bead, his thumb and his middle finger, grasping it, while his forefinger was kept away, in a gesture that made sure that it did not touch the chanting beads.

Master Rinchen nodded, and told Brother Tameng, “It is time, my brother, it is time for you to go. Take your team, the animals and take this prayer wheel and my chanting beads with you. My blessings and prayers will go with you. Every day and every moment, we will pray for you here. Our thoughts will be with you. Do not hesitate to send messages and information back with these boys and do not hesitate to ask us for anything that you would need. We may be monks and this may be a monastery and this may be the most remote place in the world, but we can get things done. You know that. It is His Way, and He will most definitely send His helpers here to show us the way from time to time.”

Brother Tameng looked at the team that had assembled. The two old pilgrim guides smiled at him with affection. They knew him from many years and they knew the old man Dawa. Where the old man would go, there would be adventure and they did not want to be left out of it. The rest of their lives were routine, and Brother Tameng had just now invited them to go into what was totally uncertain and to unknown regions. This was their life.  They wanted to go with him. The three horse-boys and the three yak-boys went out to get the animals ready. The equipment had already been packed up and was to be tied onto the yaks.

They were to take six yaks and six horses with them. Everyone would ride up, with Brother Tameng, the pilgrim guides and the horse boys on the six horses. The yak boys had divided up the supplies, tents and other equipment in such a manner that three yaks had lighter loads and they could ride them. Brother Tameng bowed low in front of the Amitabha Buddha, hugged the younger monk and sought Master Rinchen’s blessings. The Russian pilgrims watched quietly. They came out of the prayer hall and looked at the number of animals loaded up and the team assembling to move out. This would be some expedition, said one of the Russians.

Master Rinchen and Brother Tameng did not give any hint that they had understood what he said, for they knew the language quite well. The team began to move out of the Choku monastery with Brother Tameng placing himself in the center, so that he could allow his horse to move ahead by itself, by following the lead of the other horses. He was beginning to get tired and exhausted now, and he did not want to take the trouble of having to stay alert, up front, on the Kailash trail. This was certainly a magical land, he thought, this strange mystery that nobody could or would walk up the Kang Renpoche and now, this turn of events. He looked at the Choku monastery, and waved to Master Rinchen and looked at the peak of the Kang Renpoche and sought its blessing.