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After a strenuous week we completed the new staircase. Third layer of clay placed on the roof, dense red clay colored twigs made the finish of the porch and the wooden structure also got its red clay paint. >>>
Staircase walls and roof structure finished, short visit to DzongkulAfter some serious effort the new walls of the staircase are standing, and the wooden roof-structure is ready. Last weekend visited the Zangla nunnery school on their picnic at the riverside, and payed a short visit to Dzongkul monastery, the birthplace of the essays published by Csoma as Alexander books. >>>
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Visit to Phuktal monastery
2008-09-26We decided to take a short brake and visit Csoma`s other Zanskari workplace, the monastery of Phuktal (Phugtal).
It is situated in 3-4 walking days` distance from Zangla, supposedly one of the most spectacular monasteries in the whole Zanskar region. It was built inside a cave and around its opening over a massive rock wall as the founders identified a clear water source inside the cave that offered the possibility of good isolation for the monks looking for undisturbed meditation. The first part of the trip we covered by jeep, the rest on foot in one day, despite all the guides and locals tried to convince us of the impossibility of the journey.
The setting of the monastery proved to be truly breathtaking, unlike the attitude of the monks using it. Since the occupation of Tibet the monks of Phuktal found themselves left behind without serious options for Buddhist higher education. They seemed to have had forgotten even the very basic lessons of hospitality. They paid no attention on our arrival despite running a lucrative guesthouse with kitchen to serve the visitor`s needs. We almost had to fight to get a cup of tea, or to find the monk who has the key to open the rooms containing any relics related to Csoma.
The young monks did everything to make our polite and admiring visit hardly enjoyable, until luckily one of their teachers sent them back to their ongoing prayers.
Despite the fact that a large sized stone carving reminds us of Csoma`s stay in the monastery almost 200 years ago, we hardly met monks who ever heard of him. The architectural and material values of the monastery were also under serious decay. The modest stone and clay buildings that survived the centuries are under replacement by some Nepalese workers, without any supervision. They use reinforced concrete carried to the site from hundreds of kilometers in places where it is absolutely unnecessary, like inside the cave, in parts protected from weather.
We felt slightly disappointed, like Csoma in the same place long time ago.