THE BIG KORA

THE BIG KORA

by Dana Isherwood, September, 2002

A year ago, Pam Logan, Shiyin Siou, and I visited the Yading Nature Preserve in a remote part of western Sichuan Province south of Daocheng Township. Yading is known for its three sacred peaks, Chenrezi, Jampeyang, and Chakna Dorje. These peaks are revered by Tibetan Buddhists as representatives of the three sacred deities of Buddhism whose qualities of compassion, wisdom, and power are necessary to escape samsara, or the endless wheel of life and death. The peaks, all over 19,000 ft and heavily glaciated, have never been climbed.

To make a kora or circumambulation of one or all peaks is considered an act of faith that earns the pilgrim good karma and the promise of a better rebirth. Last year, we only had time for a kora around Chenrezi. It took us two long days and left us breathless not only from the high passes but also from the grandeur of the area. Each of the three peaks stands near the apex of an equilateral triangle. Within that triangle, within sight of all three peaks, is a sanctuary of such beauty and power I had to know what was beyond the three summits. We had done the little kora. The big kora around all three peaks would take me to the other side of the mountains.

This year I was joined by my husband, Bill, Craig Keller, a volunteer English teacher for the Kham Aid Foundation, Mike Dotson, a Kham Aid sponsor, and Joe Scheier-Dolberg, a Fulbright Scholar studying Tibetan Buddhist Art in Chengdu. Joe speaks Chinese and without him this trip would have been much more difficult. Over the next week, we traveled by local buses from Chengdu to Kangding to Litang and finally to Daocheng, the gateway to Yading.

In Daocheng, we arranged for private cars to take us the 66 miles to the entrance to Yading where we could rent pack horses for the kora. We had been warned that the road was bad and under repair. It took us four hours to do the first 40 miles or so. At the small town of Riwa, the police told us that the road was not safe and we must either hike or ride horses the rest of the way. We chose the horses. The horse trail bypassed the road and followed the river canyon up through the forest. The Tibetan horse wranglers usually led the horses urging them over the rocky trail, but whenever the going got steep--up or down, they asked us to walk. We reached the staging area and end of the road at 4 PM and continued on to the Chugu Si monastery at the base of Chenrezi, the starting point for the kora. Much had changed since last year. Now there are entrance fees ($16), camping is forbidden near the monastery (you must stay in recently constructed dormitories in the monastery ruins at $3 per person), and there are bureaucrats that keep track of the horses and wranglers.

The government believes that Yading will become a prime tourist spot for the rapidly expanding Chinese middle-class and facilities have been cheaply constructed with the hope of improving them later. The dormitories were made of unfinished lumber, small tree trunks, plastic sheeting, and sort of clean blankets and comforters laid out on platforms. Last year, the monastery ruins had been a peaceful place to read and we camped in the meadow. I was so saddened, I complained to an English speaking Chinese tourist (we were the only foreigners) who replied that westerners have high standards because they can afford them and that I shouldn't expect those standards in China. He was right of course, but the sadness remained.

On the other hand, the average Chinese tourist is new to wilderness camping and backpacking and tends to stay close to whatever facilities are available. Once our group left the monastery, the only people we saw were the yak herders and a few pilgrims. We had five pack horses and three riding horses and were accompanied by two Tibetan women and six men horse wranglers. I had planned on taking one riding horse in case someone was too ill to walk, but after the fun of riding horses the past day everyone but Craig said he would like to ride part of the time.

From the monastery at 13,000 ft. we climbed to the first pass through the larch forest touched with the gold of an early fall. It had been raining all week and the mountains stayed hidden in the clouds appearing just long enough to tease you into getting out the camera and then they would disappear before you could take the picture. At the 16,000 ft. pass, the rain turned to hail and we hurried down looking for a yak herders hut to spend the night. Last year, someone had told me that the big kora took 7 to 10 days and we had planned for that. We had tents with us, but the Tibetans needed the shelter of a hut for the night. Yak herders huts are stone structures about 10 by 12 feet. The stone walls are 4 feet high and there is a slate roof supported by small tree trunks. You can stand up straight in the middle. The best of them have hand hewed wood beam floors with a fire pit in the middle and a few shelves. Some have only dirt floors and a fire pit. The Tibetans use them when they need them and move on.

In the beginning, we cooked and ate outdoors protected by our fancy gear. As the days passed and the rain continued, we slowly moved inside with the Tibetans who welcomed us warmly. We still slept in our tents, but stored our bags and cooked and ate inside¡ªonce we had our own hut when there were two together. Our standards of what was an acceptable hut went downhill the wetter we got. The Tibetans seem to worry about us. I wouldn¡¯t wonder if they thought we were competent to be in the mountains. We had so much stuff with us and they managed with so little. They used the horse blankets at night and dried out their wet clothes at lunch and in the evening over the wood fire.

We circled around the back side of Chakna Dorje, the first of the three peaks in our clockwise circumambulation. At lunch that second day, the Tibetans told us to be careful for there was an ogre who lived in the mountain and would eat us if we drank the water. We did, but I guess the ogre was feeling magnanimous with all that rain. Each day there would be a pass or two or three as we climbed and descended the ribs of the mountains mostly above tree line, but sometimes deep in the forest.

On the second day, the Tibetan who seemed to be the leader told us we would only need six days at the pace we were keeping. On the third day, he told us that we would make it in five days. We camped each night in a more beautiful place. My favorite was a huge cirque surrounded by tall towers with a meadow for the horses to graze and two stone huts-- one for our group and one for the group of pilgrims (including a small boy) who followed us on foot that day. We were told that a group of Chinese from Chengdu had taken 20 days to do the kora staying wherever they liked for a few days before moving on. The Tibetans shook their heads in disbelief, but perhaps the slow ones had the right idea.

We stayed mostly above 14,000 ft. for the entire kora until the last day. The second sacred peak Jampeyang replaced Chakna Dorje and then Chenrezi appeared, the highest and most imposing, but not the most beautiful. Jampeyang with its steep graceful ridges and hanging glaciers was the Tibetans and our favorite. On day four, our longest and most difficult day we reached the trail from the small kora around Chenrezi and hurried to the hut I remembered from last year. It was full. We moved on. The next huts were roofless. We continued in heavy rain dragging our feet for it was too steep to ride.

The last hut before the climb to the last pass was small and dirty, but it was home for the night. In the morning, it stopped raining but the clouds remained. Only the lower section of Chenrezi was visible¡ªwe could hear rock fall and avalanches coming off the mountain high above.. I remembered my views of last year and felt lucky to have been there then and now. We reached the monastery in less than three hours. Danbe, the monk who had been so kind to us when we left was there with hot drinks. The head of Chugu Si, Ginggo Sabo Rinpoche, had arrived the day before from his main monastery in the valley and came to welcome us. His kind eyes and gentle manner lifted our spirits. We headed down the valley to the newly repaired road. A bus took us to Riwa to spend the night and then on Daocheng.

It is written that the big kora is the equivalent of saying the most famous of all Buddhist mantras, Om Mani Padne Hum, 100,000,000 times. Perhaps.

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