Lhasa Local Customs

As Lhasa ia a main pilgrim destination you will see many people praying. Praying can be done in several ways. You can turn your prayerwheel, sending your prayers to heaven. Or recite a mantra like Om mani padme hum. Also you can kneel to laying down on the ground. The people you see in the picture are praying in front of the Jokhang.

This monk shows how to be prepared for everything. He wears a cloth in front of his mouth and nose, probably against infections or the polution of the city.
In his left hand he holds a wreath, counting his prayers on it, and an umbrella in a handy bag. His right hand is turning his prayerwheel while he walks the Nangkhor, a pilgrim route inside the Jokhang.

More on the prayerwheel in the local custom tips at our Tibet page.

This solar heating method is quite commonly seen - it would be a shame not to use the sun power for to help make the most common and popular drink in Tibet. We saw this in the courtyard of our hotel of Lhasa.

Tibetans kneel and lie down in front of the Jokhang, as part of a pilgrimage to this most sacred of temples. This is a very respected religious tradition, and one of the most visible ones along with chanting (oom mani padme hum) and using prayer mills.

On the tops of passes you always see prayer flags blowing in the wind. These flags with Buddhist sutras on it are placed by the Tibetan people. The flags are very colourful and the all have a special meaning.

I think it's good to watch these flags and how the people hang out these flags but as long as you're no Buddhist it's better not to do it yourself.

Just like in many other Asian countries in Tibet it is also usual to eat your food with chopsticks.
In the beginning it is difficult to eat your food with these sticks but the longer you practise the better it's going.

Pictured here is the mani-wall - stones inscribed with mantra.

The soul of Tibet lies in its religion & culture.
LAMAISM is ... (well, I didn't do an indepth study b4 arrival & after departure either, so I shall not attempt to define it; instead here's what I found on the net which at least try to give an insight into it):

Excerpts from The Soul of Tibet - http://www.theosophy.org/tlodocs/SoulofTibet.htm :

What is religion to the Dalai Lama, to Tibetans?

Religion, he says in his book, has got everything to do with the mental discipline, the peace of mind, the calm and poise, the inner equanimity achieved by any human being, which is bound to show in his daily life. The Dalai Lama says explicitly that religion is not a matter of merely going into retreats and monasteries. No doubt when this is done it has its value, but religion is not a matter of outward profession or formal observance. His Holiness does not even use the word 'Buddhism' with anything like a sectarian sound. He is simply not interested in making claims of any sort. Religion means for him something quite different from what it means to almost all of us in the modern world. For him, and for the Tibetans, religion means what it meant in Carlyle's definition – the beliefs by which a man really lives from day to day, not the beliefs to which he merely gives verbal or even mental assent.

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Excerpt from The Soul of Tibet - http://www.theosophy.org/tlodocs/SoulofTibet.htm :

"The Tibetan view of religion is indeed something totally different from our ordinary response to religious as opposed to secular thought. How many of us really believe that even more important than material advancement and the utilitarian criterion of physical pleasure, is the possession of priceless truths concerning the numerous inhibitions and tendencies which afflict the human psyche and of which we have hardly any definite and exact knowledge? If we do believe this, we will be prepared to approach in a spirit of humility the thousands of Buddhist texts in Tibet that came from India, Nepal and China. Tibet is a repository of the real wisdom of the East – a much abused phrase. It has been the home of thousands upon thousands of manuscripts, scrolls, and volumes in which we have not only profound spiritual truths but also examples of a highly developed system of logic and dialectics that was primarily put to a metaphysical and a religious use but which in itself provides a unique discipline to the mind. Tibet has no parallel in this sphere. Of course, no one would admit that he does not care for logical processes. But how much thought do we give simply to perfecting the art of enquiry and disputation? How much time do we give to evolving a technique of constructive discussion? Do we really know how it is possible to resolve the apparently contrary standpoints of relative truths in religion and philosophy and our human relationships?

This technique was highly developed in Tibet. It was founded upon the doctrine of what the Dalai Lama calls the Dual Truth: the distinction between a Platonic archetype of absolute truth, which is unknown to mortal man but can always be held up as an ultimate ideal, and the relative truth every human being embodies, acquired purely by reference to his own experience.

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