Likir and the Budhdha on the hilltop...

Likir Monastery or Likir Gompa (Klud-kyil) is a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, northern India, located approximately 52 kilometres (32 mi) west of Leh. It is picturesquely situated on a little hill in the valley near the Indus River and the village of Saspol about 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) north of the Srinagar to Leh highway.

 I particularly like this despite the shake. Most of these snaps were taken in the confines of a SUV peering through windows and squeezing between people's profiles. And so a few of them were shaken but this snap holds a greater meaning for me - perhaps because of the fuzzy image of the lady. To me, the moment I saw it on the big screen, it represented the truth. It represented us and modern life speeding fast across the heritage, beauty and nature of a place like Ladhakh. This crown of India was literally over run by tourists in the summer season when we went there and money was fast becoming a driving force. Yes - the people were wonderful and extremely genuine but how long with this simple nature last in the face of winds of modernism and change.

 I wonder how long and somewhere deep inside me, there is a growing fear when i think. 

I hope for the best but I guess, I should be prepared for the worst.

 

This is one of the most memorable sights of Likir - the golden Budhdha peering down from the hilltop. It almost feels divine... even to an atheist like me. 

Very many berries... ;)

The legend of Lamayuru...

The second day of our stay in Leh was spent traveling to three of the oldest monasteries in Leh. We traveled to Lamayuru, Alchi and Likir. 

These three monasteries lie en route to Kargil and are a fair distance from Leh. They are also some of the lest visited places in the tourist circuit since most tourists seem to prefer skipping monasteries. But in my opinion, it is nice to visit them to get a feel of the culture. It also gave us some breathtaking views of some of the oldest paintings which are relics from the earliest phases of Buddhist spread. It was also a wonderful opportunity for us to interact with the locals and to learn from the monks themselves. Since these monasteries were not crowded, we could ask the monks about detailed histories, customs etc and they would happily chat with us.

At a 3 hour drive from Leh, Lamayuru is one of the largest and oldest gompas in Ladakh, with a population of around 150 permanent monks resident.

The story goes that the Indian scholar Mahasiddhacarya Naropa (956-1041 CE) caused a lake which filled the valley to dry up and founded Lamayuru Monastery. The oldest surviving building at Lamayuru is a temple called Seng-ge-sgang, at the southern end of the Lamayuru rock, which is attributed to the famous builder-monk Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055 CE).

What will stay with me :

- Those dozens of statues of Buddha with different hand gestures and mudras.
- The scrolls of those hand written ancient Buddhist text safely stowed away in those wooden boxes.
- Our hunt for the lion temple and the beautiful paintings in it. They were fading and badly in need of restoration but I am happy we saw them for what they were.
- The Dzo (hybrid between a cow and a yak, i believe) who was circumambulating the monastery... it was a funny and a memorable sight.
- The mud houses that were built into the hillsides so much so that they appeared to be a part of it. Houses that seemed to be on a tether - almost suicidal.. ;)
- And our brief glimpse of moon-place.

Science and the Salk...

The Salk Institute 

has been my place for the past couple of years and it certainly has been a great place to be in. it is renowned for its architectural work and from the pictures below, you will have no trouble understanding why. 

The institute is housed in a complex designed by Louis Kahn. The structure consists of two symmetric buildings with a stream of water flowing in the middle of a courtyard that separates the two. The buildings themselves have been designed to promote collaboration, and thus, quite uniquely and interestingly there are no walls separating laboratories on any floor. There are no rooms or doors and thus getting lost is an inherent part of finding anything at Salk. People often wander in looking for other people, laboratories or instruments and while it is slightly unnerving at first, to be lost almost all the time, it is great fun, once you get used to it. 

"The Salk Institute’s open environment teeming with empty space is symbolic of an open environment for creation, the symmetry stands for scientific precision, and submerging crevasses allow warm, natural light to enter the buildings like the intellectual light that leads to discovery. The contrast between balance and dynamic space manifests a pluralistic invitation for scientific study in structures developed to accommodate their respective functions as parts of a research facility. Although modern in appearance, it is essentially an isolated compound for individual and collaborative study not unlike monasteries as sanctuaries for religious discovery, and they directly influenced Kahn in his design. Ultimately, the Salk Institute’s meaning transcends function and physical place as a reflection of Western Civilization’s pursuit of truth through science instead of God: it is Louis Kahn’s masterpiece reinterpretation of the monastic “intellectual retreat” in our day and age.