Gompa gompa gompa

On the way to Manali from Dharamsala, we stopped in the small village of Rewalsar. An extremely important place in terms of spirituality, it houses two gompas, one from the Nyingmapa sect of Buddhism, and the other from the Gelukpa order. Rewalsar Lake is supposed to have holy properties... and I have to admit, there is a strange atmosphere surrounding the whole place... it is a village literally plonked in the middle of nowhere, but has a calm importance about it. We are staying in a beautiful gompa surrounded by partying monks (I'm not even joking, I was in bed at 1130 and they were outside playing pool)

I woke up at 5am to the sound of a giant bell being smacked pretty forcefully, the hum of prayers resonating in the air, and the sound of monkey unsuccessfully trying to mangle the local cat. Beautiful, but not at 5am. I pulled my pillow over my head and tried to drop off... not happening.

Just as a bit of a history lesson, Tenz was explaining to me the differences between some of the Buddhist orders of monks (he's an actual library on all things spiritual). The Gelukpa order is the one belonging to the Dalai Lama and the Kamapa... but interestingly, one of the other sects, belonging to the lama Dorje Shugden is directly opposed to the Gelukpa sect. Thousands of years ago in Tibet, (this is all from my poor poor memory) the lama heading the Shugden sect was murdered (for a reason that I can't remember of the top off my head) by a member of the Gelukpa sect... the Shugdens retaliated, and in modern day Buddhism there are alot of stories surrounding the powerful magic of both orders, with the Shugdens directly opposing the Dalai Lama. For me of little knowledge, I find it interesting that within such a peaceful belief system, it is permeated sometimes by violence and dislike... I suppose though, after all, we are all human. To read more about Shugden I;ve googled it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorje_Shugden