I definitely feel better after sleeping for 11 hours. Reducing the Diamox dose by half helps, as well. The original dose is way too much for my body size. Even with rest, climbing a short flight of stairs feels like a workout.
This morning we visit the Drepung Monastery. It is placed on a hill, like most Tibetan monasteries. They are rebuilding the road up to the complex, so we need to pick our way carefully.
Drepung was one of three Gelukpa university monasteries. The other two are Sera and Ganden. We will see Sera later today and watch a disputation. Gelukpa Buddhist is also known as the Yellow Hat sect, which I think is the Dalai Lama’s branch of the religion.
This sect was founded by Tsongkhapa in the late 14th c and we will see a lot of his statues in these monasteries. His emphasis was on universal compassion and realizing that nothing possesses essential, enduring identity. Plato said as much in his philosophy that objects of perception have no inherent existence.
But, I digress.
The monastery reeks of history and incense. We saw monks chanting in the gloom, but my favorite part was seeing a monk walking with a cellphone glued to his ear. Another young monk was wearing Doc Martens!
After lunch we went to a traditional Tibetan hospital, where one of the practitioners gave us a rather confused lecture about traditional medicine. Galen would have loved this, because there was a parallel of Galen’s idea of the four humours in Tibetan medicine. This medical system seems to be based on a lot of nonsense. I had to try awfully hard not to be rude. Certainly, if I had an infection, a bout of antibiotic would do a lot more for me than knowing whether I was a hot or cool person. Each to his own.
In the afternoon we went to the Sera Temple to watch the monks holding mock debates in the courtyard. Since they are students and young, these debates are quite energetic, as one monk will slap his hands together in a certain way to indicate that he agrees or disagrees with the answer given. There is at least one senior monk that walks around watching the debates (and maybe to keep order). Frankly, the students looked as if they were having a good time and blowing off a bit of steam after being in class all day. I was surprised at the number of monks who were wearing Nikes! That company must be making a killing in China if its products reach Tibet, as well.
