Original subtitles

Insight Asia

Asian Corridor in Heaven

< Road to Pilgrimage >

After the fall harvest,

men on horses gather in the village.

Tomorrow, they will be starting off on their pilgrimage to Lhasa, Tibet.

Calingding, Dege, Sichuan Province, October 20, 2006

A small village in China's Dege of Sichuan Province.

This town lies on the border of Tibet and Sichuan Province.

The pilgrims are busy with their last-minute preparations.

This is a glove made of wood and leather.

It's a necessity for these people who will be bowing on the ground.

They need about 50-60 wooden gloves

in order to make it to Lhasa bowing along the way.

All of the pilgrims are shepherds that attend to yaks.

As they are nomads, they are very familiar with packing.

But the trails that they must take

are dangerous beyond one's imagination.

Five men pay a visit to the living Buddha.

For the Tibetans, the living Buddha is an incarnation of Buddha himself.

The pilgrims must do everything that the Buddha tells them to.

The living Buddha informs the travellers of

what they must remember during their pilgrimage.

The full bows begin in front of the white tower

at the temple of the living Buddha.

The pilgrims must not kill living things on the road.

They leave for their journey,

promising not to lie and to avoid temptations.

2, 100 kilometers to Lhasa.

It's a long way on foot. But they must travel

the entire path bowing, with their heads, two hands

and feet touching the ground.

For the Tibetans, the pilgrimage is a life-long dream.

Everyone knows what a difficult task it is,

without even having to ask.

In a cave, the living Buddha recites Buddhist text each time

villagers go on a pilgrimage.

He prays that the pilgrims

will be safe on their travels.

View of Zhangdu in Tibet, December 20, 2006

Meanwhile, a wagon loaded

with food and camping

equipment follows behind.

Pulling the heavy wagon is

just as difficult as performing the bows.

The procession is still slow.

They can travel only 6 kilometers per day.

The pilgrims rest after travelling for only 200 meters.

Why must they go on this very dangerous and difficult journey?

It's not easy to be born human again

and I don't want to waste the rest of my life.

Going on the pilgrimage to Lhasa

is the most meaningful thing I've done in my life.

I've seen many people spend their lives in agony and die.

Perhaps, they will end up in horrendous hell.

I'm preparing for my death because it's bound to happen someday.

The pilgrimage is a preparation for my next life when I'm born again.

The path from Sichuan to Lhasa.

The plateau is situated at 4,000 meters above sea level

and used to be an important path

in the Himalayas dating back to the Tang Dynasty.

Amongst the pilgrims,

there are families that have come with children.

We asked one pilgrim on the road

why she was taking on such a difficult task.

Her first son died recently in an accident.

The family had forsaken all of

their possessions and started out on this pilgrimage.

It was really hard after my son died.

But it's something that everyone must go through in life.

I'm sacrificing myself on this road to pilgrimage.

I pray for all living creatures as

I go on this very difficult journey.

In the process, my family is able to find stability and happiness.

For the Tibetans, life and death are linked on a single wheel.

A sky burial was being carried out.

The burial consists of a corpse cut into pieces and fed to the vultures.

It's a traditional burial of the Tibetans.

As the hungry vultures' are fed,

the bodies are given back to the world as offerings.

Sky burials and the pilgrimage.

They're both dire prayers for all living life forms.

View of Bangda in Tibet, January 3, 2006

It's not just the well paved roads that the pilgrims travel on.

They must past through steep hills and cross deep valleys.

Having reached a stream, the pilgrims must bow

according to the width of it before crossing.

The same applies when they meet a wall.

They must bow down in advance of what they cannot cross.

They've travelled 600 kilometers so far.

They must continue to go another 1,500 kilometers in this fashion.

Two elderly men, Busa and Lulu, are getting ready to camp out.

The two men pull the carts, set up tents,

fetch water, and prepare meals for

the three people who are on the pilgrimage.

They start out late but

arrive early at their destinations to wait for the three men.

Another long and hard day has passed for the pilgrims.

Bread made of barley powder and tea

is all that they eat for dinner.

Along the road,

local villagers dressed in

traditional Tibetan costumes greet the pilgrims.

A living Buddha from a nearby temple has come to see them.

A white cloth called the "hada" is presented to the living Buddha.

The living Buddha then hangs the "hada" on each person's neck with blessing.

The living Buddha leaves the village in just a few minutes.

But for the simple villagers of the mountains,

his visit is a great blessing and comfort.

The full bow is

one that allows one to lower himself or herself to the fullest.

The three claps before the bow

signifies one's body, mind, and words.

And by bowing on the ground, theses three elements

are offered to Buddha.

At this point in time,

pilgrims believe that all people are bowing down with

them and that Buddha will accept all of their earnest prayers.

A large, hard mole has appeared on the forehead of all three men.

It's a wound that had healed only to be cut open again many times.

The harder the bruise is,

the longer and more difficult the pilgrimage had been.

After our departure, each of us used 15 wooden gloves.

I brought eight leather aprons,

but I've used up five already.

The only thing left now are rubber tires and it's very heavy.

I already have many wounds.

My feet and chest have been bruised.

Numerous blisters have come and gone on my knee

and have hardened the skin.

All of my joints are swollen in the morning

and my hands have hardened as well.

The leather aprons must be replaced every 100 kilometers travelled.

When the leather becomes worn out,

pieces of rubber tire are used to fill up the holes.

Elevation is high at 4,500 kilometers.

The temperature falls to below 20 in the middle of the night.

The exhausting day comes to an end as the pilgrims read their text.

Mt. Mila in Tibet, March 7, 2007

The next morning...

Busa has hit the road once more but he has hard time breathing.

Breathing is difficult when walking up the highly elevated mountain.

Two men have started their full bows where they left off yesterday.

There is one person missing.

The youngest Dawa has decided to pull the cart because he isn't feeling well.

Busa is sixty six this year.

He's been sick with a lung condition for the longest time.

He was able to come on this trip only

after persuading the living Buddha who had been

worried about Busa's health.

Going on this trip was Busa's last wish in life.

Mt. Mila is an alpine 5,400 kilometers in height.

The alp is the most difficult hurdle for the pilgrims.

Lapa and Cheoja have reached the rough mountain path.

The pilgrims climb up a steep cliff that lacks proper path.

They cannot go around it just because it's rugged.

The Tibetans believe that the more pain you suffer,

the greater your sin will be cleansed.

They start to prepare lunch having reached the peak of Mt. Mila late in the afternoon.

All they have left to eat now are some beef jerky and bits of bread.

Their bodies are sick and exhausted

but no one is worried about the remaining journey.

If someone were to die,

a funeral will be held on that spot.

It's actually an honour to die during a pilgrimage.

If the illness becomes severe, I may have to go back home

so that I'm not a burden to the other men.

But I want to finish the journey because I've come this far.

Busa is pulling the cart once more on his way down Mt. Mila.

The downhill allows the pilgrims to increase speed,

pressing on 10 kilometers per day.

This is the first village they've come across after Mt. Mila.

A lady from the village offers some tea with yak butter to the tired men.

The Tibetans know that the pilgrimage

is not just an individual

task but encompasses everyone.

The ill-stricken Busa visits a nearby hospital.

It won't be easy to cure his illness in this small village clinic.

The doctor tells him to take a rest,

but Busa wishes to push on forward.

The winter weather in the plateau is very fickle.

The sandstorm and the snow are a nuisance to the pilgrims.

Rice was prepared for Busa,

but he's too sick to eat, taking in a cup of tea instead.

It's been 6 months since the pilgrims have left Dege of Sichuan Province.

Spring has come at last.

Lhasa is not so far away now.

185 days have passed on their journey.

The pilgrims are finally able to see Lhasa within their sights.

As they enter Lhasa, even Busa has started to bow again.

This is the Potala Palace of the Tubo Kingdom that once ruled

the Tibetan lands 1,200 years ago.

Potala Palace, a historical landmark,

presents a time when the teachings of Buddha ruled Tibet.

It's a holy place where Tibetans are strongly attracted to.

Why is it that Tibetans yearn so much to travel to Lhasa?

The answer lies here.

The Chimpu Stream is situated in Northern Lhasa.

It's a place where hermits come to meditate.

Padmasambhava came to Tibet 1,000 years ago from India.

He spread Buddhism in all of Tibet.

He taught the Tibetans about life after death.

This cave is where he meditated

when he first arrived in Tibet.

The pilgrims have finished their journey.

They meditate according to the teachings of Padmasambhava,

while awaiting death and preparing for their next lives.

The people that come to Chimpu

have rid their lives of comfort and worldly desires.

People seek Lhasa and Chimpu despite the adversities

because these places are considered to be mirrors on which to reflect their souls.

The pilgrims head for their final destination amongst the crowd.

April 21, 2007>

They're heading for Jokhang Temple,

the head temple of Tibetan Buddhism.

186 days have passed.

The pilgrims are finally in front of their final destination,

the Jokhang Temple.

They've realized their wishes.

People handover the 'hada' to the pilgrims

and congratulate them on the end of their noble journey.

The heavily locked doors open at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Jokhang Temple was founded by Songsten Gampo,

the King that unified Tibet for the firs time in the 7th century

When Princess Mung-chang of the Tang Dynasty came to wed

King Songsten Gampo, she brought along with her a statue of

Buddha that can be found inside the temple.

Tibetans have prayed and worshipped

the statue for the last 1,400 years.

The pilgrims have travelled

2, 100 kilometers to see this statue.

The men have finished their visit to the temple.

But their pilgrimage isn't over just yet.

I prayed about just one thing

the minute I left home until I arrived in Lhasa.

In the past, I had too much to drink and led a dissipated life.

And I've been praying about what type of person I want to be in the future.

I've prayed in front of the Buddha statue

at Jokhang Temple for the well-being of all living creatures.

After the pilgrimage, I'm going to perform only good deeds.

In order to do this, I'm going to leave home and become a lama.

My wish came true upon arriving in Lhasa.

Buddha taught us to seek benevolence.

I want to be someone with a big heart in my next life

so that I can lessen the sufferings of others.

While I'm still alive, I want to spend my life praying for others.

The pilgrims that travelled 2, 100 kilometers, over a period of 7 months,

have started their full bows again in front of Jokhang Temple.

Lhasa isn't the end of their pilgrimage.

For these men that have started out in the Himalayas,

It's just the beginning of a new pilgrimage.

These men arrived in Jokhang Temple On April 21, 2007,

and left on June 14, 2007,

after bowing another 100,000 times.

Busa and Lulu went back to their hometowns.

Dawa went to a mountain near his hometown to pick vegetable worms to earn money.

Lappa and Cheoja became lamas when they returned to their temple.