Tibet Story

April Aretz, the writer of the following article, was a student participant of EMU’s first-ever cohort to travel and study in Tibet, summer 2006. The China-Tibet Cultural History Tour is an EMU study abroad program that integrates traditional scholarship with experiential learning within an interdisciplinary framework. Faculty and students studied and traveled together through Shanghai, Nanjing, Xian, Beijing and Chengdu, China to Lhasa, Tibet, examining the cultural history, religion, art and politics of the places visited.   

Overcoming Hurdles to Understanding  

The Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

The Potala Palace is significant because it has played a spiritual and political role in Tibetan History. Not only has this palace served as a home to the past religious leaders (Dalai Lamas) that ruled Tibet, but it also serves as artwork that is visually pleasing and spiritually transforming.

My first impression of the Potala Palace was that it was large and beautiful. It seemed very dated and almost out of place next to the bustling city and new city park. But, it is much more than an aesthetic experience. To the Buddhist, this place is a Buddhist icon-an image that has transformative power. Whether it is the chortens, mandalas, or symbols, the presence of Buddhist icons are everywhere around the Potala Palace.

Corbelled bracketing with Buddhist symbols

and Tibetan inscriptions supporting a temple roof

Then, I think, can this place give me more than an aesthetic experience? What does this place truly mean to Buddhist followers? Can I truly understand the power of these icons? Am I able to understand their content?

In the article The Buddhist Icon and the Modern Gaze, Bernard Faure makes the argument that because of my own experience it may be difficult for me to understand. “Even when we attempt to break away from the traditional aesthetic approach to take into account the anthropological or cultic dimensions of the Buddhist icon, our predominant influence remains western” (Faure, p.788).

Buddhist Faithful with prayer wheel, walking the Bharkor Circuit, Lhasa

For me, I think I have two things that serve as obstacles in my quest to understand the icons in the Potala Palace. First, I have a western influence that has socialized me to think in a very western way. However, I know that this is something I can work through. Second, has the palace lost its spiritual influence? It is said that when art is displaced from its original spaces it loses significance. “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be” (Faure, p.800).

Nuns and digital camera, Drepung Monastery, Lhasa

Is this the case for the art of the Potala Palace? Have the police, tourist pathways, confiscated property and the absence of the Dalai Lama taken away its unique existence? Perhaps this is all true however its power still lingers in the dark hallways, in the prayers of those who come, and in the history that can never be taken away.

Monk with sutras and sleepy kitty cat, Lhasa, Tibet

As I walk through I know I will never know the transformative power these icons possess, however, while I may never experience this, I can definitely try to understand. I will never know what it was like to grow up in the Potala Palace as a young spiritual leader like the Dalai Lama. I will never know the pain the Tibetans felt when their country was invaded and they were being forced to assimilate. However, I can understand.

Golden Deer and the Dharma Wheel, Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet

In the western part of the world, each one of us has our own unique experiences. Catholics have the Vatican, Jewish believers have Jerusalem, Islam has Mecca. What is crucial in overcoming hurdles that hinder us from understanding others is our own inability to relate our experiences with theirs.

No, I am not a Buddhist nor am I Tibetan. But when I look at a piece of artwork of a protector deity I can understand. In my own experience there have been times when I felt I needed to be protected or prayed for the protection of my loved ones. And for the Buddhist, this figure may bring them peace or reassurance.

In Catholicism there is a saint for safe traveling. In the Protestant faith, believers call upon angels for protection. And, just like the Buddhist faith these images can be liberating just through the senses.

So, how can the icons in the Potala Palace be liberating just through the sight, touch, hear or smell? When I was in India there was a long period where I couldn’t speak to or see my mother. Then one day when I was shopping a woman walked by me and she was wearing the same perfume my mom wears. Just the smell gave me so much comfort. Can you imagine a Muslim man who waits his whole life to make the pilgrimage to Mecca? Or, imagine a Christian who makes his way to Mt. Golgotha? And a Buddhist who makes his way through the Potala Palace the experience can mean just as much. The single act of seeing or touching is transformative in the spiritual sense.

Liberation through the senses is something that every culture shares in their quest for spiritual significance. Surely this common quest for significance is something that everyone can understand if they try. Over all, my experience at the Potala Palace was transformative. While it may not be the same type of spiritual liberation Buddhists experience, it is certainly important. I am leaving Tibet changed, touched and aware of the culture in Tibet. And, the art work has been an important aspect in linking my unique experiences with those of the Tibetan culture.

The author at Drepung Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet

All Images by Kate Brunn, participant of EMU’s European and China-Tibet Cultural History Tours.

Texts referred to:

The Buddhist Icon and The Modern Gaze

Bernard Faure

Critical Inquiry, Volume 24, No.3 (Spring, 1998), 768-813

Naïve Sensualism, Docta Ignorantia. Tibetan Liberation Through the Senses

Joanna Tokarska-Bakir

Numen,Vol.47, No.1 (2000) pp.69-112