Sojourns of the Soul by Dana Micucci

Author:Dana Micucci
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medical
Publisher: Quest Books
Published: 2011-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Our perilous descent along rocky, hairpin roads from Shekar to Zhangmu, a commercial, unattractive Chinese border town perched on a cliff, takes us through the breathtaking Himalayas toward Nepal. The landscape changes dramatically from the barren Tibetan plateau to lush foothills carved by waterfalls, gorges, and the Tibetan River, surging with melt-water from the mountain peaks. Suddenly, after days of near freezing weather, we are warmed by the moist air. After a night in Zhangmu and one last encounter with PLA soldiers who inspect our passports, we descend farther along a spiraling muddy road and the small Friendship Bridge, crossing the “forbidden border” into Nepal.

The forbidden border is so named because Tibet, in an effort to counter the threat of colonization, had long closed itself to the West. Before the British invasion of 1904, led by Colonel Francis Younghusband, only a few Western missionaries and explorers had penetrated the Land of Snows. At that time, the British, along with the Russians and the Chinese, were vying for control over a geographically strategic Tibet in what became known as the Great Game to dominate Central Asia.

I glance back at the mountains. The Roof of the World, defined by its sublime, harsh beauty and contemporary tragedy, has disappeared in the mist. I have come in search of Shangri-La only to find that it doesn't exist in what the Buddhists would call the illusion of this impermanent, tormented Earth. I feel cheated. So I will try to look beyond the illusion to a place of endless wisdom and compassion, which the Tibetan people, with their uncompromising faith, fierce resilience, and expansive spirit, and the Dalai Lama in his passionate struggle for their freedom, consistently embody.

I am both pained and exhilarated by what I have witnessed and learned here. And my own worries and concerns have altogether evaporated. I wonder what to do next—not simply in the next hours or days but in the limited time horizon that remains for me now. What is important? How can I live peacefully with full, focused awareness and faith in the beneficent force of the universe, free of ego-centered doubts and desires while staying compassionately engaged in the world? “Be a lamp into yourself,” I can hear the Buddha saying. “Work at your liberation with diligence. Speak the truth; do not yield to anger; give (of thy little) if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt attain the world of the gods.”

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