The Heart of the World

by Ian Baker

  Stropharia cubensis

  stupa (reliquary shrine)

  Subansiri River

  Sufism

  Su-La pass

  sulfur springs

  suma (guardian spirits)

  sunbirds, fire-tailed

  sunyata (emptiness)

  Surinam

  Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

  Takei, Yoshitaka

  takin

  takmu flower

  Taksham Nuden Dorje

  Tale of Ise

  Taleju

  Talung Chu

  Tamang

  Tambo Gompa monastery

  Tamding

  Tannaserim mountains

  Tantra of the Direct Consequence of Sound

  Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) ; alchemy in ; chakras in; deities of ; feasts in ; fire offerings in; Hamid initiated into; hell in; hidden-lands of, see beyul; hunting in; icons of; initiation into; in Kathmandu; miraculous plants in ; Padmasambhava and establishment of ; pilgrimages in ; power places of; training center for practitioners of; transcendence of fear in; union of male and female energies in; view of reality in; waterfalls in; yogas of

  Taoism

  Tao Qian

  Tapak Né

  Tara (female Buddha)

  Tarkovsky, Andrei

  Tashi Choeling (Auspicious Place of the Dharma)

  Tashi Choezod

  Tashi Tsering

  Tashi Tsomo

  Telluride Mountain Film Festival

  tendrel (auspicious circumstances)

  Tenzin Gyatso, see Dalai Lama

  Tenzing Norgay

  Terdak Lingpa

  terma (concealed Dharma treasure)

  Tertiary period

  tertons (treasure-revealers)

  Testimony of Truth

  Tethys, Sea of

  Thailand

  thangka (scroll paintings)

  Theophilas of Antioch, St.

  Theosophy

  Thinley Jhampa Yungney

  Thomas, Gospel of

  Thoreau, Henry David

  Three Gorges Dam

  thrushes, giant laughing

  Thurman, Robert

  Tiananmen Square protests

  Tibetan Autonomous Region

  Tibetan Book of the Dead

  Tibetan Forestry Bureau

  Tibetan life cycles, film on

  Tiger Leaping Gorge

  tigers

  tigle (luminous essences)

  Tika

  Tilopa

  Tisisat Falls

  tits, green-backed

  togdens (yogis)

  Tolkien, J.R.R.

  Tomtom-La pass

  Tonga people

  Trakpo Kagye Ling

  Tranak tribes

  Treadway, Susan

  Treatise on Paradise and the Principle Contents Thereof (Salkeld)

  Tree of Knowledge

  Trenchard, Captain

  Tristan and Isolde (Strassburg)

  Troma Nagmo (female Tantric deity)

  List of Illustrations

  Here - “Bam,” the mantric seed-syllable of Dorje Pagmo. Tibetan calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - “Hung,” the mantric seed-syllable representing pristine awareness and the primordial state of reality. Tibetan calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - “The Outer Gate” (chi-go). Tibetan calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Dorje Pagmo (Skt. Vajiravarahi), goddess of the Tsangpo gorges. Fifteenth century gilt-bronze statue in the Potala Collection, Lama Lhakhang, Lhasa, Tibet. Courtesy of Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 2, plate 266D.

  Here - Map of Pemako and the Tsangpo gorges by Ian Baker.

  Here - Massif of Namcha Barwa rising from behind a spur of Gyala Pelri. The Tsangpo River flows between the two peaks forming the earth’s deepest gorge. Photograph by author.

  Here - Shinje Chogyal (Skt. Yamaraj), Tibetan Lord of Death. Sixteenth-century bronze statue from the Potala Collection, Lhasa, Tibet. Courtesy of Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 2, plate 262A.

  Here - Crossing a rope bridge over the Nam Tami River in Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet–India frontier. Photograph by Frank Kingdon Ward. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Padmasambhava, the lotus-born Buddhist teacher and source of the treasure-texts describing Tibet’s hidden-lands. Eighth-century image from Samye Monastery, Tibet. Photographer unknown.

  Here - “Beyul.” Tibetan calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Mountain of the Moon Bird, where Padmasambhava gained mastery of the elements and revealed the hidden-land of Pemthang. Beyul Yolmo Kangra, Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - Nyingma yogin invoking spirits. Derge, eastern Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - “The Middle Door” (bar-go). Tibetan calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain, as seen from Sikkim. Photograph by Mani Lama.

  Here - Rigdzin Namkha Jikme, “Fearless Sky.” Line art by Gomchen Oleshey. From The Nyingma Icons: A Collection of Line Drawings of 94 Deities and Divinities of Tibet, Khempo Sangyay Tenzin and Gomchen Oleshey. Solokhumbu, Nepal.

  Here - Lamas at Talung Monastery, Sikkim. Photograph by Johnston & Hoffman, 1894. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche, the “Adamantine Buddha.” Yangleshö, Nepal. Photograph by Thomas L. Kelly.

  Here - Hevajra, “Adamantine Joy,” a Tantric icon of enlightened awareness. Fifteenth-century Tibetan bronze. Courtesy of Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 2, plate 269C.

  Here - Author with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dharamsala, India, 1991. Photograph by Thomas L. Kelly.

  Here - Semo Saraswati, daughter of Chatral Rinpoche. Neyding, Yolmo Kangra, Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - The treasure-revealer Rigdzin Duddul Lingpa. Line art by Gomchen Oleshey.

  Here - Village lama with Tibetan texts. Sama Monastery, Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - Chagdar Rinpoche, Sikkim. Born in Golok, eastern Tibet, in the late 1860s, Chagdar Rinpoche journeyed to Beyul Dremojong where he reputedly attained the siddhi of flight. He is dressed in a leopard skin pelt and holds a bamboo-shafted Tantric staff (khatvangha) crested with a single skull. His assorted weapons represent the annihilation of all duality. Photographer and date unknown. Courtesy of Brian Gregor and Aroter.

  Here - Pilgrims crossing Yu-La pass near the sacred mountain of Tsari in southern Tibet. Photograph by Frank Ludlow, 1936–47. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Lopa warriors. Courtesy of Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, India.

  Here - Kinthup, photographed in Simla, India, in 1913 by Sir Gerald Burran. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Falls of the Tsangpo. Line drawing commissioned by L. A. Waddell for publication in Geographical Journal, Vol. v, no. 3 (1895). Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Komsing Abors (Adis) in front of a tribal longhouse. Abor Expedition, 1911‒12. Photograph by A. Bentinck. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - British officer crossing Abor cane bridge, Arunachal Pradesh. Photograph by Major C.P. Gunter, 1912–13. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Victoria Falls and Falls Bridge, Zimbabwe. Photographer and date unknown. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - British political officers and Mishmis in present-day Arunachal Pradesh. Photograph by C.P. Gunter, 1912–13. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Tantric yogins (togden, “holder of realized p
ower”). Tashi Jong, Himachal Pradesh, northern India. Photograph by author.

  Here - Entry portal into Beyul Kyimolung, Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - Pilgrims with flowers. Beyul Kyimolung, Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - Hamid in Gurung chang-house. Kyimolung. Photograph by author.

  Here - Buddhist charya dancer. Yangleshö temple, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Courtesy of Margo Lama.

  Here - Eden Hashish Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal. Poster from early 1970s, courtesy of Bob Von Groevenbrock.

  Here - An eighteenth-century Tibetan thangka painting of Lama Cheng-nga Ngagiwangchuk showing a waterfall in the upper-left-hand corner and below it a Buddhist treasure revealer (Terton) pictured with a meditation belt, treasure casket, and revealed text. A dakini flies in the space above.

  Here - Terton Dulshuk Lingpa (1914–1963), renowned Tibetan treasure-revealer who perished on the slopes of Kanchenjunga while seeking a beyul. Photograph courtesy of his daughter, Sangyum Kamala Lama.

  Here - Bridge along cliffs. Tsangpo gorge region, Tibet. Photograph by Frank Kingdon Ward, 1924. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - “The inner door” (nang-go). Calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Pilgrims in the Jokhang. Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Painting of the Srinmo, the demoness who shaped Tibet’s archaic landscape. Norbu Lingka, Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Approaching the upper Tsangpo gorge. Photograph by Frank Kingdon Ward, 1924. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Dorje Pagmo. Thirteenth-century bronze statue in the Jokhang, Lhasa, Tibet. Courtesy of Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 2, plate 289A.

  Here - Captain Frank Kingdon Ward in eastern Tibet. Date and photographer unknown. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Lord Jack Cawdor, the Fifth Earl of Cawdor, in Tibet. Photograph courtesy of Countess Angelika Cawdor, Cawdor Castle, Nairn, Scotland.

  Here - Takin (Budorcas taxicolor). Photograph by author.

  Here - Descending into a grotto in Shekarlungpa. Tsangpo gorge, Tibet. Photograph of author by Jill Bielowski.

  Here - Captain F. M. Bailey’s map of the Tsangpo gorges as it appears in his book No Passport to Tibet.

  Here - Rainbow Falls and the cliffs that Kingdon Ward and Lord Cawdor ascended in their climb out of the Tsangpo gorge in 1924. Photograph by author.

  Here - Tantric yogis cultivating visions. Seventeenth-century murals from the Lukhang, a meditation chamber used by successive generations of Dalai Lamas. Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Descending into Tselung, the Valley of Long Life, from a spur of Namcha Barwa. Pemako, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Building a cantilever bridge over the Tselung Chu. Pemako, Tibet. Sherab holds the log against the flow of the rapids. Photograph by author.

  Here - Yogi with five chakras. Wall painting from the Lukhang temple, Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Kongpo porter holding notched lhashing, or spirit stick and circumambulating the pilgrimage site of Tsebum in northern Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - Bayu villager with his grandson, dressed in a tunic made from the skin of a red goral. Photograph by author.

  Here - Terton Dudjom Lingpa, Dudjom Rinpoche’s previous incarnation who died before reaching Pemako but vowed to be reborn there. Line art from The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism by Dudjom Jikral Yeshe Dorje.

  Here - Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche (1904–1987), supreme head of the Nyingma lineage and revealer of numerous treasure-texts. Courtesy of Aroter.

  Here - Kundu Dorsempotrang, the All-Gathering Adamantine Palace. The mountain allegedly holds the key to Pemako’s innermost realms. Photograph by author.

  Here - “The Secret Door” (sang-go). Calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Bhakha Tulku Pema Tenzing Rinpoche, in ceremonial hat and holding a vajra and bell. Tamshing Gompa, Bumthang, Bhutan. Photograph by author.

  Here - The Potala Palace of the Dalai Lamas rising above the streets of downtown Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Police detective Tashi Choezod astride his Chinese motorcycle in front of the Public Security Bureau, Bayi, Tibet, and flanked, from left, by Robert Parenteau, Ian Baker, Hamid Sarder, Gunn, and Ken Storm. Photograph by Laura Ide.

  Here - Ani-la, the itinerant nun, climbing toward the Dashing-La pass. Photograph by author.

  Here - Crossing the cable over the Chimdro Chu River. Photograph by author.

  Here - Lopas near Tron, Tibet. Photograph by Sir George Taylor, 1936. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal. Contemporary bronze statue from Nepal. Photograph by author.

  Here - Hermit at Osel Pongkhang, the House of Clear Light, Kundu Dorsempotrang, Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - Kundu Dorsempotrang, the All-Gathering Adamantine Palace. Pemako, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Kawa Tulku beneath the western wall of Kundu Dorsempotrang. Photograph by author.

  Here - Rangrig Gyalpo, King of Self-Arising Awareness, a wrathful form of Padmasambhava in the temple of Rinchenpung. Pemako, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Monpa couple near Medok in lower Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - Dudjom Rinpoche with his consort, Sangyum Tseten Yudron. Kongpo, Tibet. Courtesy of Tashi Tsering, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and Amne Machen Institute, Dharamsala, India.

  Here - Abbot of Marpung monastery, flanked by masked dancers. Marpung, Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - Lama performing chöd ritual in the depths of the Tsangpo gorge. Photograph by author.

  Here - Ken Storm rappelling down toward the Hidden Falls of Dorje Pagmo. Photograph by author.

  Here - “The Innermost Secret Door” (yangsang-go). Calligraphy by Phuntsok Dhumkhang.

  Here - Scene from Frank Capra’s film version of Lost Horizon, 1937.

  Here - Poster for Lost Horizon.

  Here - Hanging bridges along the Po Tsangpo, near Trulung. Photograph by author.

  Here - Dhungle Phuntsok crossing a pass en route to Neythang. The walls of Gyala Pelri rise behind. Photograph by author.

  Here - Lama at Neygyap. Photograph by author.

  Here - Ani Rigsang at Terdrom, central Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Village of Chutanka in lower Tsangpo gorge, Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - Chutanka’s headman and his daughter. Photograph by author.

  Here - Children bathing below waterfall, Pangshing, lower Tsangpo gorge. Photograph by author.

  Here - Abu Lhashu, a sacred peak at the apex of the Tsangpo’s Great Bend. Photograph by author.

  Here - Namcha Barwa with the pyramid peak of Dorje Pagmo rising from the spur in the middle ground. The Tsangpo carves around the left end of the spur and begins its descent into the Five-Mile Gap. The Sangkami ridge is visible to the right. Photograph by author.

  Here - . Kumari, Kathmandu’s living goddess, 1984. Photograph by author.

  Here - Niagara, 1857. Painting by Frederic Church. Courtesy of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

  Here - Tibetan woman in Kongpo-style hat. Photograph by author.

  Here - Lama Konchok Wangpo consulting texts. Azadem, Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - The Tsangpo gorge from a ledge 2,000 feet above river level. Rainbow Falls is visible in the lower left-hand corner of the photograph and the Hidden Falls of Dorje Pagmo lie where the river disappears from view at the lower right. Photograph by author.

  Here - Author rappelling toward Hidden Falls. Photograph by Ken Storm, Jr.

  Here - Jayang, Bulyuk, and Drakpa proceeding toward the base of the hidden waterfall. The “secret door” is visible on the cliff face on the left-hand side of
the photograph. Photograph by author.

  Here - Yogis meditating on the sound of water. A detail from the northern wall of the Lukhang. Lhasa, Tibet. The painting illustrates the body’s three principle energy channels as well as the primordial syllable AH which the yogi below visualizes at his heart center. Photograph by author.

  Here - Map of the Great Bend of the Tsangpo, by Ian Baker.

  Here - Waterfall with Buddha and Mahasiddha. Detail from an eighteenth-century Buddhist lineage painting from eastern Tibet. Ground mineral pigment on cotton. Courtesy of Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art.

  Here - Detail of Kingdon Ward and Lord Cawdor’s map, published in the Geographical Journal of Royal Geographical Society in 1926 and showing the farthest points reached on their own and previous expeditions. The Five-Mile Gap lies between points A and B. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Buluk gazing down toward the U-bend in the region of the Five-Mile Gap. Photograph by author.

  Here - Sangye Tsering with a fallen takin. Shati-La, Pemako. Photograph by Hamid Sardar.

  Here - Jayang in the depths of the Five-Mile Gap. Photograph by author.

  Here - Gyala Pelri rising out of the Tsangpo’s inner gorge. Photograph by author.

  Here - Cartoon by J. B. Handelsman in The New Yorker, December 7, 1968. Courtesy of Cartoon Bank.

  Here - Tsering Dondrup ascending with a spirit stick to the Cave of the Dakinis. Gompo Né, Pemako. Photograph by author.

  Here - The Secret Door. Hidden Falls of Dorje Pagmo, Pemako, Tibet. Photograph by author.

  Here - Masked dakini. Photograph by author.

  Here - Abor in cane hat. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Dorje Pagmo in union with her consort Tamdring (Hayangriva). Line art by Gomchen Oleshey.

  Here - Tibetan dancers in masks. Photograph by Sarat Chandra Das, 1879–1882. Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society.

  Here - Trumpeter swan above the falls at the Mill House, Bedford, NY. Photograph by author. Courtesy of Francis L. Kellogg.

  I have journeyed to sacred places in utter joy,

  Like a swan landing on a lotus lake

  And the vase of my heart is filled to the brim with the

  Nectar of their sublime qualities.

  NGAWANG KUNGA TENDZIN

  The 3rd Khamtrul Rinpoche (1680-1728)