Kailash dreaming: Part 2: Wedding at Lake Manasarovar

The wedding! Here is a bunch of wedding related photos and some story for those interested. If not, then blog onward!

After arriving at Chiu Gompa by Lake Manasarovar, a cold wind howling across the hill, we decided on a date for the wedding - 1st October - and then agreed to stay a few days to chill and give ourselves and our butts a break from Chinese buses.

Chiu Gompa overlooking Lake Manasarovar

Prayer wheels by the Lake

We both needed a couple of days to prepare mentally and also to choose an appropriate site for the ceremony. Getting married is not something you do every day huh!

Chiu Gompa is very old and has links with one of the first Indian masters to introduce Buddhism into Tibet - Padmasambhava; what a champion! - way back in the ~8th century. Apparently he spent the last week of his life here, meditating in a cave on the hill where the monastary is located. A good place for a relationship committment ceremony that was very much based on Buddhist principles.
Chiu Gompa
Gurlu Mandhata across the Lake in morning stillness

Stupa with Mt Kailash in the background

Lake Manasarovar is incredibly beautiful. A deep and powerful place with many moods; from nurturing calm to relentless pounding of evening winds. Still mornings with glassy waters, deep turquoise reflecting the blue sky and mountains, and wild blustery afternoons with a cold wind roaring across the lake are enduring memories. The best waves i have seen in the last two years were here - perfect lines walling up, one after another, crashing onto the rocks of the shore - only they were 6 inches high! Good for a mouse on a mal maybe?
Chortens and prayer flags in the evening wind at Chiu gompa

Lake Manasarovar sets rolling in

The Tibetan word for wedding is "Chang-sa"; meaning place where Chang (Tibetan beer) is consumed, kind of suggestive of a culture that doesn't mind a beer or three! We chose a sandy little bay in which to hold the ceremony and then spent the day before having a swim and wash (without soap of course!) together in the lake. It was cold to be sure, but totally swimable - for about 30 seconds or so before ones feet began to transform into throbbing icicles of bone-fire. Very happy to bathe in the lake, shedding some of the omnipresent Tibetan dust, and then drying in the warm sun of the rocks by the shore,....
The wedding bay in the morning light

After a dip in the Lake on the wedding eve

Anna and Scott on the wedding eve

A cute, and very tough (to survive winter at 4800m), little lakeside Lizard

Sunset on the eve of the wedding ceremony

I spent the night of the wedding eve camping alone at the lake, near the ceremony site, preparing the Mandala in the sand as the morning sun rose. The Mandala was a focus point for the ceremony; we sat around it; added symbolic objects to its lotus petals as we recited vows; danced and held hands around it; poured lake water on it and finally dissolved it at the end. For those not up with hindu-yogic Mandala symbolism, this one represents the heart chakra ('Anahart' or 'unstruck') with 12 petals, and the two interlacing triangles represent the union and harmony of the decending current and ascending currents, of immanence and trancendence, earth and heaven, of feminine and masculine principles.
The wedding mandala

Dawn of the wedding day

Mark and Joes contribution to the day was outstanding and very deeply appreciated by Anna and I. Mark was a fantastic celebrant - warm and clear, with heartfelt invocations and never once missing a beat. Joe did a champion effort just to get there as he had been sick with a bad (and continuing!) case of the trots the night before. I really didn't expect him to make it as he was very weak, but was deeply impressed by his resilience in showing up and reading the contributions from friends and family as well as being photographer!
The bride being escorted down the aisle, complete with red-carpet

The glorious blushing bride

The ceremony circle

For those interested in a brief outline of the ceremony; it consisted of an invocation and refuge at the start, followed by a reading of some letters from friends. We then recited vows related to the six perfections (generosity, ethics, patience, joyful effort, concentration and wisdom) whilst placing symbolic objects in the Mandala petals. After this we spoke vows that we had jointly created together based on some ideas from a marriage ceremony inspired by Lama Yeshe, whilst standing and exchanging places around the Mandala after each one; symbolic of the dance of both intimate relationship and life in general and also of seeing the others perspective. Mark poured water from the lake onto our foreheads, a ring and katas were exchanged, letters from family were read and then we dissolved the Mandala. The bouquet was tossed (i think Mark caught it twice!) and after a few hours interlude we headed back to Darchen to start Kora the following day. Honeymoon to be on the Kora trail!!! Related photos below,......Many thanks to those friends who contributed their blessings via cards, your presence was felt!

Placing symbolic objects in the petals of the mandala lotus

Exchanging places around the mandala

Exchanging kata's

Dissolving the mandala

The wedding bouquet

Mark and Joe getting ready to dive for the bouquet

After the ceremony

The married couple