TREASURE REVEALER CHOKGYUR LINGPA (PDF-2170)

In 2004, along with a group of sangha members, Margaret and I made an eighteen-hour bus trip from Xining, the capital of Quinghai China, to the Yushi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the central region of Kham in eastern Tibet. We had just flown from Beijing to Xining on a two-hour plane ride and we were heading for the town of Jyekundo on the Tibetan plateau. That trip crossed high passes of over 16,000 feet. The road was so rough that unless you held on, you could bounce all the way up and hit your head on the bus ceiling, and a lot of folks did. And this was a big tall bus. As for bathrooms and amenities along the way, forget it. For the most part, bathrooms consisted of how far you wanted to walk away from the bus and squat. Some of the ladies had special dresses that reminded me of the old hoop skirts popular around of the time of the American Civil War. Others just kept on walking until they were specs on the horizon.