Tibetan monk, Tagong, Sichuan 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Showing posts with label monks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monks. Show all posts
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ramoche: How do monks cut their hair?
Ramoche, Lhasa 1995 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
This picture was taken at Ramoche, an imposing temple in central Lhasa. I've always wondered how monks and nuns cut their hair, and got the answer this day. Two friends (or should I say colleagues?) were giving each other haircuts. The hairclipper must have been a little blunt (or the expertise of the person wielding it lacking), because there were numerous verbal exchanges, winces and lot's of pushing and shoving. It seemed to be general cleaning day as all the young monks, these included, were washing their heads and faces etc. For me it was a wonderful insight into a private world.
My most memorable image of Ramoche is walking around the temple in the company of the Ramoche Abbot, a man of wily, roving eyes and impressive girth. While turning the temple's massive prayer wheels he flicked his prayer beads back and forth in snappy fashion, all the while chanting "Ooooommmmmm mani padme HUM!" - beginning with a deep, Barry White, back of the throat voice and then ending up with a high, girlish HUM!
Ramoche is the most important temple in Lhasa after the Jokhang. Is is unusual in many ways: Constructed during the Tang Dynasty by Chinese architects (ca 641) it is a powerful link between the two cultures, being built to house the important Jowo statue that had been brought to Lhasa by Princess Wencheng as a wedding gift from the Tang Court. It was later switched with a statue in the Jokhang where it is housed today. The temple has been called the "Chinese Tiger".
If you would like to read more about architecture and temples in Lhasa I highly recommend: The Temples of Lhasa, Tibetan Buddhist Architecture from the 7th to the 21st Centuries, by André Alexander, Serindia Publications.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Får det vara en munk?
©Emy Booz
Jag är den första att erkänna att jag är världens sämsta på att berätta skämt så ni får ursäkta - känner bara att dagen behöver en extra dos "who cares!". Min dotter Emy (9 år) ville att jag skulle lägga upp hennes senaste alster på bloggen så jag tänkte göra två flugor på smällen samtidigt:
En nunna satt länge och fikade en dag på stans konditori. Hon såg lite ledsen ut så servitrisen kom och frågade henne om någonting mer önskades till kaffet?
...och nunnan svarade: Ja, det skulle vara en munk i så fall.
Så här kommer en munk munk!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
By popular demand....
©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
One of my Swedish readers requested this specific image of a monk from Labrang Monastery, Xiahe, Gansu Province, China.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
dancing shoes
Potala Palace, Tibet ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Kicks, limou, skates, clodhoppers, earth pads, sneakers, reefcreepers, PF Fliers, clogs, cockroach killers, espadrilles, brogue, mule, platform, oxford, plimsoll, trainer, wingtip, Church Pews...even a monk has to wear shoes.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monks and moms
Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
One of the strongest memories I have from my first trip to Bangkok in the late 1980s was the incredibly slow traffic along Sukhumvit Road, creeping along in a public bus for literally hours with no sight of my destination and elephants walking beside us faster that the bus. Nowadays a trip to Bangkok is a pleasure due to the speedy, clean and efficient Sky Train. I spotted this sign on the train a few weeks ago and from a distance first thought that it said "Please offer this seat to moms". How nice.
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