Climbers attempting Everest from the north must make their approach trek through Tibet. The contrast between this dry, arid plateau and the arctic landscape of the mountain is dramatic. In the spring, it is common for climbers to encounter tropical heat, dust storms, mudflats and wind storms. Culturally, this trek takes them through villages of farmers and yak herders, sacred Buddhist monasteries and market places filled with exotic foods, aesthetics, and rituals.

"One comes to bless the absolute bareness, feeling that here is a pure beauty of form, a kind of ultimate harmony." — George Mallory

GEOGRAPHY: The southern portion of Tibet is enveloped in the Himalayan chain of mountains which include Mount Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Ama Dablam and many of the world's tallest mountains. The Kailas Range lies to the north and is parallel to the main chain; its peaks and mountains are slightly lower than that of the main chain. The Himalayan and Kailas Ranges are split by a river valley, containing the Brahmaputra River, the most important river in Tibet.

Just The Facts CAPITAL Lhasa, the largest city in Tibet. POPULATION Six million Tibetans and an undetermined number of Chinese. RELIGION Tibetan Buddhism is practiced by 99% of the Tibetan population. LANGUAGE Official language is Chinese though Tibetan (of the Tibeto-Burmese language family) is also spoken. STAPLE FOOD Tsampa (roasted barley flour) NATIONAL DRINK Salted butter tea HEAD OF STATE His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (which means "Ocean of Wisdom), Tenzin Gyatso, is currently in exile in India. LAW ENFORCEMENT There are no military or police in Tibet. NATIONAL FLAG Snow lions with red and blue rays. Outlawed in Tibet by Chinese. LEGAL STATUS Occupied by the Chinese since 1950 LOCATION Tibet is located on the Asian continent, west of China, which it is officially a part of, north of India, Burma and Nepal. It is south and east of the Chinese provinces of Nan-Shan and Tien-Shan. Tibet has a total area of about 1,200,000 square km (463,320 square miles).

The river flows from west to east. The Kailas Range chain slopes north to the Tibetan Plateau and extends out to the west and towards the Karakoram, famous for the second largest peak in the world, K2 or Mt. Godwin Austin. The Kunlun Mountains border it to the north. The average elevation of the Tibetan plateau is 4570m.

The eastern part of Tibet is a rugged region of numerous northern-southern trending mountain ranges, interspersed with deep valleys. As a major watershed for Asia, Tibet houses the headwaters of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in its western region. Also, the Yangtze's, Mekong's and Yellow River's sources can be found in Northern Tibet. With a semi-arid climate, the average annual temperature is about 34° Fahrenheit. Strong winds and light rainfall contribute to the overall landscape of the Tibetan Plateau.

WILDLIFE: There is a diverse variety of animals making their homes in Tibet. Musk deer, wild sheep, goats and Tibetan antelope are common in the mountainous areas. Other large mammals found are the leopard, tiger, several kinds of bear, wolf, fox, and monkey. Goose, gull, teal, pheasant and other waterfowl make up the bird life of Tibet. Both Buddhists and expedition members confer much respect and significance upon the mountainous yak. Found in the Tibetan plains, a yak resembles a highland bull. Broad in the hoof, yaks are enormously strong. A long shaggy coat and a bushy tail serve a practical purpose as the yak feeds with his back to the wind. They feed on very coarse grass and shrubs and use that fuel to produce milk. The yak is a slow-pack animal, moving only between one and two miles per hour, but, regardless of the terrain, it will keep going for 10 or 12 hours. While the yak carries expedition equipment, it also can provide meat, wool, hides, butter, cheese and fuel. Tibet lacks trees and usually the only fuel is dry yak dung, which burns like peat. This invaluable yet humble creature is thus an indispensable link between Everest and India via Tibet, George Mallory once said, "In the annals of expeditions, his part has to be remembered."

FLORA & FAUNA: Apple, peach, and pear trees are cultivated alongside many river valleys, but the Tibetan Plateau suffers from a general lack of trees and wood. The trees that do exist are conifer, maple, apricot, cypress and there also exists a myriad of grasses and shrubs. These low-lying shrubs are found all over the plateau.

MINERALS: Gold, iron ore, coal, salt and borax are found here as well as zinc, manganese and quartz. Semi-precious stones include lapis, lazuli and jade. Jade is often used to construct magnificent images of the Buddha, as well as personal amulets, rosaries and charms.

RITUALS, HOLIDAYS, CUSTOMS AND POETRY
Much of the ritual of Tibetan Buddhism is based on the esoteric mysticism of devotions that involve both a mystical formula and ancient shamanistic practices. On special holidays, the temples, shrines, and altars of the lamas are decorated with symbolic figures; milk, butter, tea, flour, and similar offerings are brought by the worshippers, animal sacrifices being strictly forbidden. The main reason for this lies in the Buddhist belief of reincarnation. There exist six possible realms in which a Buddhist believes that you can be reincarnated, three lower realms and three upper. The three upper are the human, Bodhisattva and Buddha and the three lower are hell, ghosts or animals. Hence, the killing of animals may indirectly be the killing of a family member or friend. There is also a multiplicity of Tibetan Buddhist religious festivals. Most important are New Year's which is celebrated in February and signifies the forthcoming of spring, the Flower Feast, held at the beginning of summer in commemoration of the incarnation of the Buddha, and the Water Feast, observed in August and September to mark the start of autumn. Another holiday unique to Tibetan Buddhists is that of Mani Rimdu.

Tibetans can often be seen performing a series of smaller, personal rituals including rubbing one's body or hands on stones, pillars, walls or objects with religious significance. The intention of this ritual is often to heal an ailment or add merit to Buddhist lives. Sometimes pins and needles adorn statues of Buddha, are stuck into tangkas and into the clothing around a statue with the belief that it will "sharpen" one's intelligence. A cow, before being sacrificed, will often be led to circumambulate a monastery in the hope that upon sacrifice the animal will benefit, perhaps into a reincarnated life. Handfuls of wool are also tied to trees and shrubs around monasteries with a similar belief.

MANI RIMDU

Mani Rimdu is a Tibetan dance performance displayed publicly with the intention of reenacting the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. Many Sherpas maintain that this performance is actually a disguise for the true story of an individual's awakening. The play begins with the building of an altar whereby the vehicles of human perception, sight, smell, taste, feeling, sound and mind are sacrificed in the form of mirrors, burning juniper, dough cakes or torma, silks, cymbals clapping and an offering of a book, respectively. Lamas then enter the stage wearing decorative hats with images of fire and light crowning the tops. This is meant to symbolize Tibet's spiritual move from ignorance and darkness to wisdom and enlightenment after Buddhism was introduced around 640 A.D. Three skulls on the dancer's hat are enveloped in images of fire representing the individuals own transcendence into clear vision and light by eschewing the emotions of anger, greed and ignorance. The dancers then jump and leap around a pole that represents the axis of the world or of the human being. Thus as the dancers move around the pole they are not only looking without, but engaging in intense introspection and reflection as well. The reason for the jumping lies in Tibet's connection to its pre-Buddhist religious practice of worshipping tree sprites that have been transformed with Buddhism. It is an interactive performance and the audience will often travel many days to attend the ceremony and during it will shout out to friends and relatives in the performance adding a dynamic feel to the entire ritual. Then, a solitary dancer enters the scene to signify the establishment of Buddha's teachings. The man in the blue mask is said to be the Guru Rinpoche who was a powerful teacher in the eighth century. He then carries a spike to display how he roots out illusions and concentrates on the self. A humorous scene follows, with a teacher beating very wrong teachings into a laymen, the crowd laughs heavily, understanding that wisdom cannot be beat into a person it has to flow. At the end of the dance, the Rinpoche performs a long-life ceremony. Mani Rimdu typically lasts for three days.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Music has a very significant role in Tibetan society and custom. It is often used to accompany daily life workings, harvesting in the fields, as well as dancing and performances. There is a deep sacredness to, and religious overtones surround, music in Tibet. Woodwinds, horns and drums are all common instruments. One such popular instrument, the zang dung, is a copper trumpet up to eight feet in length. It can be heard being played on rooftops, in inner monastery courtyards, proceeding festivals and on high mountain passes. These horns can often be seen with an inscription which reads, "may the glorious lama live forever" and blowing the horn is a symbolic way to release this sentiment to the heavens. Another common instrument is a double-reed instrument called a gyaling. These smaller, oboe-type instruments are often used to usher in the arrival of an important person, Rinpoche or Lama. Drums and cymbals are used to assemble the sangha or monastic community and/or for Tantric services. Sometimes, a damaru or tambourine constructed of two hemispheres and a hanging bull combined with a bone trumpet and ritual bell will be used to usher in rain. A yak horn has traditionally been used by magicians to cast spells and is a feared instrument.

TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES

When death is upon a Tibetan, a priest is sent to the dying person in a ceremony similar to Christianity's last rites; however, the priest reads from a text called the Tibetan Book of the Dead which describes the after-death experience and how one should grasp the clear light of death and travel from death to rebirth, the process of reincarnation. The book contains a description of pitfalls so that the Tibetan dying will be able to conquer and overcome the dangers and difficulties on his path towards reincarnation. The priest will also meditate beside the bed with the intention of creating a hole in the dying person's skull whereby his/her spirit and mind may be released from the body. This follows the Tibetan Buddhist belief that the mind and body are separate entities. Also, the priest will dance about the person while beating a drum, exploring the world of the dead to help guarantee safe passage. Then, upon death, there are a few ways of dealing with the corpse. All dead people are referred to as Buddha and are treated as nobles. A procession may then take the body to the top of a mountain pass, where offerings are made and more scripture from the Book of the Dead is read. A funeral pyre is then built, a Shaman and a young boy blow upon a bone trumpet and read passages aloud and finally the deceased is cremated. Since wood is scarce, yak dung is often used as fuel. His smoke is then offered to the emptiness in the mountain air returning to Buddha and the three sacred jewels.

TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Originating in India, two main currents divide Buddhist schools of thought, Therevada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, the latter being relevant to Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism comes from the Indian Mahayana Buddhism which is basically centered on the concept of the three jewels, the first being the Buddha, the second being Buddha's law and the third being the monastic community. Buddhism forms an entire life view, permeating all forms of spiritual, emotional, physical and mental being. It underscores the origin of nature and the world, the role of the individual and society, the relationship between mind and matter and the principles behind ethics, art, medical science and, of course, religion.

Buddhists acknowledge the existence of imperfection in normal human life or intellectual confusion brought on by material goods and distracted thought. Ridding ourselves of confusion can end this individual suffering in our lives. To accomplish this, a Buddhist monk utilizes a strict moral discipline coupled with diligent training in meditation to one day liberate himself from the negative inner bondage of suffering. Monks have a way of consciously adopting a path of life most germane to achieving enlightenment, thus taking vows of celibacy and nonviolence. Another basic feature of Buddhist thought is taking refuge in the three jewels. By committing one's life to these three principles, one is a Buddhist, more importantly, though, one directs their inner life toward the enlightenment and compassion personified by the Buddha. Early in life, a Tibetan child will attend a formal ceremony of "taking refuge" in the presence of a Lama (teacher) and from that moment on, during daily practice, this commitment is renewed by recitation, visualization and contemplation and is hopefully said 100,000 times.

To achieve wisdom or enlightenment, one must seek the truth or "emptiness" which is life affirming. Emptiness corrodes negative perceptions that we project on the beauty of flowers, people and mountains which ultimately prevents us from experiencing these things in a simplistic manner. Tibetan monks spend entire lifetimes meditating, reflecting and studying the meaning of emptiness. The ultimate aim of Mahayana practice is to harmonize and reconciliate wisdom and compassion.

Vajrayana Buddhist thought is central to a Tibetan Buddhists behavior and way of life. Based on the Tantras (esoteric sets of instructions given to selected groups of disciples), a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism invokes symbolic figures whereby entering into a living relationship with that deity that he or she has generated an affinity for. This demands a high degree of ethical integrity, as it sees every psychological condition as a process of raw energy or karma. The nature of karma is neither good nor evil, rather it is energy, which can be channeled for either constructive or destructive purposes. A process of visualization and imagination help Buddhists to achieve Nirvana.