TSUM VALLEY, Nepal — “In the future, when war, strife and difficult times come,” said Thrisong Deutsen, an eighth-century Tibetan king, “will there be a safe place where people can go to practice Buddhism?” His guest, Padmasambhava, otherwise known as Guru Rinpoche, quickly calmed the king’s worries with his response: “Yes, there will be valleys where warfare will never happen and where people will live in peace with animals.” Nearly 1,300 years later, Karma, a monk, stands in the colorful monastery of Phurbe staring out the window into the sacred Tsum Valley of legend below. Surrounded by hand-painted murals of Padmasambhava, the Buddha and other Buddhist deities, the 82-year-old is troubled. “The road will change everything here,” says Karma, who has lived all his life in the sacred valley of Tsum, which today lies in central Nepal. “It’s all about money. There are a few good points, but it will really destroy everything. Even this monastery might be destroyed.” For believers, Padmasambhava, a real historical figure, is one of the most important of all Tibetan Buddhist saints. Founder of the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism, he’s chronicled as having spread Buddhism through much of the Himalayas and the world’s highest peaks. A man of great spiritual powers, he was also said to have been frequently embroiled in magical duels with demons to restore harmony on Earth. Invariably, Padmasambhava won such contests, but despite his successes, he was said to believe that one day a dark period would come to this…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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