On the 18th March, 1716, two Jesuits arrived safely in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. It was a voyage that lasted 18 months from Delhi to Lhasa via Kashmir. Ippolito Desideri from Tuscany (Italy) and Emanoel Freyre from Portugal were not the first Europeans to get there. As per historic records, two Jesuit fathers had reached Lhasa from Peking (Beijing) in 1661. However, Desideri made a powerful impression on the sixth Dalai Lama, therefore he stayed in Tibet for five more years.
Interestingly, his motivation to travel to Tibet was to find a Christian community there. He never found any trace of Christianity in Tibet, nor did he make much effort to establish one. Tibet rather fueled his appetite for the inner quest to become a knower and the known.
For centuries Tibet attracted explorers and seekers from different parts of the world and it continues to do so. Good news is it does not take 1 and half years to get there. The important question is: What is the magic and magnet that Tibet holds?
Newar traders from Nepal, Hindu pilgrims from India and seekers from Europe, Tibet has witnessed incredible pull factors to a variety of travelers over centuries. I grew up hearing many fascinating stories about Tibet, including the ones my uncle recited regarding his one year stay in Lhasa back in the 1950s.
I feel very fortunate to have had several opportunities to visit Tibet in the last 2 decades. In 2004, I got an opportunity to lead a special trip to Tibet organized by an American author, John Perkins (more here). A group of 25 members from North America, most of them his fans, joined him to explore mystical aspects of indigenous cultures and practices in Nepal and Tibet (more here). John later went on to publish his ‘Confession of an Economic Hit Man’ after his trip to Tibet.
He experienced all sorts of interesting and incredible experiences. Meditating in Chimpu cave where Guru Padmasabav meditated in the 8th century, sleeping on the rooftop of the monastery Guesthouse in Samye gazing at the Milky way in the night, playing the drum of Dalai Lama’s Shaman in Nechung Oracle temple and meeting with Shamans in Kathmandu. Needless to say, it was not a regular tourists group. It was an inner discovery voyage which had begun by making a sand mandala in Kathmandu. John, a charismatic and soft-spoken author, encouraged the participants to elevate themselves to a higher state of consciousness, touch the jaguar, transform the person and the world.
To me, it appeared like a riddle that was hard to comprehend. It was not an ordinary trip and John was no ordinary tourist, he was a seeker who knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. The appetite to travel and figure out the unknown was beyond a faith-based pilgrimage, it was the journey of the mystic – an internal voyage.
John’s trip reminded us about an inner discovery trip taken up long before the start of transatlantic flights. A group of 75 Rosicrusians from North America took up their inner journey in 1929. The principal destination was Egypt. However, the group also visited Medina, north Africa, middle east and Mediterian sea en route.
Travelers indulged into unique experiences in unusual sites passed over by casual tourists in both the above trips whether it was led by John Perkins or Rosicrusians. Tibet continues to attract a large number of seekers to the key highlights like Mount Kailash, Lake Manasarovar, YarlungChangbo River, Samey temple, Lake NamTso and, of course, unique Potala palace. Though with the mass transportation of Train service from mainland China; the outer façade of tourism has almost become mass tourism in Tibet. There are still a significant number of travelers who visit Tibet on a transformative journey.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave us a timely wake-up call and made us realize how fragile our existence and economy are. Now people are striving to switch from ‘Human making’ to ‘Human being’ with an appetite to find the purpose and meaning in lives. It is evident that many will opt for an inner discovery journey once some normalcy comes back in International travel. Tibet might have answers to some of their unanswered questions.
As Desidery and John Perkins found their answers in the roof of the world, you might also want to prepare the questions and plan the itinerary for a transformative journey to the mystics. After all, it’s a pilgrimage each individual should travel in their own time.
Reference book: A Mountain in Tibet, by Charles Allen
