Lhasa, Tibet, April 21, 2007. Depending on whether you fancy Oxford or Cambridge University in England to be fancier; either way, we were privileged enough to take a shot of both educational centers…never mind that they were the Tibetan equivalents of both these world-renowned varsities, and that these Tibetan equivalents were centers of Buddhist academic excellence, instead!

		As we all stood gaping in awe of the Monastery’s sheer size (we were literally looking at a campus which matched the entire area of Oxford University!), one of the new participants asked if Drepung’s symbolic architecture gave the Monastery its Feng Shui, with another exclaiming the presence of a `Water Dragon’ in the form of a drain running past one of the faculties.  Realizing that with the place being so large and time being of the essence, Joey quickly cut to the chase by striking out approaches such as Xuan Kong and Ba Zhai as means of gauging its Feng Shui – citing its size and rich history as underlying reasons.
Prompting us with excerpts from the Xue Xin Fu, Yi Long Jing and Han Long Jing classics, he advised us to assess the area’s Luan Tou (Land Formation), before qualifying it using Li Qi (Qi distribution) techniques…which we gladly put our hearts, minds and backs into.

At first glance, the Monastery’s Luo Cheng (Spiral City) embrace looked perfect, until Joey burst our bubble by telling us that it wasn’t locked…with the tour guide backing him up by telling us that Drepung only houses 700 monks today – compared to the capacity 15,000 during its heydays.  Joey proceeded to advise us to assess the main building (built and formerly administrated by the 5th Dalai Lama) individually, instead of attempting to `swallow’ the entire campus with one `Feng Shui gulp’.  There, we noticed the perfect formation consisting of a Dragon Vein, Qi Mouth and Table Mountain all elegantly aligned to lend the place its superior Feng Shui.  It took us half a day to complete our audit of the place, but as Joey confirmed or contradicted our findings of each individual building within Drepung, we left the place most satisfied with the way our skills had been honed within such a relatively short period of time!

We sat down to lunch, before heading for Jokhang Temple in central Lhasa; reputed to be the ultimate pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Buddhist disciples.  Legend has it that the Temple is built on what used to be the site of a large lake, and it was only with the wise advice accorded its founder, King Songtsem Gampo, by his consort - Princess Wen Cheng of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) - that he finally established Jokhang on that spot in 647 AD. 

Our primary interest in this Temple was WHY so many people flock to it from high and low…near and far…especially for important ceremonies.  Indeed, WHAT about this place made it so magnetic in its appeal?  And so, the audit was on!  We made our way to the Temple’s roof top, but still found ourselves confounded at the diverse appearances of the mountain ranges surrounding the vicinity.  Guiding but not spoon-feeding us as was his usual style, Joey advised us to assess its mountain formation separately, and identify how it affected the place’s Feng Shui individually.  While almost everyone successfully zoomed into the nearby `Sky Horse Star’ Table Mountain, we almost missed the trees for the woods when we failed to consider the entire Structure of the place - where the building’s location was positioned in such a unique way, so as to tap into as many as 3 unique mountain peaks simultaneously!

With that, we were `back in business’, and soon busied ourselves taking notes on how we could apply the same types of formulas used if we ever came across them in similar situation again, one day.  More importantly, we learnt how to qualify the Water Flow and Mountain Formation present within the area, and relate those in the context of classical Feng Shui!  It also gave us a huge rush in adrenaline, as we witnessed how the theories penned by the likes of Grandmaster Yang Yun Song and Lai Bu Yi in their classics became so relevant – and applicable – to real-life situations.

Because of our adroitness and enthusiasm in sponging-up everything we had seen and learnt today, Joey decided to give us the rest of the afternoon off…which we gleefully utilized by doing some sightseeing and shopping around Lhasa.  Tomorrow, let every backpack (and oxygen mask!) be ready, for we shall be ascending to 5,100m above sea level to chase the Source Dragons of Tibet…woohoo!

Tibet’s Day 2 Log ends here.