“This is a place where spirituality can be fast-tracked,” Ang says, as it begins to rain, the sunshine, then snow, as we walk through a mountain village. I am halfway through a 7-day stay stay at Happy House in Nepal, and Ang is the family proprietor of the estate. We walk through the slippery stones which contain flashes of mica shining like diamonds.
A stone gate guards a pathway of flittering prayer flags along columns of tall elderly pines that make you feel like you’re entering a portal. At the end of the passage, Happy House emerges, with its ice cream coloured paintings of spirits and mantras and wheels in perfect aligned symmetry with large blocks of sandstone. The house is imposing, made of stone and wood and painted with Tibetan art, called thangkas.
“Thangkas are not art,” Ang says. “They work to unlock specific illusions of the viewer. To reveal what you may not be conscious of.” The deities within the painting reflect a path that will allow you to decipher and conquer the illusion. The lama puts his thumb print on the back of the painting and writes a note to encourage the owner to see through the delusion. In this way, the painter is a teacher.
Happy House has murals all over the main living area with Tibetan lunar animals, for each month. It has symbols of lotus and deities that are having an effect on all guests whether or not they realise.
Everywhere, in tuk tuks, carved on stones, hung from shop doors, is Om Mani Padme Hum. It means the jewel in the heart of the lotus - or blessed is the buddha. Om is a vibration of the universe, and it invokes all of creation. Mani is the void, a primordial nothingness beyond what we perceive as matter and phenomena, that will never be destroyed. Padme is the lotus, the world of samsara and observation, whose petals billow beneath, each level revealing spiritual progression and the lessening of delusion, before finally, in the jewel centre, is nirvana. Hum has no meaning, perhaps it is the open for interpretation wild card (like the blank tile in scrabble) that allows for individual interpretation; or perhaps an exaltation of spirit.
The prayer flags whip in the wind. The sixth Ch’an Buddhist Patriarch of China, Hui-Neng, said that it isn’t the flag that moves, nor is it the wind. It is your mind. The iconography at the monasteries is a mix of Buddhist deities and local animist spirits. The Buddhists incorporated them into the beliefs, rather than denying the existing beliefs of the local people. So even demons are portrayed riding on horseback next to the deity of compassion, Tara. Demons were transmuted into defenders of dharma.
Junbesi
The village we are walking through is called Junbesi, and it is the cradle of Sherpa culture, as one of the first and oldest Sherpa villages. Junbesi translates to moon valley - ‘jun’ is moon and ‘besi’ is where it comes down below the earth to rest. Those shiny mica stones run atop a stream that leads to a stupa, a smaller version of the iconic stupa in Kathmandu.
The stupa is as symbolic as a shrine can be, a representation of philosophy that defines the Nepalese people. It contains all the elements of Buddhist philosophy. Beginning with the ground element, there is a mandala which represents the earth. The curved dome represents water, and atop it are the 13 steps to nirvana. The iconic eyes that follow you around as you circumambulate are those of the all-seeing, omniscient Buddha. The parasol represents air. The nose is sanskrit for number one, representing the unity of all beings in the universe. Buddha sees everything but he has no mouth so he doesn’t judge.
beyuls
This is a sacred land, and spirituality abounds. The mountains in front of Happy House peek out from cloud cover a few times a day, mostly in the morning. The Himalayan mountains you see are not allowed to be scaled. They are sacred to the local people. A Japanese expedition who once tried all fell unwell. The sherpas had told them not to scale, that these mountains should be left to the gods. The mountains that you are permitted to scale all begin with a monk and sherpa’s ceremony to protect the expedition. The gods are asked permission to scale the mountain.
God is intrinsic to the land here. The population is predominantly Buddhist, and I am here to learn more about a belief system that has long fascinated me. The region we are in is known as a Beyul, which is where spirit-seekers should go if the world ever gets too corrupt for spirituality.
You throw a seed in an area that is usually hard to grow things and suddenly there is a tree bearing fruit - that demarcates the beyul.
The Rinpoche said that if the world gets too corrupt for spirituality, if you practice here, in a Beyul, your spirituality will be fast tracked. In Jenbasi, the lands are very fertile and spiritual, so practice here makes your spiritual soul fast tracked.
Happy House is part of a company called Beyul Experiences, so finding kernels of paradise and peace in the world is what their brand is built on.
