New Consciousness Review Summer 2015 | Page 59

OUR WORLD bet. Day 1 would consist of shooting at a nearby Buddhist monastery at 5 a.m., moving to the sacred Boudhanath Stupa, visiting a Himalayan herb company, and purchasing gifts for those we would be visiting. Day 2 would entail touring the holy Hindu site of Pashupatinath and picking up the last of our trekking supplies prior to catching an afternoon flight to Nepalgung, the jumping-off point for our later flight to Simikot, Humla. I wondered what his idea of a heavy day would be. For this leg of the journey, Cora had done an amazing job of getting us here with only four weeks of prep time. She, Joseph, and I were joined by Karel, a strong director of photography in his own right, who agreed to shoot second camera and take over sound duties, since Matt had to stay home to tend to family matters. We were met at Tribhuvan Airport by our local producer and guide, Thomas Kelly, a photo activist who had lived in the Himalayas for over two decades. It was at Thomas’s invitation that we were in Nepal. He had access to the sacred sites in and around Kathmandu, and was a gatekeeper to many of the shamans and healers in this part of Asia. Thomas’s personal interest in healing and spirituality had led him to sittings with saddhus (Hindu holy men), rituals with lamas (Tibetan Buddhist monks), and sacred pilgrimages with dhamis (Nepali shamans). In addition, he’d roamed the world to shed light on human rights issues such as the challenges facing indigenous cultures, the effects of wars on women and children, and the proliferation of human sex-slave trafficking. When Thomas rattled off his itinerary for us, this lanky, six-foot-one, blond-haired, blue-eyed American man spoke with an accent and timbre shaped by years of the Nepali language rolling off his tongue. Having no experience in this part of the world, we had to put all our trust in his expertise. Thomas had scheduled what he called “two light shoot days”in Kathmandu, which would be followed by a weeklong trek to Humla, a remote area in the northwest corner of Nepal that borders Ti- 59 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW We were lucky to be staying at Happy Valley Guesthouse in the Boudhaarea of town. This guesthouse boasted the rare amenities in Kathmandu of large clean rooms, private showers, and glorious views of the Great Stupa of Boudhanath—a sacred place of worship. Before first light, we were greeted by the sounds of devotion—chanting, drumming, and the radong (telescopic horn) calling all to prayer. During breakfast on the terrace, we witnessed the stream of worshipers below , circumambulating the 118-foottall domed stupa (domed Buddhist shrine) and growing from a devout few to a massive crowd all moving in an uninterrupted flow. Draped with long streams of colorful prayer flags, the stupa’s tower was adorned with the Buddha’s eyes of equanimity painted on each of its walls, looking out in the four directions, and when seen from above, the stupa and its surrounding grounds form a sacred mandala. Spiritual practice and celebration of multiple faiths were evident as Hindus, Buddhists, and others worshiped alongside one another. Despite the poverty and challenges of survival, these devotees rise early each day with the diligence of faith. When I later walked along the edge of the stupa, I was moved by the inertia of all those who circumambulate this sacred place with fierce intention to pray and offer this practice not only for themselves but for the sake of all sentient beings. It was comforting to think that my prayers and steps around the stupa that day could ripple out to help others and that after I left, there would be a continuous stream of people praying for my sake and that of so many others.