This night time exposure of a stupa and prayer flags under Taboche peak, above the village of Dingboche, Nepal, was taken on the way to Everest base camp for a story about Sherpas climbers and culture for National Geographic magazine.
In the Khumbu you cannot avoid ceremony. Even if you wanted to, the air is full of prayers and sacred smoke that goes into your lungs and cleans you out without permission. You are blessed just for having walked there. “Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum... " Those words are carved into thousands of Mani stones and prayer wheels along the trail to Everest Base Camp, and sometimes it is written on paper and put inside the prayer wheels so that it is emanated as many times per spin of the wheel as there are notes written inside—thus a single spin can be a thousand mantras. The mantras fly above our heads as well as they do in this image. The colorful flags of cloth prayers wave countless times each day in the wind, and spread goodwill and compassion to all of their surroundings with each flutter. Each syllable is its own powerful prayer.
“OM” – for release from the realm of gods (that is to say, the realm of ego and pride).
“MA” – for release from the realm of the jealous gods, who are consumed by jealousy and the need for entertainment.
“NI” – for release from the human realm, characterized by passion and desire.
“PAD” – for release from the animal realm of ignorance and prejudice.
“ME” – for release from the realm of hungry ghosts consumed by greed and possessiveness.
And, “HUM” (sometimes “HUNG”) – for release from the hell realm of hatred and aggression.
And so, believers and non-believers alike are blessed again and again, just for having walked or slept in these places. No one, and no thing, can escape the mantras.
Photographed in 2013, 9000 x 6000 px.
