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Mustang Trek — Tantra
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=f30b0f7da2942a9cff48dc7b2e45bcab 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=ca24af0e4bd2f726c4c567ed28700962 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=06da17c70fc139438bf12014dd5d17ec 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=13fd9147ed88160b8254dc56d68da637 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=bc6e48eb58bef689221e44b6234b8bd9 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=908650c752614c60a26c482b14fa5497 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=d2d9fb1edf80dfc72be62f213dcd68e7 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2F15405269571_2082318b84_k.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=d207907839c740a4b4a82953ec69f138 1024w)
Deana Zabaldo photo
Early one morning in Lo Manthang, the walled fortress-like capital of Mustang, we visit the monastery to receive a blessing from an old monk. He has spent more than 40 years in the monastery and is master of an ancient Tantric rite, one that derives directly from the 8th century beginnings of Himalayan Buddhism. He chants scriptures, tosses grains of rice, pours water from a metal jar stuffed with purifying peacock feathers, and wields a small golden dagger with 4 faces carved on its hilt vajrakila. One by one, we kneel as he offers us a traditional blessed thread to wear at our necks for protection and well-being and lays a white prayer scarf over our shoulders. We then walk to the main prayer hall where the monks chant their morning blessing while blowing horns, simmering cymbals, and thundering their double-sided hanging drums.
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Ritual Tantric implements. Deana Zabaldo photo
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After morning prayers, a few monks gather for breakfast on the monastery steps. Deana Zabaldo photo
Lo Manthang and the nearby villages are home to some stunning Buddhist artwork including the world’s only surviving monastery painted entirely with 15th century Buddhist mandalas. The monastery paintings have been carefully restored under the guidance of an Italian conservation expert and also by training local artists to master the old styles (all with funding from the American Himalaya Foundation), but photographs are not allowed inside. (You’ll just have to come see them for yourself!) Dark, centuries old prayer rooms reveal towering deities and intricate circular mandalas as we explore the town. Along the journey, we also visit sacred caves filled with colorful flags, detailed paintings, statues, stupas, and prayer scarves.
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Sacred caves where Padmasambhava meditated more than 1300 years ago. Deana Zabaldo photo
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Painted stupa inside a cave. Deana Zabaldo photo
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Caretakers of remote shrines are sometimes assigned by the head lama of the area and other times come from a family lineage where 20+ generations have passed knowledge and responsibility from father to son. Deana Zabaldo photo
Another monastery we visit is as old as Samye, the oldest monastery in Tibet. A demon was obstructing the construction of Samye, so 8th century Guru Padmasambhava chased him out of Tibet and slew him in Nepal. A monastery marks the heart of the demon, while the red color of nearby rock is the demon’s blood strewn on the cliffs. Whether you believe in ancient demons or take the demon as a metaphor for the local pressures and indigenous beliefs that were resistant to Buddhism, this land is rife with history and legend dating back to the earliest era of Tantric Buddhism. We move among the myths as much as through the mountains.
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Cliffs splashed red with “demon’s blood.” Deana Zabaldo photo