Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Tiger's Nest

Another view of "Tiger's Nest" monastery. No, I don't believe tigers do actually nest, or roost. Why it's not called "Tiger's Den" I don't know but the legend goes like this. Guru Rinpoche (the second Buddha) in the 8th century was busy establishing Buddhism in this area. He possessed  miraculous powers and is depicted in eight different manifestations.  One of the challenges was to rid the region of evil spirits and demons. One day, his consort manifested as a tigress. He rode on her back and flew up to this spot to capture and subdue a demon known as Singey Samdrup. Once done, he stayed here and meditated for 3 months. There is a deep hole dug out of the rock (25 ft deep) in which it is said he would wait in hiding, meditating and when a demon would arrive, he would leap out suddenly, and catch it by surprise.

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