BIHAR, INDIA, January 27, 2007: Sherab Gyalsten has already been on the road for one year and eight months. He doesn’t run or walk. Instead, the Buddhist monk from Tibet takes three and a half steps forward, then prostrates flat on the road while chanting mantras. Then he gets up, folds his hands in prayer and repeats the process. He averages six kilometers a day. For protection he wears a thick apron, fortified shoes and gloves with a wooden pad on the palms. He recently crossed the border from Nepal into the Indian state of Bihar. His destination is the Buddhist pilgrimage centre of Bodh Gaya where the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment under a peepul tree. Tibetan Buddhists believe that prostrations bring merit in the quest for enlightenment. This type of prostrating pilgrimage is hard enough at the best of times. The pot-holed roads of impoverished Bihar make it worse.
Gyalsten set off on his journey from Tibet in July 2005 with a friend. They reached the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, on 29 November. Neither can speak Hindi or English and the friend returned to Tibet. Gyalsten is now accompanied by a Nepalese couple, Sonam Yeshi and Pema Tsomo, who take care of his daily needs. The husband and wife pull a hand-made tin sheet cart mounted on bicycle wheels that carries their provisions, including drinking water. “We’ve two folding tents, sleeping bags, a stove, some utensils and food materials in our cart,” says Sonam Yeshi, who also translates for the prostrating Tibetan. Sherab Gyalsten makes some attempt to communicate with the locals, through body gestures and, more often, simply by smiling at the staring onlookers.
So far the monk has stayed well and fit, despite the demands of his long and torturous journey. “It has really been very difficult,” Sonam Yeshi says. “At some places there are no proper roads and then there are big trucks and buses bearing down on us from both directions.” Sherab Gyalsten agrees: “Its scary… it’s even tougher and harder than the hilly terrain of Tibet and Nepal.” His long pilgrimage is nearly over.”Another 16 days and we will complete our journey”, the Tibetan monk told us, sipping yet another tea, before slipping into his blue folding tent for the night.