This is an early morning scene just outside the gates of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
The best thing about Tibet is that you feel like you have left your mundane issues of daily living with the world below. Every single day of my two-week stay in Tibet I walked around without any specific destination in mind, letting my feet take me; greeting strangers with a smile as local practice dictated, observed people as was my training, and simply soaked in the good clean air without a care in the world on where I would get my next meal, or if my boss has emailed me.
It was on one of these days that I found myself walking just in front of Potala Palace at around 6:00 in the morning. That's right, a cold 6 AM. But instead of empty streets that usually characterize any urban setting at this unGodly hour, albeit a very high one but urban nonetheless, I was amazed to see that there were already quite a number of Tibetans up and about. Not only that. What was more remarkable was that not all of them came to the palace to pray. Rather, most of them were only pedestrians on their way to work or to some other destination, and yet, they never failed to stop and do their praying motions. This is what I'd call devotion.
So, what are the Tibetan praying motions? You put your palms together in a typical praying position, then you raise it above your head, just touching the base of your palms on the top of your head. With the palms still together, you then bring your hands to your face, touching your thumbs to your forehead. Then, with the palms still together, you bring your hands to your chest, touching the thumbs again in the middle just below your collarbones. Finally, you get down on your knees and slowly prostrate yourself on your belly, with your hands palm down and your forehead touching the ground.
I have actually tried this myself, twice or thrice, when one of the devotees in front of the Jokhang Temple kindly explained and showed it to me. I felt awkward and I guess their constant practice must have made them look more graceful and fluid. He also lent me his mat. Most of the Tibetans who do this for one whole day or days always have mats and some soft cushions for their hands. The cold hard ground can be painful on your palms, knees and chest if you do this tens of times in a day.
I've also asked the Tibetan devotee what the three positions of the hands meant, and he told me that it symbolizes the Buddha of the past (top of the head), Buddha of the present (forehead), and Buddha of the future (chest); the last one symbolizing hope. They actually have names for these three Buddhas, but I can't remember it now. I also can't get any information on the internet to corroborate this explanation. So, I will just have to take my source's word for it.
The Tibetans whisper a prayer while doing these motions, but I didn't get to learn that. If you're into Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, maybe you can start with the generic prayer of "Om Mane Padme Ohm" which is recited over and over while turning the prayer wheel. I don't know if the prayer for this praying motions are different. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable can tell me that...
