Heinrich Harrer Limited Edition Portfolio

The Horn at Chagpori  A monk stands on the flat roof of Chagpori, one of the oldest traditional Tibetan Buddhist medical and astrology schools, and one of the most prominent landmarks in the Lhasa Valley. Many renowned Tibetan astrologers and doctors, including the personal physicians of the Dalai Lamas, earned their degrees here.

The Potala, the winter residence of the Dalai Lama and reliquary of his previous incarnations, sits at a commanding height overlooking the capital city. The name “Potala” comes from the Sanskrit word for a mythical holy mountain in the south of India; but to Tibetans it was known as Tse Phodrang, which means, simply and eloquently, Summit Palace.

Ngari Rinpoche  This is Tendzin Choegyal, the youngest brother of the Dalai Lama, at the age of three. Later he was recognized as Ngari Rinpoche, an incarnation of the spiritual leader of several monasteries in Ngari, a large region in western Tibet.

Tendzin Choegyal was born shortly after our arrival in Lhasa in January 1946. Three days after his birth, the Great Mother invited us to join her guests to celebrate her youngest son’s birth. This photograph was taken on the roof of the family’s home, Yabshi Taktser, Roaring Tiger House of the Family of the Dalai Lama.

Also available as a 16×20 inch individual silver gelatin photograph in a separate edition.

The Monk Dance  The Tibetan lunar year drew to a close with the Tse Gutor, an important performance of Tantric dances which purged the sins and obstacles of the past year. The ceremonies took place in the Deyang Shar, the great eastern courtyard of the Potala, on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. The Dalai Lama, hidden, watched from high above.

Monks from Namgyal Dratsang monastery performed the rituals and prayers for the Dalai Lama. All day long the cymbals clanged above the steady boom of the big drums, while the horns and shawms vied for supremacy with the intermittent clear, high tones of the sacred bells.

The Largest Thangka  During the second month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, monks from Drepung, Sera, Ganden and neighboring monasteries came to Lhasa for the spectacular Serbang procession. When the “Golden Procession” arrived at the steps of the Potala, the blast of a great trumpet sounded from above to announce the raising of this immense thangka (scroll painting).

Inside the Potala, monks from the Drepung Monastery seated on saddles lashed to huge beams would hoist the great banner on ropes while chanting in rhythm. The sacred images were then unfurled to the veneration of the great throng below.

Arrival of the Ministers  Along the right bank of the Kyichu (Kyi River) were several lingka (gardens or parks) with willow and poplar shade trees. The most beautiful were the Tsermalingka and Shugtrilingka. There were no fences or visible partitions between the lingka, and the Dalai Lama’s horses grazed freely.

Here, monk officials of the Tsedrung (the Potala’s ecclesiastical court) bow in respect before three cabinet ministers who have just crossed the great open fields between Lhasa and the river to attend a banquet. These Kalon (Cabinet Ministers) were three of the four most prominent officials in the Tibetan Government.

The Game of Sho  Sho is a Tibetan game in which players throw dice to determine moves marked by a path of shells. Tibetans gamble with astounding enthusiasm, and they love to play sho at parties and picnics, on the streets and in the marketplace.

We were invited to Kalon Surkhang’s home on the Barkor (the inner ring around the Tsuglagkhang, the holiest temple in Lhasa, where the bazaar is located), although I never joined in the game.

Khampa Warriors  These Khampa warriors are from the toughest tribe in all Tibet. Khampas come from the mountainous, heavily forested Kham province in eastern Tibet. They are renowned for their bravery, marksmanship, horsemanship and fierce sense of independence. These Khampas volunteered to protect His Holiness during his flight from Lhasa in 1951.

This photograph was taken north of Phari during the Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa, after crossing the frigid, ten-mile Plain of Tuna. These special troops wear fox fur hats and carry typical Tibetan guns with bowed forks to steady their aim.

The Dalai Lama’s Flight, 1951  The wind springs up early across the treeless, almost lifeless, Tibetan plateau. By midday gale forces, carrying sand or snow, sting and cut travelers’ faces. What light there is casts a bleak twilight pall over the wastelands.

Here, second from the left, the newly invested Dalai Lama, flanked by two of his personal khenpo (abbots), staggers against the winds on the Plain of Tuna in his flight from the Chinese communist advance. On January 2, 1951, the Dalai Lama’s retinue reached its destination, the Chumbi Valley, six miles from the Indian border.

Also available as a 16×20 inch individual silver gelatin photograph in a separate edition.

The Holy Relics  This is the last picture of Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, taken in free Tibet. The year was 1951. The Chinese communist army had already invaded eastern Tibet and was threatening to advance on Lhasa. His Holiness was at Dungkar Gonpa (Dungkar Monastery), in the Chumbi Valley near the southern Tibetan border with Sikkim and Bhutan, poised for a possible flight to India.

Surrounded by his entourage, His Holiness blesses a golden urn containing sacred relics of Gautama Buddha, which the Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka had brought for him to sanctify.

Also available as a 16×20 inch individual silver gelatin photograph in a separate edition.