Half-way through writing The Horse Master’s Daughter, I already knew—there was going to be a sequel. Originally I’d intended The Horse Master’s Daughter to be a standalone story, a gift to Nordun, my Tibetan niece whose father (my brother-in-law) refused to let her ride a horse. However, in the unguarded moments between writing Nordun’s story and living in the mundane world, my mind was already flying ahead, spinning new tales, new
adventures for Nordun. Suddenly there was so much more happening on the page than I’d foreseen. The little tale I had in mind became a first full-fledged historical novel, and the seeds of a sequel had firmly planted themselves within me.
A pilgrimage to Lhasa was the obvious next journey for Nordun—pilgrimages have long been an essential part of the Tibetan Buddhist way of life. Buddhists from across Tibet have travelled to sacred sites in Tibet, Nepal, and India for more than 1,300 years, and although travel is restricted for Tibetans these days, pilgrimage is still going strong within Tibet. In fact, while visiting my in-laws in Tibet, I came across pilgrims every day. In fact, while talking to people about pilgrimage, it seemed like there was no adult—monastic or layperson—who had not undertaken at least one pilgrimage in his/her life.
In Tibetan, the word for pilgrim is gnas skor ba, which translates to “one who circles a sacred place.” Pilgrims can get to the site of their pilgrimage by any means they see fit, but once arrived, one must walk on foot around the sacred site (circumambulate).
Within Tibet, pilgrims flock to man-made like monasteries and stupas, as well as to natural sites like lakes, mountains, and caves. The most famous man-made side is the temple known as Jokhang, in the city of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet since the 7th century. The Jokhang temple was built in the 7th century, and holds the famous statue of Sakyamuni Buddha that Nordun so reveres in A Pilgrim’s Heart. The statue was brought to Tibet on the occasion of the wedding of the Tang Princess, Wencheng, to the Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo, in 641 AD. These days another famous site is the Potala Palace, a fortress in Lhasa that served as the winter palace of the Dalai lamas from 1649 to 1959.
Natural sites such as the lakes, mountains, and caves are plentiful across the Tibetan Plateau. Long before the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet, the mountains and lakes were regarded as territorial gods, and many mountains and lakes have kept this sacred status. Nordun visits a few of those lakes on her way to Lhasa with Lake Nam Tso, the heavenly lake being one of the most famous lakes. This sacred lake incorporates five small islands. In the past, at the end of winter, pilgrims would walk across the frozen lake to one of these islands with food and supplies, and spend the summer there meditating, unable to return until Lake Nam Tso froze again the following winter.
By going on pilgrimage, Tibet Buddhist accumulate merit and blessings, and hope for purification of non-beneficial karma collected in their past. The pilgrims perform several rituals such as circumambulation of the sacred sites, prostrations along the way and at the sites, chanting of prayers and mantras while walking, and stacking stones at the slopes and shores of sites. These rituals, like mantra chanting and stacking stones, are also engrained in the daily lives of the Tibetan people. I’ve witnessed my family members and villagers—young and old—mumble their mantras while washing, cooking, and harvesting, and many times they would quickly but meticulously stack a few stones as we walked the mountain paths, or crossed a meandering stream.
The Tibetan Buddhists believe that the rituals and pilgrimages not only add merit to their personal karma but also are beneficial to the entire community and beyond—to all sentient beings. And it doesn’t matter to them whether they pray and perform rituals together, or as an individual, in a temple, at a holy lake or in the privacy of their home, the benefits are always for all humankind.
So a pilgrimage it had to be for the sequel. After all, tracking across mountains, circling holy lakes, and accumulating merit for all, it is the perfect journey for Nordun to complete her transition from nun to lay woman, and an exciting, thought-provoking trip for you, the reader, to experience the magic and mystery of Tibet and its capital Lhasa, Land of the Gods, which unfortunately are out of reach to visit in person at the moment.
The Nordun’s Way series is set in the time of the Mongol Empire and its Qa’ans. If you would like to know more about this historical setting and how I came to this choice (which I’ve explained in the author’s notes of The Horse Master’s Daughter), please visit my website www.elleslohuis.com
As a historian, I always want to do justice to the times and the people inhabiting the times. Also, for A Pilgrim’s Heart, I did extensive desk research and consulted experts in the field. Besides desk research, I also wanted to do
in-depth field research. It was my big wish to go to Lhasa myself, but due to visa restrictions it was—and still to date is—not possible for me to travel the road Nordun took to Lhasa. Fortunately, I spent three magical months in Kham with my Tibetan in-laws and their friends who have travelled the roads to Lhasa through the mountains and shared their many tales and anecdotes with me.
I always come across amazing artifacts, places and people doing desk- and field research, like the beads Nordun gave to Karma after their visit to ancient ruins. Visit my website to see how I’ve placed these facts in the Nordun’s Way series, and get your copy of the beautiful hand-drawn map of Nordun’s travels that I’ve commissioned here.
Not much is known about the exact villages/settlements and their names in Tibet at that time. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of incorporating some of the villages/cities that exist in Tibet at the present time.
This brings me to a last note on facts and fiction—transliteration. For readability purposes, I’ve used the (phonetic) Romanized transcription whenever Tibetan terms, personal names, or place names are mentioned, and I’ve transcribed the Chinese terms, personal names, and place names in pinyin.
Elles Lohuis
Almelo, 2022