Author Topic: The Lost Caves of Tibet  (Read 5157 times)

icy

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The Lost Caves of Tibet
« on: July 24, 2014, 09:21:32 AM »
Discover the Lost Caves in Mustang and its secrets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUAMOeLUJJc


This documentary is the first of two which explore the cave temples found in Mustang, which is now a part of Nepal, though it was previously an independent kingdom.

Most of the temples are in very inaccessible places up steep cliff faces, and many of them have been abandoned by the local population, who cannot access them.

SYNOPSIS

In 2007 Liesl Clark filmed her husband Pete Athans and climber Renan Ozturk as they tried to access some of these caves, and record them for the first time.

They had only a month to do the work on this visit, and they get off to a poor start being obstructed by snow blizzards.

Eventually they get some fine weather and began the exploration in earnest, turning up long lost paintings and artifacts from the caves, including manuscripts.

Later they are joined by an archaeological crew, both local and foreign, as they access more of the caves.

The locals are not always happy with them trespassing on their property, and there is an incident where they are stopped on the edge of a cave, and money is demanded.

They have to pay up to gain entrance, and when they do get inside the cave is empty and worthless, which the local leaders find amusing.

One very nice thing about the film is that Liesl and Pete take their young children along with them, and they seem to be perfectly adapted to the life. Like all young kids they are little explorers in the making.




Midakpa

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Re: The Lost Caves of Tibet
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2014, 01:24:52 PM »
Thank you for posting this video. I enjoyed the documentary and learned something about early Buddhists who lived and practised in caves. About 2000 years ago, this place had many Buddhist temples and stupas. It was a cave city! There were thousands of caves. In one of the caves they found paintings of Mahasiddhas and in another, drawings of Vajravarahi. There was a painting of Nagarjuna giving teachings to disciples. If not for the explorers, these caves may never be documented. I'm glad the explorers were able to find some scriptures and also took photos of the cave paintings and inscriptions so that scholars can study them digitally. The cliffs are crumbling and soon these caves will disappear due to erosion.

RedLantern

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Re: The Lost Caves of Tibet
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2014, 02:54:58 PM »

Intriguing mystery of the ancient kingdom discovered in Nepal where thousands of caves are carved into cliff side,hidden within the Himalayas.They remained one of the world's greatest archaeological mysteries as it is not known who built them and why.