Field Visit to Gesar Phodrang (Palace)

For the last couple of weeks, students have been studying about a king Gesar of Ling as a part of their academic curriculum unit. The unit so far has interested and excited our students, particularly, as it has stories and legends to share. Besides, the Gesar palace (shrine), located in the Institute has made it more relevant to students, as they can see and observe it physically. 

So, to augment more understanding about the Gesar and to facilitate empirical learning opportunities for students, we organized a field trip to Gesar Shrine. The objectives of the field visit are to expand the notion of the classroom, enriching learning experiences that are engaging, visible, and experiential. The Gesar shrine is located on the topmost temple of the Chokyi Gyatso Institute (where students are currently studying). It is a beautifully carved wooden shrine, surrounded by a variety of beautiful offerings. It has four power animals, the tiger (tag), the snow lion (sing), the garuda (chung), and the dragon (druk) in each direction. This is a beautiful place to make the most out of it. 

As a part of this trip, we invited one of the senior lamas to talk about Gesar and its shrine. Lama talked about how Gesar Shrine was built based on the text by Mipham Rinpoche, he shared his experiences of looking for rare substances from faraway places which took him five years to complete the project. It was an interactive session with the lama, in which students asked many questions, many of those questions were questions of curiosity, for example, why, is Gesar facing east? Why do we make offers to Gesar? Etc. 

Pema Dorji, said, “I learnt about twelve animals and their compatibility from the lama.” Another student Sonam Wangchuk said, “Gesar The shrine is built on the top of the temple because of its power, courage and magnetizing power.” 

During the entire field trip, students were made to observe and take notes of what they saw and experienced in the shrine. There were discussion and sharing of ideas amongst students. Most importantly, we have witnessed students revisiting stories and discussion topics from their classes. 

Tenzin Jamtsho said, “I learned that, if our life forces are not positive, we may encounter obstacles and death in life, so to overcome these negative energies and obstacles, we pray and make an offering to the Gesar.” 

After the field trip, these students did a few follow up activities; one such was making a presentation to their friends. Based on the observation and lesson learned from the field trip they gave a presentation to 80 students (juniors and friends) on 3rd April 2021. The presentation was a part of the lesson is to share their experiences, knowledge and ideas with their friends. 

Jigme Dorji one of the presenters said, “When I was presenting about the Ling Gesar, at first I felt shy and nervous, however, I was confident later.” The presentation program was to help students develop skills such as teamwork, confidence, communication, and art skills. Besides, this is to encourage students that teaching and learning can happen within students.