A few years back I went to Lijiang, climbed snow-capped Yulong Mountain, and saw a rainbow there. On the packhorse trails I heard wranglers singing folk songs. I watched the prayer ceremonies of the Dongbas, who are shaman-priests of the Naxi minority. I stayed in the Old Town and discovered a special paper the Dongbas use to write their pictographic scriptures. It occurred to me that this rough hand-crafted paper, made from plants that grow on snow-topped mountains, would make a fitting vehicle for snowy mountain prayers. I leafed through a hundred batches to find the right paper and bring it back to America.
