NYTimes: Tibetan Lama Faces Scrutiny in India
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Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Karmapa march in the nytimes!
The march made it to the greatest news source in the world. Unfortunately I don't think they got a picture of us.
NYTimes: Tibetan Lama Faces Scrutiny in India
NYTimes: Tibetan Lama Faces Scrutiny in India
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Passang-Lak!
Us (minus Stephen- he was listening to a speech in Tibetan) with Passing-Lak
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Chupa girls
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It's all downhill from here
There is some confusion about the meaning of this phrase. I am of the opinion that it means things will only get easier or better.
I went to prayers with Sonam again in the morning. Julia joined us and then the larger group had guided meditation. Ani-Lak (pronounced Ani la. Ani means nun, so it's comparable to calling her sister) led us through meditation on anger, which ended up being really interesting to work through. I could feel my body tensing and my heart speeding up as I sat there.
Then the day really got going. There was a march to support the 17th Karmapa (he is a lama like the Dalai lamas because the indian media has been stating that he is a chinese spy. We called a jeep and moved class to the afternoon, and almost everyone went up to McLeod Ganj to walk down the mountain from the main temple to the Karmapa's monastery. Our jeep driver was awesome and made it up in record time, so we got there around 930. We found a few of our roommates, who translated things for us and got us photos of the Karmapa to carry on the walk.
We left around 11 am in a line: monks and nuns first, then Tibetans, then foreigners. It was never very clear how long the walk was, but we heard estimates of 12 to 20 km. Thank goodness it was all downhill!
We walked on the road, and The line stretched on forever. We could see monks three switchback turns ahead of us. The chant floated back up the mountain from the people below, and it was absolutely beautiful with the mountains in the background. It was also crazy to see green fields from high up and then walk through them later!
Five of us did the whole walk together and made it to the monastery around 3 (after a stop for veg momos. We each got a bag of about 10 dumplings for 20 rupees. That's 50 cents. Win). The building were set facing the mountains, and the karmapa spoke, but of course it was in Tibetan. So all in all the peaceful march was the best part of the day.
I went to prayers with Sonam again in the morning. Julia joined us and then the larger group had guided meditation. Ani-Lak (pronounced Ani la. Ani means nun, so it's comparable to calling her sister) led us through meditation on anger, which ended up being really interesting to work through. I could feel my body tensing and my heart speeding up as I sat there.
Then the day really got going. There was a march to support the 17th Karmapa (he is a lama like the Dalai lamas because the indian media has been stating that he is a chinese spy. We called a jeep and moved class to the afternoon, and almost everyone went up to McLeod Ganj to walk down the mountain from the main temple to the Karmapa's monastery. Our jeep driver was awesome and made it up in record time, so we got there around 930. We found a few of our roommates, who translated things for us and got us photos of the Karmapa to carry on the walk.
We left around 11 am in a line: monks and nuns first, then Tibetans, then foreigners. It was never very clear how long the walk was, but we heard estimates of 12 to 20 km. Thank goodness it was all downhill!
We walked on the road, and The line stretched on forever. We could see monks three switchback turns ahead of us. The chant floated back up the mountain from the people below, and it was absolutely beautiful with the mountains in the background. It was also crazy to see green fields from high up and then walk through them later!
Five of us did the whole walk together and made it to the monastery around 3 (after a stop for veg momos. We each got a bag of about 10 dumplings for 20 rupees. That's 50 cents. Win). The building were set facing the mountains, and the karmapa spoke, but of course it was in Tibetan. So all in all the peaceful march was the best part of the day.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011
February
The weather here apparently knows it's february, because it got hot. Wear a short sleeve shirt, sweat in your chupa, steaming bucket shower hot. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
My roommate and I went to prayers this morning. Prayers begin at 630, so we left five minutes beforehand since the temple is literally next door. Before they started, Sonam and I circumambulated the temple. I didn't realize what we were doing until about halfway around the building. I get the vibe that she's pretty religious, since i didn't see anyone else doing this except for one monk. Also we showed up before some of the monks and nuns, and she does more prayers and burns incense in the room.
Buddhist temples (or at least this one) are set up with a main alter at the front, but men and women sit on opposite sides facing one another. They chanted for 30 minutes, and it made me feel at home even though I don't speak Tibetan and had never heard any of the prayers before.
One of the more striking differences between Buddhism and western religions (specifically Christianity) lies in architecture. I fell in love with the state church in Vienna because of its columns and lighting and heard mass sung at the Vatican while the sun streamed through the windows and mixed with the music. Both of those experiences made me understand how people could believe in god. Places like st. Patrick's and the Notre Dame make sense in this context, where people build these huge beautiful monuments to god. But the temple here looks like a VFW hall with tankas hung around the walls, and the prayer feels different. Instead of praying to some higher power, people sound like they're working on themselves. Facing other people helps instigate that ambiance.
After breakfast Sonam helped me put on my chupa, which comes with all sorts of ties and buttons and has the added bonus of being impossible to fold. Hearing the candidate speak was super interesting, especially because the idea of exile politics is kind of radical and also a little weird, because it seems difficult to provide services to a scattered refugee population (and government should be all about regulation and services, right? Not that pesky foreign policy thing).
I have also discovered the key to enjoying Tibetan: taking a hot shower beforehand. Win. Also, http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/wbkb/2010-11/releases/201101313tm6jr
My roommate and I went to prayers this morning. Prayers begin at 630, so we left five minutes beforehand since the temple is literally next door. Before they started, Sonam and I circumambulated the temple. I didn't realize what we were doing until about halfway around the building. I get the vibe that she's pretty religious, since i didn't see anyone else doing this except for one monk. Also we showed up before some of the monks and nuns, and she does more prayers and burns incense in the room.
Buddhist temples (or at least this one) are set up with a main alter at the front, but men and women sit on opposite sides facing one another. They chanted for 30 minutes, and it made me feel at home even though I don't speak Tibetan and had never heard any of the prayers before.
One of the more striking differences between Buddhism and western religions (specifically Christianity) lies in architecture. I fell in love with the state church in Vienna because of its columns and lighting and heard mass sung at the Vatican while the sun streamed through the windows and mixed with the music. Both of those experiences made me understand how people could believe in god. Places like st. Patrick's and the Notre Dame make sense in this context, where people build these huge beautiful monuments to god. But the temple here looks like a VFW hall with tankas hung around the walls, and the prayer feels different. Instead of praying to some higher power, people sound like they're working on themselves. Facing other people helps instigate that ambiance.
After breakfast Sonam helped me put on my chupa, which comes with all sorts of ties and buttons and has the added bonus of being impossible to fold. Hearing the candidate speak was super interesting, especially because the idea of exile politics is kind of radical and also a little weird, because it seems difficult to provide services to a scattered refugee population (and government should be all about regulation and services, right? Not that pesky foreign policy thing).
I have also discovered the key to enjoying Tibetan: taking a hot shower beforehand. Win. Also, http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/wbkb/2010-11/releases/201101313tm6jr
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Chupa dayyyyyy
Chupas are hard to put on, hard to walk in, hard to sit in, and tied very tightly, but hey, we looked goooood.
We lost hong kong for a hot sec, but now we found her!
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