Thrungkar and Rap speak

On the way home a few days ago, I ran into a Taiwanese lady. We get to chatting a bit and after a while she tells me, “Wooow, You talk like rap!!” I was a bit taken aback by this comment since I do not possess the lyrical improvisational talent that rappers possess. I told her that, “We’ll I grew up in New York” thinking that this will quell her curiosity, and then I get, “Do all people in New York talk like rap?” My immediate answer was, “No”. That pretty much ended our conversation, but it has had me thinking that since I have been here, that for many folks, I am the first black person that some folks have ever met including foreigners from East Asia, Tibetans and Indians. Most folks think at that I am either from Africa or the West Indies due to Cricket. As I think about this I find it that at least I paint a positive representation for black folks in these Asian parts. Which can not be said for other nationalities, I am thinking about the Israelis in particular, who do not possess such a good rap in India.

Since I have been here, I have heard stories of a black monk from New York, who studied at Sera Mey Gompa in South India and at the Sakya Gompa in Dehra Dun. People told me that his Tibetan was fantastic as was his debating skills and his ability to produced the “yang” (Multi-phonic overtones) that use for the recitation of prayers in tantric ceremonies. My new Tibetan tutor told that they he has not heard a westerner spoke Tibetan so well. He also said that he was the one westerner who truly internalized the Tibetan character. This fellow to be is like a ghost since I have heard so much about him and his talents and I am glad that he painted a positive picture from black people who interact and learn from Tibetans. In way I was grateful to him for it helps me as I traverse the rough terrain of learning the Tibetan Language. My praise goes out to this black monk for New York that I have never met.

There is a soap opera that plays on XZTV (sorry the link is in Chinese), the Tibetan station from Lhasa, Tibet. The story of this soap is about a Chinese girl who marries an African man from West Africa and moves there. It is quite interesting for the fact that first, this doctor was in China and had to convince the girl’s family to approve of their marriage. After her family approves she goes to West Africa where now the Doctor has to convince his family to approve of his marriage to a Chinese girl. Because of this show a few Tibetans have expressed that I look like the African doctor, and one monk even calls me Malika which is the name of the doctor. The interesting thing about the Tibetan station is that most of their shows are originally in Chinese and dubbed in Tibetan. They even have shows about Tibetans shot in Chinese and dubbed in Tibetan.

Yesterday on the 6th of July was the Birthday of HHDL which is known as Thungkar. It so happens that George W. Bush and HHDL share the same birthday, weird heh!! Anyway, there were festivities happening at the temple which including a lot of singing and dancing. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera because I thought that His Holiness was going to be there. But HHDL has been sick, and sick enough for him to cancel his tour to Europe. Usually if he were there cameras will not be allowed, and it would have sucked if I had to walk home because I had a camera. But James brought his camera and I will gank some pictures from him. I do have to say that I have fallen in love. With whom you say? Well not any one person in particular, No No No!!! TIPA (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts) has a bagpipe and drum corps and all the women are quite accomplished snare drummers. It is with this lot that has received my crush. They were all rocking those drums with exquisite skill. I am a sucker for women who can rock at on some drums. Nuff said about that. All the other performances where great, including a group a children who were so adorable, with there little kiddies voices. Another one that was my favorite was a mask dance that is traditionally done by men. At the end of their dance the performers took off their masks so the audience found out that they were not men at all, but women. There was quite a ripple of shock and amazement that what the audience felt.

There at the temple I had finally ran into Tenzin Nangkyi fellow BC student while I was circumambulating the temple. I also ran into the sister and mother of another BC Tibetan. After all that, me and my friend Erika were having a chat by the offering stack, which consisted of a huge stack of “Kaptse” or Tibetan biscuits with candy and fruit on top of it. Erika was just chewed out by two older Tibetan men for getting to close to it, saying that it is holy. She was just checking to see how it was stacked. It looked similar to the way one stacks the sticks of wood for playing jenga. A few minutes later, I noticed a white dude with a short mohawk making funny faces. Tibetan folks are walking around him and staring at him saying that he is crazy. Erika who was sitting next to me told me that his was holding his breath until his turn blue. He then comes to the offering pile and starts eating away. I tell him that this pile is an offering and that it is not ready to be eaten until the ceremony is over. There had been ceremonies all week. Anyways, my friend James comes up and tells him the same thing, and then all of a sudden I have just realized that I had been squirted with mango stuff. I had it all it my hair, my pants and shirt. Also James and Erika who were sitting next to me got jizzed by this mango. It happened so fast, but as James was talking to mahawk dude, the dude took a mango from the pile and squeezed it causing it contents to be projected all over me and my friends. There were Tibetans looking on as this took place, but none did anything. Especially since a few moments earlier Erika was schooled just for looking at the offering pile too close. I told her that Tibetans might have a different attitude for the insane. Since Erika is sane, Tibetans will assume that she should know better, but for those who are crazy, their crazy and of course they don’t know any better. Well at least that is my assessment.

Two events have also been happening that affects Tibetans; one is the opening of the Nathula pass from Sikkim across the border to Tibet on the 6th of July. Another is the demolition of the Majnu Ka Tilla Tibetan settlement in Delhi which now I have just read that this will not be demolished, and of course the opening of the railway from Beijing to Lhasa. Tibetan Activists in Dharamsala has had several events including a hunger strike and a march in opposition to this railway.

My family was going to have a party on Thrungkar but Pala was very sick, thus no party. Pala is not sure when he was born so he, like many Tibetans will celebrate their birthday either on Losar or on Thrungkar. It would have been fun, since I will get to see Tibetans get stupid drunk. Oh well.

I have a new Tibetan tutor; he is an ex-monk from Namgyal Monastery. We have only met a few times, but he knows how to teach which is good. He is not like Pema, who I still miss very dearly, but this tutor, with his knowledge of Dharma will be good for me. He so far has told me that my Tibetan pronunciation is good, but I need to work on “downloading Tibetan to my tongue”. This is quite true and the hardest to do since that will take years to get used to.

TC MEC will start school again this Monday which is the start of a new term, my last one with them. I would like to leave with quote that I have heard from a German lady who live a long time in the US and has been living in India for 17 years. This is what she so wisely says, “In India, everybody says ‘No problem, No problem, Madam’, but in India everything is always a fucking problem” direct quote from Priya.

Pax

Well.....

HHDL’s teachings have ended. I am bit sad but I enjoyed them and I am looking forward to when I can get to the point with my Tibetan where I will not need the radio for the translation. Throughout the teachings it is fine to have but also quite cumbersome, especially when it came to bad reception or the translator not having enough time to finished his translation. I think that we lost a lot of information through it. But at the same time there no doubt that the translator was excellent and I have total respect and admiration for his profession.

The way it was set up was that there were two translations going simultaneously one in Chinese and one in English. The Chinese translations were provided over the loud speaker after HHDL finished speaking. The English ones could only be heard over radio. I am assuming that it must have been the Taiwanese Sangha that requested the teachings and that is why that Chinese translation was over the loudspeakers. The first and last prayers were chanted in Chinese. This caused a bit of a dilemma at times since some times the Chinese translator will finish before the English one. Since HHDL could only hear the Chinese one, the English translator will have to translate while His Holiness was teaching and keep up with the new information coming in. I remember from Amaravati, that the same translator had to translate with no breaks coming from HHDL. I also knew that at these teachings there were a Korean and a Russian translator translating to the people that sat immediately around them.

There, I was able to find a new Tibetan tutor of which I am excited about. I have been without one for two months now. I found out that my first tutor Pema, who I thought was in Manali, is actually in Spain. I felt a bit betrayed for she lied to me, but also I understand that she did not what others to find out. There are times that I hear my family talking about; who married to what westerner to go to the west or whose child got a scholarship to study in the US, or who got to go Europe, or who got political asylum, etc. I find it to be quite an obsession with trying to get to the West. I hear it so much. I understand, but I do get annoyed with it at times. Like I say, I wish everyone to gain what they desire. Anyways, I will meet with my tutor tomorrow and I will see how it goes.

Tomorrow, TC MEC will commence registration for the second term, and then class begins the next week. The 6th of July is HHDL’s Thrungkar (Birthday) which means some celebration of some sorts happening on that day. The weird thing that I find is that George W. Bush and His Holiness the Dalai Lama share a birthday. Two totally diametrical opposites, one brings war and the other peace.

Not to forget the World Cup final on Sunday the 9th. My own birthday just passed on the 30th of June. What can I say, another year gone by. My only birthday wish for myself is that I continue to strive to grow as a positive human entity as the years role by.

Pax

The Monsoons Begins…

The weather just could not hold out any longer. The infamous rains have finally come. Supposedly, Dharamsala is the worst place to be in India for monsoon, and I can see why. I think that these next few months will be the hardest and most challenging time that I will have in McLeod Ganj. Three months of rain does not sound like my cup of tea, but I do have some serious rain gear. I am only missing one thing, and that is some rain boats. And with all these small bodied Indians and Tibetans around there are not much prospects of finding any in my size.

The first term at TC MEC is over. My class ended up with 4 students on the last day. With my class was consisting of beginners with no knowledge of English, I was happy for the students that stuck it out. I think a few found teachers better than myself, and one lady, in fact the only lady in my class, had some kind of foot injury preventing her from coming to class. Her name is Coenga, which means “fifteen”. With that name, I could not help but to affectionately make fun of her. I noticed with her that she will transcribe all the English words in Chinese. She is not the first Tibetan that I have seen doing that. With some new comers, they might not necessarily know literary Tibetan. And some do not know Spoken Tibetan every well, or they speak a dialect from a remote area in Tibet.

There is one woman of about 24 years old that I remember from my first class. She was not supposed to be in my class in the first place, but she will sneak in. So, I will call her out on it. She was a rather obstinate woman. I would of let her stay in the class, but she’d always over power the class. I think that even the male Tibetans were afraid of her. So, after a few little spats with her, she finally listened. I noticed with her that she will talk to Tibetans in Chinese, and they made fun of her for it. She was totally educated in Beijing and was very Chinese in character, despite that she was born in Tibet. She eventually went back to Tibet.

Class at TC MEC will resume on the 10th of July, at this moment HHDL is giving teachings on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara a.k.a A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Shantideva. This is a very important text because in outlines the Bodhisattva’s ideals (to stay out of nirvana until all sentient beings are liberated) which is the crux on which Mahayana Buddhism is founded on. In comparison to Theravada Buddhism where the Arhat (one who seeks liberation for ones own self) is the highest ideal. The teachings have now been going on for three days, and I am enjoying very bit of it. Every now and then I can understand a bit of HHDL’s Tibetan. With the teachings, McLeod Ganj is packed full of people, also with the coming rain after the teachings they will all flee for their dear lives.

At home we are all watching the World Cup and that too I am extremely enjoying. We had two girls for two different prep schools here on a study abroad program. One of the girls goes to Lawrenceville which is a school that a friend’s sister attended for her senior year. They were quite interesting girls since they come from pretty wealthy families. But regardless of that I did enjoy their company. I have never interacted with folks from a prep school before. Us po’ folk usually make fun of prep school students “preppies”. There is no doubt that these girls have rich families, and we had very different high school experiences, but for their short time here I truly had fun with them.

Pa la came home drunk one night and Ama la was not too happy about it. Pa la got schooled hard and it was the first time that I have seen them have anything that could resemble a fight by western relationship standards. They never share any affection towards each other. I get the sense that the only reason that they are together is because that is not to acceptable to divorce. It feels more like a business relationship. And I have a feeling that this is quite common among Tibetans, well at least older ones. A friend of mine was telling me a story. She was teaching English to some Tibetan carpet makers all of which were women. On Valentines Day she asked if they will make Valentines Day cards for their husbands. She told me that all the women starting laughing saying “Why would we do that for?” as if that was not an option. She then asked them if they loved husbands and they said, "Why would we love our husbands?" We then realized that in exile and probably in Tibet, marriage is done more for the sake of convenience over that of romance, not to mean that love does not happen but that it is not the main impetus for marriage.

Oh one more thing I have purchase my airplane ticket back to the US. I set to leave on the 24th of September, flying straight to Kentucky. My heart stops at the thought. Don’t get me wrong I love my home just not ready to leave just yet. I think that I will leave this post at that.

Pax

Thoughts of return to the US, Mama Mia!!!!!

Two nights ago I was tossing and turing in my bed, and my mind was rustling with thought of my inevitable return the US of A. I ain't goin’ front, I have no desire to return to US, but it is something that I must do. Thus I have been thinking of how to return ASAP. I have given up the hope of attended FPMT’s Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Course for several reasons. Firstly, I cannot afford it. Secondly, I have not heard any thing from them and Thirdly, I think I know the potential teacher and he is an utter asshole and I do not want to study under him. So where does that leave me. IBD Sarah seems to be my best option. Their class is for one year and that will cost $1,000 including room and broad. If I excell in this class then I will have the option to take another one year brigde course with is $ 750. The beginner’s one years course plus the brigde course is expecting that a person who finishes these will be ready to do university work in the Tibetan language, which is my goal. The prices are right in reach.

The problems are that I will not be in the US until the beginning of October 2006, and the first course commences July 1st 2007, leaving me 9 months to come up with the funds. There is a hard chance that can go to the States, just for nine months. If I rent, I will have to comment to one year, and then rent will prevent me from saving the required money. Right now, I do not have a place to stay when I get back, nothing. I will have to figure everything out when I get there. But I do have some hope. If you have any suggestions please let me know. But, first things first, I will buy my ticket to the States, I am intending on leaving on the 24th of September. And I have made a 5 year plan as far as where I want to be, scary heh?

At my home here thing are great, Tashi was accepted to a good nursing school in Dehra Dun, India. The family was quite stressed out about him not being able to get into a school, but this one worked out. Last Sunday at midnight, some of us went to walk the lingkhor (circumambulatory path around HHDL’s residence) because it marks the Saka Dawa Duchen celebrating Sakyamuni Buddha enlightenment and parinirvana. The path was full of people. Many of them were doing full body prostrations while chanting prayers. Other where just chanting. As we walked the sides of the path were clogged with sleeping beggars and mendicants. We also went to the main temple which was also clogged with people. My thoughts were with my friend Dean who was at Gang Rinpoche (Mt Kailash) in Tibet. He was doing the samething me and my family where doing but around a big mountain and about 16,000 feet above sea level. He carried with him a picture of the family to offer to the mountain. The next day I went again to do the same thing, except all those sleeping beggars and mendicants who were sleeping the night before were in full action. Many Tibetans were carring bags filled with Indian coins. I could hear the beggars say "Panch, Panch, Panch" Five, five, five. Trying to increase the amount of alms the Tibetans were offering.

As all the world knows, the World Cup is rocking out in Germany and have been watching it adamantly. The World Cup reminds me of the years that I went to school in Panama, living with my family. I remember how the whole country watched together. I remember how the quickness of the Spanish annoucer entralled me. And of course the long winded "Gooooooooooooooooooooooool" that the annoucer will scream at the top of his lungs when a goal was scored. It is not the same in India, but better than the States. Not much folks be watching it there. Here folks watch it alot, but it does not have the societal passion that I remember from my youth in Panama. Watching it in English is not the same either, and there are no Spanish stations in India. I am glad to get a break from Cricket, and Tashi's favorite WWE wrestling. I have seen to NBA finals games, and one Baseball game recently.

Next week is the last week of school of the first term at TC MEC, and then HHDL's teachings will commence. I am excited since I focus so much on studying Tibetan, it gives me a chance to study Dharma for a week. Well I will leave with that. This Internet cafe is running on a generator right now, and not sure when it will just cut off. We aint got no light in good ole Mo la Gan ji. I hope that it will be on to watch the game.

Pax

A slip of the tongue and a wrong turn on the road. Are often the basis of a thrashing (Tibetan Proverb)

I used the above as my title because I could not control my mouth from anger. Here is the Wylie Romanization. kha nor lam nor gnyis de. nyes rdung gzed p’ai gzhi ma yin.

We are currently on vacation at TC MEC, while all the Tibetan schools are also on summer break. Summer consists of ten days. It is quite nice to be around kids, meaning that Choeyang (featured in the picture above) is home a lot watching tons of TV. Choeyang and I have developed quite a love hate relationship. At times she is intimate with me like I am her brother and at other times she is totally hating my guts calling me names like “dukcha” which means bad and “lang go” which means ox. We fight like brother and sister and it has been quite fun. I make of her front teeth which are very black from rotting.

I have also been playing with some other children. My current place of stay is suited down the hill from the Yongling School which is dedicated to the HHDL’s senior Tutor known as Ling Rinpoche. I have befriended some children from that school. I met them while there was a Tibetan cultural show happening at the school. The kids were tripping out over my height, skin color, hair and my ability to speak choppy Tibetan. Their favorite game involved me lifting about 20 little kids of various ages over the top of my head one at a time. We also played an interesting variation of tag. Nothing shows how old ones butt is getting than playing with a bunch of little jits. The good thing is that they know me and they always holler at me when I am walking down that steps homes.

About two days ago I was kicking a hacky sack around on the roof of my family’s house when hear someone screaming at me. I looked up; it was some of the kids from Yongling School. They had spotted me. They said, “De shu da” come here. So I grabbed my things and hoofed it on up the hill to the school. We played around with the hacky sack for a good bit. One of the little boys named Thokmay wants me to get him hacky sack like the one I have. I told that he will have to wait until I return to the US. I took his address and when I get back to the US I will send him one. Thokmay is a cute little boy; he must be Indian or at least partly Indian. Though school is a majority Tibetan school there are Indian and some Western kids who attend. One day I was walking behind a small white boy and a slightly bigger Tibetan boy. I was smiling as I listened to their conversation in Tibetan.

At home it has been quite stressful for the family. Tenzin Tashi, the oldest son, has just received he exam results. He did good, but not as good as he wanted. He is trying to go to Medical School and Pala and him went to Shimla (Capital of the Himachel Pradesh) to see what is up. For some reason all of these Medical Schools require a donation which is another name for baksheesh. It is quite expensive and it does not include any other cost. It is an accepted bribe to receive permission to go to school. Also with Tashi being a Tibetan, it makes it quite difficult. The family can not afford such a bribe of which they have been offered to pay between 300,000 to 700, 000 Lacs or Indians rupees. That is about 6880 to 16,055 US dollars. The family is not doing too badly financially but they do not have that kind of money. Thus it is quite sad, for Tashi studies very hard and also the family is depending on him. So he is under a lot of pressure. The funny thing is that if they did not tell me, I wouldn’t know they were stressed. Still they go about their day like any other day without a sight of emotion. The only hint I get is that Pala is drinking. At times he gets quite drunk. If Pala drinks, he will get drunk. There is not in-between for him. It does bring entertainment, for he is quite funny when drunk. Of course Ama Chuki la always puts the smack down on Pala when he gets out of hand.

I am definitely very happy to be living with the family, they have kept there promise to converse with me in Tibetan, which was the biggest desire I had. Note: I got angry at a friend of mine (Lobsang) for always speaking English to me. I totally cursed him out. He is a nice guy. No doubt that his English and Tibetan are better than mine, but all I asked for was his assistance in helping me learn his native tongue. Very time a saw me he spoke English and finally I told him that he has known me for nine months and knew my reason for coming to India and he could not bring himself to help me out. Well to say the least I do not think we are friends any more. I felt relief after that moment, but I do felt that I did not approach him in the right way. I should have talked to him instead of cursing him out. Well next time I see him I well try to talk to him, apologize and maybe he will forgive me. I am such a mean person.

Pax

Ghost, Cricket and Serials

Last night at home while I was watching a cricket game with the family little Choeyang was doing her math homework. One of her classmates had come to the house with his three-year-old little brother. Pala "Dorje" introduces the little brother to me. So I say "hello, what is your name", and the little brother’s eyes get really big in terror. I then asked him "what is the matter, you scared?" and he ran out the house. The older brother goes after the boy. The little brother tells the older brother that I am a dongzi, Tibetan for ghost. At that moment every one in the house busts out laughing. Pala told me that many of these little ones have never seen a black man in real life before especially one that spoke some Tibetan. This was a funny little antidote.

I have been watching parts of some cricket games since I came to India. It is hard to miss. Cricket is the sport obsession of India. Pala, like many in India love cricket and he has explained to me the rules and since then I have watched some games with him. At this moment the Indian Cricket team is in the West Indies playing the West Indian Team. I always joke with people when they ask me if I like cricket. I usually tell them that the only cricket that I knew before I came to India lives in the bushes or I’ll say Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio. Of course, I have heard about it before coming to India, that information came from international friends that I had went to college with.

Another thing that I have been watching with my family are Soap Operas or as they are known in India (Serials). It is hard to describe these soaps because they are extremely melodramatic. But aren’t all soaps operas melodramatic? Well I had thought that too until I saw Indian Soaps. I have watched America soaps and Spanish telenovelas and the Indian ones got all of them beat when it comes to melodrama. There is one show in general that the family loves called "Kasauti Zindagi Kii". I cannot really tell what it is about since I can not understand too much Hindi and regardless of the fact that I have watched it regularly. Usually I am reading through my Tibetan Language book, practicing Tibetan calligraphy, also at very exciting moments I get the commentary from Pala.

Pax.

No Power in the Ganj

On this past Monday, May 15th; TC MEC was able to hold a workshop designed for English as Second Language (ESL) students taught by an actor from NYC. He was only here for three days and on Monday he provided our students and teachers with a lot of fun learning ideas. He came to three of our English classes and held a workshop. In these he provided us with various games that involve acting to strengthen English skills. The students were such awesome troopers, and at times I had to serve as translator for the Beginners class. He was able to get even our most shy students to participate. Everyone was very happy and I was glad that I was able to organize this event for TC MEC. I owe my appreciation to Mr Jeffrey Solomon for coming to McLeod Ganj and sharing his skill.

The days have been getting hotter here but also some of the most intense thunderstorms have been releasing their wrath on McLeod Ganj. On day about two weeks ago it hailed so much that it was piling up all around town, at first it looked like snow. Some piles were so big that I could place my hand in it and not feel the ground. It has hailed many times since then. Yesterday around 3pm it looked like it was 8pm for the clouds were evil dark and two Mondays ago we had a great lightening show. I saw one of the mountain peaks being struck by several bolts of lightening. It was quite a site. This I am assuming that this is the precursor to the coming monsoon season.

On a sad note a Westerner woman, sorry I can not remember where she was from, had died while trying to hike to Triund (top ridge from McLeod Ganj) by herself. She was caught in a hailstorm on her way up and fell of a cliff. There were signs all over McLeod Ganj asking for her whereabouts. These storms come in fast. It will look like it will be a sunny day and then the next minute marble size hail is hitting you on the head.

Sometimes when I am working at the TC MEC office Jigme the director will be chatting with his family back in Amdo, Tibet. At these times Jigme will call be over to his computer so that his family can see me. Jigme has a webcam on his computer. One day Jigme's father was home in Amdo and at the computer. Jigme's father is a Nagpa, a Tibetan yogin who spends most of his time in retreat practicing serious meditation. I knew that he was a Nagpa because they grow their hair long in matted locks and then when it gets long enough wrap it around their heads like a sweatband. Also I have seen some Nagpa's here in McLeod Ganj and at the Kalachakra. When they saw me they all started laughing. I don't think there are too many of my kind in Amdo, if at all. It was interesting to be connected to Tibet via a webcam and to see a bit of Jigme's life in Tibet.

Yesterday HHDL came back in town and once again I was able to see him smiling and waving as he was driven up the hill. Today there was a ceremony at the main temple. I think it was for HHDL. Since for most of the day there was no power, which is normal and unpredictable, I went to the temple to see what was up. At the same time as the ceremony the students from the Institute of Buddhist Dialects (IBD) where debating. Tibetan Buddhist debate is a rather loud event and is quite aggressive, thus while the ceremony was going on all one could hear was the claps that the monks do when they ask a question. I am intrigued by this way of debating, so I went to see what the fuss was all about. There is usually one person who sits on the ground. This person is being asked questions by another person, sometimes two, who is standing up. The person asking the question in one fluid motion will swing up onto his left foot while his right hand is swung over head thus he is balanced on the left foot. Then as he is about to conclude his question, he simultaneously stomp his right foot that was in the air and bring his right hand to meet his left hand on a loud clap. Then the person on the floor must answer the question.

The person on the floor is bombarded by the questioner, especially if he is good. All of the questions are from Buddphilosophy and logic. This is the way that one gains his Geshe degree (Tibetan Buddhist Doctorate degree) which usually takes about 21 years to obtain. Usually, for the Geshe degree this is done in the main temple of one's monastery. What was also interesting was that there were a few laypeople, men and women who were debating. There were few nuns also. Since laypeople are allowed to take this philosophy course at IBD they too must debate. At first, I taught that monastic debate was only for monastics, thus I was happy to see that laypeople are in it too. Especially as I contemplate on going to IBD Sarah. I saw one white monk there. I was admiring his Tibetan as he debated. He was having such a good time that I stood close to listen to their session. I spoke to him for a little bit, he is from Israel and he has been with IBD for five years. I told him that I might go to IBD Sarah. He serves as an inspiration as my own Tibetan language skills slowly improve. The first time that I had seen debating in McLeod Ganj was while I was passing by a nunnery. The nuns where so loud that it took me a while for it to register in my mind what was going on. Also at the Kalachakra there were more formal debates happening after the ceremonies were over. That is all for now folks.

Well for those of you Berea College students who are graduating in a few days, I decide this blog entry to you. Keep on rocking out in everything that you do. Reach for the sky. I am proud of all of you.

With much love from McLeod Ganj.

Pax

More than half way through.

I have been here in McLeod Ganj for more than six months now. At this point I find the prospects of returning to the United States of America very frightening. My reasons for this surrounds that now that I have been making basic progress in learning to speak Tibetan, all that work that I have placed will be lost. Thus since I have been here I have been searching for ways to not make this happen. I am satisfied with my volunteering and that has been extremely worthwhile. I am appreciative of all those who have supported me to come here and I have felt that that aspect of my trip is truly successfully. I see the benefit that the students at TC MEC are receiving from my help and I am so happy for this. But the other aspect of my trip to learn Tibetan is and will be unfilled. Unless I can extend my time in India (unlikely) or come back in a year to start from square one.

I have got it in my brain that I have the capacity to be a translator, from Tibetan to English. Thus far from what I have read, this is a very complex type of work involving being fluent in reading Classical Tibetan and speaking Tibetan. These are two different skills since the two are rather separate from each other. It also involves an intimate knowledge of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy. These are quite daunting prospects and I feel that if I have to opportunity to study these things that I could do it.

So I have searched for options, and what have I found? First, was the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition’s (FPMT) translator program here in Dharamsala. I have already explained this course in a previous blog entry. The second option that I have found is based forty minutes from McLeod Ganj. It is called the College of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah, set up under the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in McLeod Ganj. Unfortunately they do not have a website at this moment so I went to the school. I was recommended to go here by a young Swiss man that I met on the train on the way to the Kalachakra this pass January. He was in the same position as me last year. He thought about the FPMT program, and found the Sarah option much better. Part of the attraction to Sarah is that it is cheap.

Their first year Tibetan class is $1000 dollars for ten months, where the FPMT course is $3200 for two years. FPMT does help one find a job, though one might not necessarily get paid. It depends if the Dharma center that FPMT finds for you can afford it. My Swiss friend’s Tibetan was very good when he started and thus he went to take their philosophy course that is taught only in Tibetan. The philosophy course is seven years long!! And the super plus at Sarah is that one is only allowed to speak in Tibetan!! No English!! I think that that is so awesome. This was what I was hoping for when I came to McLeod Ganj, but instead found many people spoiled and a bit arrogant of their knowledge of English.

I went to Sarah last week and they have placed my on a list of their first year Tibetan course. Thus I too might have the opportunity to take this philosophy course. Maybe!!! This will mean going to America, which I do not want to do. I feel that I will lose all my Tibetan in the US. If I was a stable level in my language learning I might feel different, but I want to nurse what I have learned thus far. Learning a new language is not easy and to learn it when one is not hearing it everyday, I feel is almost pointless for one easily losses their motivation towards language learning.

Learning a language when one is an adult is a great and humbling experience. For even if one is a great scholar, when you learn a new language you are put back to a level below that of a kindergartener. So I would ideally like to stay until I can read and speak Tibetan fluently. I do not feel that this will happen in the US. So I will try my hardest to figure a way to stay, if not I will return home with my tail between my legs and try to raise money for the Sarah college and hope that I can find Tibetans in America who are willing to talk to me in Tibetan.

Now, today I met with a girl who was in the Summer Tibetan Language course that I took at Cornell University in 2004. I had had a feeling that I would have run into her and I did at the Tibetan Film Festival organized by Lobzang Wangyal. She is PhD Anthropology student doing research for her dissertation on the Maitreya Project in which Lama Zopa, the head of FPMT, wants to build a huge Maitreya Buddha statue in Kushinagar, India. Therefore, she is here and we ran into each other. I was glad to see her; it seems that there are some issues with the project, especially dealing with the locals who might not be too fond of the future Buddha’s presence on their farmland.

My life with the family here goes on as usual. Many of the other home stays have come and gone. I did have a great bond with an American college girl who stayed with the family. She had a knack for attracting Tibetan Amdo men and Kashmiris. At one point, I a made fun of her for she had about seven men after her. She is a totally a pretty girl, but in the US she would not of received the same amount of attention that she ended up receiving. I am sure that some of these men are looking for a passport to the US through some western girl action. I think that it boosted her confidence a bit to have some of this extra attention. I have another American friend who told me that she is suffering from an over abundance of Tibetan and Kashmiri male attention. But it is all a kind of game with the men here, who gets to leave this god-awful wretched place for the Shangri-La we call the west. I hope that everyone finds what they need in life.

At first I was not going to update the blog for I felt that I had nothing to write about, but now that I have babbled and ranted I hope that you have enjoyed the stuff that I have written. I have a feeling that my readership has been declining. Oh well. The picture that you see is of me in front of a statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh at the Prashanti Nilayam Ashram, Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh home of Sri Satya Sai Baba.

Pax.

Chillin’ Like a Illin’ Villain

I was suggested that I should place some line spaces within my blog so that it will be easier to read. I find it funny that I have never thought of it before. "Nga Kubpa Yin" Thus from now on I will make paragraphs with spaces. I have noticed that ever since I have been to India, I have developed some Indian habits. One being that if I shake someone’s hand I forget to let it go. The other is that I have acquired some habits of Indian English speaking. Such as saying "Ek minute:" instead of "wait one minute" or saying that " I have tension" instead of saying "I am stressed out." I have experienced numerous of such happenings, these things just seem to creep up on someone without first knowing it.

There is not too much going on with me at this point. The weather is getting hotter, but still a hell of lot cooler than Delhi. Also some thunderstorms have passed through. I continue to meet new people and say bye to old ones. This has become so normal. I generally hate saying good bye, so I hardly ever do. I will usually get into one of my moods. The way a feel about the whole thing is that we all will die someday. I prefer to depart to hugs and kisses without all the words. I think that this communicates better than spending all that time to say something that can be better felt by a hug. I always miss people, of course.

Life with the family is great, I am having tons of fun with them. My current Tibetan tutor has high-tailed it to Manali for a month, so I am very sad. I love my Tibetan tutor, we have so much fun together. I am looking forward for her to come back. I have found an another teacher who is willing to teach me free of charge. He is my Ama la’s brother. He is very good in Tibetan for he studied at the Center of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India. Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, is close to Varanasi. His approach is different from my tutor, but he will help me in terms of learning Classical Tibetan that I will need if I ever want to read Buddhist texts. He is also teaching me how write in the cursive script called "Khyuk". Right now I know the printed script called "U-Chen" very well, but it is also very slow to write in. Though I miss my old tutor, I am learning different things through my Ashang.

Multi-Education Centre is going great. I was substituting a beginners English Class, teachings Basic English fundamentals through rap. That has been utterly hilarious. Our current teachers are marvelous, and the students are learning so much. I am organizing a workshop is a few weeks in which a volunteer from NYC will come and teach theater games to assist in ESL learning. I am excited for that. The workshop will be open to other teachers from other institutions around McLeod Ganj.

Well that is all I have got, I spend most of my time at home so that I can practice Tibetan. I hardly go up to the market anymore. But I like it this way. It keeps me out of trouble. Though one might be surprised, there is a lot of trouble to get into in dense McLeod Ganj. Later Yall’s.

Murder in the Ganj

In my last blog entry I mentioned how much I enjoyed being in Nepal and that Nepal had some serious political issues. Well, for those of you who are not in the know, Nepal has been suffering through some severe demonstrations and unrest lately. This happened about a week after I had left Nepal. I truly did not want to leave but now I am glad that I did. For more info on what is going now in Nepal please follow this link: Police Fire on Nepal Protestors. This turn of events truly saddens me for Nepal is such a nice country. Things have been busy for me now that I am back in McLeod Ganj. My work at the Multi-Education Centre has increased to the level of a full-time jobby job. I have been organizing classes, from English classes to Computer class. I have been organizing new volunteers over email, and also our current volunteers. I have been helping to write sections for the MEC website, because during the Tibetan New Year (Losar) some one had hacked through 150 Tibetan NGO’s websites with Tibet Charity Multi-Education Centre’s website being one of them. To say the least Jigme la (MEC Director) was not too happy about this. Thus I have been a bit busy. I am still studying Tibetan with my tutor, but she will be gone for a couple days this week. I am happy thus far for the way things are going at the school. Our current teachers will be able to stay throughout a full three-month term, which has not happened in the past. I think that the students will be able to learn so much this time around. For the must part I stay in the MEC office and I find that I have been able to help a lot. The school now has a computer class and a web design class. Changing topics... there has been a bit of a weird vibes going on in McLeod Ganj. There have been two murders and some rapes in the pass two weeks. Some of my female friends have been harassed by Tibetan and Indian men on the street a lot more than usual. One teenage western girl was found dead, totally naked by Dal Lake, which near the Tibetan Children’s Village. An Indian guy from Kerala that I knew was found naked in a gutter on Bhagsu Rd, in front of Nick's Italian Restaurant last Tuesday morning with his face bashed in. Someone or a group of someone had smashed his face in with a brick several times over. So bad that the police could not recognized his face, his dreadlocks provided clues towards his identity. I have spoken to this person in the pass. He is a rather obnoxious fellow. An instigator to say the least. I suspected him of being a cocaine addict by the way he acts. He could have pissed off the wrong dudes, or it could have been a drug deal gone wrong. I saw this man the day before he died, and he looked that he had just snorted a fat line of coke. I feel sad for what happened to him, but also with his attitude and lifestyle one can not expect to live too long. There are many rumors going around as to who might have killed him. It could have been some Israelis. It could have been some Indians, and it could have been some Tibetans. I think that this person could have easily pissed someone off from any one of these groups to have had his face smashed in so. But there will be no investigation. WHY? Because there is simply no interest by the police or the community to find out what had happened or who did it. Anyway, my life with the Tibetan family has been going well. I was finding myself getting annoyed with them for not helping me enough in learning Tibetan by speaking to me in Tibetan. So today I begged the family "Kuchi Kuchi Khyerang Kyi Nga la Bod Kad Lap ki re" please will you talk to me in Tibetan and I am hoping that it will stick. I am getting better, but I know that when Tibetans hear me speak Tibetan I must sound like I have severe mental retardation. Well that is all a have for now.

Mo la Ganji via Majnu ka tilla

Well everyone, I am currently in the Tibetan settlement of Majnu ka tilla in Smelly Delhi on my way back to McLeod Ganj. And I tell you, the smell of Delhi is indescribable. I left Dharamsala for Nepal two weeks ago and I fell in love with Nepal despite some problems. To start of with, I had a two day bus ride, broken up in two buses. One from McLeod Ganj to Delhi and another from Delhi to Kathmandu. On the bus to Kathmandu, which took over thirty-five hours I was placed in the back of the bus since my long legs won't fit in the other seats. The only draw back to that was that in the back of the bus all the bumps were multipliedd ten-fold. The bus-driver took a bumpy ass road, thus I and my the other friends were josseled pretty badly. In fact, through out the whole ride we were josseled. I had banged my head on the roof of the bus several times during the ride. At the India-Nepal border I was charged $40 for being a week over my six month visa period. I was not too happy about that but at least they did not kick out the of country. On the Nepal side it was the first day of Holi (Major spring Hindu Holiday) and the first day of Maoist imposed road blockades throughout the entire country. As the bus made its way into Nepal one notices that there were not many other vehicles on the road. There was many road obstructions to be found, from Nepali army checkposts to carrier trucks that had been shelled by the Maoist as a warning for breaking the road block. You could say that I was a weeeee bit nervous. As I said it was the first day of Holi, and the main activity of this celebration is to throw handsful of colored power on people. As the bus traveled into Nepal I saw tons of people covered in rainbow colors from the power and also as the bus zoomed down the road, kids threw water-bags filled with the power at our bus. I and a few others where splashed with the colored goodness. Our bus was moving pretty fast and then all of a sudden the bus just brakes super fast. There was a Tibetan guy sitting next to me and I asked him what was the matter. Everyone gets of the bus to find out that the front window of the bus was totally shattered. Our bus had no front window no more. Luckily no one was hurt, but we had a big problem. I was thinking that we were screwed, with the road blockade there will not be any other replacement buses to pick us up, especially since we were a day and half bus ride from Delhi. Shankarnagar was the name of the town where this went down. The bus driver and a few people went searching for the culprits. With our scenario we had amassed a hefty crowd of onlookers all covered it in the lovely power that had done our bus in. The buswala started to clean up the glassy mess, and the Nepali Army showed up and we explained to them had what happened. They too looked for the little jits but of course they were not found. They were a bunch of kids, they could not of known that their bag of Holi water had the power to hurt a lot of people. Well, the sergeant told our driver to keep going without a window. We have been in Nepal for only half an hour and now we ain't got no window. Sweet! There was a long road of little jits waiting for a vehicle at which they could bless it with Holi water. Not a good first impression of Nepal but this country grew on me. We passed many more kids but with no problems. We passed more checkposts of machine gun carrying soldiers. Many more shelled out trucks on the road. Nepal had a feeling desperation We were the only vehicle on the road, but we had no more problems. The Tibetan fellows who were sitting around me were pretty cool, and once they noticed that I spoke some Tibetan they hooked me up in Kathmandu. Once we had arrived in Kathmandu that night the bus driver was going to kick me out in some far unknown part of Kathmandu, but my new friends fended for me and got me to Boudanath. One young man in general truly helped me out. He was on his way back to Lhasa, Tibet after leaving in 1984. He was a security guard for HHDL and it was time for him to go back and see his family. He even gave me a invite to Lhasa. There is a bus that runs from Kathmandu to Lhasa. It takes two days to get there. My friend spoke very little English but we were able to communicate with my ugly Tibetan. He told me that the Tibetans have to pay 200 to 400 rupees in baksheesh to get into Nepal since they don't have passports. This I witnessed, for the buswala came several times to ask for money from the Tibetans on the bus. It is the same when they head into Tibet. Anyways, he put me up in his hotel room, and fed me. And he helped me find a way to get out of Kathmandu. My original plan was to take a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara which was my original destination but that highway to Pokhara from Kathmandu was suffering from some serious Maoist attacks, thus no buses were going to Pokhara. I had to take a plane, which I was not too happy about, for I knew that I will have to pay many times over what local Nepalis pay. I was charged $76 for a ticket that usually runs for 2500 Nepal rupees. I was not stoked. But I left the next day to fly to Pokhara. I do have to say that it was a beautiful flight. Most of Nepal is mountains and many of the villages are filled out with terraced fields that stretch as far as the eye could see. The flight took twenty five minutes. Once in Pokhara I meet a Mr. Tsering Dhondup the father of Tenzin Khandoe BC student. He totally hooked me up. I had already met his wife in Dharamsala during HHDL's teachings in which she gave me the invite to stay with them in Pokhara. Tsering Dhondup is the principal of a Tibetan high school there. And I say, their schools are quite fantastic. SOS schools are filled with quality education, it seems that US public schools could learn a lot from such institutions. Tsering showed me around campus, they were in their testing seasons, these kids, who are mostly Tibetans with a few Nepalis, are ran through various National exams that range from Chemistry to English. These students learn to master three languages Nepali, Tibetan and English, and various academic skills. I was quite impressed with this school. The students did not know what to think of me, a tall goofy looking black man speaking their language in a horrible fashion. Most of my time in Pokhara was spent inside my host's house, since we were a good distance from the main part of town. I did get to check out a mountaineering museum that was behind the school and the main tourist spot called Lakeside. From the lake on the hill opposites it one sees a Japaness stupa or peace pagoda built by Japanese Buddhist, maybe even followers of Nichiren Buddhism, it's quite big. Lakeside was pretty empty due to the blockades. One could tell that the whole country was suffering with no source of income allowed to enter the town. Prices on fruits and vegetables were raising and very night on the news we heard of truckers being killed for braking the blockade. Oh by the way, mountain view from Pokhara is like something that I have never seen. It puts the Colorado Rockies to shame. They could only be spotted early in the morning because by noon they were covered by clouds. I also saw a little person, he was 2ft tall weighted 14lbs and was claimed to be 14 years old at a shop. Zangpo, a friend of Tsering took me to see him. I am not sure if I believe if the boy was 14 years old but the boy acted a lot older than a 5 year old. For the most part, folks were trying to get him to do tricks. I felt bad for the kid. What kind of future was being laid for him? One of beggary mostly likely. So, I spent about six days in Pokhara, and luckily the Maoist had cancelled the blockade. I had a wonderful time with Tsering and Namgyal and their cute little dog. They treated me extremely well and showed me around town. And they spoke to me in Tibetan, and to me that is big deal. Many Tibetans who speak good English would not of done so. At least that has been my most frustrating experience. It was a six hour bus ride back to Kathmandu where I met up with the father of Dagmo Kusho la a BC alum. He was home alone (His wife was in Dehra Dun visiting Dagmo Kusho la) so he put me up in a nice Hotel room in Bouda and took me out to dinner every night. He was way cool. He was the kind of guy who knows everyone. He has a kind of hip style that suited his nature. I totally fell in love with Boudanath the center of Tibetan life in Kathmandu. Unlike Dharamsala, the link to Tibetans and Buddhism goes back for centuries and it is felt strongly. In fact, Nepal has had Buddhist in it presence continously for a long time, where as in India it was snuffed out by Muslim invaders long ago. I soon as entered Nepal many houses are adored with prayer flags. There various Nepali ethnic groups that follow a style of Buddhism closely linked with Tibetan Buddhism. The Newaris, Gurungs and Sherpas are all Buddhist. This can be felt as one circumambulates around the Boudanath stupa. Every morning and every night are the auspicious times that Tibetans and others come out to walk around the stupa. Lamas are out reciting prayers and on very special days like the 15th and the 1st day of the Tibetan lunar month, butter lamps are lit all aroud the stupa. In fact, on the day I left Kathmandu there was suppose to be a partial solar eclipse, so the butter lamps were out early. It is quite a site, and the churning feeling that I have felt many times before is quite alive here. The are many monasteries here, so I went on a monastery tour. On one day Dagmo Kusho la's dad had a day off so we went to the Ka Nying Sherap Ling Monastery, the home of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute which offers a Master's degree in Buddhism. My first Tibetan teacher at Cornell taught Tibetan at this school, as well has Dagmo Kusho la's mother. I would totally love to study here, but of course I can not afford it. We got a audience with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, the founder of the school, which my friend's dad knew and we went to his Saturday morning teachings. Afterwards, he took me to another famous stupa in Kathmandu, the Swayambunath stupa. This stupa is also rich in Buddhist history. It is also known as the Monkey Temple, because it has many monkeys. We visit several smaller stupas and visited Lama Zopa's main monastery. Kopan monastery had a (Lung) wind transmission that day. Meaning a Lama would read a scripture and it is believe that by hearing it one benefit and might understand what is said. The Lama reads the text fast without break and it travels through the air into the minds of its listeners. By the time we were finished at Kopan, a whole day had passed and we headed back to Bouda and entered the circumambulating area. At Bouda I recognized a very familiar face walking towards me. It was one of my companions that I had traveled to Amaravati with, Dean. I was elated to see him. I knew he was going to be in Nepal, but did not know when and where. So we hung out for a little bit. Dean is heading to Western Tibet to Mt. Kailash or as it is known in Tibetan as Kang Rinpoche for the Tibetan holiday of Saka Dawa. Mt Kailash is the most sacred mountain the world, holy to Hindus, Jain, Tibetan Buddhist, and Bonpos (A Tibetan religion that existed before Buddhism entired Tibet). Tibetans all the way from the Kham province in Eastern Tibet will perform full body prostrations to the mountain and circumbulate around it in the same fashion. It is not a fun trip, but Dean is bent on going and I am praying that he has a safe trip. The day after we had met at Bouda, we set up a time to meet and to visit some monasteries. We went to Sakya Tharig Monastery looking for an Italian friend ,that I had met in Dhasa, that I knew was teaching English there, but I found out that he had left. Then we went to Ka Nying Sherap Ling and sat in on a Puja. For the last stop we went to Shechen Monastery, built by the great Nyingma teacher Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. There was a puja going on to get ready for some teachings happening the following week. This puja also had religious cham monastic dancing, with was quite interesting. Afterwards, we headed our separate ways, not knowing when we will meet again. I went to Shechen Monastery to the next day and a weird thing happened. After the puja, a white man approached me asking me where I was from and what was my name. After I told him, it turned out that this man knew my paternal uncle who plays jazz music. The white man plays trumpet. I have not been in connection with anyone from my father's side of the family since I was very young. It took me off guard. I thought of it to be weird to met someone who knew my uncle. I was going to go the monastery again the next day, but I did not want to see that guy again. So throughout my stay in Nepal I was thinking that I would like to spend more time there. I will look into the Rangjung Yeshe Institute Master's program. It could be a possibility. It sucks that I can not afford it through. I am grateful to Mr. Tsering Dhondup and Dagmo Kusho la's dad for hooking me up during my staying in Nepal. I have to say that I liked Nepal more than India. It has half the beggars and the girls for some reasons seem prettier and I have been confirmed on this one by numerous qualified sources. My trip back to India was quite painful. My seat had no leg room, thus my knees were in utter pain, and since I was not so trusting of the dhabas (restuarants) that the bus had stopped at, I developed a powerful migraine headache probably due lack nutrients. Today I leave from Majnu ka tilla back to Dhasa. I'll be there by tomorrow morning. I hope that I have not bored you death.

Pax

Dipping to the Bird

Well, has many should of noticed, if they have been checking my blog, that I have not updated it in awhile. I have been lazy to a certain extent. But also when I have set a date to update I find myself IMing folks that I have not seen in a long time. It is after such occasions that I realize that I have lost the time that I had originally intended for updating my blog site. Other reasons are that at times nothing worthy to write about occurs. Soo, since my last update I have been in McLeod Ganj since Feb 9th. I had a wonderful time in Dehra Dun and I am planning on going back before I leave India. Here I am now living with a Tibetan Family who owns a Bakery and a restaurant. Their food is awesome. It is quite expensive, but it has given me the opportunity to speak more “Choppy” Tibetan. Most of the members of this family speak pretty fluent English, but after some frustrations they are slowly beginning to talking to me in Tibetan. The family consists of “Pala” Dorje. He is the father. “Amala” Chuki. She is the mother and she runs everything. “Ashang” Tenzin and “Ashang” Dhondup. They are Chuki’s brothers. “Chola” Tashi. He is the oldest son. This boy is 18 years old and studies all the time. He goes to upper TCV and is aspiring to go to Medical school in the US. Then there is “Phumo Chung Chung” Choeyang. She is 7 years old. She attends the TCV day school in McLeod and spends all day watching TV. Her favorite shows include Shaktiman, Tom and Jerry, and those horrible melodramatic Hindi soap opera. At first she had a hard time with my name (Wendell), so she naturally called me “London”. Unfortunately, even Chuki has caught on to it and now also calls me London, too. Even after me repeatedly saying “Ngea ming la London ma re ta !!!” My name is not London!! I am not the only Inji in this household. There is another girl from Luxemburg named Kathy, an American girl from Minnesota named Colette (though Choeyang at times calls her “Colgate”). And we had a NRI (Non Resident Indian) from the UK named Niraj aka DJ Baksheesh aka DJ Bhagavan Baba. He is a DJ and he had just left a few days ago. For the most part I am struggling to get the family to speak Tibetan to me all the times but they are helping me. Being with the family, I have watched many Hindi films and through at I have been learning Hindi via osmosis. I still can’t understand much Hindi though. Also I have watched some cricket games, which is impossible to miss in India, and starting to understand it somewhat. It is kinda like baseball but really long, last days at times. Since I came back from Dehra Dun, Tibet Charity Multi-Education was closed. Bossman had me on an on-call basis. So, I focused on studying Tibetan. I did have four students during this time. A tiny monk from Bhutan named Jamphel, and 3 young brothers all named Lobsang. Their mother is a student at TCMEC. They were funny to teach for sure. I have also applied to a Translators course here in Dharamsala which I can totally not afford. It is called the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program (LRZTP). It is run by the Foundation of the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). This course starts in September and runs for fours years. Two years of language study here in Dharamsala and two years as translator for a Geshe (Doctorate Degree of Gelukpa sect) in a Dharma center. The course alone cost $3200 which I do not have. How will I come up with the dough if I am accepted I do not know, but if any one out there has any suggestion for me on how to get the dough please email me. I have also thought about taking a loan out but I have found none. There are other options. I met a Swiss guy studying Tibetan and Tibetan philosophy at Sarah College in Gaggal H.P. It is really close to McLeod Ganj and a hell of a lot cheaper than the LRZTP course. It comes out to about $100 per month including room and broad, and they offer a variety of classes from Tibetan poetry to Tibetan calligraphy. But still it all comes down to money. On another note, the Tibetan New Year (Losar) had just passed. That was an interesting experience with the family. It lasted for about 3-4 days. On Losar’s eve we all ate thukpa and in the thukpa was a big piece of dough at had a piece of paper in it. My paper said wood, and the family said that it is suppose to symbolize how the rest of my year will be. Wood means stability they said. I guess that is good? Ha kho ma song. Afterwards we rolled dough in our hands and placed it on various parts of our body to get rid of sickness. This with some of our thukpa was then placed in a box and burned to get rid of evil. Then last but not least, Tashi set off some fireworks (patakas). On the first day of Losar we all went to the Tsuglakhang to pray and give offerings. Huge tormas (colored dough sculptures) and khabtse (Tibetan twisty biscuits) where on the altars. The khabtse was stacked like a jinga set pretty high. There were tons of folks there, and Tibetan music was blasting from the loudspeakers. Every Tibetan is dressed in their finest chupas. The little ones of course are the cutest. The rest of Losar consisted of drinking chang (Tibetan Beer). Pala got drunk every night and told Colette and Kathy how pretty they were. Tsomo-la, a friend of the family with four children, got pretty drunk also. She is looking for a husband, even though she has one in America and he is supporting her and the kids. She told me that she likes me but I was not having it. I told her that I was too young for her. She then asked me how old I was. I said 27. She said that she was only 33. I almost choked on my chang. Tsomo-la looks like she is 45. One night she was hitting on Chuki’s brother Tenzin really hard. She was absolutely drunk. She told Tenzin that why he only talks to white girls and not to her. The poor woman could barely stand up. Tenzin we lucky that there was another young strapping Tibetan buck to get into her claws and relieve from the unwanted female attention. Later, all of us sung songs and danced to Hindi tunes. We also had regular beer. The worst tasting beer ever. With a name like Thunderbolt one should be scared. The family had bought four cased of this crap. It is worst than Busch beer, or Natty Ice. They come in huge 20 oz bottle and the next day your head feels like it has been struck by a thunderbolt. This is the best crap that you can get around here. Oh, then there is Old monk rum (appropriate for McLeod Ganj with many monks), and 8pm whiskey in which you could be dead of alcohol poisoning by 9pm. After the last day of Losar, Hotel Bhagsu was having a Losar dance party. All us Inji’s were excited. I was jonesing to dance, not thinking of the implications of such a thing in McLeod. Niraj went to Hotel Bhagsu and got the manager to agree to let him DJ for 45 mins. We were pumped. Niraj has awesome tunes on his laptop so I know that I will be dancing. Right! Wrong. We get to the clubhouse around 9pm to find tons of drunken Tibetan boys, a few Tibetan girls, some drunken Indian boys, and Westerners girls shaking their goods. There were more white girls than Tibetan girls by far. Every time I saw a white girl, she was surrounded by ten or more Tibetan guys. When DJ Niraj aka DJ Baksheesh started DJing some folks did not like the music. They wanted hip hop, though Niraj played House of Pain, Cypress Hill, and Rapper’s Delight, let me clear MY throat. After 15 mins DJ Bhagavan Baba was absconded from his DJ position and Bhangra and cheesy ass Hindi film music ensued. LIKE TOTAL BUZZ KILL!!! So I stopped dancing and watched this odd scenario. I was approached by some teenage Tibetan guys who where thanking me for dancing, shaking my hand and all. I was trying to figure out what I had done that was worth all these thanks. Folks were indulging themselves in Thunderbolt and 8pm. Some folks where so drunk that the bottle slipped out of hands and ended up on the floor. A friend of mine was dancing barefooted and sliced her foot nice and good. But, by far what made the night was that a fight broke out in which someone was stabbed. LOVELY!! Thus that was end of this party. We were there for an hour. Game over. There was blood spilled going from the clubhouse all the way down to the entrance of the hotel. It seemed also that someone during the fight had broken the front door window of the hotel. LIKE TOTAL BUZZ KILL!!!. Many people where utterly shocked that someone had gotten stabbed, but I had already assessed the equation. Many drunk young Tibetan guys+ Drunk Indian guys+ a few cute and not so cute white girls= fight. This could be one of the reasons that a club named Rock and Roll was shut down in McLeod Ganj a few years ago. I still do not know what the cause of the fight was, but rumors stay that it might have been Tibetan on Tibetan violence. Some kind of rivalry might be happening with young Tibetans from other settlements like Bir or from the Norbulingkha Institute. This is what people are saying. Regardless, my urge to have some good clean dancing fun with shot down with a knife blade. Another issue is Indian cops. A week before this incident, me and some friends were stopped on Jogiwara Rd near the memory theater at night, by some very drunk cops. They wanted some baksheesh for whiskey. They told us that they where just doing their jobs. They wanted our passports and said that we were breaking curfew. There is no curfew. I don’t carry my passport with me, but I do carry a copy just in case. But we first asked the drunk pig for his badge since it was not in plain view. We told him that we will call our embassies first and then pay a fine if it was legit. Well, he let us go. That was my first encounter with cops of this sort since I have come to Dharamsala. A week before that Niraj and Kathy were had by these same pigs and they gave them Rs. 100 in Baksheesh. Thus that is way Niraj is also known as DJ Baksheesh. One guy wasn’t even a cop, but he tried to threaten us with a lathi (hard long wooden stick). These same cops were the bouncers of the Hotel Bhagsu dance party. I was sad to know that some one was stabbed, but these things do happen all over the world. Another funny that I have heard, is that old white women will come to McLeod Ganj, to sugar mama some young men. There is currently a story going around of a 77 year old Aussie woman paying a 25 year old Kashmiri boy 4 lakhs rupees (Rs 400,000) for sex. I busted out laughing when I heard this. This lady is was a neighbor of an American girl that I know. I spoke to Pema, my Tibetan tutor, about it and she told that this happens all the times here. She then told of other such incidents. I do know that Westerners are marrying Tibetans rather quickly. I met a girl who married a Tibetan boy after dating for 3 weeks. They got married at the stabbing party. I know this boy and I have seen him swoon after white girls since I got here. He loves to talk in English was a horrible impersonation of a Cali surfer dude. My teacher says that it might be a business agreement to get him to the US. This a common site in McLeod Ganj along with white girls carrying half breed babies. It is all too interesting and expectable. Today was a special day for Dharamsala. March 10th is Tibetan Uprising. Because on this day in 1959 Tibet had lost its independence to China. Though I had to work this morning at Tibet Charity, I saw a huge of parade with Tibetans carrying banners and screaming “Bod Rangzen, Tsang ma re”. HHDL spoke in the Tsuglakhang this morning. I went too late, thus I was unable to squeeze in. HHDL teachings start this March 14th. But, I will be leaving to Pokhara, Nepal this Sunday March, 12 and will miss the teachings. It will take me 48 hours by bus to get there. My visa is done so I need a new stamp so that I can stay for another six months. Dharamsala was utterly dead when I got here in Feb. with only a few white faces, now it is full with tourist, and beggars. Busy is good. Before to long the Israeli Ecstasy laden full moon trance parties in Bhagsu will be in full gear. Well this is it for now. When I come back from Nepal, I will be better with the blog (hopefully), that is, if people are still reading it. So, once again, any suggestions on how I can increase my time in India so that I can continue learn the Tibetan language and Tibetan Buddhism please email me with financial suggestions. It is better to study here than in the west. Me thinks, for sure, for sure.

Pax

Happy Losar, Year of the Fire-Dog 2133

A Day in the City of Saints

Yesterday I took a greasy Indian bus from Dehra Dun to Rishikesh. I have always wanted to see the Ganges River, known to be a very holy river. Rishikesh is about 50km from Dehra Dun and it is full of ashrams, jata-matted sadhus and temples. The river runs through the city with suspensions bridges at various parts of the city. Rishikesh as far as know is pretty old and has a great significance to the Hindu religion. Rishikesh is also not far from Hardwar where many people will take ashes of those deceased to be spread in the Ganges. This is place is also one of four important pilgrimage spots for the Kumba Mela, known as the largest religious festival on earth. I met a French photographer in McLeod Ganj who has attended several of these major and minor melas and some of the photos he has shown me of sadhus and ascetics are truly stunning. Anyways, Hardwar is the place where the Ganges exits the Himalayas. According to Hindu myth, The Ganges (who is a Goddess) was descending to Earth. As she was passing Mt Kailash (the abode of Lord Shiva). Shiva for some reason had decided to not let Ganga pass. He trapped her in his ascetic matted-jata hair. Finally for some reason that I have forgotten, Shiva released Ganga by squeezing her out of his hair. So Hardwar is the place where is comes out. Now back down the river to Rishikesh. There was not to much going there. Of course there was a lot bhajans and chanting going on. So I first of all took an auto rickshaw to a section called Laxman Jhula, and walked a bit out of town and went down by the river. I found a spot where next to the river was a concrete made platform with a small Shiva lingam. I sat there for a bit and afterwards I took my old matted hair that I had carried here from the States and set them free in the Ganges. This was an special moment for me and afterwards I felt that I had lost some weight. For some who read this will think that I am crazy, which I am, but I felt that to place my old hair that I had carried for ten years into the Ganges will be a act of renewal for me. With the river been holy for so long I truly believe this to be so. I guess this is an aspect of me that gives in to suspicion. Also, I took a boat ride on the river and took some pictures. The scenery was pretty. As I was leaving, crossing the Laxman Jhula bridge, I was stopped by a sadhu, and he quickly did a puja on the bridge, placed a red bindi on my forehead while he said some mantras and blew a couch shell. I offered some marigold flowers to the Ganga and the puja was over. The sadhu then asked for a hundred rupees for his services (approximately $2). I told him that that was an outrageous price and that I will give him 10 rupees which he wasn't to happy about and refused my ten rupees, so I left to get something to eat. Now I am thinking, "Great, I came here for renewal and I am probably leaving here with a curse for not paying the sadhu". After I had eaten I saw the sadhu again, in which he again asked my to give him a hundred rupees. I told that I couldn't give myself to giving him a hundred rupees and offered ten rupees again which he neglectedly (is this a word?) accepted and I went on my merry way. I still might be cursed though. On the greasy Indian bus ride back to Dehra Dun, I was the source of entertainment for the other riders. The ticket man picked on me, and spoke to me in Hindi, which I know only very little of. The other riders where having a kick out of me and I too was having a good time with them using the little Hindi that I knew. Well this is short entry; hope that you like it, if you don't...... I have a few more days in Dehra Dun before I am back to frozen Dharamsala. See you then.

Pax

From Sakya Gompa

Well everyone, it has been a very interesting month in South India. It will be hard to express all of those experiences, but will express my feelings as best as I can. Right now at this current moment I am in Dehra Dun. I am a guess of Dagmo Kusho la, an ex-Berea alum who married His Eminence Ratna Vajra Rinpoche son of the spiritual lineage holder of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism His Holiness Sakya Trizin. This has been a great experience and I own it all to Dagmo Kusho la and her family for letting me stay here and for being so hospitable to me. I have been able to observe aspects of Tibetan religion that I would otherwise have not had the opportunity to witness. While I have been here I went to the Drikung Kagyu library to enquire about a translator's course. Most of my time in South India was spent in the town of Amaravati, where HHDL gave a three day preliminary teachings on Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Madhyamikya followed by the Kalachakra Empowerment. As I might of said earlier Amaravati is the site where the Buddha released the Kalachakra tantra. Due to the auspiciousness of this event many Tibetans from inside and outside Tibet were in attendance. It was very easy to pick out those who had just come from Tibet compared to those who are in exile. For one thing, many where from Amdo and Kham regions thus through their dialect I could deduce that they came from Tibet. Another figure was that they will wear those thick woolen chupas (Traditional Tibetan Dress) in the hot Indian Tropical sun. One could not help to smile when one saw the many who donned the attire. Also due to the attendance of many from Tibet HHDL took the opportunity to address them about certain issues such as his stance on Tibetan Autonomy and the smuggling of endangered animal hides into Tibet. This was made evident by the various campaigns carried out by various Tibetan NGO's toward vegetarianism and environmental awareness. I noticed that at first many westerners were frustrated that HHDL talked of such issues at a religious ceremony, but when thinks about it, this was a opportunity for him to address these folks since they are there in one place for the first time in a long time. Also, I have never seen so many monks and nuns as I have seen there. Underneath the teaching tent one would see a sea a maroon red from the robes. At this Kalachakra there was many families who were reuniting after decades of separation. Headed by the Tibetan Youth Congress, they set up loud speakers all throughout Amaravati searching for people, or announcing that a certain family member had fallen ill. All of this combined was what also made this event so memorable. Right across from the teaching site was a huge Dhyana (meditation) Buddha under construction which could be seen from many different parts of Amaravati. The original stupa (reliquary) was there in another part of the town, though it is now a small mound compared to what it use to be. I went there at night several times, and that was a powerful experience for me. Tons of people were circumambulating around the stupa. Some where doing full body prostration around it. Monks and Lamas were doing recitations at different locations throughout the site. Wherever there was a ruin of the original stupa Tibetans would rub their bodies and their malas (prayer beads) on them to gain merit. Plus the smell of incense burning, butter lamps and candles being lit and prayer flags abound made this a experience for all the senses. In Dharamsala one would experience this on a much smaller scale and have a sense of the churning sensation. But there it was magnified a hundred fold. Going to the stupa at night at Amaravati will be imprinted in me for a long time. I have never been to Tibet, but my sense was that in Tibet during one of their great religious festivals such as the Monlam Chenmo, being at the stupa was a small impression of what such events in Tibet would be like. I also thought that this stupa has probably not had so much use since Buddhism was in India. Of course, the highest highlight of attending the Kalachakra was being able to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama daily and to have an audience with him. He gave an audience for all the Westerners one day. We were all squeezed into a small tent and that was the closest that I have ever been to him. That power of humility that he has is truly intoxicating. He spoke to us for about fifteen minutes and that was it. Afterwards I and many others I spoke to were uplifted. That moment holds the highest for me. There were a few things that were disappointing about the Kalachakra. Like the spraying of toxic mosquito poison every evening. One guy would walk through the camps with a machine blowing this smoke everywhere and on top of that since the Tibetans did not know what it was, many little kids would run behind the fumigator guy just inches from the exhaust tube. They were jumping and laughing and having a good old time. Come to find out that the poison can cause chromosome damage, SWEET!! One time I was at a restaurant and a little girl who had chased down the fumigator dude came back crying because the poison had gotten into her eyes since her face was just inches from the exhaust tube. My other beef was the Coca-Cola signs "Inviting you to seek your Spiritual Empowerment". I told my friends while looking at that sign, "Man, that hurts, that really hurts." I stewed over this for some time and came to the conclusion that eventhough the motivation of this event is Bodhicitta (the altruistic intention to become enlightened) it is still apart of samsara (cyclic existence) and it must be used as a way out. Other observations, the first day in Amaravati I noticed that I recognized many of the beggars from Dharamsala. I said, "Hey, I know that beggar, that beggar and that one." I even remembered where they usually begged at in McLeod Ganj. My British friend Dean gave one the Dharamsala lepers a big fat hug. I have never seen so many beggars and lepers as I have seen here. Many of the deformities are hard to describe. Among the beggars a trend transpired in which for a couple days little boys will spray themselves with silver spray paint and pretend to be Mahatma Gandhi statues carrying a book. The first one a saw I taught, "Wow this guy can hold it for a good bit" and folks were giving him money. Obviously other little boys must of thought, "Hey that looks easy, I can do that and get some money". And so, for a few days afterwards we saw several silver Gandhis around Amaravati and at one point there was a silver Gandhi duel with two of them standing right next to each other. I could not contain my laughter. Amaravati itself is a nice place. The locals there are so nice. At the night the woman would make intricate chalk designs in front of their houses, called rangoli. Andhra Pradesh, the Indian state that we where in, is a Telegu speaking area, unlike Dharamsala where Hindi is the main language. North Indians for the most part will talk to westerners to sell you something, usually some illegal substance. "Sir, Sir you from? Want to buy some charas (hashish) was something I heard commonly in Delhi anyways. But here they were very curious at what was going on. Many of them had never seen a black man or Tibetan for that fact. So they would ask questions about the whole thing, I guess no one told the villagers what was going on? I went on a couple of walks thoughout the village. The folks were always so nice, and they always wanted to have their pictures taken. I was sad when it was all said and done. Every morning of waking up to the sounds of the haunting polyphonic chanting, or evenings of the Pali chant "Buddham Sharanam Gachchanami" playing through the loudspeakers will be missed. After Kalachakra I went to Puttaparthi to have Darshan of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I spent three days in his ashram Prashanti Nilayam and received his Darshan twice. Puttaparthi is a very interesting place.Afterwards, I took a long ass train ride to get me here to Dehra Dun and in about seven or eight days I will be back in Dharamsala. If you would like to learn more about the Kalachakra and Sri Sathya Sai Baba follow these blog links: http://pensivemusings.org/blog/, http://americanbuddhist.net/node/238, www.kalachakranet.org, http://saibabaexposed.blogspot.com/, http://jeevansworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/puttaparthi-sai-baba-turns-80.html, http://saiavatar.blogdrive.com/archive/285.html and you can do your own searches on Kalachakra and Sri Sathya Sai Baba on any blog search engine. This is Hotfoot signing out from the Sakya Gompa Cyber Cafe.

Pax.

Gone to Kalachakra

With Christmas just passed, many houses on Christmas day placed lights in front. I was thinking that they were for the holidays. They were, but not for Christmas. It turns out that yesterday was the day that Je Tsongkapa born and died. Who is Je Tsongkapa you ask? Well is the founder of the Geluk order of Tibetan Buddhism, to which HHDL's is also a part of. Geluk is the largest sect in Tibetan Buddhism and their highest ideal is the scholar. Je Tsongkapa was a great scholar and yogi, and is held in the highest esteem for followers of the Geluk tradition known as Gelukpa. So the lights in McLeod Ganj, were not for Jesus but for Je Tsongkapa. Yesterday morning HHDL conducted a puja, and also that night at the main temple there was another puja by the monks of Kirti monastery. It was quite a site since all around the temple butter lamps were lit. Thousands of them, plus many people circumambulating the temple. After a while monks from the Namgyal Monastery came chanting a beautiful prayer. Afterwards the monks of Kirti showed up wearing the Yellow hats that are typical of the Geluk sect. They marched from their monastery to the main temple. We could see them as we circumambulated and they chanting a different song, but eventually everything turned in one group of motion. With the walking, butter lamp lighting, chanting, prayer spinning, and incense burning I had a feeling of churning. Kind of like butter but not tangible. The monks of Kirti Monastery circumambulated once and then they sat in the Buddha temple to chant about Je Tsongkapa. I enjoyed being churned, carried away by the multiple events that surrounded me at the moment. This is going to be it from me for a while. Next Sunday I travel down to Amaravati for the Kalachakra empowerment which last for two weeks. So I won't have internet access for a weeks. I will post as soon as I can about the event. The pictures seen here are of Je Tsongkapa and the Kalachakra deity with consort Vishwamata. Catch ya later, dude.

Winding down

This a picture of a sunset from McLeod Ganj.
I took it while sitting on the roof of a cafe owned by TCV on Temple Rd. For the pass two months every single evening had sunsets such as these, but that is about to end for a while. For the pass few days heavy clouds have settled above the mountains dusting them with snow. I heard thunder for the first time in months this past Wednesday and it sprinkled a bit yesterday. A site that can not be missed in McLeod Ganj are the walking bushes. Underneath these bushes one will find small little women, but some times men. They are of the Pahari speaking Gaddi people who live around upper Dharamkot. They used to lived in McLeod Ganj, but due to the expansion and tourism they have moved. They walk a pretty long way with those bushes on their backs and they walk doubled over at the waist the whole way. So, one usually does not see them, just the bushes with legs navigating around McLeod Ganj streets. They are getting ready for the winter. They only get one type of tree. I can recognize the tree now though I do not know what the tree is. At times one can see a woman high up on a tree with out any ropes, cutting branches down with a huge knife. Changing topics..... School has ended at TCMEC. Yesterday we had a gathering/ graduation for the students with music and food. We all said our goodbyes, eventhough I will be back in the spring. I will be gone for about a month. I will be in South India attending the Kalachakra Empowerment. Check out www.kalachakra2006.com . Well, I am now thinking of moving again. My friend Dean is currently living with a Tibetan family and I am thinking of moving in with them. But they charge is the same that Dolma ( the lady that I was living with when I first got here charged). But, I truly to would like to have a family experience. I have spoken to Dolma, and she has gone down on the price, but regardless I think I will try to live with the family. But I have not totally made up my mind yet, I do not have much time left before I head down south. McLeod Ganj, has been emptying out. Many of the Inji's have left for the New Year's trance parties in Goa. Many Tibetans have left already of the Kalachakra. It is going to be interesting when I come back in February. It will be cold and empty. But I am looking forward to it. There will be so many people at Kalachakra. I have heard estimates up to 300,000 people. Oh, I almost forgot. I might be in a documentary. There is a guy from Thailand who shot a scene with Dharamsala president of SFT ( Students for a Free Tibet) and the associate director of TCCR (Tibetan Center of Conflict Resolution) and me. I was the Inji voice and supposedly added "diversity" to the shot. It was quite fun and I enjoyed it. The holidays are here and I will attend some "fiestas". Next week I will still work in the TCMEC office until I leave for Amaravati. That is it. Merry Christmas and all that jazz.

Pax

Mist of Oceanic Wisdom

It has been a very busy for the pass two weeks, just for those who have been wondering, LOL. I had decided not to update last week because of the upcoming teachings being given by HHDL. But within a week, Mcleod Ganj has experienced a up flux in new Tibetan arrivals from all parts of Tibet due to the teachings and the Kalachakra intiations next month. It is so apparent, these Tibetans carry themselves in a much different manner than Indian-born exiles, for one they all wear the traditional clothes. Some of the attire is amazing. Some men will have thick red cords that wrap around their head like a wreath. Some women will have only the back half of their heads braided in tiny braids that join at the back with neat knot. Yesterday I was walking up Temple Rd with the Venerable Tashi Tsering la, and he was telling me where they came from by looking at their dress. "Oh he is from Ladakh, they are Amdo, they are from Kham" etc. From what I hear, they are coming in the thousand from inside Tibet to go to the Kalachakra and that most will return to Tibet after it is over. At a week and a half ago there was a huge march from Mcleod Ganj to lower Dharamsala. The reason for this was because, in Lhasa, Tibet there is a colossal monastery called Drepung. Inside Drepung some of the monks staged a protest in which resulted the arrest of 5 monks. They where protesting a "re-education program" that Chinese government had placed on the monastery. The goal of this program to instill patriotism in the monks, since it is through the monastery that the Tibetan freedom in mostly alive. So it seems like throughout the world different Tibetan NGO's have been staging marches and demonstrations. That day I did not attend the march, cause I heard of it after the fact but I heard the yelling from my room. Last Saturday, Tibetans celebrated the day the HHDL received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. At the main temple there was a Himalayan festival, with music and dance from all over the Himalayan region. Then that night at TIPA, there was a contemporary music festival with some pretty good Tibetan artist. This was a bit of relief for me since the last TIPA show that I went to was pretty rough. There was one female singer named Chokey, some of my Tibetan friends told me that she is called the Tibetan Shakira. She definitely is not a Shakira, but I will have to give it to her that is the first Tibetan male or female that I have seen who knew how to move their hips. And she was energetic. Most Tibetan singers don't really move when they sing, they stand there like beanpoles. Oh, and then there was a Tibetan rap song. VERY INTERESTING!!! At the end of the concert Chokey invited the crowed on stage to do some shaking of their own, ironically a majority of the dancers where mostly Inji's and Tibetan dudes. I have had the pleasure to meet the mother's of two BC Tibetan girls. I met Tenzin Khandoe's mother just yesterday, and last week I met Tenzin Dolkar's family. It is great to meet the family side of these folks that I know from BC. But the highlight of my week was attending the HHDL teachings. Tibet Charity had cancelled school for the week so we had the time to attend. They lasted for five days starting December 12th and ending on the 16th. On the 11th people on already secured their spots on the floor, which I did also. HHDL taught in the Buddha Temple. These teachings were requested by the Korean sangha, so there was many Koreans in town. Each day the teachings starting around 9am and lasted to 11:45am and then started again at 1pm to 3pm. Each time we entired the temple we had to go through a pat down and search with security. At the beginnings of each teaching tons of folks will circumambulate around the Buddha and Kalachakra temples. Usually when I got to my spot, I will stop and watch as the crowd of Tibetans and Injis murmuring mantras under their breath walk around the Temple. Then after taking this in, I will follow suit. Obviously of the whole day the highlight is seeing the HHDL walk to and from his throne. From my spot I could clearly see him as he taught and also when he left walking down the stairs that I sat by. He'll be just feet from me. One day he had started alittle early. I was trying to go the stairs to my spot but the guard had stopped me and few others, so as we waited there he was right in front of us. We all stared as we watched him scale the stairs. The actual teachings were great, His Holiness is extreme erudite in his explanation of the Buddhist tenets. Being that he is from the Gelukpa school, known for complex scholasticism, HHDL shows his true colors in his wisdom. The knowledge that comes out of him is just incredible. The basis of the teachings on a book called "The eight verses of training the Mind". So HHDL first outlined several various Tenets' arguments on consciousness from Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools. For the most part HHDL argued from the Madyamika (Middle view proposed by Nagarjuna) prospective. The other schools that he discussed were Chittamatrin (Mind-only proposed by Vasubandhu and Asanga), Vaibashika (ancient Hindu School), and Samkhya ( Hindu School also found in various yogas). HHDL will first describe in detail all of these schools thought's on mind and consciousness and then he will elaborate on then with his own commentary. It is great to watch as he did his thing. His body and composure as spoke helps to connect with what he is teaching. If you what to learn more I suggest that you get some books. research or something for I am in no position at this point to explain what was said. But on the first day, there were a group of new arrivals sitting next to me. I had said some few things in Tibetan to them. On guy whispered to me if I know now to read Tibetan. I whispered back "tets tets" "alittle". What insued was a brief written conversation in Tibetan. I found it quite amusing for I was glad that I could at least write where I am from in Tibetan, although it is not truly a huge accomplishment. The translation could my heard in English over the FM radio, and the translator was great. He himself was a monk and a great scholar. I only understood basic words from HHDL, for he mostly spoke in Dharma language and honorific. I noticed that younger Tibetans were also listening to the translation on the radio for it if quite difficult for them too. The older folks had traditition Tibetan scriptures and were follwing along quite nicely. I hope that evenutally I will be able to understand with out radio cause it is cumbersome. I have found two courses offerings in India. One in Dehra Dun and one in Dharamsala. They are two year intensives in Tibetan, and I am trying to see if this is possibility for me. They cost money, but it is not much by US standards. I will continue to search to see what oppertunities I can find. I would total love to attend a two intensive course. I will see what develops. So now that teachings are over. There is one week of class at TCMEC, and then I will prepare to head to South India for the Kalachakra. Dorje Rinchen la aka Dorje Momo has left already for the Kalachakra. Many Injis are going to Goa for the New Year. So Mcleod Ganj is aboutt to become a ghost town with many Tibetans and Injis leaving. Yesterday at the temple there was a huge puja (ritual) to protect the area from earthquakes. Last tuesday around 3:30am a tremor had gently rocked Mcleod Ganj. I was sleeping so I did not feel anything. I found out about it through my Pema my tutor that day. Then I read the paper and saw that several tremors were felt from Afganistan all the way Fuij. So well see if the puja will help us out. I am getting a bit tired so I am going to ditch out. I hope that everyone has a great holidays, though I have to say I am so glad that it is not a big deal here. Once again reporting from the Tibetan capital-in-exile this Hotfoot saying "Peace out, Bitches"

Pax