Greetings from Dharamshala
At the opera festival on the first day at Dharamshala me and Anya got approached by a Tibetan monk who saw me with a camera and wondered if I had taken any pictures of the performance. Why? – I got a bit stressed… Well, he just wanted to ask me to send some to him. We talked a bit. Tenzin is Tibetan, lives and teaches in New York. We exchanged contact details, agreed to have dinner together tomorrow and departed.
Some half and hour later me and Anya were checking out a stall with some accessories: she put on a ring that she could not remove…. we both tried hard…. until we saw our new acquaintance passing by. he asked what happened, we explained the matter, he said let me see…. and he carefully managed to remove the ring… Bye-bye, again……
Later on that night we were looking for the return tickets in the ultimate desperation. We divided into groups and were shuttling back and forth along the tiny town of McLeodganj. At some point we met Tenzin again. He asked what our desperation was about, we explained the matter. He promised to come to the hotel the day after to get in touch with those of us who would not go for trekking…. Next day Kanak sorted all the tickets, but unfortunately we did not get to meet Tenzin again. Neither the day after that me and Anya stayed there we came across with him at the streets of McLeodganj.
In the morning of April, 11 when I woke up at 9-30 am (time I should be at the office) I got a call from someone saying that he would be flying to New York tomorrow night and wants to meet up before. I did not make out much of the conversation so sleepy and stressed I was.. and I thought it must be one friend of mine calling…. Later on this day Anya told me that our Tibetan friend had come to Delhi and wants to meet. Clarified….
So, we met over a dinner at a South-Indian Restaurant. Tenzin who became a monk when 10 y.o. is Tibetan. Having status of refugee he travels around the word with a wallet bursting because of various currencies and ID cards of various sort collected in it and his refugee passport flashing with various long-term visas… He looks a bit alert (with filtered water he immediately replaces with just bought bottled one, with white sugar in to put in chai with the carried on tiny packs of brown one)… Alert or just conscious? He says that according to Buddhism it’s vital to keep your mind clear… Ultimate consciousness. He smiles a lot as he assures as he has been always happy since he became a monk as he never hates. So we talk about love without attachment (=physical aspirations), about compassion (as a core concept of Buddhism), about helping people about karma (as your deeds in this life determining your next lives to come), about releasing from any material temptations (again, as a core concept of Buddhism, the way Buddha showed ) in the sense of not being overtaken by them. We ask, he explains, he teases us, we joke, we opposes, he proves…
He was pouring out presents on us: Tibetan calendar with lunar phases, picture of Dalai-Lama, some books on Tibet, and……. Dhamma text in Tibetan language; all the contact details of Tenzin, some interesting web-sites on Tibet and Buddhism. Moreover, we got a bag of dried apricots from him mother, some packages of snacks and bottles of mineral water.
Fixed 2-week trip with him to his monastery in the South of India in January. Wonders....
Some half and hour later me and Anya were checking out a stall with some accessories: she put on a ring that she could not remove…. we both tried hard…. until we saw our new acquaintance passing by. he asked what happened, we explained the matter, he said let me see…. and he carefully managed to remove the ring… Bye-bye, again……
Later on that night we were looking for the return tickets in the ultimate desperation. We divided into groups and were shuttling back and forth along the tiny town of McLeodganj. At some point we met Tenzin again. He asked what our desperation was about, we explained the matter. He promised to come to the hotel the day after to get in touch with those of us who would not go for trekking…. Next day Kanak sorted all the tickets, but unfortunately we did not get to meet Tenzin again. Neither the day after that me and Anya stayed there we came across with him at the streets of McLeodganj.
In the morning of April, 11 when I woke up at 9-30 am (time I should be at the office) I got a call from someone saying that he would be flying to New York tomorrow night and wants to meet up before. I did not make out much of the conversation so sleepy and stressed I was.. and I thought it must be one friend of mine calling…. Later on this day Anya told me that our Tibetan friend had come to Delhi and wants to meet. Clarified….
So, we met over a dinner at a South-Indian Restaurant. Tenzin who became a monk when 10 y.o. is Tibetan. Having status of refugee he travels around the word with a wallet bursting because of various currencies and ID cards of various sort collected in it and his refugee passport flashing with various long-term visas… He looks a bit alert (with filtered water he immediately replaces with just bought bottled one, with white sugar in to put in chai with the carried on tiny packs of brown one)… Alert or just conscious? He says that according to Buddhism it’s vital to keep your mind clear… Ultimate consciousness. He smiles a lot as he assures as he has been always happy since he became a monk as he never hates. So we talk about love without attachment (=physical aspirations), about compassion (as a core concept of Buddhism), about helping people about karma (as your deeds in this life determining your next lives to come), about releasing from any material temptations (again, as a core concept of Buddhism, the way Buddha showed ) in the sense of not being overtaken by them. We ask, he explains, he teases us, we joke, we opposes, he proves…
He was pouring out presents on us: Tibetan calendar with lunar phases, picture of Dalai-Lama, some books on Tibet, and……. Dhamma text in Tibetan language; all the contact details of Tenzin, some interesting web-sites on Tibet and Buddhism. Moreover, we got a bag of dried apricots from him mother, some packages of snacks and bottles of mineral water.
Fixed 2-week trip with him to his monastery in the South of India in January. Wonders....
posted by Olga Tikhonova | 3:15 pm
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