Geshe Ngawang

Today was the last day of Geshe Ngawang's ceremonies. It culminated in a huge celebration at Tehor Khamsen. Sera Monastery is divided into Khamsens which are temples. From what I can gather they are determined by what region in Tibet the monk is from. (I have to make a side comment. These cyber cafe's, this one is call Cyber Cool, play the worst pop music you can imagine. Think of 1970's sappy pop sung in Hindi! and they are full of young twenty something monks) Ok, back to Ngawang. His Khamsen has about 1400 monks. The inner walls are painted with elaborate Thankas (painting) of Buddhas, and deities of all types. They are incredibly colorful and detailed. The huge columns are all adorned with silk embroidered decorations. I'm not sure how else to describe them. There is not a space on the walls, columns, pillars that does not have some elaborate design on it. It truly is a feast of color. On the Alter is an throne for HH the Dalai Lama. On its base is paintings of snow lions, which are very important to the Tibetans and it is decorated with gold and beautiful silks. Behind the throne are some very large statues the center one being Buddha Shakyamuni. A room off to the right houses the protector Deity. He has a very fierce aspect, someone you certainly would want to have on your side.

So this was Ngawangs final gig. 1500 monks sitting side by side in long rows. The Omse's (chanting master) deep resonant voice booming through the space and all the 1500 monks joining in. There is no other sound like it. The rise and fall of tone, the rhythm... it is other worldly. At one point a Geshe who is the manager of the monastery reads a long letter which contains the names of all the sponsors who made this event possible. Upstairs sits the folks from Boston and Vermont who helped sponsor this event. They are considered very important guest and given royal treatment. They are served tea and sweets by Geshes and other monks including the Khamsen manager.

As a part of the ceremony Geshe Ngawang leads the sponsors through the temple to make offerings at the alter. The chanting goes on as the parade of injees make their offerings. They then get to distribute money to each monk in the temple. I'm pretty sure they each received 20 rupees. This is a far cry from the 2rupees each they got from Andrea and I 13 years ago.

Now is when the fun begins. Since early this morning outside of the temple in huge pots, I'm talking the size of a hot tub, a group of monks have been preparing sweet rice. This is a special treat here and they only get it on special occasions. There are about 50 monks at the ready with silver buckets full of the sweet rice and big spoons. They each have a white Kata wrapped around the mouth like a cowboys bandanna. At the appropriate moment the come running into the temple full out and start dishing out the rice. There mission is to give out as much rice as they can as fast as possible. It is wild. I was at the end of a row when they came running full speed, slipping and sliding to a stop and falling over one another. Like some poor cameraman in the endzone the came crashing into me. What fun!!

After everyone was served they came back again and would bang the side of the bucket with their spoons and try their best to give out more rice.

I had one of the young monks with me as my assistant. He would hold one camera or another for me as we moved around the temple. He had a great time, many of the monks would tease him about his role. He seemed to love the attention. Afterwards we went up into the sponsors area and were given some sweat rice as well. This was a huge treat for him. This is not an area a young monk gets to enter very often.

When we were through we went to Geshe Tsulga and talked about his experience with the cameras. I thanked him for helping me and told him that he did a very good job, but that it was important that he remember that as much as he enjoyed doing this, that his Dharma practice was the most important thing. I asked him to please study very hard so that one day he could be my teacher.

There is so much more to today. A visit to Khen Rinpoche with the Boston group, walking in the courtyard during debate practice, a final farewell to Jamyang Tashi.... the list goes on but I can barely keep my eyes open to type. Tomorrow things will slow down. Geshe Tsulga, Geshe Ngawang and Geshe Gompa Namgyal will be heading to Dharamsala. For the next week or so I'll have some time to reflect on this incredible place.

Goodnight All!
Bilbo

ps. feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear from you as long as it is not about my grammer or spelling. I know. It will be taken care of at some other time.................maybe.