Slowing down

Things have slowed down just a bit now that the marathon Geshe ceremony is done. Geshe Tsulga left for Dharamsala this morning to see the doctors. He assured me again before he left that he is fine at that I shouldn't worry about him. If we are supposed to put our faith in our teacher how could I believe anything else. I found out today that several divination's had been done by some high Lama's and they all said that there has been some mistake that he is fine. The other thing is the doctor he is going to see is highly respected in the west as well as by the Tibetans.

My brain is about to explode in a massive jumble of Tibetan words and phrases. It seems to be a favorite pass time/mission for the House #2 monks to teach me Tibetan. I now know enough to discern some pretty heavy accents from one monk to another which leads to even more fun. Or perhaps confusion. It's actually a lot of both; fun for them confusion for me. As I have explained to folks before, my Tibetan name is Lobsang Shenpen which means, has a good heart but is not to bright! (At least that is how I interpert it!)

I spent this morning shooting some video at the school. Let me tell you kiddies our American children do not know what hard work and discipline is. I'm sure this is no surprise to you. They have 10 grades and school starts at 7am. For some who are working on memorization it is even earlier. They take a short break mid morning then it is back to it. Another break for lunch and back to it, a break in mid afternoon and you guessed it back to work. They stop around 4:30 for dinner and then back to school at 6 where they will study until 9. They then go home and do homework! Discipline is strict and consequences can be severe. You will not see a teacher punish in anger, however, it is controlled and administered with compassion. Sadly many in the west do not get that this is possible. You don't find disrespectful spoiled kids here. They know what a precious opportunity they have been given. We really need to rethink education and discipline in the classroom.

I sat for a long time atop Jamyang Tashi's house just watching the world go by. There was a nice breeze blowing so the smoke that has kept the view obscured was blown off. The sky was a crystal blue with giant puffy cumulus clouds, their dark grey bottoms sharply contrasting the pure white cotton tops, drifting slowly by; the distant mountains rose peacefully from the plain. Small groups of Indian farmers worked the nearby fields clearing away the remnants of this years crops, cows wondered about munching on whatever they pleased. In the distance Choden Rinpoche continues his oral transmission. A young monk brought me some chai, (I'm talking the real stuff, yum!). It couldn't have been more peaceful. It was nice to get away from the hub-bub of house #2 where the Boston folks were loud and planning their next moves. I can't blame them. They are excited and want to take it all in. I'm just on a different game plan and all the over coordination reminds me too much of the west. I stayed up there for quite some time simply being at peace with it all.

How to capture that peace and bring it home? How to capture the rhythm of a simple life and incorporate it into our daily life to reduce the grind? I haven't missed House or Scrubs or the nightly news. As a matter of fact I haven't even thought about TV until just now. Well that is not entirely true. When I was on top of house number 2 last night I noticed that the neighbors hovel, that I think I described earlier, has a dish on top of it. It is the most bizarre thing to see this representation of our "modern" world on top of a house built on a design hundreds if not a thousand years old.

Anyway it is sleepy time in India.
Goodnight
Bilbo

PS. There is no privacy here at Cyber Cool internet cafe. I often look over my shoulder to find a young monk or two watching me type. I look at them. They look back at me and smile as if to say "Are you just going to type! What about some cool websites" OM AH HUM!