vrijdag 1 april 2011

Tibetan shedra in Nepal: Karma Lekshey Ling

Due to Indian visa limitations, I had to relocate to Nepal. Although many Shedra's in Nepal have the habit of starting much later in the year, fortunately the Karma Lekshey Ling Shedra started straight after the Losar break. Most of the monks are nepalese, but they receive class in tibetan from a very young age and so their tibetan is very good (much better then mine). Normally you would think learning a language from non-native speakers (they're not tibetan after all) would not be a good idea, but actually it's not so bad because they speak tibetan in a very neat way. (that is unlike many Tibetans themselves, especially from our beloved rural Kham, who are pretty hard to understand)

The little monks eating with the Lama:

Currently i'm following classes on the Bodhicaryavatara, Uma gyan and tsema (logic). The Lopon's are Dargye, Ngawang and Donden:


The Shedra is on walking distance from the great Stupa of Swayambonath. View from the guesthouse, with on the right hill the new -work in progress- monastery of Trulshik Rinpoche:


Before the shedra started I joined the monks during the Nepalese version of the Kagyu Monlam, held in a big tent next to the big stupa at Boudha


Lekshey Ling is a very recommendable place to go. The guesthouse is very decent for nepalese standards, cheap, and you're also allowed to eat together with the monks.
For those interested in some tibetan texts and audio shoudl take a look here http://www.dharmadownload.net and for the website check http://www.leksheyling.net/