One day at the shedra

All things come to an end, and thus also my stay at the shedra. A short amateur clip for you amusement.

The last two days in Nepal were spend in Boudha, mainly running around.

View from the white gomba

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche welcomes all the students enrolling in the summer program at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and gave a short talk. He spoke about his wish of starting a shedra a long time ago. It would take a long time before all the buildings would be in place, but at some point Rinpoche decided they should just start. Classes would be held in the monks classes and the students would be housed with Tibetan families.

Students presented a katar to Rinpoche

Little monk Urgyan

Most of the Nepali monks arrive at a young age at the monastery's, and often from very remote places in the Himalaya's. One of the new monks came from a place very high up in the mountains, near Tibet, called Nubri. This is also where Mingyur Rinpoche comes from. Urgyan, as his name was, didn't speak either Nepali or Tibetan, and except for 2 or 3 other small monks, no one at the monastery spoke his language! I inquired with one of the main Khenpo's: 'isn't it very difficult for these litle kids, being seperated from their family, and placed in a completely different surrounding (the city of Kathmandu) with people who he doesn't understand?'. 'No,' Khenpo said 'it's okey, these kids are from the mountains. They're very tough!'

Urgyan eating

It was clear Urgyan was not used to some of our new technological inventions. Everytime a plane comes by he stares with big open eyes to the sky, and he is thrilled when he is given a telephone to play with. But I'm sure Urgyan will find his way.

Urgyan with his friend

The delivery man

As many of you might heard, the spiritual wife and consort of Jamyang Khyentse Lodro, Khandro Tsering Chodron has recently passed away, you can read about it on khandrotseringchodron.org. Just before she passed away Stefan had the great idea of hanging prayer flags at the Great Stupa :


After Khandro passed away I was the only Rigpa person in Nepal at the moment, and so I was asked to bring offerings, letters and pictures to some Rinpoche's and monastery's, and Nepal has a lot of them! A great opportunity to become more familiar with Kathmandu and it's surroundings. One of the teachers I had to visit was Trulshik Rinpoche. He was residing at Solo Kumbo though, so I had to find the brother of his main assistent, Tenshuk-la.

When I arrived at the monastery, besides all the Nepali painters and craftsman, I saw one elderly monk moving stones. I asked for the brother of Trulshik Rinpoche's main attendant, and he said 'oh that's me'. After being served tea, I told him Khandro had passed away. He had not heard the news yet, and he was genuinly saddened. Immidiatly he called Solo Khumbu, requesting prayers to be done. I was really impressed by the man, he seemed very kind and genuine, and despite the fact that he was not so young any more, he didnt mind making his hands dirty!

Tenshuk-la

Samdrup's Mom

Here is a litle story about the mother of Samdrup, the caretaker of the guesthouse and a very friendly monk. Like the monastery's lama and many other monks, he and his mother are from a remote himalayan area high up in the mountains called Nishang. Once Samdrup told me about his mother.

Samdrup

When his mother was getting a litle bit older, a lot of her friends and relatives started dying. Frightened by the prospect that she would also die one day and not knowing what to do at the time of death, she decided she should really start practicing the Dharma.

Luckily a great lama, who spent a lot of years in retreat, was residing in the area. So she decided to ask for instructions on how to practice and go on retreat. Her family was very supportive, and they told her she would not have to worry about food and other things. Traditionally in Buddhist cultures, the kindness of the mother is used as the prime example of compassion, and thus one should do everything one can to repay her kindness. So they build a litle hut, with only a small opening through which they could give her food.

Not having received much Dharma education, it was very difficult in the beginning, and often she didn't understand the instructions on how to practice and meditate. She told Samdrup and others: 'Since I was quite old when I started retreat, it was very difficult for me. My channels [the energy channels in everyone's body] where all rusty. You guys are young, you should do retreat now while your channels are still flexible!". But she persevered and finally spend about 10 years in retreat. Now she's back home again, and always radiating with joy. And she is not afraid of dying anymore. That was the story of Samdrup's mom.