Here, There, and Everywhere.

Yesterday Darby and I met up with a monk named Sonam from Bir (a neighboring town), the brother of Mepham, a monk we know from home. Mepham had sent medicine with us (ibuprofen) to give to Sonam, and after much phone/e-mail tag, we finally met. He was very soft-spoken and very nice. We went with him to the His Holiness' temple and circumambulated the outer ring. It was a very interesting experience--prayer flags everywhere (see above), as well as cows just standing in the middle of the path eating. Regarding Buddhism, it really is true about the not harming animals (or any other creature, for that matter) thing. Cows, stray dogs and cats, and monkeys roam freely and are never kicked out. One of the people in the program told a story of how her homestay father delicately grabbed a mosquito that was in the house and went and let it go outside, and the family just laughed at the mouse that happened upon their shrine. Sonam was telling us that it's hard to leave the monastery in the warmer months because when you walk outside in the summer, etc., there are more animals on the ground that you are stepping on and killing.

During the circumambulation and tea afterwards, Sonam talked to us about everything from the relativity of time to violence vs. non-violence theories, which are especially relevant with the present situation.

The number of carved stones with various mantras was stunning. Om Mani Peme Hum is definitely the most common, but there were many others that I didn't recognize. These stones lined almost the entire path, along with prayer wheels both large and small. Some mantras were carved into tiny rocks and set in random places, and some were carved directly into huge boulders. Some were also just painted on.

Sonam gave us chocolates (and later, little bags with incense in them) and made me let him carry my (fairly heavy) backpack for a while. He almost wouldn't let me carry it again. That's how nice these people are. He also rushed up to the register to pay for the food we got (after I told him "get whatever you want, I'll buy"). Sneaky monk. He also dipped part of his banana pancake in ketchup. Hahaha. Oh, and he speaks five languages: Bhutanese (where he and Mepham were originally from), Tibetan, Nepalese, Hindi, and English. Take that, American education system. Almost everyone is at least bilingual here, many times trilingual (my pala and amala speak English, Tibetan, and Hindi).

That night we went to Goo Chu Soom. In Tibetan, goo=9, chu=10, soom=3. I think the numbers have something to do with dates of major political protests. Anyway, it's a place where Tibetan ex-political prisoners who recently escaped from Tibet can go to learn English and other skills. They have English class in the mornings, computer class (Microsoft Office/Adobe products) and Tibetan grammar classes in the afternoons, and at night they have conversation time. Basically, whoever wants to can go and talk with these people and help them practice their English for an hour. You sit in chairs in a circle at the beginning and everyone introduces themselves--picture an AA meeting with non-alcoholics but rather very shy (and insecure about their English skills) Tibetans who have had to flee from their homeland to escape political, religious, and cultural devastation. Needless to say, many of the stories the people tell (in their very limited English) are about their escapes or about Tibet in general. The many I was paired up with knew hardly any, but I did gather that he escaped alone and that his family and children are still in Tibet, and they were farmers in the Kham region. I'm not very good at making conversation, so this was particularly difficult. Nevertheless, it was a great experience, and I'm definitely going to go again.

I just realized that we have less than twenty days left in Dharamsala. That's absolutely insane. Then it's on to Nepal and then to our ISPs. Time really is relative...

Today a Tibetan medical doctor came to talk to us. Tibetan medicine is completely different than western medicine--most of us would probably call it just another folk/traditional medicine that can't compete with the modern world. The doctor was extremely nice and knowledgeable. He works with western doctors for mutual benefits--dispelling rumors, trading secrets, etc. One girl did her ISP on Tibetan medicine. Apparently half of her face had been paralyzed since she was born, and she basically went around and got opinions/theories/medicine/etc. for it, and by the end of the ISP she had more movement in it than she'd ever had before, even after all of her western doctor visits/medicines/surgeries. I think it's safe to say that we shouldn't demote traditional medicine like we tend to do. Western medicine can't cure everything, and is great at curing certain things; Tibetan/traditional medicine can't cure somethings, but is great at curing others (though it may be slower and/or taste bad).

I also went with some people to talk to a person at the environmental office. Allied with the Tibetan welfare office, they have basically taken charge of environmental awareness/cleanup in upper Dharamsala (McLeod Ganj, the part of D-sala that we're in). They also recycle paper and make paper--that book I showed in an earlier post was handmade by them. It's a tiny operation, but they make enough profit to pay about fifty workers total and have extra to fund other projects. You can also buy filtered water there for Rs. 5 per litre, as opposed to 15 for bottles at shops.

More on this later--it's time to go home for dinner.

(I miss cheese dip and salsa. And big juicy Hugo's cheeseburgers. And not worrying about where my water came from.

But it's great.)