Here is my mini sharing of His Holiness Dalai Lama’s 2010 Southeast Asia teaching tour. I felt very fortunate to be able to learn directly from him. Even more fortunate was to have two great Dharma friends who have been to His Holiness’ teachings for years, to take care of us and make this trip a smooth and really memorable one.
Request for the Dharma is not always easy. Karmically, it’s even more difficult to learn from great masters like HHDL. First of all, the trip to Dharmashala is no joke as there’s no direct flight there. It’s either 12 hours’ coach ride after reaching New Dehli or 8 hours wait in the airport for a domestic flight. Even after the wait, we faced delay due to bad weather. But the wait was all worthwhile when we realised we were on the same flight as His Holiness! He was all smiley and greeted everyone who approached him. Being so upclose and personal, it was no wonder that our pilot couldn’t resist taking a photo with him.
Dharmashala was still in monsoon season. It’s wet and cold a minute and scorching in another. We stayed a slight distance from the main temple, but it was good exercise for us every morning as we had to climb 122 steep and slippery rocky steps from our guesthouse in a valley to reach the main road, before walking to the temple. We shared the same road as the dogs, cows and cars. The barking, the mooing and the horning are common sounds on the streets, along with the chattering of people. Dharmashala has truly become the Little Lhasa. Many Tibetans have settled here since the last 50 years, started businesses and raised families. Life is simple but everyone seems contented.
Another great thing about Dharamshala is that it is a real haven for Dharma book lovers, which are relatively much cheaper than elsewhere. And a haven for vegetarians too. There is delicious Korean, Japanese, Tibetan, Chinese and Indian vegetarian food here and there. There are also many cafes where one can have a cuppa tea or coffee. Something that we city dwellers often taken for granted.
During the first day of the teaching, 300 or so of us were supposed to fit inside a gompa (main hall of the temple). Till today, I’m surprised that such small space could fit us all. We are not the only few within the compound. There were monks, Tibetans and foreigners seated outside the gompa and out in the open. The eagerness to hear the Dharma is remarkable. And their utmost respect for their spiritual leader is shown by their gestures. Their 90-degree bowing or kneeling when His Holiness walks by is really touching. Occasionally, His Holiness would stop and have a little chat. He is all friendly and appreciative and it never bothers him that he had to bent over to greet anyone.
If there’s one thing I learned from this trip, it would be the great humanity and humility of His Holiness. We are very honored to be able to meet His Holiness personally during one of the teaching days and got to chat with him for a few minutes. Although there isn’t much time for deep Dharma discussions, but that few minutes with him had certain made a great impact on me. At that moment with His Holiness, I was really in the moment with him. Such attention and affection he showered us in that few minutes was beyond words. For that moment, it felt like I was in meditative state. His warm hand not only warmed my chilled hand but my heart. May His Holiness be well and healthy, and continue to benefit as much beings as possible.
I’m kind of miss Dharamshala in a very strange way. Things are not necessary advanced there. In fact, I considered the living conditions to be quite challenging for a spoilt ‘princess’ (as I was nicknamed) like me. Perhaps it’s also such a basic way of life that really nudged me awake about how fortunate I am here in Singapore. I realised that even if I have the money to transform the area to be a full-fledged modern city, I might not be able to maintain Dharamshala’s charm and inner peace. I guess it’s true that life is not about how much you enjoy, earn and spend, but how you can make a difference out of compassion. Believing in compassion is believing in yourself, your true Buddha-nature. Om Mani Padme Hung, may all beings be free of sufferings.
Next India Adventure: https://moonpointer.com/new/2010/10/india-adventures-22-abstract-concrete
Previous India Adventure: https://moonpointer.com/new/2010/09/india-adventures-20-exaggerated-liking
Now I am full of greed after looking at the food pictures haha 😆 vegan food easy to find rite?
Vegan food is not a problem, just make sure you mentioned no eggs and dairy… but onion and garlic might be a problem, hehe.
ooo… then how did u all get around the garlic onion etc? do they like to use butter etc in their food and drink there?
It’s either we eat it or waste the entire dish, so we chose to eat it. Unless you are drinking butter tea, there should be no butter in the drink. I don’t think they use butter in the food we ordered, but to play safe we often said, “No dairy, no egg and no honey, please.” :))
You mean vegetarian cannot eat onion and garlic? Why?
Also, why can’t a vegetarian drink milk? No cows are killed for the milk. Eggs are laid by hens but no hens are killed in the process. Why no honey? Are bees killed in order to obtain the honey?
Strict Mahayana Buddhists try to avoid allium plants. You can see http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2449 for reasons why.
Vegetarians by definition does not rule out milk, honey and egg consumption, but there are vegans, who are stricter vegetarians who do so.
Why? Because virtually ALL milk-bearing cows and egg-bearing chickens are killed for meat, skin and other products after they are deemed not productive enough. Likewise for queen bees, who are killed before their time. Many worker bees die while protecting their hives from being harvested too. As such, the most ethical diet is vegan. This is taught by the Buddha too – it can be seen in the link above too. However, many Buddhists either are not aware of this or choose to ignore it. One can cut down animal products at least, even if not cut them off totally.
;-(
Amituofo