March 13

Through My Eyes

Saturday March 13

(We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he describes his trip to Samding monastery!)

"From Dromo we proceeded slowly to Gyantse where the Indian cavalry turned out as before to present arms. But instead of hurrying through, I was able to remain for a few days. Then we set out for Samding monastery, home of Dorje Phagmo, one of the most important Bodhisattvas. It was also one of the most beautiful monasteries in all Tibet. The countryside on the way there was spectacular: cobalt blue lakes fringed with strips of lush green pasture on which thousands of sheep grazed. The views were more wonderful than anything I had ever seen, thanks to the crisp,clear summer light. Occasionally I caught sight of herds of deer and gazelle, which were in those days common throughout Tibet. I loved to see them stand nervously watching us approach, then spring away on their long sinuous legs.

For once I enjoyed being on horseback, though normally I am rather afraid of horses. I don't know why this should be as I can deal with almost any other creature, save caterpillars. I can pick up spiders and scorpions without hesitation, and I do not mind snakes very much, but I am not fond of horses and caterpillars leave me cold. Nevertheless, on this occasion, I thoroughly enjoyed riding across the open plains and was continually urging my mount on. It was actually a mule, called Grey Wheels, which had once belonged to Reting Rinpoche. It had excellent speed and stamina and I became quite good friends with it. The head groom did not approve of my choice, however. He considered it to be too small and undignified for the Dalai Lama to ride.

Samding monastery lay not far from the small town of Nangartse,which in turn is situated close to Yamdrok Lake, one of the most glorious stretches of water I have ever seen. Because there is no constant flow of water into and out of it, Yamdrok has a miraculous turquoise colour which quite startles the senses. Sadly, I heard recently that the Chinese are planning to drain its water for a hydroelectric project, though what the long term effect of this might be I hardly dare think.

In those days, Samding was a thriving community. Interestingly, the head of its monastery was by tradition a woman. This is not so surprising as it may sound as in Tibet there was no special discrimination against women. For example, there was an important female spiritual teacher at a hermitage located close to Lhasa, who,during my childhood, was famous throughout Tibet. And although she was not a tulku, she is still revered to this day. There also were quite a lot of nunneries, but this was the only monastery to be headed by a nun.

What is perhaps curious is that Dorje Phagmo is named after Vajravarahai, a female deity known as the Adamantine Sow. Legend has it that Vajravarahi's manifestation had the body of woman and the face of a pig. A story is told of how in the eighteenth century, when some Mongolian raiders came to Nangartse, their chief sent word demanding that the abbess come before him. He received a courteously negative reply. This angered him and he set off at once for the monastery. With his warriors, he forced his way inside and found the congregation hall full of monks; on the throne, at their head, was a big, wild pig.

At the time of my visit, the head of Samding monastery was a young girl of about my own age. When I arrived, she came to pay here respects to me. I remember her as a very shy, young girl with long plaits in her hair. Subsequently she escaped to India, but then, for reasons unclear to me, she returned to Lhasa, where for many years she was exploited by our new masters. Tragically, the monastery and all its subsidiary buildings were destroyed like thousands of others since the late 1950's and its ancient tradition has vanished.

I remained for two or three days at Samding before setting out on the final leg of the journey to Lhasa. Before returning to the Norbulingka, I accompanied Tathag Rinpoche to his monastery, which lay a few hours outside the city gates. Very kindly, he vacated his rooms for me and moved out on to the grassy area behind the main building where debates were usually held. We met formally a number of times over the next few days. When we parted, I was quite sorry to be leaving him. I felt the deepest appreciation and respect for him. It saddened me very much that his reputation had been rather spoiled during his period of office as Regent. Even now I wonder whether it would not have been better if he had remained a lama and not been involved with politics. After all, he had no knowledge of government and no experience of administration. It was unreasonable to have expected him to do well at something for which he had received no training whatever. But that was Tibet. Because he was so well respected for his spiritual learning, it seemed only natural that he should be appointed to the second highest office in the land."

( We know of Samding and Lake Yamdok to be sure! I think that the abbess returned to Tibet most likely under the secret instruction of her spiritual meditation deity to in some way prevent some of the bloodshed that was occurring throughout Tibet. I promise to add more tomorrow...)

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

* This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth

Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Through my eyes

( Please see my spinning for you!)

( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? The tree food was moved up to the top of the Grove; we can see it in the picture in a couple of piles at the very top of the hill. One is by the cedars, the other near the water head assembly. After that I set to work bringing it to the trees, one of Mom's wagonful's for each one which is about 200 pounds. Two as one we've brought this tree food to twenty one trees and moved over four cubic yards about 4200 pounds which is quite a bit for the first day of heavy work in the Grove of the season. The tree food is actually thoroughly composted so it doesn't smell at all. The trees and native plants will find it quite sustaining! I dried out some on the furnace in the studio weighing it before and after. It's about 55 percent water by weight. So the two hundred pounds is 45 percent solid matter and about one percent of that dry weight is nitrogen and each tree needs about a half a pound of nitrogen we're putting down 0.45 pounds of nitrogen, almost enough. Not all of it gets released in one year though, usually 50 percent at most so a couple of feedings like this would be needed. Yikes! We have energy to help provide sustenance so this will be fine though! I thought you wouldn't mind our thinking together about these details. After that I headed to our studio to work on your loom for a bit. The stick holding up the warp threads is about half prepared! Two as one we've put up the spring colors for the pages; Thursday morning certainly felt like spring! I'm going to put the pages onto our infosite; I'll put this up so we can rest.

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow

my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)


	Through My Eyes Saturday March 13 (We continue to listen to the Dalai Lama as he describes his trip to Samding monastery!) "From Dromo we proceeded slowly to Gyantse where the Indian cavalry turned out as before to present arms. But instead of hurrying through, I was able to remain for a few days. Then we set out for Samding monastery, home of Dorje Phagmo, one of the most important Bodhisattvas. It was also one of the most beautiful monasteries in all Tibet. The countryside on the way there was spectacular: cobalt blue lakes fringed with strips of lush green pasture on which thousands of sheep grazed. The views were more wonderful than anything I had ever seen, thanks to the crisp,clear summer light. Occasionally I caught sight of herds of deer and gazelle, which were in those days common throughout Tibet. I loved to see them stand nervously watching us approach, then spring away on their long sinuous legs. For once I enjoyed being on horseback, though normally I am rather afraid of horses. I don't know why this should be as I can deal with almost any other creature, save caterpillars. I can pick up spiders and scorpions without hesitation, and I do not mind snakes very much, but I am not fond of horses and caterpillars leave me cold. Nevertheless, on this occasion, I thoroughly enjoyed riding across the open plains and was continually urging my mount on. It was actually a mule, called Grey Wheels, which had once belonged to Reting Rinpoche. It had excellent speed and stamina and I became quite good friends with it. The head groom did not approve of my choice, however. He considered it to be too small and undignified for the Dalai Lama to ride. Samding monastery lay not far from the small town of Nangartse,which in turn is situated close to Yamdrok Lake, one of the most glorious stretches of water I have ever seen. Because there is no constant flow of water into and out of it, Yamdrok has a miraculous turquoise colour which quite startles the senses. Sadly, I heard recently that the Chinese are planning to drain its water for a hydroelectric project, though what the long term effect of this might be I hardly dare think. In those days, Samding was a thriving community. Interestingly, the head of its monastery was by tradition a woman. This is not so surprising as it may sound as in Tibet there was no special discrimination against women. For example, there was an important female spiritual teacher at a hermitage located close to Lhasa, who,during my childhood, was famous throughout Tibet. And although she was not a tulku, she is still revered to this day. There also were quite a lot of nunneries, but this was the only monastery to be headed by a nun. What is perhaps curious is that Dorje Phagmo is named after Vajravarahai, a female deity known as the Adamantine Sow. Legend has it that Vajravarahi's manifestation had the body of woman and the face of a pig. A story is told of how in the eighteenth century, when some Mongolian raiders came to Nangartse, their chief sent word demanding that the abbess come before him. He received a courteously negative reply. This angered him and he set off at once for the monastery. With his warriors, he forced his way inside and found the congregation hall full of monks; on the throne, at their head, was a big, wild pig. At the time of my visit, the head of Samding monastery was a young girl of about my own age. When I arrived, she came to pay here respects to me. I remember her as a very shy, young girl with long plaits in her hair. Subsequently she escaped to India, but then, for reasons unclear to me, she returned to Lhasa, where for many years she was exploited by our new masters. Tragically, the monastery and all its subsidiary buildings were destroyed like thousands of others since the late 1950's and its ancient tradition has vanished. I remained for two or three days at Samding before setting out on the final leg of the journey to Lhasa. Before returning to the Norbulingka, I accompanied Tathag Rinpoche to his monastery, which lay a few hours outside the city gates. Very kindly, he vacated his rooms for me and moved out on to the grassy area behind the main building where debates were usually held. We met formally a number of times over the next few days. When we parted, I was quite sorry to be leaving him. I felt the deepest appreciation and respect for him. It saddened me very much that his reputation had been rather spoiled during his period of office as Regent. Even now I wonder whether it would not have been better if he had remained a lama and not been involved with politics. After all, he had no knowledge of government and no experience of administration. It was unreasonable to have expected him to do well at something for which he had received no training whatever. But that was Tibet. Because he was so well respected for his spiritual learning, it seemed only natural that he should be appointed to the second highest office in the land." ( We know of Samding and Lake Yamdok to be sure! I think that the abbess returned to Tibet most likely under the secret instruction of her spiritual meditation deity to in some way prevent some of the bloodshed that was occurring throughout Tibet. I promise to add more tomorrow...) ( please click here to read of the day with me ) This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. Through my eyes ( Please see my spinning for you!) ( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? The tree food was moved up to the top of the Grove; we can see it in the picture in a couple of piles at the very top of the hill. One is by the cedars, the other near the water head assembly. After that I set to work bringing it to the trees, one of Mom's wagonful's for each one which is about 200 pounds. Two as one we've brought this tree food to twenty one trees and moved over four cubic yards about 4200 pounds which is quite a bit for the first day of heavy work in the Grove of the season. The tree food is actually thoroughly composted so it doesn't smell at all. The trees and native plants will find it quite sustaining! I dried out some on the furnace in the studio weighing it before and after. It's about 55 percent water by weight. So the two hundred pounds is 45 percent solid matter and about one percent of that dry weight is nitrogen and each tree needs about a half a pound of nitrogen we're putting down 0.45 pounds of nitrogen, almost enough. Not all of it gets released in one year though, usually 50 percent at most so a couple of feedings like this would be needed. Yikes! We have energy to help provide sustenance so this will be fine though! I thought you wouldn't mind our thinking together about these details. After that I headed to our studio to work on your loom for a bit. The stick holding up the warp threads is about half prepared! Two as one we've put up the spring colors for the pages; Thursday morning certainly felt like spring! I'm going to put the pages onto our infosite; I'll put this up so we can rest. And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)