Daddy Training and Faith

Hello friends,

It has been a little while since I last posted and, once again, so much has been experienced that I hardly know where to begin. As I mentioned in my last post, this week has been one of transitions: every two weeks, generally, a new batch of volunteers shows up to work in their respective serving stints, and often this also means the end for new-made friends who are leaving to continue travelling or head home. This week, seven new volunteers arrived, and one is leaving tomorrow. There is not enough room for all of us in Dolma’s house, so Dawa has found a new host family to accommodate everyone. Somehow, amazingly, it works out yet again that I have a room to myself and that I don’t have to move at all. Considering the vast amount of souvenirs (and random awesomesauce things for myself, of course!) that I’ve bought, I don’t relish the notion of having to move all of that elsewhere.

On that note, I am officially done with all of my souvenir buying so from now on I’m Cheapskate Chuck (yes, I did just make that up. I’m clever.). I have certain things in my future back home to hold into account, and I’m working very hard to set a weekly budget for food and stick to it in order to maintain realistic goals. The fact that six large oranges cost 50r, or about one dollar U.S., it’s safe to say that my budget is small and I can save a lot of moneys for the futures. That makes me very happy, and very excited too. I am not ashamed to say that I have legit bought pairs of handmade Tibetan wool socks for my future children. (Awww moment.) I have gotten many, many other neat things too so people should be getting excited for the amazingness coming their way. No, Dad, I didn’t forget you.

In the past week, I have seen the Dalai Lama twice more. The first of these two times, we went to the temple and he was sitting in an upper chamber surrounded by monks, chanting and chuckling. There was a never-ending procession of people bringing a variety of things up to the Dalai Lama to be blessed, which means that they basically processed in front of him and his very presence sufficed for purification in their eyes. We did not get to partake in that procession because we didn’t have passes, but we did circumnavigate the room he was in (in clockwise order of course, as is the way of everything in the Buddhist religion) and saw him clearly. Then we squeezed our way through the throngs of people down into the open teaching area, and a little while later he came down the stairs and passed less than 15 feet from us. It was nice. The second time, we showed up at the temple about 6:30am to listen to the Dalai Lally give ‘blessings’ at 8:30. We got excellent seats because of our early arrival time. When I say seats, I mean that we had excellent square foot squares on the concrete ground, surrounded and squished in on all sides. We were less than 50 feet away and had a clear view. Low points first: he spoke in Tibetan the whole time, so we didn’t understand anything he said… and it lasted three and a half hours. We didn’t stand up once. High points: the Dalai Lama’s funny (that’s for you, Paige!), Tibetans are extremely nice people, and we got fed tasty rice dishes.

 It is fascinating to watch the devotion that these people have for someone they consider a living god. Though I must, being Christian, ultimately disagree with them on many points, I greatly admire their principle and dedication to their religion. If only we Christians were so bold and focused! What would our lives look like if we prayed in public, read our Bibles on the subway and sang songs of praise in the streets daily? How could we change our community if we proudly got our Jesus freak on in public, and truly sought to live God-pleasing and Christ-like lives? We all pray for it, but what does that actually mean? What does it look like? It can’t be just going to church on Sunday and reading the Bible faithfully. The Word is our foundation, definitely, but are we actually using it as such? After all, it was everything for the Pharisees, and look how they behaved, how they treated Jesus. Do you read the Bible, underline a convicting line or two, then go about your day normally? Is that normalcy? Getting frustrated with the simplest things, thinking self-centeredly, praying for fifteen minutes max at bedtime and calling it good? What is normalcy supposed to look like in the Christian life? In Buddhism, they say that if you let even an ounce of anger or frustration enter your mind, years of meditation and focus on peace are wiped away and you start over again. These monks are extraordinarily dedicated, and some of the nicest (and funniest) people I’ve ever met. Their entire lives are centered around compassion, in the footsteps of their Buddha. Can you imagine that? We get angry and frustrated every day. What would our days be like if we constantly sought out peace? You can say all you want that it’s impossible, and I am acutely aware, as I said before, that Buddhism is centered on the wrong guy. In fact, Buddhists are by nature extremely self-centered, as the ultimate goal is to let go of any attachments in this life in order to reach Samsara. For all of their compassion, they are acting on selfish principles. But why don’t I see Christians with that kind of mindset? Are we not seeking to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the Prince of Peace? Why haven't I upholded that, myself?

Le sigh...

In other news… I have finally started my original intended volunteer placement this week, and I could not be more thrilled. Unfortunately, I am not going to be working with Tibetan monks in the Dalai Lama’s temple after all, but that doesn’t dissuade me too much: I’m learning how to be a daddy. I get to spend every morning, for four hours, with Tibetan babies. It’s very tiring, but extremely rewarding. Then, in the afternoon, I have a truly unique opportunity: I'm helping doing research in the Rogpa office. This means that I get to go to other institutions in the area on behalf of Rogpa and interview their librarians about different aspects of their programs. This will include the kind of Tibetan books they have and how many, how they receive their books and that process, the process of loaning and other managerial things. Rogpa can then use the info for reference when they build up their library. I'm also going to attempt to get an estimate of the entire scope of Tibetan children’s literature  and folk tales that is out there for use. Then we're going to interview the elderly Tibetan community here in Mcleod Ganj. If they have stories that have only been passed down orally and never written down, we will transcribe them and compile new books of previously unpublished material. The end goal is to make a 'moveable' library that goes to different locations, collects cultural literature and also distributes the same, in an effort to preserve the Tibetan culture in a form that allows Tibetan children to understand their heritage. The whole process will last much longer than my duration here I'm sure, but anything I can do to help I can and will do. I feel I have a personal hand in helping to preserve a nation’s dying culture. Between this and the childcare in the mornings, I can’t think of a better way to be spending my time here. I am truly blessed to be given such placements, and I hope that I will be able to make a lasting difference.

As this is getting very long, I’m going to wrap it up. I have much more to tell, so another blog post will be up in a couple of days. Thanks for reading, and for your continued prayerful support. As always, please let me know, either in a private comment or through fb message, how I can be praying for you.

In peace,

Aaron