Well …….this is probably my last post from Bouddha, I spread my wings and fly back home tomorrow….the forecast for home is snow on saturday…..snow is auspicious in Tibet I believe. That is assuming the ‘troubles’ do not impact here. There is still fighting and killing along the borders, petrol rationing, a shortage of cooking fuel and drinking water in some areas and powercuts here everyday
It is warm again today after some more rain, the dusty lanes around the stupa are treacherous in places. I am doing some shopping, taking some photo’s and of course saying farewell to friends…….many of whom I will not meet again in this life. Perhaps the next as the connections made here are powerful. Earlier I met Ringu Tulku on the way to the stupa….a wonderful suprise and a perfect closing of this pilgrimage ‘circle’ as he smiled and shook my hand. I have mentioned his kindness but I also feel that he is absolutely ‘authentic’ in everything he does………this is rare in this world………….do you know what I mean.
I have made many good friends here, it is like that when you are travelling. Old tibetans who smile as we communicate without language, Dharma pals and stupa folk ………… the kora continues and the old dog still wastes his life ‘eating, sleeping and pottering around!’
Tomorrow I will walk, perhaps for the last time (Impermanence is a definate teaching here!) through beautiful Shechen monastary as the uniformed guard says “namaste sir”, past the eight stupas and prayer wheels and onto the waste area where the men piss against the wall, women sleep rough in piles of rubbish and children beg. Past the man with leprosy….the beggar in saffron robes….the man laying on the ground with tube from his navel to a medical bag, staring vacantly into space….the nepali punks playing hip hop……the butchers stall with flyblown hunks of meat. Ahead is the golden crown of the stupa and the hum……the hum of devotion and I will step into the fast flowing river of ‘pilgrims’ for the last time……………………….terry
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“Roll on the dust like dogs so that thou mayst have a right to sit among the Dervishes.”
(Ibrahim ben adham)
Comment by Ian February 8, 2007 @ 2:41 pmPoverty shows up in countries that do not hide. Punks playing western music are not natives. See beauty of life and smell a little bit of ugly!
Comment by bhupen February 12, 2007 @ 11:04 pm