Gaden Shartse World Tour - part one

I just spent several hours getting warmed up to blog. I did this by exercising my talent for stringing words together by creating several entertaining articles for a web site that hires ghost writers, talent unseen, untested, and unknown, to write for them. Today I captivated my audience with tales of my adventures surfing the big waves on the North Shore. For those of you who spend way to much time in front of a computer or otherwise encapsulated in a sedentary indoors life style, the North Shore is the north shore, literally, of Oahu, Hawaii.

Yes, this is where the big waves break, and the little surfers get broken. Of course I used my considerable experience with the art of surfing to compile a pile of highly suspect, but passable to the un-initiated, yarns of surf-dome adventure under the moniker Big Bill “Flipflop” Kakaman-o-tikibarkanni.

Now that my blogging butt is well settled into the chair, I’ve had my ration of 14 cups of coffee and my finger muscles are warmed up and ready for some serious typing, I thought I would write a little about my latest adventures in international cooperation and understanding.

As you know, I recently had the pleasure of spending a little time with “my Monks”, the Monks of Gaden Shartse Monastery. These Monks travel the world as ambassadors of the dharma, bringing Buddhist teachings to everyone they come in contact with. Many of the people involved with the success of the Monks tour are dyed in the wool Buddhist practitioners. Others, like myself are on the fringe, still grasping for the light of understanding from any bulb they come in contact with. It is really amazing to see these dharma spreaders in action, and even more amazing to have the opportunity to spend time with them along the path they travel.

I think the thing that stands out most in my mind is how everyone they meet is all over them like ducks on a June bug. I mean, people just want to be near them, to talk with them, to have a photo with them, to exchange smiles with them. Even the most introverted individual seems to bloom in their presence. Every where we went, and I do mean we, as I followed them around pretty much full time for nine days, they had lines of people waiting to speak with them after each event.

Everyone had questions, from “Do you wear sandals even in the winter? And “does your shaved head get cold a lot?” to “Can you, in three minutes or less, explain the nature of existence and the teachings of the Buddha?” No matter what the questions, the Monks always had a thoughtful answer. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that they all are extremely intelligent and have many years of schooling. We actually had the honor of a couple valedictorians and a summa cum laude ( what is that? Latin for “guy who gets all A’s”? ) on the tour. Each Monk was also a master of a particular specialty, like chant master and ritual master. If the Monks were a poker hand we would have been in the big money. The monastery honors us by sending only it’s brightest scholars so that we will get the best answers to our probing questions, like – what can we do to handle our anger or disappointments? - a question that I noticed was asked over and over.

I guess us westerners have more than our fill of anger and disappointment. I have to wonder though, is it because of the way we look at life? I wonder, have we become spoiled by our capitalistic life styles? Have we been nurtured beyond a healthy understanding that sometimes bad things do happen? Are we all Polly Annas? Do we become angry and disappointed because we expect everything to be prefect for us in our own perfect time?

Here’s an example- while I was going through my 327 page check list of things to have for the Monks stay, I noticed I didn’t have enough bottled water. I panicked! Madre de Dios! How could I possibly ask them to drink our dirty American fluorinated, chlorinated tap water? Then it struck me, as if a bolt of lightening in the darkness tapped right on the top of my head- what am I, crazy? My tap water is cleaner than most of the world’s water supply, and, although I pass when ever possible on ingesting chlorine, we probably were not going to die of dysentery or typhoid if I had to make the Starbucks with some tap water.

See what I mean? It’s really our perception of the situation that gives it meaning, not the situation itself. Our reaction to any situation depends entirely on our perception of what is happening. If we could analyze our perception of a situation for possible misunderstanding before we panic and get angry or disappointed, maybe we could save ourselves from a lot of anger and disappointment.

Anyway, that’s what I got from listening to the Monks answer that question over and over and over… now of course, the question is how do we manage to watch our thoughts, and analyze them for misunderstanding, before we react? Well, I guess that is the tricky part.

More on this topic soon…

For more on the Gaden Shartse Tour, check their web site, the link is on the right hand menu.


PS - Summa Cum Laude means- highest with honor or praise.

The Monks Are Coming- Part Two

Yes, It's true I have been very busy with school ( it's getting easier, grading the second paper went much faster than the first), and putting the tour stop together for "My Monks". I like to call them that, my Monks, but really they are the Monks of Gaden Shartse Norling College Buddhist Monastic University.

I met them a little over 10 years ago when I saw an ad in a paper, it said - Wanted- office space for Buddhist healings. Host 8 Monks for one week in October.

Well, I had a large office with multiple treatment rooms, so how could I resist? I answered the ad, was interviewed by the local tour stop director, and got the gig. A few weeks later there were Monks and people and bells ringing and feathers floating and incense burning and a whole bunch a goings on in the office, and I was a little intimidated, but totally fascinated by those Monks!

On that tour there were several very elderly Monks who had tales of Tibet before China. There were several young Monks who were enjoying the freedom and abundance of American culture for the first time- they had a lot of questions- and there were all the wonderful people I met who were assisting the Monks in their journey of fund raising for the Monastery that houses not only the Monks, but many children who escape from China/Tibet and have no one in India but the Monks.

The first time I met "my Monks", I really knew nothing about Buddhism, but hey, I'm the curious sort, so I thought it would be a great learning experiance, and it was. Since that first meeting I have learned a lot more about the belief system that is the heart of Tibet. I am not a Buddhist, but I have to say they sure do have some really great ideas about how to look at life, and live life.

Now that I know more about Buddhism, I appreciate the Monks journey even more. They always remind me that nothing lasts forever. Nothing. Change is inevitable. If you know this, and accept it, then you can be much more at ease with all the changes that swirl around you in real life. By not clinging to things, you are less upset when things change, which they always do.

They also remind me that we create a lot of our own suffering or sadness in the world by our attitudes or mental states. Often when we are upset, we could choose to look at the upsetting situation differently, and if we did that, we would not be so upset. It's really entirely up to us how we view things and sometimes our view is the problem.

In Buddhism, every life is important, even the lowly bug. They teach compassion for all beings, no matter how small. If you can look at another- even in times of conflict- and see them as a being just struggling to find their way in this world, trying to do their best ( which in your opinion may be pretty bad) , then maybe you can find a gem of forgiveness or understanding in your heart and give it to them. If you can do this, it makes you a better person and the world a more peaceful place.

Tibetan Buddhism is very different from Zen Buddhism or other types of Buddhism, ( no, it's not all the same although the underlying principles are) , Tibetan Buddhism has many aspects of the original religion of Tibet which was called Bon. In Bon, there were many spirits or Gods, and magic was common. Tibetan Buddhism has a number of deities and they can be brought into your presence by complicated rituals. This reminds me that there really is still magic in the world.

So, the tour is off to a good start, I've booked them for performances almost every evening they are here, and healings most of the days, and time to rest as well, because last time they visited we had them so fully booked they were tired by the end of their stay. This time, I think they may need time to meditate and I know me and my friends, we need time to just sit with the Monks, get our questions answered and baske in that healing Monk energy.

The Monks Are Coming!

I'm still getting acclimated to my role as professor for a class of 46 university students. The class is going great, I'm still adjusting to the early mornings and to the technology- ie:the software used for all homework and grading. It may take me the rest of the week to get that down, I went to a class today for all us new instructors, and the IT classrooms system was down ( WHAT?!, you gotta be kidding!) so we really could not get into the program to look at it or ask questions. I said heck with that and came home, booted up and got to it. It's a little tricky but I'm getting the hang of it and it's a good thing because there are 46 papers sitting there waiting for me to grade!

Meanwhile, I've done a bunch of meandering but have not captured it on paper as of right now. So I thought you might like to take a look at a few photos from the last "monks tour". The Monks (Gaden Shartse) will be visiting us again this fall and I am just starting to get the tour stop put together. As we go along I will share photos and news with you, meanwhile I hope you enjoy these.

For more information, look to the side bar on the right for a link to the official tour website.