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Published: August 7th 2007
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natalie and view
this is up some stairs to a monastery guest house that we might switch to today. There's a point when you cross over from the idea of a place, into actually being here, sensing it, living it. I've reached that point. Though, I'm sure it'll happen all over again when we relocate ourselves. I don't entirely feel as though I'm in India. I feel as though I'm exactly where I am, in a place built by Tibetan refugees. We watched a documentary last night, Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion. The information and stories covered are what surround me. How strange it was for us to walk out of the theater and be a part of what we were just watching. Natalie and I both acknowledged that we're not sure it's ever quite happened that way before, so distinctly. The theater was a room with several benches and big screen tv. I had seen the movie about two years prior and I never would have imagined that now I'd be in India in Dharmasala/Mcleod Ganj the same place thousands of refugees have journeyed to escape the chinese invasion of tibet.
---to be honest, i don't like capital letters---
went to the tibetan museum, a flood of information. learning all about the invasion.
40,000 chinese invaded
derge in 1950. and 6,000 monasteries and temples were destroyed. since the invasion about 1.2 million tibetans have died as a result of chinese oppression.
intially, once the dalai lama knew it was unsafe to stay in tibet, he and his entourage traveled here to dharmasala, india and created the tibetan government in exile. today, people still make their way here. it's a hike through the himalayas that takes weeks sometimes months. many people arrive ill and/or injured, many losing toes, fingers, or limbs from the frostbite.
to make it personal. yesterday natalie told me a story. she was walking around and went to this little shop we had been to before. she noticed the four men in the store were staring at her. she felt it was a curious stare, nothing to be alarmed about, she kept turning around and each time they'd still be staring, which made her laugh as she told me the story. she came to learn from another guy that was there, these men had just arrived from tibet.
been thinking a lot about poverty. thinking about how people continue to bind and unbind themselves with the comforts they think they need, which usually ends up being a burden for the price. not only the price of spending your life working for these things, but for the price others endure to make your life so clean and abundant. but, ultimately, i'm an optimist and i know there is good in most intentions, but there's a need for more self awareness, more worldly awareness. how can you be happier, more whole, give from a true place inside you? how can that same happiness encourage the well being of others?
we think about money when we're traveling. we try to save a few dollars here and there. getting upset when we're overcharged. but the truth is, even when we're overcharged we're still paying next to nothing when compared to being back home. and these people are sleeping on the streets or in their rickshaws... i can't find it in me to try to stretch my travels a month longer, or however long, for the cost of being ignorant to how much i actually do have.
i can't help but notice how the chinese invasion seems similar to a current invasion we're all familar with. the chinese claimed to be "liberating tibet" while what they are truly doing is destroying a beautiful culture. a culture whose aim was to find the way to inner peace and share it. a culture whose spiritual guide says there is not hate in them towards the chinese, that violence breeds more violence. all tibetans want is the right to live how they live, to believe as they do. mcleod ganj is a place where this is trying to be done.
the location of tibet is at the heart of asia, whoever has tibet, has the doorway to many of the neighboring countries.
who would you want to be there?
can you imagine the physical torture? can you imagine the psychological burden of seeing your entire way of life destroyed?
i'm getting serious, but this is just the surface of what i've been faced with.
today we take mala classes.
then some cooking classes with a sweet lady in her kitchen.
we're making direct exchanges. feels good to give and to have teachers.
natalie gets so excited about things, i love it. yesterday she was telling me of her short adventure down the street and how it excited her. we got some brown bread.
and we discovered something else.... but it's a secret for now. it'll be revealed once it becomes an actuality, which may be today!
we're starting a 10 day retreat on tuesday which is three days away for us. june 26-july 5 it's an introduction to tibetan buddhism. it's silent for us besides some small disscusions. it'll include lessons, meditation, access to a library, and some yoga. here is the website for those interested: http://www.tushita.info/
also. it's my birthday on july 7th, and that's the same day that the dalai lama comes home to give a lesson. so we're going to try our hardest to get into it. and also, the dalai lama's birthday is july 6th!
and by the way. thank you! so many of you ARE interested! i've gotten so many messages and i am very happy to provide you with something you enjoy reading. your encouragment and kind words are taken to heart and are changing me.
natalie's mom is even reading and has sent it all around as well... hellooooo to you! you asked what the pick liquid is that the monkey is sipping... here's a confession, we don't know! here's another confession, we tried it! haha... everyone drinks it in delhi, i'm sure we could have inquired but it was just a tiny sip out of curiosity. very sweet.
i just heard some spainsh music in this here lobby. made me happy. i hope to maybe learn some tibetan or indian music while i'm here. saw a place in one of cities we're going to that gives lessons in the guest house.
got an offer to go to costa rica to an ecovillage in january. so hard to think that far in the future. being here now...
having many personal discoveries. learning about myself in a whole new way. missing people, but learning to hold that love in my heart, while creating other focuses.
off to have some chai, you have to see a picture of this quaint place, oh you will.
meeting someone that lives here, studies yoga and reiki, and might give us a place to stay...
love to all!
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shelley(natalie's aunt)
non-member comment
hello from ky
hi jessica and natalie--glad to see you are safe and having an adventure of a lifetime!! natalie, i hope you are also getting some great pics to share with all your family!!! you know i love pics!!!!! be careful and watch your money....love-shelley