This was the view as I meditated. After writing yesterday's post, my mind was full of thoughts. Not the best for quietness. What was I going to write about next? Could I write about people? What are the rules for blogs? Are there blog police who check you are doing the right thing? What is the point of the blog? The goal....
The leaf continued being a leaf. Happily.
Yesterday, we met Angay. Here she is. Angay won't be upset if I write about her. She won't know. Like Misty. Angay became a nun after her husband died. He was a carpenter in the army, but never got around to building a house for Angay and Ugyen. One goal he did not achieve. Unfortunately, he died quite young. Angay knows as much English as my Dzongkha. We smile at each other as we pass little gifts. A plate of pieces of apple are left on my table, for me to eat when I arrive home from school. Every month I place a new packet of incense on the altar for Angay.
Angay's goal is to reach enlightenment. For us.
Sometimes my writing reads like a Janet and John book.
Misty is catching on to meditation. Better than me. That is not difficult. I started meditating when I first came to Bhutan, in 1997. Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi gave the VSA volunteers teachings. Then I listened to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche on the radio. Sogyal Rinpoche's book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying came next. When he visited Bhutan with Richard Gere, I was lucky enough to hear about it from Paimma, and we went to hear him.
Since then, I have meditated regularly. Once a year IS regular!
Chogyam Trungpa wrote a handbook of meditation titled "The Path is the Goal."
On the way home from the mountain, I saw Lama Thupten. I met him before I met Richard. His "Restaurant Cum Bar" is close to the school where I was working. Karma introduced me to it. Every day after that, I had my lunch there. A plate of momos with chilli sauce and a cup of tea. Sweet, with milk. Lama and his family have always looked after me very well. The Tibetan New Year is approaching.
Misty had other ideas for the meat.
This blog will have no goals. Apart from the path.
And probably no readers. Needles to say....
This is much better than my Twitter.
ReplyDeleteStephen F.
Love your blog and cannot wait to read more :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, shucks! Thanks, Kimberly.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it.
The blog depicts mixed life of Mark as "chillip" or Westerner in a wonderland country Bhutan, perhaps the last Shangrila on earth, though this Shangrila label is debatable to many of us today. I would love to see more writings by Mark and hopefully he can also include me and my good buddy Daniel Norman Collins, from Canada working in private School in Punakha from March 2010 in Bhutan.
ReplyDeleteI met Mark through strange coincidence, with a so called “chicken man" called Russell Fookes, his NZ VSA counterpart who was in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests for a year working with the Royal Government of Bhutan and then I was his national counterpart recently in April 2010 traveling to see poultry breeder farms in the country, (state owned farms and private chicken rearing farmers in the country). Since then, we became very good friends and met his wife Ugen in one of the farewell dinners to Russell before he left for NZ.
Tashi Delek to your great blog and PLEASE do more writings about people, panoramic beauty of Bhutan and perhaps about our eating out - Pizzas, espresso et al in downtown Thimphu city.
Nar Rai, working with the Department of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests as Deputy Chief Livestock Officer, Thimphu, Bhutan.