On Wednesday evening, I went to the talk/music/chant/debate by the monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India.
Learn more about them at: http://www.gomang.org/
It started with a talk given by a monk who has the equivalent of a Ph.D. with Honors in Buddhist studies… talk about the Buddhist view of the mind. Some of it makes sense given my elementary understanding of Buddhism, but part of it is too complicated for me to understand. At least the Tibetan who translated the talk says that he don’t understand it either even though he translated the whole thing hahaha.
Then, there was chanting for World Peace and Safety by the monks… and some music played on traditional Tibetan instruments I bet and some chanting thrown in between.
Finally, there was the Debate, which is a big thing in Tibetan Buddhism apparently, it goes on for 7 hours on average every single day back at the monastery… very heated talk in Tibetan, but super interesting with the body language.
As usual, I try to get some souvenirs… I bought a T-shirt with a neat Buddhist monk praying on the back.. and two scrolls with words of wisdom by the Dalai Lama..
I will share the message on the scrolls here:
Never Give Up
no matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
is spent developing the mind
instead of the heart
Develop the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
but to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for Peace
in your heart and in the world
Work for peace
and I say again
Never give up
No matter what is happening
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up
… His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
Ahh, I need to hang it in front of me… to remind myself not to give up on my silly Ph.D.
Another one, equally good message goes as follow:
The Paradox Of Our Age
We have bigger houses but smaller families,
more conveniences, but less time
we have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicines, but less healthiness;
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back
but have trouble crossing the street to meet
the new neighbour.
We built more computer to hold more
information to produce more copies than ever,
but have less communication;
We have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods
but slow digestion;
Tall man but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.
It’s a time when there is much in the Window,
but nothing in the room.
… His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
This message is so true… I have so much more degree than most of my peers, but I am not a better person because of my degrees… but because of innnate goodness! Yea, well, that’s partially true haha, I still have a way to go.. but I am working hard at it… bit by bit, maybe not everyday, but on a regular enough basis… Another thing that I should hang around to remind myself to be a better person!
Kthxbai.
~ Pikol ~
