Country Nepal

On the stove a dish called dildo bubbles in a wok blackened from what appears to be years of use over an open fire. I saw a menu nailed to a wooden plank in the kitchen yesterday, a hand-written grid…

I take a seat on one of the wooden benches halfway up the three-tiered stadium-style seating in the auditorium outside of the monastery, watching as monks of all ages scurry around in preparation for the six-day festival which starts tomorrow.…

I was able to start asking my first round of questions on Buddhism yesterday when a conversation with the festival sponsor and former monk of 19 years, Ngawang Dorje, turned into a veritable lesson on the basics of Buddhist philosophy.…

Today, July 6th, is His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama’s birthday. Apparently it will be celebrated here; I’m eager to find out how. My curiosity is piqued because though the names of all Sherpa people reflect the day of the…

Pasang and I were in the kitchen working on the Tibetan alphabet after breakfast when Cook came in and told him his assistance could be used at the woodpile out the back door. We peered out, and sure enough, a…

I arrived at the monastery almost three weeks ago with many questions about Buddhism. I’d taken a World Religions course focused heavily on eastern faiths and have continued to read about the Buddhist tradition in books such as those by…

There are many reasons why I continue to attend puja (chanting) each morning, and none of them is that I am a devout Buddhist. I enjoy waking up early, and the 6:30 am start time gives me something to look…

The first thing we heard yesterday upon our return from trekking yesterday is that “Jing Mai was killed by a tiger!” Jing Mai – one of the monastery’s four dogs – is nowhere to be found. After some loud noises…

Several of my little monks have received new names! After the Nyune festival last week, celebrating Buddha’s birthday, one of the Rinpoches gave some of the little guys new Buddhist names in a sort of rite of passage. Two days…

The Nyune Festival took place at the monastery just a few days after we arrived. Everything was abuzz. The eight older monks (age 20+) ran around like crazy making preparations for the three Rinpoches (high lamas) who were to arrive…