Friday, December 08, 2006

monk photos

A younger monk at the Chapagaon monastery named Sangye (Buddha), emptying water offering bowls during the evening protector diety offering ceremony. He is in front of a statue of Vajrasatva, the Bodhisattva of purification. His practice also heals illness and amends negative deeds.

I let some of the younger monks play with my digital camera (i have a shock resistant olympus) and a few pictures turned out quite amazing, like this one, taken looking into one of the upstairs prayer rooms.

also taken by one of the younger monks at the monastery, this picture is very charming. i think they had a lot of fun with the camera. i am inspired by the New Orleans Kids Camera Project.

A spider in her web next to her dinner, taken on the hike south over the Kathmandu Valley rim from Lelegaon. The view looks north towards Kathmandu.

some more pictures, finally. since i've been in boudha, even though there are many options for internet, unfortunately i've found myself too busy to get online for very long in the afternoons (the mornings are reserved for mental cultivation, unless something very important is up).

tonight ram and santoshi are making a feast for a friend's birthday, and it looks like we'll go out to the tourist area of kathmandu for some reggae music and juice (other people will be enjoying beer, etc., i am still in the midsts of a one year detox...), and tomorrow night chris and i have been told to go to a punk/reggae show in town which should be pretty cool. the music scene is slightly looking up these days in kdu.

today i began meeting with my old tibetan language professor, Thinlay Dhondrup, for a daily class. we are reading the text i have been translating together, from the beginning, in order for me to put together a mistake free translation. i have translated the first 45 pages of the 60 pages with many mistakes and questions, we can go fast, though, because i've already put a lot of work into it. our class is held in tibetan, no english if possible. the text is a commentary by Chokyi Dragpa of the Preliminary Practices for Jigme Lingpa's treasure, the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike! Say hi to Chris for me. I'm glad you have found some reggae in Nepal and that the New Orleans Kid Camera Project inspired you. (Obviously, that shout-out made me smile, and the picture of the young monk is absolutely lovely.) I've been listening to lots of gypsy music lately, which is also lots of fun to dance to, though I don't think you'll be able to find any of that in Nepal! Much love, peace, light, etc. etc. all that good stuff...

Anonymous said...

Is that Chris, your brother?

Anonymous said...

sorry, I hadn't read your whole blog when I asked about Chris. I just found it this morning, because Lamar's new site points you to things in such an easier way than before. I watched you guys growing up in Emmanuel. It is sooo nice to read about your lives now.