Reflections on Tibet

(Jan 8)
Yeah, Chouying was fretting that his family is poor yet last night we fell asleep watching cable. Before entering every home I've been in on this trip my guide assures me that his family is poor and rough compared to mine. Yet everyone has a tv at least, if not a computer. One thing I will say for Tibetan families, they are never at a loss for rugs.

Spending time with Rigzin I realize the practical in addition to the moral problems about Tibet. Rigzin's family is very very Tibetan yet they don't actually have a country. They live in Orissa which has a large exiled Tibetan community yet they are neither citizens of India nor Tibet. You ask him what his family is and Rigzin will answer (somewhat indignantly) 'Tibetan, of course!' Yet he cannot be a citizen of Tibet nor ever visit. Not only because he is a lama but because his family fled the Chinese invasion. China will never allow him a visa. I asked him about his papers. What papers does he travel with? How can he cross borders, etc. He and his brother have a kind of vague Tibetan refugee status granted by the Indian government that is recognized here but I highly doubt anywhere else in the world.

In contrast Chouying's family is equally as Tibetan but are citizens of Nepal. He was born in a small village close to the border. The same village all of the other monks at the monastery are from, Homla. (With the unique exception, I believe, of the two Orissa brothers.) If all of the monks where going to come from the same village anyway why didn't they just build the monastery there? Good question. Much more affluent neighborhoods the nearer to Kathmandu. Why Budhanilkantha? No idea.

Chouying is the 'head' monk mostly, as far as I can tell, because he's been there the longest. Others have been monks for longer than him (he began at 17 or 18. He doesn't remember) but he's been with this monastery since it was first built.

Side note: Can you imagine a 17 year old boy deciding to become a monk? Even more amazing (I think) is Rigzin and his brother coming to that conclusion at ages 7 and 5. Seriously? Chouying says he wanted to study more about dharma which makes sense. In Tibetan families the most important 'profession' for children to grow into is lama. Opposite of Old England when the second brother (not the heir) would often turn to the ministry. Chinese families want their children to be doctors, Tibetan families are honored when their children choose to be monks. It is therefore noteworthy that Chouying is the youngest child. Three brothers and three sisters in his family and I am totally in love with his older sister Ramla.