Nepal

Tibetans in Nepal.

While I expected a country that combined indian and east asian influences with a predominantly buddhist population, I was probably thinking more of Tibet than Nepal.

Many more of you may now be familiar with the Tibetan struggle to be free of Chinas grip due to worldwide Olympic protests (worldwide minus North Korea who is best friends with China and in a Hitler-esque manner had recruited tens of thousands of people to cheer the torch runner peacefully with flowers in their hands, using the olympics as propoganda and a distraction from human rights abuses like Hitler did in the 1936 summer olympics - this was one place where there was guaranteed 0% attempts at obstruction).

While the powerful Chinese domination of Tibet may sound merely political - they claim Tibet was always part of China - Tibet claims it is a land unto itself to be ruled by the Dalai Lama (who is exiled, living in northern India with other Tibetans - China also appropriated responsibility of choosing the next Dalai Lama which is normally a religious process where a long search by high monks seek Buddhas reincarnation all over many different lands testing the suspected children in many ways). Chinas policies are slowly destroying what little is left of the historic culture and the people through its decades of repression (reved up recently due to Chinas economic boom and subsequent tourism industry which is also destroying the environment) committing attrocious human rights violations, destroying temples and buddhas, and violently smothering protest.

This is why there is a major migration over the last 5 decades of this struggle into neighboring nations not ruled by China - Nepal and India. However, this migration still does not account for a majority of the Nepalese population, which is more like 80/10/10 Hindu/Buddhist/other although the buddhist population is increasing and hindu decreasing relative to eachother. In fact, the Hindu population in Nepal is generally even more religious than in India, to a point that Nepal's cow meat is actually imported from India. There is, then, a signficant Tibetan presence in Nepal, but less of a cultural influence than I had expected (also, I have admittedly not been to Tibet and cannot identify cultural uniqueness apart from what my friends at the wedding had told me about). What is interesting and possibly not directly correlated, is the new political identity in Nepal being in line with the influence that encouraged Tibetan independence since the 50's in Tibet: communist groups.

Ａ　Buddhist Temple　－　３６５　ｓｔｅｐｓ　ｕｐ！

In this video, you see people spinning prayer wheels which surround the stupa. These wheels are described below, but essentially, each wheel contains a scroll with the mantra of compassion written repeatedly, "om mani padme hung." Each spin sends a prayer and devout buddhists spin the wheels everyday.

Red Nepal.

...and I don't mean bindi, the red dot placed between a (traditionally married) woman's eyebrows, the place of the 6th chakra, the seat of concealed wisdom.

In the recent 'democratic' election in Nepal (this past April 10, which was postponed from June 07 and Nov 07) Maoist Communist Party took majority. This party is officially rejected by China's communism, as it is quite different, but it still considers itself communist. Carter recently visited the country and decided after barely leaving the interior of Kathmandu that the election was in fact a democratic one and therefore just. However, those that live there know that the slogan in the countryside was basically, 'vote for us or we cut your hand off', and basically, the countryside is the population that supported the communists the most for various reasons. Mostly, we were told, because there really was no other party option, really. The communist party promised 'change,' 'peacefulness' (after much violence in Nepal which has killed many, driven by the communists that sought to take control of the country) and all of the good stuff to a deeply impoverished nation focusing on the largely ignored countryside which holds majority of the country's population but through corrupt and ineffective monarchial government with on-and-off bouts of democracy, any party that makes any changes (in their case playing robin hood creating community centers etc.) will win the vote, regardless of their platform or promise.

And really, who knows? Are we to judge? Is a 'communist' government that is effective in any way better than an ineffective government?

Ahh the Nepalese life. Buddhism.

Ｄｏｗｎｓｔａｉｒｓ　ａｔ　ｆｕｋｉ’ｓ　ａｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔ

While the country may be a Hindu majority, my friend who was getting married and her husband and all their friends study buddhism at the tibetan monastry through Kathmandu University, and thus my impression and introduction to Nepal was still slanted in the buddhist direction.

While life in Nepal to me seems inefficient, inconvenient, and chaotic, life to them seemed peaceful in a way that perhaps is learned in buddhism as well - buddhism is really about discipline of the mind rather than about religious following. While the buddha is worshiped, he is worshiped for the good things that he represents and not for the power that he holds. The discipline in being able to quiet the mind, to concentrate and focus and eliminate outside distractions, and to have a sense of oneself is so strong it can withstand all of the surrounding city I could not handle. Granted, it is much easier to block out the chaos when you live ON the largest buddhist temple in Nepal which devoted tibetan buddhists visit every day and pray at in various forms, but the lessons I learned from what buddhism means are powerful.

One interesting example of the inefficiency and inconvenience of Nepal was the electricity arrangement. Because there simply isn't enough electricity to supply a rapidly growing city like Kathmandu, the entire city is on a schedule of what parts of town have electricity at different parts of the day. For two hours a day, different sections of the city have no power. Some places have small emergency lights, or maybe some kind of generator so that diners in a restaurant can see their food, or basic amenities for the 5-star Hyatt etc., but in general, everything goes dark- including the refrigerator. It is almost impossible to be able to imagine such situation in America - a situation in which it is widely accepted as the norm that at a certain hour of the night, the streets of the busiest tourist center in town will be completely dark - and with the pollution that rests over Kathmandu valley, even the stars don't light the frightfully dark and mysterious zigzagging streets that are overwhelmingly vibrant and boisterous during the day. In America, perhaps a prevailing sense of entitlement and self-interest prevents millions from giving up their environmentally-hurtful SUVs, nevermind being able to give up the most basic energy needs that Nepalis live without for a few hours each day. During the time that electricity is off in Nepal, life goes on - businesses cater to customers, instead of using their 10 year old computers to log transactions and look up information, they write information down and do it later, etc. In general, the lack of electricity either contributes to or is a reflection of the slow and laid back way of Nepalis, and maybe also, of the inefficiencies.

First impression: resembled what I'd imagined India to be like- much more than I had expected.

Meredith, a friend from LA (now london actually) in the middle. She's traveled to 44 countries thus far (including much of Africa during college).

　

I had imaged, perhaps also due to my friends reason for moving to Nepal aside from her now husband who lives there and owns a restaurant, a peaceful buddhist city way up in the mountains. Instead, I was overwhelmed by bustling traffic that I was told was more chaotic than India due to the absense of virtually any rules/enforcement- possibly less cows in the middle of the road but close (less cow dung for sure), constant beeping, dusty dirty bumpy roads with huge potholes and rocks and mounds everywhere (always pugnant whether in a good way like sandalwood or in a bad way like burning plastic - their way of eliminating trash is to burn it - all of it, and in the middle of the road), virtually all the women were wearing beautiful saris, aggresive store owners eager to make the sale `I give you special price,` rickshaws constantly offering rides about 2 inches from your face honking little clown-like horns regardless of the activity you may be partaking in - window shopping, being in the middle of a conversation, looking at a menu, etc., the same shops repeated over and over - top 4: pashminas/silk scarves, fake northface trekking equipment, MC Hammer style woven pants, some jewlery stores, the sound of what I am told is called `farmer snot` and `loogy hawking` - which is constantly done by everyone everywhere, and other sounds like that of nepalese music coming out of stores.

No, that's not snow - its air particles- dust etc.

The five colored flags across are buddhist flags hung across buildings everywhere in Nepal. Red is for the blood of buddha green is for the nature, earth, yellow is for the fire of the volcano or fire he meditates next to and throws things into when he is thinking, blue is for the sky/the top of his head, and white is for water that he meditates on.

However, this was the center of Kathmandu, `Thamel,` where you were more likely to find sandwiches than traditional Nepali food (although, stopping at a place called the `24 hour sandwich` one night we were informed that there was in fact, no food, so actually getting what is advertised was not a guarantee necessarily- really the whole goal in Thamel was to get you inside of the store. Then what? well, `no food` - you tell me what the point is - I have no idea). This area, while it may be somewhat of a town center, with postal places many restaurants etc., was basically catering to the international audience that comes to Nepal for trekking (Nepal actually coined the term apparantly) and goes to Thamel to throw back some beers and eat thai/korean/italian/american/etc. food afterwards. To me, it was pretty intense. I was extatic to go to the wedding/go trekking and to essentially get out of the city to the `real stuff.`




What brought us all to this interesting place: fuki's wedding!!!! + some trekking...

The crew:

JP, Meredith, Patsy, Fuki, me, ready for our 2nd day of trekking.

JP and Fuki in her apartment.

Yukari, from Hokkaido, Japan. Met Fuki and JP while traveling Mongolia.
(photo in Fuki's apartment)

I was at Fuki's wedding with an interesting mixture of friends.

JP Coakly, a Polymer Science Engineer from Case whose lived in China for the last 2.5 years post graduation.

Fuki herself - who graduated from Case the year we entered as an Environmental Science and Psychology double major.

Yukari, who left before the hiking, who is a consultant from Hokkaido, Japan - she met Fuki while they were traveling in Mongolia. This was the crew.

Meredith Sloane, the manager for Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow's fitness guru - an LA lifer but now in London living in one of Gwyneth's houses.

Patsy Gay, my roommate and fellow Bostonian - Dance and Art History double major at Case.

And as you may expect, this mixture led to a lot of science vs. philosophy debates (fueled by JP) with Fuki's husband's crew, who were all studying buddhism at the monastary through Kathmandu University - this included a Fulbright Scholar from BC, a monk, a Belgian teacher at the monastary, and other scholars- Mort (the husband) being highly regarded by peers (he studied buddhism in college and has continued doing so for about 10 years now).

It started by JP saying something like, 'I just don't understand religion because I can't understand peoples' need to believe that something/someone is going to help or is going to guide them through life or that need to have faith and connect to someone'

Response: that is such a western way of thinking of religion!!! - fulbright scholar

Reflections on Conversations about Tibetan Buddhism
The Buddha is called "Avalokiteśvara" in sanskrit and Dalai Lama is is the emanation of the Buddha.

Probably one of the most significant distinctions that I learned from these conversations, and although buddhist philosophy is simply too complex, new and foreign to me to be able to really convey even a single principle that I learned very accurately at all, I'm still going to try; the most striking idea is the idea of nothingness.

To say that one doesn't believe in religion because one doesn't need to depend on that person's values or beliefs and their own personal need for guidance and satisfaction, does indeed appeal to not only a Judeo-Christian way of thinking about religion, but also, it reflects the western state of mind in its focus on the individual.

In buddhist philosophy, religion is not a mode of communication with a wise guide, but rather, if it even is a moral code like those of judeo-christian religions at all, it is actually completely different and based on the idea that people do not really exist as we percieve ourselves to exist.

In the most important Buddhist mantra, the mantra of compassion, the words "om mani padme hung" represent the essence of Buddhism. These words are written on thin long slips of paper over and over wrapped inside of prayer wheels that can be seen at the Stupas (buddhist temples) in some pictures and videos above. Each spin represents one reptition of this mantra, this prayer.

Om refers to the mind. The buddha says when you search for the mind, you cannot find it, because you search for it inside your body and it is not corporeal. But the impressions that influence your mind come from your corporeal experiences and your thoughts are influenced by your heart, or, "hung"

Ma refers to your voice. The voice is the place of balance between what your body, "hung," experiences and how your mind, "om," interprets your body's experiences. Ma is very important because it is the way in which we communicate with others, are able to receive buddhist teachings, and the way we are able to translate the abstract impressions and thoughts of the mind into a mode which we can connect with others. The act of translation itself is reflective of this combination of corporeal experiences and the mind's interpretation of them, along with the specific way in which language itself is used.

"Hung" refers to the body, which experiences the world. However, the experiences aren't interpreted without the mind, so "hung" while placed in front of the heart, actually refers to the mind's interpretations of the experience of the manifestation of life in a body.

Everything is related to understanding these different elements of what composes life, which is an abstract and separate entity from the body which one possesses according to buddhist philosophy. The thoughts and experiences that one has are not in themselves belonging to the body in which they invoke impressions. Rather, life is an entity connected to buddha and all of the distractions which continue to distract and impact the experiences of these vessels pull one away from understanding the truth and purity of life.

In this search for enlightenment, one must develop an ability for concentration that can withstand all of these distractions and create a peace of mind clear so that the path of enlightenment and finding absolute truth may be unobstructed.

This is the very very basic level I wish to discuss as I am so new to this field of study and it is so complex, I dare not venture into any more of the multitude of discussions we had about buddhism, as I'm sure I cannot repeat them accurately or wholly.

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

The wedding - at a tibetan buddhist monastery way up on a mountain. As it was also the day of Buddha's birthday, the ceremony started at 8:30 that morning and was going on throughout the day. They incorporated the wedding into the ceremonies of the day. The temple and setting was extraordinary - on top of a mountain. Inside the temple were monks and many many students that participated in the day of ceremony. They were chanting singing prayers and playing instruments. I tried to get some video of the kind of interesting songs and music that was happening.

The white scarves that guests of the wedding are wrapping on the bride and groom are called "Katag" in Tibetan. They are usually presented to teachers as a symbol of respect and as offerings.

----- Wedding Party -----

Ｆｕｋｉ’ｓ　ｄａｄ　ｋｉｃｋｅｄ　ｏｆｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｄａｎｃｉｎｇ，ａｔｔｒａｃｔｉｎｇ　ａｌｌ　ｔｈｅ　ｌａｄｉｅｓ．