Time's Short, Life Goes On
I have two weeks left in Dharamsala. Wow, where did the time go? After moving into a cute apartment on Baghsu Road this last weekend (the 3rd time in 5 months!) with a beautiful view of the valley and Jogibara Road in the distance, I feel like I'm only now getting the hang of things.
But for the most part, I'm feeling fine about leaving. Somehow, I feel very calm about things as they are, and that everything has its time and place. Besides, the shortness of time has been making things very poignant.
I finished up a reiki (energy healing) class yesterday. It was a bit too new-agey for me, and the instructor, as friendly and ebullient as he was, didn't really answer my questions very precisely. That's the problem with new-age stuff: a lot of mysteriousness and not enough concrete knowledge. Still, it was interesting and probably at least half useful, and I'm excited to use reiki on friends of mine who need it.
I'm also hiking to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives for a beginning Tibetan language class every day. The class is taught by a nun who is so cute. She's a clean-shaven (her head) shorty with a beautiful face and is really expressive as she corrects our pronunciation. "NO, not NA! NGA! from the throat! NGA!"
Life goes on in the way it does here, with grittiness, beauty, and craziness all wrapped up in one. The other day I was just walking to class when I came across a police scene and the body of a man in the gutter. He was very small and frail, probably elderly. I couldn't tell what happened to him, whether it was an accident or a crime, but his face was totally gone. Utterly shocking. But things went on as usual.
People just accept what comes, which can be good sometimes, and sometimes can be detrimental. For instance, I went to meet one Khampa woman who fell from her 2nd story "balcony" while doing laundry. The accident would have been fatal if she hadn't grabbed hold of the balcony before she fell. But she broke her hip and has no documentation, so the hospital bills are putting her and her husband in debt for a long time. I went to talk to her to help her out, but as I was surveying the scene, I shocked that she would live under such hazardous conditions -- the "balcony" was just the concrete roof of the unit below, and there was no fence or anything to keep anyone from falling off. This is especially hazardous since she has small children. And yet people live with these kinds of serious problems because they're poor and perhaps don't feel like they can spend any extra for a fence. From my experience growing up in the US, though, has me at times outraged by things not working. Sometimes it's just me being a spoiled brat. But at other times, I am outraged by problems that really do need fixing. For instance, today I was walking down one of those narrow winding roads on the way to the library. I have gotten in the habit of carrying a stick with me to give the taxi drivers the illusiont hat I'm bigger than I am because otherwise, they brush inches by you as they're rushing up and down. As I saw this truck carrying long cables and metal beams coming, I stepped to the side of the road, but he still drove too close to me, and had I not ducked quickly (thanks to capoeira for this!), I would have been hit square in the face by these beams. When I yelled at him to watch where he was going, he looked at me as if I was crazy.
I feel I'm practicing more compassion and patience through the wisdom that's been seeping into my consciousness from the Dalai Lama's teachings here and from the dharma books I've been reading. Such good stuff. I've been taking more and more responsibility for what I experience in my life. For instance, I've made a vow to really work with my anger, to observe how it arises, what effect it has on me, and not give it fuel. That's helped so much.
I've also been realizing that people don't change except every so slowly but that every day they have the potential to change. We are so deeply and superficially run by our habits. But some do use that potential to change. If I can keep this in mind, I can have so much more patience with others.
But for the most part, I'm feeling fine about leaving. Somehow, I feel very calm about things as they are, and that everything has its time and place. Besides, the shortness of time has been making things very poignant.
I finished up a reiki (energy healing) class yesterday. It was a bit too new-agey for me, and the instructor, as friendly and ebullient as he was, didn't really answer my questions very precisely. That's the problem with new-age stuff: a lot of mysteriousness and not enough concrete knowledge. Still, it was interesting and probably at least half useful, and I'm excited to use reiki on friends of mine who need it.
I'm also hiking to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives for a beginning Tibetan language class every day. The class is taught by a nun who is so cute. She's a clean-shaven (her head) shorty with a beautiful face and is really expressive as she corrects our pronunciation. "NO, not NA! NGA! from the throat! NGA!"
Life goes on in the way it does here, with grittiness, beauty, and craziness all wrapped up in one. The other day I was just walking to class when I came across a police scene and the body of a man in the gutter. He was very small and frail, probably elderly. I couldn't tell what happened to him, whether it was an accident or a crime, but his face was totally gone. Utterly shocking. But things went on as usual.
People just accept what comes, which can be good sometimes, and sometimes can be detrimental. For instance, I went to meet one Khampa woman who fell from her 2nd story "balcony" while doing laundry. The accident would have been fatal if she hadn't grabbed hold of the balcony before she fell. But she broke her hip and has no documentation, so the hospital bills are putting her and her husband in debt for a long time. I went to talk to her to help her out, but as I was surveying the scene, I shocked that she would live under such hazardous conditions -- the "balcony" was just the concrete roof of the unit below, and there was no fence or anything to keep anyone from falling off. This is especially hazardous since she has small children. And yet people live with these kinds of serious problems because they're poor and perhaps don't feel like they can spend any extra for a fence. From my experience growing up in the US, though, has me at times outraged by things not working. Sometimes it's just me being a spoiled brat. But at other times, I am outraged by problems that really do need fixing. For instance, today I was walking down one of those narrow winding roads on the way to the library. I have gotten in the habit of carrying a stick with me to give the taxi drivers the illusiont hat I'm bigger than I am because otherwise, they brush inches by you as they're rushing up and down. As I saw this truck carrying long cables and metal beams coming, I stepped to the side of the road, but he still drove too close to me, and had I not ducked quickly (thanks to capoeira for this!), I would have been hit square in the face by these beams. When I yelled at him to watch where he was going, he looked at me as if I was crazy.
I feel I'm practicing more compassion and patience through the wisdom that's been seeping into my consciousness from the Dalai Lama's teachings here and from the dharma books I've been reading. Such good stuff. I've been taking more and more responsibility for what I experience in my life. For instance, I've made a vow to really work with my anger, to observe how it arises, what effect it has on me, and not give it fuel. That's helped so much.
I've also been realizing that people don't change except every so slowly but that every day they have the potential to change. We are so deeply and superficially run by our habits. But some do use that potential to change. If I can keep this in mind, I can have so much more patience with others.
posted by sylviashines at 6:27 AM
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