We awoke to a beautiful sunny day in Dolanji, ate a simple breakfast and then proceeded to see Menri Trizin. There were many people, both monks and lay, along with hordes of small school children all massed in the temple courtyard awaiting Menri Trizin's entry into into the main shrine hall to bestow the initiation of Mawe Sengge, a Bon wisdom deity. We were able to see Rinpoche before the ceremony. It was quite a surprise because none of the monks had told him of our arrival. It really was a surprise. We talked for about 40 minutes and then said our goodbyes and watched Rinpoche as he made his way towards the temple wearing his traditional lotus hat and led by two gyaling playing monks dressed in their best and wearing ceremonial hats. Geshe Samdrub showed us the completed library which was still under construction the last time Tenzin D. and I were at Dolanji. It is now completed and officially opened during a large ceremony in 2007 headed by the Dalai Lama and retinue who stayed in Dolanji for several days. The most interesting thing about the library was the addition of a Bon museum. I took many photos and walked slowly past each exhibit taking note of things that I had only heard about but never seen before. The most interesting was probably the display of the 'jutig' (knot) divination system along with a rare text of explanation. I took photos. There were also several large thread-cross (namkha) exhibits.
We left Dolanji at approximately 12:00 noon and made our way via the short cut and back roads to Ponta Sahab, the place where Guru Gobind Singh's three sons were killed in battle some hundreds of years ago sparking the militarization of the Sikh religion. This is also the place were I used to swim; always mindful to avoid the poisonous water snakes. It was a beautiful drive through the pine forests. We stopped for a light lunch at a roadside restaurant and had some spicy Indian food. Finally at 5:00 we turned into the driveway of JL's family home and were greeted by his elder brother, wife and mother. Two other brothers arrived later along with numerous other family members that I knew from India years ago, Lhasa, or Chengdu. Of the two younger brothers, both Nyingma Lamas now in Taiwan, I had met up with one in Majnujkatilla, Delhi, on his way back to Taiwan. He was very generous and paid for my hotel stay in Delhi prior to my journey to Bir for the Translator's Conference.
So far I have managed to remain vegetarian but that is likely to end here in the Tibetan settlement of Ling Tsang. Today is a rest day. I have also strained my back which I do about every 4 or 5 years. It is quite painful but should be fine in a day or so. While here I will be photographing some rare paintings and documenting the artists who created them. I may not have mentioned that JL and his family are all tangka painters, or rather used to be. Their uncle was a famous Karshodpa painter from Ling Tsang, Kham, Tibet. Photos of many of these people I have mentioned are in David Jackson's first book that discusses the techniques and materials of tangka painting.
Tomorrow I will pay my respects to the Ngor Lamas at Ngor Magon which is directly across the street from my bedroom; strangely enough so is the local Bon monastery which I will also visit and photograph. The head lama of this temple visited New York during the Bon exhibition.
I spent many hours removing viruses and updating the various software in this computer to make it usable. Hopefully I will be able to add some images to the Blog. This I will try later today.
By the way, it says Thursday at the top of the entry for this post. In fact the blog is set to New York time, or maybe even Chicago time, the location where the blog was first created. For the correct date as of where I am - add a day to that date. It is currently Friday at 12:20 and rapidly approaching the time for lunch.
