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Time to move on and say goodbye to old friends and meet new ones. Kopan has always had a special place in my heart. It is very peaceful there. It is beautiful. All of the monks and nuns are very friendly and happy. And all of the people I have met there over the 15 years that I have been coming to Kopan, have all been wonderful. I guess it kinda draws that type of person to the hill where the monastery is.

So after spending time with my friends Tsonamgel and Indra at Tushita Heaven Handicrafts, where I purchase all of my Thangkas and having a millet beer at the Double Dorje Restaurant (owned by a lovely Tibetan couple) it was time to say goodbye to them, the stupa and Kopan.

The best apple pie in all of Nepal. Well at least as far as I know. And what do I know.

Thongpa – fermented millet beer that you add boiling water to and drink thru a straw. A favorite of cold climates in this area. The black tape just holds the bamboo together and doesn’t effect the flavor. This beer has less alcohol than regular beer but it just seems to keep going and going and going. They give you a large thermos full of hot water to keep adding as the level goes down. It has a slightly bitter taste but nothing to complain about.

This is how a thangka painting starts out. It is hand drawn by a master painter. No grid lines. No stencil. All by experience and all by eye.

This is the master painter applying faces and extra fine detail. The other painters are not allowed to do this until they have been painting for many years.

My room this time at Tibet Guest House. I guess it pays to have people that remember you. I think this is a $55 a night room that I am paying $35 for.

Room 607 top floor. Not too bad!

The next time you will hear from me will be from Bhutan. I am really looking forward to this upcoming trip. I have heard some amazing things about Bhutan and the people.

The November course for this year has finished. It seems like it just started. I will be leaving for Bhutan on Dec. 9 and returning to Kathmandu on Dec. 16. I am not sure of the internet access there but I imagine it shouldn’t be a problem.

Kopan ants.

Lama Zopa long life celebration.

As a group we were all bused to Swayambhunath stupa. Probably the second most holy site in Kathmandu after Boudhanath stupa. We all circumambulated the site which took approximately one hour.

Baby Buddha

Nepali school boys.

Nepali school girls.

Stupa soccer.

Tibetan woman.

Boudhanath stupa.

Boudhanath stupa timelapse.

Himalayas behind the stupa.

Tibetans doing Kora. Every late afternoon, hundreds of Tibetans and others come to the stupa to do Kora’s and say mantras as they walk around the stupa. This is considered to be the holiest site in all of Nepal for Tibetan Buddhists.

Sunrise at Kopan.

Lots of mini monks.

Tibetan child and her mom wishing for peace in the world.

Tibetans in their finest clothes at the picnic after the long life celebration.

The best discussion group in the history of Kopan Monastery! Until proven otherwise……..

Yes it’s true! They have beer at Kopan. The only problem is, it’s made out of carbonated water, sugar and ginger. No hops, no malt and no alcohol! It is packaged in a can similar to a “real” beer can And it does say “beer” on the label. But there is no real “beer” inside. For those of you who know something about Tibetan Buddhism “it is merely labeled beer”. For the rest who don’t, I will explain when I get home. I’m not sure what the British were thinking when they came up with this name. (it is made in the UK).

Today was the last day of the Eight Mahayana Precepts. Every morning before sunrise, vows were taken for 24 hours. They were: to refrain from Killing, lying, stealing, sexual activity, taking intoxicants, sitting on high beds with pride, wearing jewelry and perfume, taking more than one meal a day and singing-dancing-playing music. This practice allows you to experience that abstaining from unwholesome action is the basis for developing many positive qualities.

Now most people didn’t have a problem with with some of these. But a lot of people had concerns about the one meal a day vow. It is eaten between 11am and 12 noon ONLY! No other meals, no snacks, nothing that you have to chew to swallow. Only liquids at all other times. In the end most people realized that it wasn’t that hard to do and actually made them realize that we think about food a lot and spend a lot of time based on food. Buying, planning, preparation, eating, cleanup, etc.

The other one that bothered some people was the vow concerning intoxicants. They consider smoking cigarettes an intoxicant. Which it is but so is caffeine. Which is in the coffee and tea.

The perfume vow. If you had deodorized deodorant (is there really such a thing?) you were okay to use it. Otherwise, not allowed. Showers and soap were allowed to everyones relief.

And lastly. The sitting on high beds with pride vow. This one dates back to whenever these precepts were started. Most people back then slept on the floor I guess. There aren’t any real high beds here so that wasn’t a problem. And whenever you sat on your bed you couldn’t imagine it as being yours and decorated with jewels and fine linen. When I would sit on mine, I would hunch my shoulders over a little and not smile.

Most people are looking forward to 3 meals a day, putting on gobs of makeup and perfume, smoking whatever, wearing all of their lavish jewelry and singing and dancing while bouncing on their beds! And I am going to drink 2 cans of Ginger Beer instead of one, just because I can.

Very large prayer wheel with billions of mantras inside.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived about a week ago and has been teaching for the last 4 afternoons. He had a stroke in 2011 and has recovered very well. It affected his right side and his speech. He actually speaks better now than before the stroke. He still has a slight limp but overall is in good shape.

In the past when he has spoken I could never understand his English. They have now added transcribing and projecting it onto a screen for all to see. Which has helped tremendously. And I can even understand some of his speech.

They don’t allow photos of him in the gompa but I hope to get some at the end of the course.

They also don’t allow photos of the monks eating in their dinning room. I know, I tried. It is the only place at the moment where you can see them all together at the same time.

On another note. In the past the smog and dust from the unpaved roads in the valley below, never used to make it up the hill to the monastery. Now it does. And has effected my eyes every day and leaves a thin layer of dust on everything. Bust hasn’t effected the peace and tranquility yet.

Lama Zopa is always stopping on his way from the airport to Kopan and saving goats from being slaughtered. This is where they live their life out. They even have their own stupa to circumambulate around. It is a short distance from the monastery and can be seen from the roof of the dinning hall.

Staircase to Nirvana (or to the roof of the dinning hall) depending on your point of view.

There is a small farm just below the monastery property that I have watched over the years. They do everything by hand. No machinery whatsoever. They turn the soil over with shovels and hoes. And pick all of the vegetables by hand. The small black piles are cow manure. I doubt that they have an organic certification but I can certify that they don’t use any kind of weed or bug killer and only use the freshest cow dung. Unless they spray at night, which I doubt.

These are the oldest rooms left at Kopan now. All of the older rooms have been slowly updated over the years. The younger monks stay in these rooms.

I heard that there was an earthquake here in Nepal. I didn’t feel it but others did. No damage in this area and I haven’t heard of any anywhere yet. We don’t get much news here. Well at least the westerners don’t or at least aren’t supposed to. A lot of the monks have cel phones and are on top of what is happening in the world. When I am online posting this blog I purposely don’t check the news.

I will be posting again in about 5 days or so. The entire group of us are being bused to the Boudhanath stupa on Dec. 4. So I should have an update then.

Thank you all for looking and the kind comments.

These monks are debating. The standing monk asks the sitting monk a question and the sitting monk has to come up with an answer. And sometimes the standing monks ask trick questions.

Answer the question if you can?

Waiting for a high Tibetan Lama from India to arrive.

Tibetan Lama from India.

In the center of the photo is the Nunnery as viewed from Kopan.

Catching up on the news of the day.

So!. What do you think?

Mini monk. And I think he didn’t like having his picture taken or he was having trouble getting his mala off of his wrist.

I am using a phone I bought here as a mobile hotspot to access the internet. The only problem is that the signal isn’t always available. So I have to continually check for it between teachings, meditation, lunch and discussion groups. And if I do get a signal, it is usually for 30 minutes or less. But it does work, kinda sort of. I just have to be prepared to upload when it is available.

5 discussion groups went to the nunnery today. They finally have some new accommodations for some of the nuns. Not all of them yet but they are building more. In the past they would have 4 nuns squeezed into a 12′ x 12′ space. (4 meters x 4 meters) The new gompa is being used now. It had some minor damage due to the earthquake a year and a half ago. Mainly cracks. There are beautiful paintings on the walls and the ceilings. And some really beautiful statues. 4 years ago when I was here they were working on it and they still aren’t done. They call it Nepali time. It will be done when it’s done!

I spoke with 2 of the young Nepali nuns for about 20 minutes. They were very polite and could speak English very well. All of their courses are in Tibetan so they also need to learn to speak and read Tibetan. Their day starts at 4:30 AM and ends at 10:30 PM! Do you know of any western students that have that kind of daily routine? I don’t. It has been proven to be a fact that the nuns are better students and practitioners than the monks are. I asked them about this and all they would say was “the monks are more naughty”. It is good to see that the nuns are finally getting nice accommodations and a beautiful large gompa. They deserve it.

Gompa and new housing.

This represents Buddha’s first teachings at Deer Park in Sarnath, India and is at the entrance to all Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries and on many of the buildings.

The altar in the gompa with 1000 arm Chenrezig statue in the background.

The ceiling is painted with very beautiful mandalas. All of them different from the other.

Dancing with death?

Statues

Buddha of Compassion – Chenrezig

Nepali Nuns

Let’s have a chat about the teachings

Back at the main monastery. Meditation class.

I wonder why they call the nun’s home a nunnery and they don’t call the monks home a m0nkery?

Up until today, it has been quiet on Kopan hill. Today the Hindu music started and was floating uphill all day. It is actually very nice to hear. In case one has forgotten that they are in a foreign country! Never mind all the monks, the statues, the stupas and 230 other foreigners that you are reminded of daily. They must have a very good sound system because it’s not distorted at all and you can clearly hear it. I imagine it has to be a least a mile away. Not my kind of dancing music though.

Tonight, as I do every night, I sat at the tables that are on the roof of the dinning hall. The moon is getting fuller daily (nightly?). There are some lights on the roof but they were off tonight so it made eating the vegetable soup kinda special. You can see all of the lights of Kathmandu and of the valley below on the other side of Kopan hill. Magical! They make their own peanut butter here and it is delightfully good. No attachment allowed (to the peanut butter) for those of you who know something of Buddhism.

My discussion group is made up of some very interesting people from all over the world. They are all “chair” people like me. And we sit at the same spot as I have dinner at. None of us can handle sitting in the “Lotus” position or anything close to it. We range in age from 22 to me. From the US, UK, Germany, Australia, Austria and India. We had an amazing discussion today based on women’s role in Buddhism and in particular world matters. With some insight into how women are treated in India and how it is slowly changing for the better. At least in the middle and upper classes at the moment.

I haven’t managed to get any photos of the young monks yet. We westerners took over their gompa and they have had to move to other buildings scattered around the hill. So we don’t see them much at all. Below are a couple of shots of the same stupas I took during the day that I previously posted.

Waiting for the Abbott to return from a retreat he was doing in Malayasia.

Older monks

Venerable Tingyel. Whom I have known for 8 years now. He is from Israel.

Ani Karin and Ani Fran talking with students. They have both been organizing November Courses for over 20 years now (probably closer to 30 years).

Ani Karin from Sweden. The temporary mother to course participants while they are here. She can fix any problems and has an answer for everything and why it is so.

The Abbott. In the photo just above the nun.

This is where we spend most of our time. Inside this beautiful gompa. I sit in a chair. No way are they getting me to sit on a cushion for hours. I would be stuck there for eons!

Lhama Lhundrup the Abbott of Kopan who passed in 2011 (or there abouts).

I was able to get the internet briefly so I thought I would post these before I lost it. I will try and post some of the 300 monks that live here soon.

The course has started but seems to not be structured very well at the moment. At least not compared to past courses. Soon to change I hear. Lhama Zopa, one of the founding Lhamas, is due to teach from Nov. 22 – Dec. 5.