It’s back to school time for my friends in college in Western countries. I hope, by this time next year, to be one of them. It is a big step for me to mention this online. I have felt longings to further my studies in the West many times during my shedra career. When I… Continue reading Looking West
After we graduate from shedra we serve the lineage for three years. This is my third year. I haven’t started teaching the texts I’ve been assigned, so I have some time to get ready (thank Buddha!). Last year I was asked to teach Uttaratantra. Something I found phenomenally useful was listening to and transcribing Khen… Continue reading A restless ramble about writing
Have my last few posts each been a promise to get back to this blog? I think they have been, I dare not go back and read them. It has that same feeling of listening to a recording of my own voice, not quite real, vaguely uncomfortable, and happy to avoid. I’m at the… Continue reading Tadpole
I’m back in Pharping, Nepal, for the third year in a row! This year is a bit different because I’m not translating, I am teaching.
Looks like coming back to Namdroling after a 10 month absence is what it takes to get me writing again! Being here, now, feels very special. It is clear to me that this is a blessed place, where practice and Dharma life arise naturally. I feel lucky to be here, and determined to spend my… Continue reading Back at the Mother Monastery!
Hi there. This is just a little note to say, “Yes, I am still here.” I thought that once I’d graduated I’d have a lot more to write on this blog, but it seems to be the reverse. Life after graduation is so… different… it takes some time to get used to. I will write,… Continue reading Still here
I wrote my last shedra exam on December 26th. My original plan was to travel to Bodhgaya with my classmates, celebrate our graduation and make prayers for world peace at the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo. That’s the thing about plans, I guess, sometimes karma takes us in another direction. On December 28th, I was asked to… Continue reading Life after graduation
On this, the anniversary of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s mahaparinirvana, I offer you a photo of the Guhyagarbha Mandala temple built by Khen Rinpoche Namdrol as a basis for the perfection of His Holiness’ enlightened activity. photo by Gero Garske
I don’t think the world will end on December 21st, 2012. That being said, I haven’t posted on this blog of mine for… oh dear, eight months! So, taking the possible end of the world as a lame excuse, here we are: This has been a weird year. I found out early on that I… Continue reading Just in case the world does end…
Someday soon, a friend of mine will become a nun. Meanwhile, in the last year, one monk friend disrobed, another nun friend also disrobed, and a certain nun who I never met not only disrobed but composed and publicized a scathing letter about what she thinks is wrong with the whole system of monasticism and… Continue reading Why do people quit?
While posting photos is something I intend to continue with, I thought I had better write a little something. Back in December I managed to get through yet another year’s final exams. It was, as always, a huge challenge and probably my most productive time of year. My subjects this year were: Key to the… Continue reading Study, practice, and my eighth year.
Inspired by much better blogs than my own, I’m going to post some little snippets of my daily life in photo form.
damchoe's nun sense 