Moving on...headed south

Leaving the sweetness of Dharamsala was the hardest departure yet. I was incredibly torn about whether or not to stay... forever, or move on and fill my remaining 2 weeks India with other sights, and eventually head back to the reality of the states, and maybe even working, yikes! Where I was living for 2 weeks in Mcleod Gang there are so many opportunities to really get immersed into the culture and have a positive impact with the refugees who really need support.

I went to a few English conversation classes for Tibetan refugees and just hung out and talked for hours. Each one was so open about their deepest feelings and experiences about the Chinese occupation and about their culture and family lifestyle back in Tibet. It's quite common for the rural villagers to have between 9-14 children, and for 3 brothers to share the same wife and to all live together. Busy wife. They do this ultimately as a result of poverty and lack of resources, as having more wives would mean more houses, food, etc. Sonam showed me a picture of him and his family of siblings and his 3 fathers, he doesn't know which one is really his dad or his uncle. Some things just aren't that important I suppose.

Over the last week His Holiness the Dalai Lama was holding the Mind and Life conference at his main temple. The focus was on how modern psychology and science can be supported by Buddhism. The public were not allowed into the conference itself, but I watched a live video feed of H.H. talking with a bunch of western scientists. The coolest thing he said was that even if we are Buddhist we should not be biased from that perspective. The only way to understand someone else is to forget who we are and try to look from their perspective. I just wanted to hug him.

I left this gem in the mountains at dusk in a thick rainstorm. The overnight bus was as uncomfortable as to be expected, and I tried not to notice the driver smoking spliffs all the way to New Delhi. Winding dirt roads, mostly downhill, and then a random 3am stop for chai. Hey, really just another opportunity for chanting. I arrived in one piece, and with the peace of mind that Delhi would be taking good care of me.