From Nunnery to Monastery

Today we left our retreat at Tek Chok Ling nunnery to visit and practice at the monastery of Pullahari. We took a bus up and out of the city of Kathmandu with its smog and vestigial roads and entered a regal and carefully kept environment, like the nunnery but on a much grander scale. We toured the buildings. We practiced Khenpo's Sadhana of Mahamudra (a text for cutting through the illusions of mind and therefore the sources of suffering) on the third floor of the gompa in the picture. Within our shrineroom was, among other things, a stupa that contained a piece of the 16th Karmapa's skull. I don't know if that is holy. I don't have any idea what is holy. But it gives a good idea of the importance of lineage in this tradition. The teachings are passed down personally from lineage holder to lineage holder, ever since the Buddha. And the lineage holders transmit the teachings personally to their students. And so the lineage holders are regarded as extremely precious. So, holiness aside, it was a very powerful situation to practice in. Truth to tell, however, I am glad to be back at the more modest nunnery. Because Khenpo is here and he is the embodiment of all the Buddhas. I would say he is said to be, but this is something I know, so I take the responsibility of stating it as a fact. E MA HO (That means "Ain't it wonderful?")

27 April 2019
Texas Jim
Kathmandu, Nepal
www.granitecoast.ca