India 3: Tibet in Dehradun

February 10 - 14

While in Dehradun visiting our friend Jayant Gupta we also visited Tibet. We went to the vibrant Tibetan settlement.

We'd heard that Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche had just died, but we didn't know that he was still in samadhi, sitting up straight, surrounded by his people, and that he wouldn't be considered really dead until he fell over, which could happen soon, or not for a couple weeks. The presence of thousands of followers sharing in the rituals going on around him meant that we couldn't go to the main stupa, so we visited Jayant's friend the weaver and his wife instead.

The couple lived in a small room mostly filled with an elaborate altar stacked with neat piles of baked offerings for the lama. After a requisite sharing of some whiskey, the weaver showed us some of his things: his drums, his yellow dragon hat, and his flute made of a bone. He played for us and he chanted, blessing us over and over again. It was soon evident that this humble man was much more than a weaver. We went to the temple and saw the special dice used for divination and the ancient book of interpretations. We were there for a long time, taking in the sounds and colors of Tibet.



By the time we left, I think we all felt as honored as if we'd had the darshan of the lama himself. And perhaps we had.