My monastery compasions: or the monks and the monkey
All of the nine monks here at the monastery have job titles. Highest in the hierarchy is our Lama, for having spent more than 3 years in a continual practice retreat, he most represents Dharma itself. As it happens, he comes from an esteemed family of gurus whose lineage goes back hundreds of years, and is worshipped in his remote mountain village. Just tonight he told us that when he was sent to Rinpoche's school, he didn't like being among lay children. He wanted to be a monk. So he escaped and went to see Rinpoche and asked if he could become one. Rinpoche said a monk required devotion, focus and determination, so to see if Lama had these qualities, Rinpoche told him to sweep the monastery clean for one year. "I did that everyday," he said. "I did my best without complaint. And in the end, Rinpoche said I could be a monk. I am so grateful for that time because I knew that all that sweeping was earning me merit that would grant blessings. I have been able to do so much to help so many people now and you are all here helping me. I know everything has come from that hard work. So doing chores is not a waste of time."
Closest to Lama's stature is our Khenpo, which means scholar, for he spent 7 years in academic study of Buddhist texts. Before he came here, he was a professor in Rinpoche's Dharma college. He is somewhat shy and awkward about not speaking very good English but there was nothing shy or awkward about him the night before last when I saw him in the kitchen with four other monks joyously preparing their favorite comfort food: noodle soup. Khenpo was smiling broadly and chatting nonstop in Tibetan as he stretched the dough and pinched pieces of it into the steaming broth.
In theory together the Lama as skillful means, and the Khenpo as wisdom equal enlightenment. In practice, nobody will eat before they do, nobody will prostrate in the shrine hall before they do, nobody will act without their permission.
At the next level is the umze, the chant master whose startlingly deep voice is amplified by a microphone to keep us in rhythm when we are praying. I think sometimes he looks at his watch and needs to be somewhere else soon because he can speed the chanting to bullet train speed, leaving someone like me desperately pursuing it from behind, panicked I will never catch up. His equal is the choppon, the ritual master responsible for making all the tormas, patrolling the prayer times with incense, offering the tormas and tending to the shiny array of objects on all the shrines. There is also the artist in residence who has a small studio where, now that he is finished with all the frescoes on the shrine room ceiling, he paints thangkhas, designs brochures, molds clay statues and tends to all interior and exterior designing, including the look of our bird sanctuary.
In a class by himself is our nyerpa, the kitchen steward who does all the food shopping, coordinating and cooking. Another monk is his assistant, waking early every other day to prepare the breakfast and sometimes helping with the dinner. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but these two kitchen monks are also the two who blow into the longhorns during out prayer practices.
The kitchen assistant is the gardener who has to tend the marigold beds out front. Sometimes he gets help from the handyman monk who changes light bulbs, cleans the shrine room, stows the texts and bangs the drum during our prayer sessions.
These eight have all been monks trained in Dharma since they were maybe 4 or 5 for it is a Tibetan tradition for each family to give their second son to the local monastery. At 18, they decide for themselves if they wish to stay on for life or get out. I'm sure when these guys enlisted, they had no idea they'd be the ones ferrying the Dharma to the West and representing it to so many Chinese people.
The ninth monk is relatively new at his profession. He volunteered for it maybe four years ago when, at about age 18, he graduated from Rinpoche's boarding school. He'd been a runt Nepali street waif the school took in and looked after with special attention. In his 12 years there, he became fluent in Tibetan and English as well as charming foreigners like me for he felt comfortable around us. In fact, every time a volunteer came to the school, he would step up to help and once they'd gone, he'd say he wanted to be whatever they were; a doctor, a dentist, video artist, a chef. But at graduation, he asked for permission to be a monk, for Rinpoche's great kindness had impressed him more. So here he is in maroon robes running the office, doing the scheduling, greeting visitors, giving tours, answering all the emails in Tibetan, Nepali or English, and simultaneously translating for the other monks when they teach.
More tomorrow, from me, the monkey ....
~Sandy Garson"Wordsmithing to attest how the Dharma saved me from myself!"
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Yours In The Dharma, Sandy Garson, Dharma, Buddhist, Buddhism, Spirituality, Religion
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posted by Sandy Garson @ 10:42 PM
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