Diamond Way
 Karmapa In Kalimpong "Erm...Hello, er...Karmapa" Hardly the most profound thing that His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje has ever heard in his life, I`m sure. And certainly none of the other deep, meaningful and profound questions that I had been formulating over the previous few days decided to spring to my mind either. Anyways, after 4 months of traveling the backpacker trail around most of India, I finally found myself back in the small town of Kalimpong, in the beginnings of the foothills of the Himalaya. Kalimpong is a breath of fresh air after the rest of the tourist places I have visited. For starters it has no obvious tourist attraction, thereby saving me from having to endure yet another Lonely Planet Town where everybody wants to be your "Friend", get you in their rickshaw or sell you banana pancakes. In fact there isn`t even any rickshaws, the hills being too steep. So instead it`s populated by some normal folks who go about their daily business that doesn`t need to involve some random visiting skinny white fella. The hills are a cosmopolitan place, made up of people from Sikkim, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Gorkhas and Sherpas, and Indians of course. So I finally make it to Karmapa`s house. The guards inform me that I cannot see "Guruji" today, as they can`t find the guest signing in book. Things are done differently up here.The ever-reliable Svenja Schmidt from KIBI, the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in Delhi, informs me that I have arrived just in time: Karmapa leaves for Delhi in two days. So, with a day to spare not seeing Karmapa, or "His Holiness" as he`s referred to in these parts, a monk or two opens the Shedra gompa for me to meditate in; not an uninspiring place by any means. After some time left to my own devices, the monks studying at the Shedra return to continue their Buddhist debating class. This is not some quiet, meek practice; the monks argue loudly and with great enthusiasm. Of course, they completely ignore me, they are by now quite used to random people turning up wanting to meditate. The next day I return to Karmapa`s house for a private audience. Like I mentioned earlier, many ideas ran through my mind as to what particular profound questions I could ask him. As there was a bit of a queue (3 nice French folks), I had more time to sit and formulate further. On meeting His Holiness, and mumbling the aforementioned alleged "greeting", all questions vanished. I told him how much the UK Sangha had enjoyed his visit to London a few years ago, and asked him to pose for a photo for said UK Sangha (see below). Also, as nobody else in the place seemed to have any idea as to what he was going to be teaching about at KIBI, I asked the man himself. "Nothing special. Just how to generate Bodhicitta - the usual kind of thing". He seemed quite pleased at the prospect of it though. Meeting over, I headed for a shop in town which Svenja told me: "It looks like it only sells washing powder, but they also sell cheap flight tickets". Gulp, what could I be getting myself into...? Sure enough, the shop looked like Open All Hours or maybe one of those places in Communist Europe - loads of shelves behind a front counter. As I enquired about flights, a family of birds flew around above us, one of them shitting precisely on the counter in front of the guy answering my questions. Eventually I was invited into the back room to conclude the transaction. I told them they had been recommended to me by Svenja, and they informed me that not only did they regularly arrange her flights, but they also were Karmapa`s travel agents! Only the best for His Holiness...and the very next day I would be on the same flight as Karmapa, heading for a weeks worth of teachings in Delhi. With the afternoon spent meditating back at the Shedra, my only concern was when I opened my eyes at one point and noticed that some stray cats had followed me in and had managed to climb their way up to the offerings; meditation can be somewhat distracted when you have to get up every five minutes in order to chase cats out of the room. Ahhh...India!
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Diary Photos
| 5th Mar 2007 | |
| Karmapa's house and the Shedra | |
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| 6th Mar 2007 | |
| H.H. the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje | |
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| 6th Mar 2007 | |
| Kagyu entertains the locals | |
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| 6th Mar 2007 | |
| Manjushri, bodhisattva of Wisdom | |
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| 6th Mar 2007 | |
| Guru Rinpoche | |
| Indian master who brought the teachings to Tibet c.7th century. |
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