Seems Like A Lot Happening

These last three days seem like they've been pretty full, while also leaving loads of time to do nothing at all, or waste time and energy watching Netflix old tv series that only contribute to stress and distress, or reading, sometimes something beautifully written but too disturbing to stay with, and sometimes something merely entertaining. I'm still in the adjustment period of leaving the US and being in India, which I may tend to forget actually requires considerable doing, in spite of the fact that we've been doing it now for some 7 years (excluding covid time). It's only been just over a week at Sherabling, and my historical re-orientation time is about 2 weeks all told.

It's not only the physical adjustment, which is still in process (diet, digestion, elimination, sleep, grounding ) but also the emotional shift. It's all familiar, and it's all perhaps getting harder, in Nancy's opinion because of the detox required from American craziness, which craziness seemingly gets more intense all the time, making the transition more of a challenging task. Safe to say that we're both experiencing our own versions of this challenge.

What is going on?

More and more fear and anger

US legacy

We've been to see Ani (nun) Yeshe Wangmo, the Tibetan Medicine doc at the local clinic here, and have been given herbs to help with the physical part. As well we've each had a round of three medical massages so far, me for lower back pain (which has been going on now for maybe 6 months and isn't improving, leading me to wonder about deeper causal factors, like maybe prostate cancer, for example, or disc degeneration, or ???) and Nancy for various upper body aches and pains, which treatment has included day long poultices as well. We'll keep on with these treatments and herbs while we're here.

Strong hands penetrate

shaking loose body's tight grip,

relax, breathe, receive

Then we did get to spend some private time with Situ Rinpoche, following a large group audience of Tibetans and Indians and another Westerner or two. We were told to wait while everyone received their head-touching blessing from Rinpoche, and a few people got to individually ask him a personal question, or have their babies blessed. Once everyone else had been tended to and the room was emptied we were brought up to sit with Situ for a while and hang out, or ask a question, or share whatever. Nancy never likes it when I talk about this because of her inherent modesty, but because she has been a devotee of Rinpoche since 1979 when she was here with a small group of  other Westerners, and when he was just coming into his own still in his 20's as was she, and just learning English and Sherabling consisted of only a small building with maybe 15 monks and an apartment for Rinpoche and a shrine room (it now covers some 30 acres with multiple buildings of various purpose, a large main shrine room, offices, apartments, a university, the medical clinic and old folks home, ancillary shrine rooms and retreat buildings and a small nunnery and work spaces and the Institute, which has maybe 100 rooms for students and guests, etc)..........she and this small group of Western students still have a special place in Rinpoche's heart, and always, when possible, receive some degree of favored attention when they can get here.

We hung out with him for maybe half an hour, talking about carbon foot prints, vegetarianism, taking lives in order to simply live on the planet, a bit about Jupiter (?), good things happening along with bad, and what have you. He didn't like Nancy to cry when she expressed the intensity of the grief she sometimes feels at all the suffering there is, opining that it didn't do any good other than maybe to moisten one's eyes! Both Indians and Tibetans often don't seem to like, or be comfortable with, that particular expression of emotion.

Out of our control

horrors and goodness alike

Appreciate life

In any case it was lovely to spend those few minutes with him before he heads off to Indonesia in a few days to give teachings, before returning to Sherabling for his late November teachings here. We hope to be able to see him again somewhere in November, maybe before the teachings begin.