So I haven’t really posted much lately. Everything is starting to feel routine, like this is really my life. I guess I should try to catch up a little bit though. Since spring break, we met the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa. I think I probably don’t need to explain who the Dalai Lama is, but I’ll explain who the Karmapa is, since he’s not as famous. The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu sect, which is the largest of the Kagyu sects. There are four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug (the Dalai Lama is Gelug). The Karmapa lineage is actually older than the Dalai Lama lineage. The first Karmapa was born in 1110, and now it’s the seventeenth (This Dalai Lama is the fourteenth in his line).
So the day we met the Dalai Lama, we had a meeting in the morning to prepare questions to ask him (we were told that we could ask him three questions). After the meeting we had about an hour before we had to meet again to go down to his residence. We all went our separate ways to run errands, eat lunch, get dressed, etc. Also during that hour Steve got a call saying that the Dalai Lama was sick that day so our meeting was being moved up by a half an hour. Steve ran around town and found most of us. I, however, had made the mistake of going out to run errands before putting on my nice clothes, so I was trying to put my chupa on as quickly as possibly (I can proudly say that I can put on a chupa all by myself, but I can’t do it very quickly). Anyway, eventually most of us had gathered and were ready to go, so we left the Om to head down to His Holiness’s residence. Unfortunately, Steve had not found Will, Josh, or Kyle, so none of them were there. I freaked out a bit, but all three of them arrived while we were still waiting in the security line, so that was good. When we got in, we walked up to his residence. We all got to shake his hand, and he talked to us for a little bit (unfortunately we didn’t get to ask our questions). It was really cool though. Also, he was wearing white flip-flops. I don’t really know why that’s important, but I was amused.
We went to see the Karmapa the next day. He’s actually my age (he was born in 1985 or 1986 I think). He escaped from Tibet when he was around thirteen, I think. He’s kind of under house arrest right now. I’m not really sure what’s going on there, but I know that he’s one of the few incarnations that both the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama agreed on, so I think it doesn’t look good for the government that he decided to escape to India. That’s what I’ve heard anyway (most of my information about anything here usually comes from listening to other people’s conversations). Anyway, it’s kind of intense to realize that we’re around the same age. We got to ask him the questions that we prepared for the Dalai Lama also, so that was pretty cool.
Since those two meetings, classes ended, independent research started, Eva and Will both went home (actually Eva left in the time between the two meeting technically), and Tom, Taylor, Diana, and Alex have all left to go to their independent research. Also, Julia, Lucy, Marissa, and I moved to a new hotel. Marissa and I are on the first floor facing the valley and on the other side of the valley are the mountains. It’s a beautiful view. Also, now we have our own bathroom, a fan, and a tv in the room, and the mattresses are actually pretty nice (amazing compared to all the other mattresses I’ve experienced in this country so far), so I’m quite content. It’s strange to think that the program is going to end so soon though. On May 23, we’re all going to meet again and hike up to Triund for the program wrap-up, on May 26, a bunch of us are taking an overnight bus down to Delhi, and on May 28, I get on a plane to London. It all seems so soon. I’m going to be so sad to say goodbye to everyone though. I’ve already had to say goodbye to two and that was too much. It won’t be the end of India for me though. After two weeks of exploring Europe with Amy, if I can get all the flight stuff sorted out, I’ll come back to Delhi. I got a grant from Swarthmore to continue my research, so I’ll be back in India, and the visa stuff and transportation and all that work out, hopefully I’ll be able to go to Nepal and Tibet also, so cross your fingers for me, and let me know if you want to travel with me. Traveling with other people is always more fun. I guess that’s all I have for now. I have a few more pictures to post, so hopefully I’ll get that to work next time I go online.