David goes to sMenri Monastery (Part 2)
We slept in until about 7:30 Sunday morning. Gyaltsen picked us up in the car at 8:20, took us to Nyima Dakpa Rinpiche’s apartment. We were then taken to see His Holiness, the Abbot of sMenri. His Holiness received us first in his prayer room; it turned out we had interrupted his morning prayer, but he called us in nonethelss. After giving us welcoming kataks, he invited us into his sitting room, which has a long table that seats 10 people easily. We sat down and began talking as if no time had passed since our last visit.
His Holiness’s attendant Sangye served us tea and cookies. Sangye is a monk who had been assigned to take care of me when I visited the monastery in 1991, and whom I met again in the summer of 2013 in Los Angeles when he was one of the attendants of His Holiness during his Los Angeles trip. Sangye has a big smile and good sense of humor.
We talked for nearly an hour. We spoke of the great changes that had occurred at the monastery and the BCH in the last 20 years. HH was interested to learn the latest news about all the people he knew in America. His conversation was, as always, interesting and his observations incisive, all delivered with great wit and laughter.
HH paid special attention to Jason. Jason mentioned how much he liked the monastery just from the small amount he had seen of it this morning. HH invited Jason to come back and spend a longer time here, perhaps three to four weeks, to learn more.
Write a comment: