Seven weeks in Little Tibet

I realise that this blog can no longer be chronological.  It's been over 3 months now since I arrived in Nepal again and so many things have transpired that I figured it would be impossible.

I do still, however, have a few things to share, so to get my writing rhythm on again here's a highlight.

A pretty amazing thing happened when we moved to our new digs near Boudha.

This part of town is typically Buddhist, so there are lots from the Tamang and Sherpa ethnic groups, together with a huge amount of Tibetan.  Though still in Nepal, it feels like its own little world apart.  The streets and markets are much cleaner, there's less noise and even the homes are immaculate.  We've been told it's because they will earn good karma.  Whatever the reason, it's very pleasing on the eye.













One day Hisako and I saw a moving sale advertised at Boudha.  The advertisement was mostly written in Tibetan with a couple of English words such as: 'fridge', 'couch', 'carpet', so we decided to check it out.  After several broken conversations in Nepali we managed finally to find it.  It was next door to a monastery and the inhabitants were Tibetan Lamas* who spoke only a small amount of Nepali and no English.  We didn't find anything, but they still insisted on giving us tea, and shortly after two other men arrived.  The younger of the two spoke some English and asked us what we were doing in Nepal.  I was for a moment intimidated by the abundance of saffron and maroon and other Buddhist paraphernalia dazzling every glance, but finally gulped it down and replied slowly, 'we are Bible students, we teach the Bible.'

 I don't know what I was expecting exactly, perhaps to be politely told: 'you have no business,' or worse yet, to be unceremoniously kicked-out.  To my surprise however, he replied: 'actually, I want to learn Bible.  There are 10 things in Bible, right.'  It took a few seconds to get passed the shock and grasp what he was talking about: the 10 commandments.

He asked for my number, so we exchanged, and yet all the while the sceptic in me doubted his sincerity.

A problem we face at times in Nepal is the 'bideshi^ novelty factor', ie. white-skin also arouses interest (I know, right, the entire Western world wants a tan, and these guys are using moisturises like 'Fair & Lovely' to get exactly the skin tone I've rebelled against my entire life).  So not everyone is interested in our message so much as they are in us.    

The next day, however, my doubts were quelled somewhat when he messaged: 'Do you remember me, I am Lobsang, I want to learn the Bible with you.'  Pause.  'Ahhh ok. I guess I could help you out with that...'

I wasn't sure if our initial study would just be a comparative religious session but I was again surprised to find that he only brought up Buddhism if I asked him directly about it.

At the beginning of the BT book it talks about why it good to ask questions. One of the reasons being, it helps to satisfy our curiosity.  As Lobsang's English isn't 100%, we often need the ever-so-useful, intercessor: English>Tibetan>Chinese dictionary.  The moment, however,  he found 'curiosity' in the dictionary was very touching. He was very excited at the revelation and pointed eagerly at the word in the BT book saying: 'yes! I'm this, I'm very curious about Bible.'  It is now his favourite word, and has consequently become a favourite of mine.

Cut forward a few weeks and he is showing us some photos of his hometown in Tibet.  I notice in one photo that he addressing a small crowd of people sitting crossed-legged apart from him on the ground.  When I asked him what was happening, he scratched his head, smiled and said, 'actually they believe I am incarnation...'  He then went onto explain that he is the youngest of 10 children, and when he was 5 years old, lamas came to his family home and recognised him as a reincarnation of an important lama.  His parents then sent him to a monastery to become a lama.

Yep, very 'Kundun'** right?  I thought I was watching a documentary for a second.  Especially when he said: 'they believe I am lama, but I have no memory of passed life...'  When he was 15 he decided he didn't want to live as a lama anymore and to his parents grief left the monastery.

In Buddhism, though they have a plethora of gods, they technically do not have a sense of a personal creator.  So from the outset I explained that when we speak of God in our study we are referring to the Creator.  He was very honest and said that he was undecided about the existence of a creator but still wanted to learn.

Just the other day he asked for a sister visiting to take some things back to Australia for him.  I jokingly said: 'as long as it's not illegal...'  He didn't get the joke, instead he protested that it wasn't anything illegal and then (icing on the cake) said: 'I wouldn't do that, because I believe in Jehovah!'  Maybe I'm reading into it, but I feel like that's progress.

At the end of our study this week I asked him if there was anything which he'd like me to pray for, he said: 'pray that Jehovah brings the new world soon'.  Amen to that brother.

* Lama - Buddhist guru
^ Bideshi - foreigner
** Kundun - film about the life of the 14th Dalai Lama