"I have enough time to rest, but I don't have a minute to waste". Come and catch me with your wise words and we will have some fun with our words of wisdom.
A resembling picture I randomly picked from the net
My grandfather is one of the few Tulkus we have in our region. He is a monk with few words, and duly does his daily rituals. He enjoys chanting prayers all day long with his musical ritual items. He was not only revered and respected by the people around his locality, but people from a distant district come to see him and regularly seeks his advice and blessings.
He was the one who taught me the Tibetan alphabet. Tibetan script was developed into its present form as early as the 7th century by Thonmi Sambhota, one of the ministers of 33rd King Songtsen Gambo. He was sent to India to learn, and he returned with a Tibetan script based on the Sanskrit script.
My grandfather constantly pushes me to practice my Tibetan calligraphy on a wooden plate. I must have gained a great knowledge in Buddhism and perfectly putting the Tibetan script in different styles if I were lucky enough to stay a little longer under his training and tutoship. But unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough and had to leave him and others in the same year I left my country. When he is happy, he tells us the tales from the great epic Ling Geser Gyalpo, to which I am fond of listening, and sings the poems in a great rhythm. To my utter surprise and astonishment, he got a permanent bulb-like bump on his head, and he choose not to share how the bump was developed. Out of my curiosity, I often ask him about the same and touches it when he wears a smile on his face. But I wasn't a lucky kid who had the priviledge of understanding all the things they have gone through. Later on, I understood that he was beaten by the Chinese soldiers during the culutral revolution in Tibet that destroyed more than 97% of the monasteries and nunneries and disrobed 93% of the monks and nuns. If I knew about the same when I was with him in Tibet, I would have annoyed him with endless questions.Some of the people whose name still lingers in my mind were Tsering Losar, Sonam Rinchen and Phakpa, etc. Who suffered the same fate under the Chinese repressive policies.
Sadly, my grandfather passed away few years back, and I send him some prayers from the Land of Lord Buddha for a swift rebirth.
By Sonsnow
* "tulku" is an honorary title given to a recognised reincarnate Lama
I have just written a blog about my father. We become who we are through the experience of our elders and only realise much later, often too late, how profoundly they taught us by merely being outstanding humans. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your insight. Please do share me your blog about your father. I tried to reach your blog, but couldn’t manage to find it. Yes, we have so many things to learn from our elders. Unfortunately, I have missed the opportunity, and I won’t be seeing them all even if I get back to my Homeland.
I shall do my best to share. Yes. We are all somehow exiled from our homeland, even when it is not even a country, but only a patch of infertile land hidden now under rubble.
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So touching. I wish your grandfather a quick rebirth, too. And, I hope you find that person and teach him or her all that your grandfather taught you.
Thank You Mary, I see a lot of people buying the singing bowls, although I personally never had the experience of listening the soothing sounds before going to bed. I will surely try it.
It is amazing what individuals have lived through! I can relate to your desire to ask questions and know more. I have new questions nearly daily. I did not ask enough questions when my parents were here. Now, there is no one left to help me to know most of the answers I seek.
I wish you had more time with your grandfather in this life.
Thank You Dawn, for taking your time to read it and sharing your kind thoughts. Our parents and elders will go by, but their blessings and the memories will live by our side. We have to cherish it and live up to their guidance.
You are welcome. The reading was interesting, my pleasure. When I speak at my father’s ‘Celebration of Life,’ I am going to slip in there, advice to the younger generations to think on questions today, ask them, and write of them. I hope our young ones will care for or respect our elders enough to keep memories and stories, but this may require they place their phones down to do so with their hearts.
You obviously were prevented from spending further time with your grandfather. But you still have some precious memories that you can continue to cherish.
Thank you, Sonam, for the inspiring and beautifully told story!
Joanna
Thank You Joanna for going through it.
I have just written a blog about my father. We become who we are through the experience of our elders and only realise much later, often too late, how profoundly they taught us by merely being outstanding humans. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your insight. Please do share me your blog about your father. I tried to reach your blog, but couldn’t manage to find it. Yes, we have so many things to learn from our elders. Unfortunately, I have missed the opportunity, and I won’t be seeing them all even if I get back to my Homeland.
I shall do my best to share. Yes. We are all somehow exiled from our homeland, even when it is not even a country, but only a patch of infertile land hidden now under rubble.
I hope that works.
So touching. I wish your grandfather a quick rebirth, too. And, I hope you find that person and teach him or her all that your grandfather taught you.
Thank You for your good wishes. I hope I can manage to pass the legacies to the generations to come.
Sonam, you have a fascinating and rich lineage. I often fall asleep to recordings of Tibetan singing bowls.
Thank You Mary, I see a lot of people buying the singing bowls, although I personally never had the experience of listening the soothing sounds before going to bed. I will surely try it.
Lovely post about a lovely man. Thank you.
Thank You Alan for stopping by by site.
Beautiful story. Brought tears to my eyes.
Thank You Ed Lehner for going through it and sharing tears with me.
What the Chinese have done in Tibet is a scar upon the face of humanity that will never heal.
Thank You for the solidarity message, it’s so true.
https://sonsnow.in/2021/12/24/why-are-you-so-silent/
It is amazing what individuals have lived through! I can relate to your desire to ask questions and know more. I have new questions nearly daily. I did not ask enough questions when my parents were here. Now, there is no one left to help me to know most of the answers I seek.
I wish you had more time with your grandfather in this life.
Thank You Dawn, for taking your time to read it and sharing your kind thoughts. Our parents and elders will go by, but their blessings and the memories will live by our side. We have to cherish it and live up to their guidance.
What a moving tribute and wonderful sketch!
Thank you Cindy for stopping by my site. It’s my pleasure!
You are welcome. The reading was interesting, my pleasure. When I speak at my father’s ‘Celebration of Life,’ I am going to slip in there, advice to the younger generations to think on questions today, ask them, and write of them. I hope our young ones will care for or respect our elders enough to keep memories and stories, but this may require they place their phones down to do so with their hearts.
This piece resonates with me. Thank you, Sonam 💜
It’s my pleasure, thank you for stopping by my site.
You obviously were prevented from spending further time with your grandfather. But you still have some precious memories that you can continue to cherish.
Thank You for the kind word. I hope the time will come soon enough to make more beautiful memories back at my home in the rest of my life.