So one more Xmas then

Qatar and Niceties

Last day Doha, Qatar.  Had a beautifully nice class here with people of varied backgrounds: Lebanese, Qatari x 2, Indonesian and Indian.  Small class and lots of discussions.  As a matter of fact we solved all world problems during our lunches! SOOOOOO nice to meet a young Qatari MAN who had his  head held high with a LOT of common sense and understanding .. I so wish that gender equality finally reaches these shores, so that a more relaxed relation would be possible for the young and the brave.
Meanwhile here is a pic:

Meet Valdemar, 12 weeks

Lucifer has joined Amy...

With great sadness in my heart - in our hearts - I must announce that the temple dog Lucifer, the bodhisattva dog par excellence has passed to better grounds.
May he be reborn as the bodhisattva he aspired to be... love him to bits.... miss him tons.

May we remember him from his hey-day - photo from 2004 - and may we remember the dog that dared to play with the cat Ruth and almost win.  May we remember him before he became lame and deaf and blind, may we also keep in our hearts how swiftly he passed to - I swear - DEWACHEN to get some excellent teachings!  

My sweet temple dog, Carla's diabetes dog and the whole family Vestin's favorite all-time pug.

Rest in Peace - and do come back as the bodhisattva you are.

Lucifer - our Sweet number 2 Dog

Lucifer - this marvellous, beautiful and absolutely charming creature - is at the end of his life.  He is stumbling, falling down, peeing on himself and furthermore blind, deaf and probably in pain.  And LOVELY and still HAPPY and still the most LOYAL dog ever. I am torn.  Does he need to be relieved of this suffering? Oh - I am so torn - so torn...

OM MANI PEME HUNG

Been to Jämtland -- beautiful mornings indeed

Some Pictures from the wonderful time in BYLAKUPPE

Arnolds dikt...

Black dog stands at the gates of eternity. Whispering unkown secrets.
The way beyond is a journey the soul makes alone, but the past is filled with love. Night silence for eternity, soon the next journey is at hand. Loved black dog at the gates of eternity, forever you'll find yourself amongst the veil of thought.

r.i.p. finaste amy 

Amy - Queen Amidala of NERUP Vestin - our dog of almost 15 years..

Has just left this earth.

Our kids - with Carla being in charge - have been a tremendous help.  I am sure she felt the presence of us - eventhough we (Staffan and myself) are here, in Kathmandu...

Igår...

Today – a day for reflection and study.

Shamar’s death and subsequent cremation really touched me.  More than I thought it would.

Karmapa also.

Serious business.

Bless them both – and I do pray for all the bodhisattvas to remain… they really really help us.  Strange, but true.

Shamar - do come back!

Impermanence. It takes 4 hours to disintegrate a body. He is home now.

Nothing can do it justice. Nothing. Majestic, sorrowful – at the same time peaceful.  He is home now.

The smoke did a turn in four directions and then proceeded to go straight up, engulfing the canopee above in a big flame. While the smoke was turning directions without any perceivable wind being present, a so called flower rain fell and a swarm of birds did a perfect Khora around the pillar of smoke, finally settling on the roof of the retreat building behind the stupa.

Shamarpa – you will be sorely missed, please come back soon.  Come back soon!

Phew... bills paid

PLUS MINUS = 0  -- phew

End of Week 5

I am tired, but not overly exhausted. THIS time, all goes a bit smoother than 2012, when I started this blog, in anticipation of a summer course of Colloqouial Tibetan...  (spelling?)

So what goes smoother? A prior knowledge of the letters amongst other - and foremost a great teacher,  Lara Bratstein, and wonderful delegates with humour. Only 9 of them.

And last but not least: my husband.


HOWEVER - I am NO longer interested in putting myself in this third-world situation, however, intriguing it seems in the beginning. NOR am I particularly impressed by Tibetans as a whole. Yes, they are a lot more organized than the rest of Kathmandu, it seems, and there is a lot to be admired about the tenacity of translations, the thoroughness of all all they have done for the survival of authentic Dharma.. for that I am eternally grateful.  But, as everyone else - people are people, and all sorts indeed. Nothing better nothing worse. Possibly this macho-shit is worse. But that you find everwhere anyway.

For me - this is it. From now on, I will stay in comfortable places and PRACTICE my little (?) ass off  - feel ready to do so finally...

pussOkram to everyone!

One Day before the MIDTERM

Intrestingly enough, I did not get panicky until the fourth week this time. I am reading a lot better, but not perfect and out of the roughly 250 Dharma words we have to use and know, I know about half. Getting a bit - a tiny bit - better, I think.

Så här ser det ut när man pluggar

- ie studying my way for the midterm.... 

#tibetan #studies #RangJung Yeshe

Kathmandu Special

The weeks fly by.  All of a sudden we are almost middle of week 4.  The pressure is definately on.  I am not as stressed as last time, but the pressure is ON.  Classical Tibetan is like doing Suduko - figuring things out to be able to understand.

Staffan is working really really hard.  At first very grumpy-ly but now, he says, he feels he is pushing his boundaries and is achieving something.
More than I can say about myself འདག་རང་


Shamar Rinpoche will be cremated here on the 31st - I hope to be there...

Swayambhu!!!!! ... AND RAIN - finally!

The Rain FINALLY came, last night. That made the trip to Swayambhu (see my picture blog - http://pix.denizen.se for pictures of the day!) barable. 

I am told it is only 12 degrees warm in Stockholm and that I should enjoy the moist heat of Kathmandu - and sure do... sure do.

Monday Morning

-- the fan has been on all night...
and yesterday was STUDY day.  I did catch some good pictures though, of the monks and the lay people doing a full day CHÖD practice at the gompa.
All pictures can be seen on http://pix.denizen.se -- but here are a couple:

Chöd - the Practice of Machic Labdrön, a female Yogi (Yogini) - and STRONG PRACTITIONER!

Monks bring Tsog (food and drink to be offered and eaten) during the ceremony.

Lazy - NO! - Sunday.

It is almost 15:00 and we haven't been out yet. Studying away like little pig-dogs.
This time I have decided to go easy on myself, and not overdo all the things I want to do, but instead favour my studies.
SO ... now back to བོད་  and grammar...

Saturday - day off..

Had a nice merlot yesterday in honor of Midsummer, ate rice and veggies, Staffan had Momos.  So a little bit of festivities was evident.
Called dad (granpa to the kids).  He was happy and up beat.  Good.

Today, we will venture to Grand Hyatt, the gym and the pool. I will bring my camera too, so that I can take some shots on the way, hopefully.

Yesterday I was looking at jewelry for the kids - found suitable things for all three. Got a big dorje-pendant for Arnold, who seems to be breaking most of his malas (too much party in the dude still).

I leave you with a very beautiful picture of Karmapa Thinley Thaye Dorje praying in front of the casket of Shamar and a picture of Karmapa coming in to the German Center (not my pictures - I believe it is Thule Jug's pictures):

Beautiful, beautiful Karmapa

In front of the casket... Om Ami Deva Hri...

Ah - nothing much to say this midsummer... however,

Yesterday I took this picture of the shedra:

"Our" Shedra, or monastic college..

Switched from Intermediate Colloquial Tibetan to Classical

I think it was a good move.   Firstly, I get myself a repetition and a deepening understanding of what I already know. For instance, today we had to read, whether we understood or not.  VERY useful.
Secondly, the second teacher, Cynthia, was extremely pedagogical.
BTW - not only is the original teacher a Shamar-student, Cynthia is also བདེ་ཅན་སྒྲོལ་མ་ which is pretty amazing a coincidence.  Meant to be....

GOD MORGON!

The day before all starts...

We live comfortably, indeed.  It is clean, cozy and relatively secluded - in the middle of Boudha, within the compound of the White Gompa.

lejonen utanför själva templet

We had Rinpoche, Johanna, Svea and Ulrika over for tea this afternoon. I bought some pastries in a café at the stupa and managed to spill coffee all over the kitchen.

Before that, I went to the Grand Hyatt, did a 35 minute workout (strength), and went for a short swim. Then sauna (as if I need it in this heat) - and then home.  Staffan was studying all day.

Tomorrow the whole thing starts for real.  I am very happy I switched to Classical Tibetan - intermediate colloquial would have been painful....

Den här bilden är jag rätt stolt över - eftersom
jag själv tagit den. Shamar framför vårt altare i oktober, 2012.

We have had a week full of .. auspicious things... Shamar's death  - so sudden, and unexpected, made me dig for photos of his visit in Sweden.  The picture above is a nice one, I think...

enda bilden med mig och Shamarpa, samt emellan oss Lama Chopel...
tittandes ut över Stockholm's hamn

How we live!

Our bedroom

The Fishies

vardagsrums-altare

Livingroom

Outside our kitchen

Arrived Kathmandu

Hot hot hot + intensive showers.

Very intensive first day.

Sönam assures me I will be ok in intermediate class.... I sure hope so.. A bit scared.  Staffan tired, but otherwise ok.  

Staffan guided and helped this lovely American couple

He, Luther, a world war II veteran ( he had been EVERYWHERE) and, she, Connie, a chic ex-highschool teacher.  Lovely couple.

Took some pix yesterday.. Finally spring has sprung!