Dharamsala, India

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  Dharamsala, India
Wednesday, July 4, 2007

dharamsala is located at around 5000 ft in the state of himachal pradesh.  it is similar to sedonna, az in its availability of spiritual pursuits.  yoga, reiki, tai chi, chi gong,  buddhist meditation including vipassana, ayurvedic studies, etc.  as mentioned in the last entry it is also home to the dalai lama.  he spends most of his time traveling around the world giving teachings and promoting tibet's cause.  as luck would have it he was arriving in town just a few days after we arrived.  actually we knew this and weighed the pros and cons of being there at the same time and decided in favor. 

since we found ourselves in the fortunate position of being in dharamsala/mcleod ganj during one of his scheduled teachings at home we decided to check attend. this meant registering with tibetan security and getting a id badge.  we also bought a radio to listen to the english broadcast of his teaching as he would be speaking in tibetan.  although we got up early we still found ourselves near the end of a long line cued up for security. it was very much like going to a concert.  the gompa (monastery) was packed.  we each had about 20square inches to sit on.  we caught a glimpse of him as we entered and despite the tight quarters which we could have avoided if we didn't want the potential view, the atmosphere was very tranquil and uplifting.  the monks served tibetan butter tea to all and we listened to our tiny fm transistor radio with earphones as the lessons were translated.  after the teaching h.h. departed and walked thru the crowd greeting us all.  he is very much worshipped much to his dismay i think.

although he would be teaching the next few days we decided we would get more out of some walks in the area and of course more yoga.  we did a nice walk to some of the nearby towns and were adopted by a dog as we started out.  we were joined by a few more as we went despite the fact that many encounters with other dogs were less than friendly.  soon we had a small pack.  we spent some time at a small lake before heading up to another town and some temples.  soon we were down to our original companion who proceeded to terrorize an old lady and her herd of goats.  we tried to explain that he wasn't really with us but she gave us a nasty glare and threw several large rocks that i wouldn't have guessed she could have lifted with surprising speed.  we hi-tailed out of there and continued on our journey.  on the way back we ran into another goat herder but luckily our friend was better behaved.  as we made out way back to town we stopped at a small tea stall and had some chai with a group that had just finished a 10 day buddhist retreat at a local site in the surrounding mts.  interesting to hear about their experiences and watch them as they enjoyed exercising their vocal cords after a long period of noble silence.  hmm...   our friend waited patiently and joined us when we left.  unfortunately we lost him before we reached town again.

other hi-lites from dharamsala included a delicious little northern (tandoori style) restaurant, a walk to another town and a waterfall, meditating at a shiva temple (amy gave an impromptu course) and the amazing views of local peaks when the clouds broke.  what a great spot!  couldn't get any better than this could it?

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