For my Tibetan friends, these are days that must be similar to the way I felt when I was five-years-old and it was the night before Christmas.
Two days ago my friends gathered in their monastery in Seattle and received a teaching from Sakya Trizin Rinpoche (above,) one of the most revered spiritual leaders of Tibetan Buddhist culture. And tomorrow, most of the 300 Tibetans from Seattle will make the three hour drive to Portland, Oregon, where they will have an audience with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.
Even for an American like me, this is an exciting week. Since 2007 when Leah and I traveled to Nepal and camped for a few days among Tibetan refugees who had fled their homeland, I’ve been doing volunteer photography for the Tibetan community in Seattle. Leah and I have attended dances and dinners, we’ve eaten momos, and learned to love Tibetan butter tea. Better still, we have felt welcomed, embraced, maybe even adopted by our friends' community.
I too will make the trip to Portland to hang with this Nobel Prize-winning man of peace, the Dalai Lama.
Stay tuned.
