The soft drone of monks' voices, chanting together in monotone in the Tibetan Buddhist monastery, went on for minutes, which, peacefully and serenely, blended into hours…
OM NAMO BHAGAWATE SARWA…
A Lama friend of mine offered a teaching Sunday, a Kunrig Empowerment, and the Seattle monastery was full to overflowing with students: Tibetans, other Asians, and Westerners.
"This teaching and the prayers we will say will be of great benefit to those who are suffering and sick," the lama told his students. "It will benefit all sentient beings." The lama had put out the word on Facebook -- my friend is, after all, a modern lama -- that his social media contacts could submit the names of individuals in need of prayer. That Facebook posting resulted in a list of nearly five hundred names, and even more names were coming in as prayers began.
I turned my camera shutter to "silent" and worked as unobtrusively as possible. The light in the monastery was incredible, and there were moments when the faces of the earnest students were practically glowing.
"Be kind to all beings," the lama told the students at the end of the nearly six-hour ceremony. "If for whatever reason you cannot be kind, at least do no harm."
