Seeing Tradition

One evening nearly every month members of the Tibetan community in Seattle gather in their Buddhist monastery,  and, in the language of their homeland, recite prayers for world peace, for good health for their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and for their countrymen still living in Tibet.

The Tibetan community here is vibrant, and, in addition to monthly prayers, there are other kinds of cultural events as well.  A week from now, for example, there will be a concert of modern Tibetan music.  And there are also observances of Tibetan holidays…and of the Dalai Lama's birthday…and traditional ceremonies  to celebrate marriages, or to mourn a death.

The prayers, however, strike me as a kind of centerpiece for the community.  In the eight years now that I have been photographically documenting Tibetan culture in the Pacific Northwest, I have only missed monthly prayers a very few times. 

The prayers are low-key and quiet, admittedly not even a blip on the radar of all that goes on in "big city"  Seattle. 

Nevertheless,  I have seen that gatherings like these bind a community together. 

Tibet Fest 2016

I wonder how often we Americans stop to realize how lucky we are: That we can stand on a street corner shouting grievances we might have about our government; that we can freely practice our religion of choice; that we can assemble and march in parades and celebrate American culture…or German or Japanese traditions…or whatever strikes our fancy.

There are, of course, many countries in our world where citizens can do none of the above without fear of being tossed into jail, or worse.  My Tibetan friends tell me that in Tibet they cannot even possess a picture of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

I spent Saturday and Sunday photographing Tibet Fest, held for 21 years now a stone's throw from the iconic Space Needle at the Seattle Center. The event is part of Seattle's "Festal" program which celebrates various world cultures that are parts of Seattle's melting pot human makeup.

The event is colorful, and wonderful, and I was proud of Seattle for hosting celebrations like this.

Opening Doors

It's been eight years now that I've been photographing the community and culture of the 300-or-so Tibetans who live in the Seattle area.  It is a photographic project for which I can't imagine an "end point."

I feel as if I'm in a dream, walking around with my camera in an ancient and amazing,  treasure-filled palace. Each door I open in the palace leads to a discovery, something  beautiful or new to me, and almost always surprising.

I learned recently that one of my Lama friends at the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Seattle has taken up painting. My friend, Tulku Yeshe Rinpoche,  is already a respected poet and writer and I have read the English translations of a number of his books. His creativity is boundless.

Tulku la's paintings seem, to my eye at least, far beyond what one would expect from a "beginner." He allowed me to photograph him as he worked on a painting of the Potala Palace, for 300 years the home of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa, Tibet.  The current Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in 1959 and lives in exile in India. The Potala palace is now a museum and a World Heritage Site.

As I consider the photographs I'm posting today, I wonder whether Tulku la has the same dream that I have? ... that he, too is walking around in an incredible palace, full of neverending discoveries.

Momos and Fire Monkeys

BIG FUN is in the offing -- one of my fave holiday celebrations of the year -- and (lucky me!) I'll be attending a party that most Americans miss.

No, I'm not talking about the Super Bowl!

Two weeks from now my friends in the Seattle Tibetan community will celebrate Tibetan New Year, Losar, and -- trust me! -- it is always WAY BETTER than sitting in front of a TV set, watching some dumb football game.

Last Sunday I dropped by the Tibetan Language and Culture class that the Tibetan community holds for its kids. The class began, as most Tibetan events do, with a prayer for health and longevity for the the Dalai Lama. Then the parents and kids got down to the business of making momos, Tibetan dumplings, for the Losar party.

Stay tuned to this space on the web. Yes, ESPN and CBS might be hyping their coverage of this Sunday's Super Bowl, but in the coming two weeks I promise to be your go-to source for EXCITING Seattle Losar coverage of the Year of the Fire Monkey!

 

Aspirations

Every month my Tibetan friends gather at their Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Seattle and offer prayers for the well-being of others, for long life for their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and for peace.

Peace. With all that has been going on in our world recently,  prayers for peace sounded good to me.

As you can see here, I generally "participate" in the monthly prayers by taking pictures -- for eight years now, photography has been my ongoing contribution to the Tibetan community here. Heck, for my entire adult life photography has been my voice.

At Saturday's prayers, however, there came a point when I put my cameras down, closed my eyes, and silently became one with my friends' aspirations.

Peace.

Side Trips

For those of us who are photographers, a visit to New York City entails a number of must-do side trips: The Modern Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography, and the Leica Gallery are always high on my list.

Additionally, as a photographer/human of the Cameras Consumeras species, I simply have to spend a few hours in B&H Photo, the camera store equivalent of Paradise, in my humble opinion.

I was in NYC recently  (also called Juh Ci-tay by a four-year-old I met on the plane who cannot pronounce "New York, " and, for some reason, that hipster-ish name tickled me. ) I went to photograph one of the global celebrations of the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama, but I was so busy shooting that I didn't have time to gallery-hop and see the work of others. I did, however, find a few moments to stop at B&H Photo (it was only three blocks from the Javits Center, where the Dalai Lama event was held.) I shot a phone selfie (above) with a street photographer outside the store.

Once the two-day Dalai Lama celebration had concluded, a Tibetan lama friend and I also made a trip out to Long Island, where my friend gave a talk about meditation. The images below were shot that day.

I'm back in Seattle now, readjusting to life in the land where everyone carries a daypack, even suit-wearing lawyers headed to the office,  or cultured types on their way to a symphony concert.  But I must admit that I am kind of missing Juh City.

A return trip MUST be scheduled.

"Tenshug" in New York City

So here's kind of a surprise and something my Tibetan Buddhist friends might say is an "auspicious" way to start your week:

I wrote in my last post that Tibetans were excited because the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday was coming up; but what I didn't write was that I made a trip to New York last week to photograph one of two North American birthday parties held in his honor (another event was held in Los Angeles which would have been a shorter flight for me, but for a variety of reasons I opted to go to New York.)

I only got back to Seattle a matter of hours ago and I have not actually even downloaded my camera memory cards yet, so of course I have not done a thorough edit. But the images I'm posting here today are frames that jumped out at me as I reviewed my shoot on the camera LCD screens and on my iPad, and they are a few of what I emailed from New York to my Tibetan friends in Seattle to post on their Facebook page.

The New York "Tenshug" (Long Life Offering) was a two-day event, the first day being a teaching the Dalai Lama did on meditation (above,) while the second day was the celebratory birthday party. Sixteen thousand people filled the Javits Center in Manhattan for each event.

As you can see from these images, I witnessed unmistakable and overwhelming demonstrations of love and respect that people --  Tibetans and non-Tibetans alike -- obviously feel for this amazing 80-year-old.

It was quite an experience.

Losar

I stepped out my front door yesterday morning and off in the distance I could hear cars moving along a highway that is about three miles from our house.  That sound struck me as odd. "This is a holiday," I thought to myself. "There shouldn't be much traffic."

Then I smiled, realizing that it was not a holiday here in America.
It was Losar, Tibetan New Year. I had plans to travel to Seattle and hang out with my friends from the local Tibetan Community. The day promised to be festive.

For those folks I could hear making their morning commute, it was just another work day.

                                      ***

Gathering outside their monastery, the Tibetans threw barley flower into the air, a traditional welcoming-in of the New Year, and my cameras got covered by the auspicious, white dust. The crowd lined the sidewalks to greet their head lama as he arrived. Then everyone went inside for Losar prayers.

This weekend we'll get together again, this time for a Losar party.  There will be a catered dinner of Tibetan food, lots of happy conversation, even exchanging of gifts. I had a local photo lab make 60 prints of a photo I shot last summer of the Dalai Lama, and I'll give a print to each Tibetan household. There will be singing, dancing, and general fun-having.

I'll make photographs, of course, but I might also try, finally,  to learn a dance step or two.

U.N. Human Rights Day

Delegates from around the world came together 66 years ago amid the rubble of World War II to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articulating fundamental civil and political rights of all people, and reminding each of us of our responsibility to protect those rights.

I suspect that many of us in America did not even realize that the United Nations declared yesterday to be the 66th annual Human Rights Day.  We probably tend too often to take our rights and freedoms for granted. To be honest, an awareness of "Human Rights" is on my own radar screen largely due to my involvement with the Seattle-area Tibetan community.

Each month my friends from that community come together at their Tibetan Buddhist monastery and offer prayers for peace, and for long life for their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Most months I am there with my friends, making pictures that I hope document the Tibetan diaspora's efforts to keep Tibet's culture and traditions alive.

Maintaining cultural identity will eventually be up to young Tibetans, and individuals who are mere children today will one day grow up and decide whether to follow Tibetan traditions, or global pop culture, or perhaps a mixture of both.

As long as my friends continue to trust my motives and are patient with my visual intrusions, I hope to continue to photograph this process.