tibetan phrase no.5

its a beautiful day here! sun is out. my prayers are heard. thu-je-chhe nyima! (thank you sun).

ok tibetan phrase no.5:

ga-re nang-song?
what is the matter?

this phrase would be very useful.

oh i might see richard gere this time (or maybe keanu reeves, brad pitt?!?!).. did i tell you? haha there is actually a big celebration going on at the shechen monastery where my thangka school is. 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of dilgo khyentse rinpoche, who is a highly revered lama. so there would be huge western followers all coming together in february for the celebration. richard gere is pretty active.

here is a video of matthieu ricard on 'habits of happiness' if you are interested. he is a french monk who resides at shechen monastery. he is quite a famous figure. he worked for a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics at the Institut Pasteur. but after completing his doctoral thesis in 1972, he decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of tibetan buddhism.

''To love oneself is to love life. It is essential to understand that we make ourselves happy in making others happy.''
- Matthieu Ricard, Happiness / A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

very often, we are always thinking of ourselves. me me me.... i i i..... mine mine mine..... when we switch it around and think of others before oneself, then all our suffering evaporates. remember how happy you felt when you help someone? that kind of joy is pure and priceless. lets try as best as we can.

i first saw matthieu ricard on the documentary 'light at the edge of the world - sicence of mind' with nat geo explorer wade davis a few years back. never did i expect that becos of his huge contribution and efforts taken to preserving the tibetan scared arts, i have the chance to learn thangka at his monastery just a few years later. oh thu-je-chhe! and he takes great photographs. here is one of shechen monastery in nepal. oh i hope to capture some good photos too this trip. www.matthieuricard.org last time i was there, i wanted to let him sign his book 'the monk and the philosopher' which i bought a couple of years ago (his father is a renowned philosopher and the book is a dialogue between father and son on topics like human values, happiness from 2 different point of view) but he was overseas then. maybe i will get to meet him this time.

ok thank you girls for bearing with me on my deep interest in tibetan buddhism and culture. ok let me get back to shooting the new items now. i am on a break waiting for the battery to be recharged. hehe..

you girls continue to have a great sunday! if i can, i will give you a preview tonite!