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Chant Softly and Carry a Big Prayer Wheel
I visited India and Nepal for the first time on a Buddhist pilgrimage led by Shantum Seth in 2007. The following is from my 2008 trip to India, Nepal, and Tibet. I wrote it in Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet on March 10, 2008 — Tibet Uprising Day.
It’s a bit after 7:30 in the morning on March 10. 2008, the anniversary of Tibet Uprising Day. In 1959, the Chinese invaded Lhasa, and Tibetans unsuccessfully revolted on this day. The Dalai Lama was in danger and slipped out of the capitol disguised as a soldier and went to India, where he has lived ever since.
This room is still cold. I’m glad I used two quilts and my yak wool shawl.
I’ve been in Tibet for nearly a week, and this feels like the coldest day yet. Maybe it merely seems colder because I have the coldest room yet. Maybe I should try harder to turn up the remote-control heater, since like the one in Shigatse it’s stuck on 30 degrees centigrade, whatever that means. No matter how cold my room feels, it’s significantly colder outside the room; I saw my breath in the hotel roof restaurant.
I’m sure Tibetans are less sensitive to cold than I am — even most Americans are less sensitive to cold than I am. In the restaurant, I drank three cups of tea (they’re tiny cups), and when I finished eating and pushed away my plate, I put my glove back on my…