A Taste of Hospitality and Culture. By Becca Leavell

            Tibetan culture is full of beautiful art, music, dance, and so so many colors. It surrounds us everyday here at Sarah College with the beautiful central temple and the student’s love for their culture. One of the things my roommate, Tashi, and I have bonded over is the love we have for music, both Indian and Tibetan (we have also bonded over our enjoyment of Bollywood films and music).  My roommate has made my experience here very welcoming and comfortable. I have never experienced the type of generosity she has shown me. As we prepare to leave the campus and move to the city to live with our host families I want to reminisce on these experiences of hospitality.

Before we left Delhi for Sarah College, our teacher, Passang-la (the la added as a form of respect), gave us a little run down on Tibetan culture and especially how to deal with hospitality. He explained in detail how it is necessary in Tibetan culture to accept everything that is offered to you even if you only take a tiny bite or sip. He clarified that when you take that tiny sip, someone would be right back to fill that small space you have left in the cup. Tibetan’s are incredibly hospitable people and I think that has a lot to do with Tibetan Buddhism and its great emphasis on compassion. The 14th Dalai Lama is in fact the reincarnation of Chenrezig, the god of compassion. This hospitality he spoke of, we all get to experience in our everyday life.

When we arrived up the hilly drive to Sarah all wondering what it would be like, we got out of the vans and were presented with a white scarf, a tradition in Tibetan culture. When we went into our room to meet our roommates we were presented with another white scarf. This was when I met Tashi, one of the most generous people I have ever met.

Our first day after our long travel, I was not feeling well. I did not want to eat dinner and would rather have just slept. She was right by my side this whole time and I hadn’t even known her for more than 24 hours. I told her to go on to dinner many times, but she would not budge. When she finally did leave she came back a few minutes later with a bowl of soup. It was such a kind gesture that I began to feel a little better.

Something that I have had to remind myself about Passsang-la’s message was to not refuse an offering. This has been difficult with Tashi because she simply does not stop offering. She will ask me if I would like anything from the canteen, I will say no, thank you and then minutes later she will be back with a guava juice box and some Wei Wei (the better version of Ramen Noodles) for me. She will be right next to me when I wake in the morning putting a piece of bread in my face and a cup of tea. One of the hardest things for me to get across to her is that sometimes people do not like to mix different flavors in one bite. She will offer me a cookie and then as I am munching on that sweet bite she will offer me an incredibly spicy chip, after I finish my sweet bite I take some of the spicy treats, right as I put one in my mouth she then offers me another cookie. It doesn’t make much sense to me but I accept and mix these two different flavors.

It is really quite pleasant when she buys momos from the canteen (the Tibetan version of dumplings or potstickers) and we sit and watch a Bollywood film, if it doesn’t have subtitles she kindly explains to me all that the characters are talking about. We both bob our heads to the musical numbers.

The group got a chance to explore into the world of Tibetan music and art. Our campus is a short distance away from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, a place where we have gone a few times to take classes where we learn Tibetan folk songs and some of us have even learned to play along on the Dramyin, a classic Tibetan instrument. The melodies of these songs are so catchy and stick in our heads throughout the day. Learning these songs has also helped us with reading Tibetan, which we have been working very hard on all semester.

Another fun thing we have gotten to do in regards of Tibetan art was travel to the nearby Norbulingka Institute. This institute was founded in 1988 to preserve Tibetan arts and culture and it is a beautiful place. It is lush and green with cobblestone walkways; it looks like a picturesque secret garden. We got the chance to tour the institute; we entered many rooms in which talented Tibetan artists painted beautifully intricate tangka paintings or woven applique tangkas. Some were carving detailed wood pieces, some were spinning silk and some were even making incredible metal sculptures. The talent shown by these artists is amazing. We learned that the tangkas are of amazing importance. These are painted and made so that when the Tibetans are allowed to go back to Tibet they can roll them up and travel with them instead of having to take large statues. A tangka painter must study scripture for years in order to be able to correctly depict a certain deity. The painters use natural paints that produce amazing color and they always paint the face of the deity last, as if the deity is waking up and opening their eyes to this beautiful new world they have created for them.

We got the chance to take a class from one of the talented tangka painters on how to draw and paint these deities. We went to the institute every afternoon for the week and practiced the intricacy of these drawings. They use a measurement of “12 nails” which was very hard for us to understand. We would ask questions and the usual response from our teacher was simply “12 nails.” Once we all got the hang of it, we went hard to work. Some of us got the chance to paint the faces of the Buddha Sakyamuni and had to make sure we used the proper colors for the certain parts of the face. It is all a very involved process and it must take years of learning and patience to be as perfect and as talented as these artists were.

Getting the time to experience such amazing parts of Tibetan culture such as the hospitality and the arts has been such a great part of this program. We are really very lucky to have gotten these opportunities, to live with such great Tibetan roommates and to take classes with such remarkable teachers. We have only been here for half of the allotted time of the program and we have had such great experiences. I am sad and excited to leave Sarah College and move to Mcleod Ganj to live with our host families and study at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. So much more to come!