By SHIRIN MAZDEYASNA, 8/04/2016. Visiting The Tibet House in New Delhi was indeed an experience. I once visited the museum of The Tibet House on the second floor, and was lucky to visit for the second time and attend a sacred ceremony of ‘Aspirational Bodhisattva Vow’ for the late Tsering Chungdak. It was such a different experience I’ve ever had, religiously or generally. As part of attending the ceremony, one commits to not to harm others but help with best of one’s ability. It marked the seventh week of her passing and the session pledged for her “peaceful transition to a favourable rebirth, once again as a student of the Buddha’s teachings, for the benefit of all dear mother sentient beings.”
From the moment the Director of Tibet House, Ven. Geshe Dorji Damdul step in the room, there was a sacred spirit in the atmosphere and the session passed by reciting some passages of “Prayer and Meditation Manual” published by The Tibet House., and then meditating for Tsering Chungdak and the rest of the world. The guidelines of the meditation were indeed poetic, peaceful, and imaginative.
The Tibet House itself was very persistence in preserving the culture, heritage, and race of Tibet, specifically after the invasion of Tibet in 1959 by the Communist Chines. The Tibet House explores and expands Tibetan Buddhism, as well as adapting to the modern world and new means of contribution to the world. During the sacred ceremony that I attended, very much time and attention was spend for all the current terrors that is happening all over the world, and that was very powerful for me.
The library and the museum preserve Tibetan artifacts and books and by visiting them, a sense of nostalgia is created, for its sensitivity to being preserved. Among the rare sculptures, the Mahasuddhas (Teachers of vajrayana buddhism) vey much seemed fascinating to me, as the chose Unorthodox paths to enlightenment and meditating in cremation grounds among the corpses to go beyond fear of death.
During my stay in New Delhi, I also visited the Ladakh Buddha Vihara, a temple next to a community of Tibetan refugees (or at least what was saying on the sign of the entrance). I got off the subway at Kashmere Gate and had a 20 minutes walk to the place by the side of two highways that some people were resting/living on their sides. Kind of freaked out by the walk, I entered first the monastery market and then found my way to the Buddha Vihara.
Such a peaceful and quiet place, words in their literal meanings! The Tibetan ‘Chakras’ on the monastery walls grabbed my attention that could be rolled by the visitors. Inside, resides a large statue of Lord Buddha and the walls are decorated by large paintings and artifact of Tibetan art. This mystic experience along with the institutional experience of The Tibet House indeed very intrigued and excited me for my upcoming trip to Ladakh.
