15 July 2016 Pretty much spent the afternoon at Deer Park [in Bir], one of my favorite places so far. We had a great lunch buffet (more Indian than Tibetan), a nice tour given by Trilok, who seems to be in charge of educational programs. Then I meditated in the temple hall, which was nice. Then I went and hung out with Trilok as he made little wallets on his treadle sewing machine. We talked about a lot of things. His father died 20 days ago, so I asked him about various death rituals. He described his father’s death in a lot of detail (it was a good death). I had thought that the eldest son had the most responsibilities, but he said that his brother (the eldest), himself, and his nephew and two others handled the cremation. Apparently you can have 1, 3, 5, etc. perform the rituals, but not 2, 4, 6, etc. We talked about religion and about Christianity. He said a friend of his invited him to church to pray, and at first it was friendly, then it was for the purpose of conversion. When he, Trilok, started criticizing his father’s deities, his brother told him to cut it out. At that point he said he stopped going to church. I went into the library to hang out until tea time. It’s a nice quiet place. I read out of a book by Pema Chodron, which I had not seen before. Then tea with Trilok and two visitors, one a sailor in the Indian merchant navy and the other an Italian woman traveling on her own. We talked about vegetarianism, veganism, travel in India, and other things. It was nice to have an adult conversation with some non-Americans. Always interesting to hear what other people have to say. I have appreciated the times when I have been able to meet “actual people,” like our learning partners, Tsering’s sister Chokey, Trilok. Just hang out with them in a human way over a cup of tea. . . Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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