Sunday 16th May 2010
10.45pm
My bed at the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, McLeod Ganj
India
So the lesson of today is don't let your emotions, more specifically anger, get the better of you.
Today when getting the newspaper the newspaper seller, who arranged to hold back a copy of the Times of India for me and who had been gone in place of his boss for the last few days let rip at me for not collecting the copies which specifically had my name on.
I really couldn't understand his anger. He claimed I hadn't turned up at all, obviously I said that I had, but had just not been given the copies with my name on.
I was surprised as previously he'd been generally affable. I didn't get angry back, just tried to diffuse things. It must have been on his mind that morning because he didn't even wait for the other customers to leave or finish serving them before dishing out flippantly that he had in his possession a total of two newspapers with my name on.
Remember...patience...compassion. Don't judge. It was his choice to be angry and let those feelings control him.
They'll be no more copies with my name on, but I'll still go in to the mornings to get a copy on the chance they'll have one.
It's strange how Indian people, for what reason I'm not sure, have a fixation and impatience about making money. There is an element of addiction and obsession with it that exists and I can feel it often. It is unhealthy. The Tibetan community emit completely different signals. It is an interesting contrast between the two.
I guess it is a trend or characteristic of Indian society, though I don't know if it something that may relate to Hinduism specifically. I wouldn't expect it to of course, Tibetans are equally spiritual but have a different view.
It's an interesting area to look at. Fora country renowned for it's spirituality I find little of it in the majority of Hindus I've met (probably just the those in the tourism business trying to make money really) than the Sikhs and Tibetans I've come across, who I suppose I've met in different circumstances so far. Certainly when it comes to openness, kindness, understanding, empathy and attitudes towards finance it seems the Buddhists are street ahead, it perhaps a little less enterprising.
After the newspaper incident I went to meet Tensing, but after 30 minutes he was nowhere to be seen. I'll go back to our small cafe meeting point tomorrow in case we've got our wires crossed.
It's strange how Indian people, for what reason I'm not sure, have a fixation and impatience about making money. There is an element of addiction and obsession with it that exists and I can feel it often. It is unhealthy. The Tibetan community emit completely different signals. It is an interesting contrast between the two.
I guess it is a trend or characteristic of Indian society, though I don't know if it something that may relate to Hinduism specifically. I wouldn't expect it to of course, Tibetans are equally spiritual but have a different view.
It's an interesting area to look at. Fora country renowned for it's spirituality I find little of it in the majority of Hindus I've met (probably just the those in the tourism business trying to make money really) than the Sikhs and Tibetans I've come across, who I suppose I've met in different circumstances so far. Certainly when it comes to openness, kindness, understanding, empathy and attitudes towards finance it seems the Buddhists are street ahead, it perhaps a little less enterprising.
After the newspaper incident I went to meet Tensing, but after 30 minutes he was nowhere to be seen. I'll go back to our small cafe meeting point tomorrow in case we've got our wires crossed.
Until we meet I've got all his poems on me. I'm sure we'll bump into each other soon enough.
So I wandered down to St. John's Church and with the backdrop of singing from the Sunday service sat in the graveyard overlooking the Kangra Valley and read from my Buddhist ethics book, only one chapter remaining now.
I used the internet for a couple of hours which is always useful.
For a time today I felt a little bit at a loss. I could have stayed online longer, but 2 hours at once is enough. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and pursue more literary agents.
I've visited several bookstores and eventually settled on Siddhartha by Hesse, which is half classic and half Buddhist.
I want to try and get something covering compassion, mindlessness and the workings of karma as well as some kind of all encompassing glossary. There are also a couple of Buddhist Sutras I'd like to see English versions of.
I researched MAs in Buddhist Studies, but they don't seem viable with my academic background. And what might I do after?
Is their and MA in Religious Literature? Further research required.
Drank some tea at a new cafe. The one I went to yesterday was better though. Today's cafe was full of monks, great, but the downside was just that, that it was overcrowded.
I ate 8 momos instead of 12. The momo woman who always welcomes me with a smile told me tomorrow is her day off, so I'll have to find an alternative.
Tomorrow, library.
No cinema or cooking or Tai Chi.
Just reading, internet and drinking tea, and more reading.
I completed the Sudoku in the newspaper again today with a fair amount of competence. But nose dived with the crossword. Am enjoying the mental workout.