Dear Precious Ones:

Yes, the smart alacks learned their lesson. They now behave & are a dream to teach. One of them, who is a Serapa, even brings me poem & stories, each day. He said he is writing each day. I correct his work & we talk about it. His name is Tsongpa Tenzin Serpa. His father is an alcoholic, so I hear. His mother is in South Korea, working as a waitress. He is sixteen. He doesn't really want to be a monk, the rest of his life. He says, "I want to live like a normal man!" In a year or so, his mother is expected to return to Nepal & take him out of the monastery. He's sixteen, now. These monasteries are a good deal. You take your kid to a monastery, go about your business & @ a later date, come back & retrieve him or her. No payment expected. It's a free boarding school for the kid + he or she gets a good education. Tsongpa is a good monk though. I wouldn't think it impossible, for him to marry, have a family & then when the kids are grown, become a monk again. Many of the monks have fathers who are monks. In fact, Rinpoche's father is a monk, as I've stated before.

Rinnpoche, his two daughters & their nannie, Ani Yesha, will go on a three week vacation, next week. It's recess time for the girls. Since the school they attend, is an American school, they are having a Christmas break. Rinpoche said they all have been invited, by some of his students, to free vacation time in Inddia, Singapore, Malaysia & Indonisa. I've asked to use the washer & dryer, while they're gone. Ani Yesha usually does my heavy laundry, like jeans, bedding & towels. I do the rest by hand.  Ani Y guards the washer & dryer with her life. I guess some folks broke the machines, in the past. Anyway, I'll have a key to the laundry room, while they're away. I have assured Ani Y. that I know quite well how to care for the equipment. I have done my own laundry for years. I'm not sure she's convinced, but that doesn't matter, the "Top Boss" has made the decision.

I'm not sure ya'll know what Puja is, so, I'll try to explain: Puja is the focus of the monastery experience. It is a multi media happening, which takes place three times each day, @ 5:45 A.M., 1:00 P.M. & 6:30 P.M. It lasts over an hour, each time. It begins with prayers, read from long cards. I'm not sure all the monks really know what they are praying, out load, because there's a class which is suppose to teach them the meanings of what they recite. During this time period, a fire is lit @ an oven, outside the Temple. The smoke goes to the gods. Some other things go on, also, during this time period. There's lot of fussing by a couple young monks, around what appears to be a tabernacle. Offerings of grain are taken to a place, outside. Then, all of a sudden tinkling bells are heard. The sound is quite beautiful & soft. Then the cochaphoney (sp) begins. The band begins. There are hanging drums, hit with crocked drumsticks; trumpets, which look more like oboes or large clarinets, decorated with silver over an ebony stem; horns, which are like retractable Alp horns; cymbals & concks banded in silver. When they strike up the band, my whole body shudders. Noone could sleep. The mantras are accompanied by the band. I have no idea what the mantras are, but I'm pretty sure, each one, ends in that sacred word "OM!"

Dear Precious Ones:

Life continues to be good, here @ Shyalpa Monastery. The nuns & monks are a delight. I wish I could capture their essences & send them to you!

Tenzin Dhondup continues to be a life-line for me, because he often bridges my world to the worlds here. I have been thinking, "How could I bring him to America? He's a brillant person, like a grandson. He has done so wonderfully on his own, since he was ten years old. Why shouldn't he have a chance for an extra ordinary life which American can offer?" I've even considering letting him live @ our house on Taylor Road in Jamesville & signing him up @ Onondaga Community College. I'm confident he would do well. He would even get himself a job & support himself & soon be on his own. He so wants to complete his college, get a career, perhaps when he is solvent, even get himself a wife. Then, he would return to Tibet, to his village & setup a school, for the children there. He doesn't seem to have a dihonest bone in his body. But he has no passport. He is still a

Tibetan Refugee, which according to him, prevents him from going any place except India & Nepal.

Today, he met with Rinpoche. Rinpoche asked him what he wanted in life. He said, "To finish my college education, which will cost 35,000 rupes a year." Rinpoche said, "When you earn half that amount, I will pay the other half, if you are successful @ college & pass." Tenzin D. told me about this conversation & then he said, "Rinpoche is a rinpoche He is a very compassionate person. I believe him." He, Tenzin, makes 2,500 rupes per month, plus room & board, for being an English & Tibetan teacher @ the monastery.

What do you think? I just had this topic on my heart & appreciate you listening.

It rained on Monday. It's hasn't rained since around the 5th of November. The morning of Monday felt like snow. It was real, real chilly, but it didn't snow. Everyone was layered with clothes & gloves. I'm so pleased that I bought the halogen heater. It sure helps. I now keep it on 24 hours a day, except for today, because it goes off automatically after 4 hours. It will be very, very cold in my room, when I return from Boudha, tonight, but I can hack it.

Tuesday, 12 December '06, cleared in the morning, after a very dense fog. I was again able to take a nap on the roof in the sun, then take a shower with hot water. It felt good.

The valley's terraced gardens look so lush, real Shangri la.

The little nuns, who came to the monastery, as grubby little urchins are really coming along. I find myself hugging them, because they are so sweet & seem to like it. I've discovered that Nisha 11 & Pravati Rawit 10 are sisters. They're quite bright & it is a bit hard to keep them down, so they're not disruptive of the class, because they are so very anxious to answer all questions, whether it is asked of them or another. I'm determined to get good photos of these new little nuns in their new nun habits. Some of them are stunning!

The older monks are so enthusiastic, they are eager to attend class & hover around me, whenever I am available. I've assigned them to write an essay titled: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MONK. Some of them have a limited command of Engish. I told them to write in Tibetan, if it is easier, for them. Tenzin Dhondu has agreed to translate their work for me. I do hope it works. I'm thinking, if they write in Tibetan & I get a translation for them, it may help them in English. The grammar of the Tibetan language is backward from that of the English language, making learning English, for some of them, very difficult.

Sonan Tenzin, age 16, is one of the older monks who has taught himself a great deal of English. He listens to BBC & reads an English newspaper. Each day, he brings a list of vocabulary words, which he picked out of the newspaper, for me to provide definitions. Of course I oblige. At the other end of the spectrum. is Tenzin Choygal, aged 19, who most often has a blank expression, whenever I speak. Often, I have Sonan translate my words into Tibetan, for him. He's coming along. It is wonderful to watch the changes!

The last two Pujas were for Tara, the goddess who represents female compassion. She comes in white, red & green. I refused to attend, this morning, not only because it  is much longer, but the drumming is so intense & to my ears, not very rythmatical. The bang, bang of the drum is real penetrating. It is softened a bit, by traveling through a couple concrete walls, before entering my body.

On Friday, there will be the Dikini Day for the month. I get the day off.

Tenzin is here. We're going for dinner.

Dear Presious Ones:

The last Report I wrote, which took me about an hour, was lost. I sure wish I had my eMack here!

Now, I'll try again & try to keep it short.

We had two days off consecutively (sp). So I decided to take a bit of a vacation, now that I have completed a seven week stay. I felt I deserved a hot shower & a warm bedroom, if only for a couple days. Also, when I left the monastery, yesterday, Friday the 15th, we were out of water. Our well may have gone dry. I wouldn't be surprised. We haven't had rain only twice in the seven weeks. We use the same ground water as Kopan Monastery, which has a 1,000 nuns & monks, plus the just completed a month long retreat for around 400 westerners. You know, the  ones who like to take a hot shower, each day?

I was determined to see more of Kathmandu City. So far, my off-time has been spent in Boudha, which is the Tibetan Ghetto of Kathmandu. It's a great place & I like doing Kora, shopping & eating momos, but what else?

We went to what appeared to be the Rodeo Drive of Kathmandu. It isn't a long street, but it is lined with expensive & elegant shops, restaurants & art galleries. Not quite like those of LA, but pretty close. We went to an "Art Opening" & then to a fancy fund raising event @ a classy hotel, the Yak Hotel. The hotel, in my mind is a sin! It's a huge marble building, with fountains, expensive shops, expensive Parisian, 5 star restaurants & a ballroom as large as a football field. The event was in the ballroom, which has probly eight to ten, six to eight foot diameter upside down wedding cake crystal chandeliers. The cliental was not Tibetan, but the very, very top upper-crust of Nepal Society. The description of the event, which caught our eye, was that there would be dancing girls, dancing & food. It was suppose to begin @ 7PM.

When we left @ about 8:30 P.M., the place was only about two thirds full & the dancing girls had not appeared, nor was anything available in the way of food, but a couple plates of hor derves (sp). & they kept pushing back the time, when they would open the buffet, which looked like it would be sumptuous! We tried to get a dinner-to-take, to no avail. The hostess, who was a nice looking matron in a silk, light turoquis sari, with glittering jewels, would not give us our money back, when I requested it, saying, "Our hotel will closes its gates @ 9:30 or 10:00 P.M., (which it really did.) so we must leave!" Tenzin was more effective, talking to her in Nepalese. We got about 3/4s  of our money back & got to our hotel in Boudha, just as the gates were being closed.

In a society, which has had a caste system, for centuries, this group was the very, very rich, those who would never think of even boiling water to make a cup of tea, for themselves, let alone mingle with commoners. The younger set wore designer jeans, topped with ever so beautiful, black, form fitting, leather jackets. One handsome guy, posterizing, reminded me of a haughty turtle. His black jack was slightly off-shoulders. His shirt neck-line was horizontal, across his chest, about six or seven inches below his Adam's apple. His jet black hair was cropped short, but stylish.

Foreiigh diplomats & some diplomats' children were also present. I met the 15 year old daughter of the U.S.A. ambassador & her high school friends. She was raised in FL. Two of her friends were Korean, one was from Camaroon & there were others, who I didn't meet. The round tables held twelve.

At our table was one of the most beautiful woman, I have ever met. She was Nepalese. She was with an English gentleman & another very rich Nepalese woman, who owned an importing business, with outlets in Kathmandu & NYC of crafts from Nepal & Tibet. The beauty had complexion like white porcelain. Her hair was beautifully coiffed (sp), with locks of hair gracefully framing her face. She was sweet & natural appearing. I could have easily fallen in love with her, had I a chance.

Tenzin seemed very tense during the whole time we were there & he admitted during our taxi ride across town to Boudha, that he didn't at all feel comfortable with the people @ the event. Of course, I made the most of it & was happy to experience how the top, top act. They're the same throughout the world, but what made this different, than in American, is that they, for the most part, never deal with even the so called middle class. They're sort of separate from the rest of society, whereas, in the States, us middle ones, mostly because of our education & profession have freedom to interact with whomever. I even had lunch with Jean Kennedy Smith. You know what I mean.

Well, it's back to reality, this evening. I sure hope we have water. I'd like to finish my last load of laundry.

Life is good & for me a joy, which sometimes almost hurts!

Dear Precious Ones:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I did receive some Holiday images from the States & it was greatly appreciated!

On Christmas Day, I will work, then, @ 2:45 P.M. our daughter will call from Oslo, Norway. That will be a joy!

A red, red rose is coming into bloom. It may be in full bloom by Christmas. That would be nice!

No water, again today. We have Wednensday afternoons off to wash our clothes. Maybe there will be water, tonight, I've been told. I'm emailing instead of washing clothes.

It's a bit frightening to contemplate what it would be like to live without reidy available water. Of course, I could walk down the mountain, to the stream, below, but I choose not to do that. I waited all day, yesterday for hot water, to take a shower. I told them, I'll stay dirty & smelly, but I will not take a shower in cold water. I finally got hot water, enough to take a quick shower, after dinner.

Yesterday, the Gate Guard took his sponge bath, without a sponge, in front of everyone, in front of the reception building. He had what looked like a milk pail full of cold water & a small plastic picture, about a half gallon sized. When I first noticed him, he was in his undershorts, wetting his toes & feet. Of course, I immediately turned away from looking @ him. None of the many monks & civilians in around the yard, seemed to notice him either. When I came down from the office, which is on the upper floor of the building, he had shampooed his head & was rinsing it by spilling water from the picture over his head. Later I saw him, looking like a new man. He had washed & pressed his uniform & his face was sparkling clean, plus he had a big smile on his face. That's the way to live!

Dick & Emily West & their grandson Adam are interested in helping Tenzin Dhondup with his education. Adam is a student @ SUNY Geneso. He has raised $300.00, so far. Tenzin is delighted! He has been busily writing his story. I cannot decide how much I should edit it for him. It may be better to be left as he has written it, even though it is very rough. He writes English with a heavy Tibetan accent. He's such a jewel! He's so steadfast about what he must do with his life, earn enough money, after getting an education, so he can help the folks in the Tibetan village where he was born & his folks still live. They are what he calls farmers & nomads. I would still llike to bring him to the States.

Do any of you know of a college job for a Tibetan Teacher? You couldn't get a better one. Have any of you heard of such an offering @ any college?

I no longer have to go to Boudha to use a computer. Kopan Monastery has its computer cafe of five computers, open now. Now, that most of the foreigners have left.

Yesterday, I met a woman from Switzerland. She speaks English very well. She completed the Kopan month retreat & "Took Refuge" with the Rinpoche. I'm having coffee with her tomorrow. She's had an interesting life, but now has to admit, she's hooked on Buddhism. I told her that I think she'll probably become a nun. And, "Why not?" I told her, "It doesn't hurt & you can change your mind, if it doesn't work out." The mature nuns, here @ Kopan, seem to have it knocked. They come & go as they wish. They have a place to stay, whenever they're here. No one seems to pressure them. It sounds like a deal to me. What a beautiful place to live! The flowers here are even better than those @ our monastery. They have a jaunty bed of yellow & white poppies dancing in the breeze, just outside, this place. Their petunia must get a healthier dose of fertilizer, because they are profuse. There is another bed of something by the gate. It hasn't come into bloom yet, but when it does, it should be quite a show!

The little nuns began reading words, yesterday. I'm so proud of them. They haven't been here a month & they too are blooming! I took some good photos of them, which turned out pretty good. When I get them on a disk, I'll try to send some images. I just wish I had taken some when they arrived as grubby little gypsies.

I've got the older monks pairing off, for a bit, during class time, speaking English to each other, in groups of two or three. They seem to enjoy it. They have also been writing things & reading them in class. Sonan Tenzin wrote this cute little story about an old woman who helped a wounded parrot. The parrot then dropped a magical pomegranate seed in the old woman's yard. She planted it. Up sprung a pomegranate tree, which had jewels in the pods, instead of seeds. She became rich, relieving her from suffering. I had to add, "I know a lots of rich folks who are suffering. Just becoming rich, doesn't assure happiness." Amdo, the monk in attendance, here, just brought me a plate of pomegranate seeds, how appropriate! I bought a couple, a while back. They are so delicious! Amdo, a professed Kopan monk, is in his early twenties. He likes to take my hands into his & warm them. My hands always seem cold. His are always warm & soft. Guys here, are not afraid of touch. You often see them walking down the street, holding hands. It's touching!

The sun shines brightly, but the cool breeze from the northern Himalayas is especially present @ this time of day, around 4PM. It's dark by 5:30 P.M. I brought my little globe & flash light into the monks' classes & tried to explain our solar system & the reality that the sun will be moving north in a few days. They seemed to get the picture. Trying to explain why the moon changes, seemed a little more difficult for them to grasp.

I had the damndest time getting the Middle Monks to understand the word "habit." Today, I think they got it!

There's so much to write about at this place. It's full of surprises. Life is good!

Again, Happy Holidays!

Love & Namaste, Bob

Dear Precious Ones:

Life is good on the Mountain! I hope your Holidays go well!

It looks like the monks & nuns barracks will be getting water soon & it is not too soon either. There hasn't been a bit of complaining, even though the monks' quarters are real smelly & they have to carry all the water they need for cooking, drinking & all else.

The guy who is working on it is Rinpoche's sister's husband Dorjee. Both Ploma, the sister, & Dorjee live in Queens NYC. Their two sons live in Darjling with their uncle Sonan Tenzin. The five of them will be with us for some time. I guess it is a 10 week vacation time for the boys from school.

We got fourteen new grubby young monks & two new grubby young nuns. Like the last batch, they look like gypsies. I've taken lots of photos of them. Some of them are real photogenic.

We also got two new black puppies. Don't ask me why! I'd really like to get rid of the five dogs we already have. I was awakened two or three times, by them, last night. They seem to sleep, all day, & yelp all night. I even tried to use ear plugs, but their yelps still came through, loud & clear.

Today is a special day, because the Earth is moving to get more sun & the days will begin to grow longer. Puja, this morning, began @ 5AM & went till 5:45 AM, so I missed it. I usually go around 610 A.M., now. The  part I like begins shortly after I get there. It is all the clatter & sound. I've come to the conclusion that it isn't music. It was begun long before there was such a thing as music, if you know what I mean & the Tibetans were so isolated, for so long, they never heard about writing a score. I think what the monks play, has been past down through the ages, by rote, like so much of what they do.

My English classes are going very well. I have the monks pairing off, during each class, for fifteen minutes or so, during each 1 & 1/2 hour class period, and talking to each other in English only. They really like doing it, even though it is still a great struggle for some of them. They have also been writing some great stuff. Sonan Tashi Tenzin is a real honey. He has his nose in a book, most of the time & he writes from his heart, which most of them do. Sonan writes beautifully. I will send you some of his stuff, one of these days.

I have use of the monastery computer, but someone has made it so we cannot get on-line. We're working on getting that changed.

Have to sign off, for now. An American has invited me for coffee @ the New Orleans Cafe.

It's a beautiful warm sunny day.

Love & Namaste, Bob

Dear Precious Ones:

Please forgive me for not being able to respond to your emails, personally, but the computers are extremely slow today.

I'm in Boudha, today. Our Rinpoche has requested that our monks & nuns do Puja all day today & all day Thursday, which means I get a couple extra days off. Apparently he believes something is going on, which needs lots of prayers.

The Puja, this morning, felt very powerful, to me. I didn't get there until around 6:10 A.M. It began @ 5:50 A.M. It seemed different from the usual "Hungry Ghost" Puja. I'll have to ask the monks about it later. It sounded like it had been scored. There were several solos. I'm not sure who was praying, but the sound was beautiful & touching. Also, the cymbal player, Tsongpa Tenzin Serpa, did an awesome job. There was little banging of the instrument, but a lot of fluttering & a kind of caressing of it. Caressing like he was caressing a lovely woman. Of course, there is always a bit of levity during a Puja, he put the felt circle, which protects the cymbals, when not being used, on his head, for a few minutes, which evoked a few chuckles & smiles from the other guys. There was no playing of the trumpets, but lots of Alp horn sounds, which are mellow, but strong. The other day, when Tenzin Choygal, a muscular monk, played the horn, his sounds seemed to go all the way to the tips of my toes. I had the monks write about Puja, which gave me a little understanding of the activity, but I know there is more. Hopefully, I'll find a book in the Kopan Library on Puja.

My Christmas Day was wonderful. Amdo, a Kopan monk, who I see often, in the monastery store, gave me a pair of knitted gloves & a string blelssed by the Dali Lama, which he tied around my neck. Everyone wished me a Merry Christmas. Tashi the Cook saw to it that I had a nice breakfast, with an egg, bread, chili & Tibetan tea. Lunch was the usual, rice, dahl, veggies & chili. Dinner was only bread & cooked greens, which were delicious. Thankfully, I had some Shaklee Energizing Protein with me, so I was able to round off that meal. I doubt that I've lost a pound. It seems like I manage to get the calories I need to retain this fat body. Tenzin Dhondup is about my height. He weighs 116 lbs. I hover around 190.

What do you think I'd look @ 116? The most precious Christmas gifts I received were, a call from our daughter Sara, from Oslo, Norway. It's only 2:45 minutes later than Kathmandu, which means it was noon when she called me. It was wonderful hearing her voice, even though there seemed to be a bit of time lapse, as we talked. The other president was that @ least half of the nuns were able to read over 50 words & a few simple sentences in English. I was especially delighted that most of the new nuns did so well. Remember, they came to us with only knowledge of their village language. No one knew what they spoke, although I believe it was of the family of Asian languages. They've only been here a month & have been transformed from being grubby little gypsies into beautiful little nuns & they're learning English too, as well as, Tibetan & other things.

About Tenzin: We've been discussing about the options open to us to get him to America. It seems the easiest & cheapest way to go is, to have some woman in the States agree to marry him. Then, she would go to a court of some kind, justice of peace, maybe, & get her intentions recorded. He could then go to America & legally marry her. He's quite willing to remain married to her, if they hit it off. He's even willing to adopt her religion. The only thing he would want of her, is to agree to accompany him to Tibet, when he has enough money to build a school for the poor kids in his family's village. Of course that means, he would have to finish a college education & embark on a career.

The other alternative is for him to return to Dharmsala, where he attended secondary school, get a Refugee Card, which would cost around $100.00, that includes his bus fare to Dharmsala & return. Then he would have to get an Identity Card form the Indian Government. After getting these two documents, he would have to get a passport, which is an "ify." The're not easy, right now, to get from the States. He'd have to be "Lucky!" so he says.

He's quite willing to do, whatever! I felt quite sad, when we discussed, all this. I asked him, if he was sad. He said, "Of course not! If it works out, it will be my karma, my destiny, my fate!"

One cannot be surprised how these people live & breathe. They are so accepting of their lot in life. They have very little, compared to the wealth of Americans, but they never complain, nor express the "Poor me!" stuff, one hears from so many home side folks.

I really think he'd be a great catch, for any woman, who'd like to be married. He reminds me so much of my brother-in-law Ted Banac. He's so accepting of his life, he's so busy with life, he's always on the move, he's so loving.

My sister Peg wrote me a nice letter with her Christmas card. She doesn't have email, but has been receiving copies of my emails from sister-in-law Linda Reals. Peg has some questions, which perhaps all of you would like answers too, also.

Who is Rinpoche? Is he a priest? No, Rinnpoche is not a priest. He is a very, very special teacher. He has been trained from a very young age, like 8 yrs, to become this kind of teacher. He teaches people how to find everlasting happiness, through compassionate living. His training was very rigerous & the title, Rinpoche, was given to him by his teacher, only when he deserved it. His teacher, Chytral Rinnpoche is known as the most rigorous teacher of all the Great Teachers of Tibetan Buddhism. Those taught by a rinpoche are not held by the hand. The work has to be done by the individual. He does, however, help them identify their Spiritual Path. Each persons Path is unique to their needs. There's more to it than this, but that's what I'll write, for now. I do think I wrote about rinpoches, in my last report.

I didn't think the students were so young. What do they do after they get out of the monastery? Some never choose to leave the monastery & will remain nuns or monks their entire life. Others, may leave @ any age. Nisha, one of the new nuns, has left already. She is eleven. She was only here for about a month. I was told she went back to her family. I haven't learned why, yet. Her sister Parbati is still with us, a bright & delightful little girl of 10. Tsongpa, who is sixteen, intends to leave, as soon as his mother returns from Korea, where she works as a waitress. His father is an alcoholic & has left his mother. Tsongpa is a wonderful monk. He is bright, very likable & very diligent in his practice as a monk. Of course, @ sixteen the hormones are raging. He may change his mind. Some of the older monks have been here since they were eleven & are now men of 17 - 19. There were some of their class, who have left the monastery, but those remaining of this batch, seem quite content to be a monk, for the rest of their lives. Remember, our monastery has only been in full operations since 2000. Most of the hundreds of monks & nuns @ the nearby Kopan Monastery are monks have taken their final vows. They intend to remain a monk, for the rest of their lives. However, when I asked Amdo what his future looked like, he said,"It depends on my Karma!" Karma, which basically is a form of the Golden Rule, what you do has a result. Your negative actions will or may have negative effects @ a later date. However, they don't see our lives as just in the present. They believe they've had past lives & will have future lives. So, if something happens in today's life which is good, it may be because you did something either in a past life,, or at an earlier time in this life.

Being a nun or a monk in a monastery is not like being in school, although there is much schooling, which occurs. In Kopan there are many English Teachers & monks & nuns do pass certain levels of education. Amdo wasn't particularly interested in learning school subjects. He completed Class 10, then his rinpoche had him get a job in the monastery, which he was suited for. There's no certificate for passing 12th grade, like in State Schools. A Spiritual Journey is what they're here for. It can go on forever, whether in our out of a monastery. I hope this is clear?

Do the buildings @ the moastery look like those @ the Russian Orthodox Monastery in Jordanville, NY? No, they don't look anything like Jordanville! Jordanville has a church & barracks for the monks, but it has a farm, which I believe provides the things they need & sell. There's no farm in any of these Tibetan Monasteries. They all have Temples & barracks for the nuns & the monks. The nuns & monks do take care of themselves though, but their needs are provided for them. They're not expected, @ least @ this stage of their game, to do work to bring income into the monastery. Other than the little store @ Kopan, which sells coffee, snacks, tablets, & objects of interest to foreign visitors, there is no venture going on to earn cash. The cash comes from students of the rinpoche, from all over the world. I'm sure their month long retreat, which just ended, brough in quite a lot of cash.

Our rinpoche is about to begin building a Temple on a mountain near the Upper Hudson, near Millerton, NY. Don't ask me where he got the money, but it continues to come in. Recently we had a visitor, her name was Tara. She's in her early twenties. Apparently, her family is filthy rich. I understand she provides much cash. Our gardens are funded by a very rich American woman, by the name of Martha, who I have not met. But I'm told she was a big contributor of the building of the nuns quarters. A woman in Syracuse headed up the effort to have nuns @ the Shyalpa Monastery. She doesn't have lots of money. She's a teacher of philosophy @ the girls college in Auburn. Her husband is a retired Syracuse Schools' music teacher. But Carol got her nunnery. Don't ask me how. All I know is that it now exists.

Do you live in the mountains? We live on the top of a small mountain. The road to the top, from the bottom, seems to be about two miles long. The mountain is in the middle of Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu is surrounded by what is called the foot hills of the Himalaya. They're pretty tall mountain, like our Adrindocks. The big ones are further north. Of course the elevation of Kathmandu is over some miles high. It's cold here, in the mornings, because of the thin air. It begins to get a hot sun around ten. I can sun myself in my undershorts, on the roof of where I live, after lunch, most any day, when I have time.

It's lunch time. I've been @ this for a bit.

More later.

Love & Namaste, Bob

Dear Precious Jo & Ed:

Our Rinpoche, H.E. Shyalpa Rinpoche, is an American Citizen. A very modern Tibetan guy. His folks left Tibet, shortly after 1950. They have harrowing stories. Shyalpa was raised in India & Nepal. From the beginning of his life, he was recognized as someone special. He entered a monastery when he was eight. He had several eminet rinpoches as teachers. I'm not sure of his age, when he was given the title rinpoche, but he moved to America, shortly after that time. He settled in Mass & lived like and ordinary American, for a while. I'm not sure of the whole story. I first heard about him, shortly after I took an Elderhostle to Nepal in 1996. I took refuge with him around 1990. He married to a beautiful Tibetan woman. They have two daughters, one 5 & one 6. They're expecting their third in 2007.

Anyway, Rinpoche never told me I shouldn't speak about Christianity to the

nuns or monks.

My sister sent me a lovely Christmas card, with the image of Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child & the Shepard's. All the nuns & monks loved seeing it & talking about Christmas. On Christmas Eve I wore a special red hat & called it my Christmas hat. On Christmas Day, they all wished me a Merry Christmas.One of the monks, @ nearby Kopan Monastery, gave me a nice pair of red & white knitted gloves & a special string for around my neck, which was blessed by the Dali Lama. Kopan has been in operation on our mountain, for over thirty years &has around a thousand nuns & monks. Some of them are American born. I have become quite good friends with a nun from the Netherlands. She speaks English very well.

One of our senior monks. they're ages 15 - 19, has a book by Robert Shuler, which he passes around. They sometimes have questions about ideas expressed in the book.

I am still a practicing Roman Catholic as well as a practicing Buddhist. I am active in our village church community, when I'm home. There are no churches here. I've been told that Mass is said in some homes. And I know there are a few schools, here, which are run by Catholic nuns.

I'm a distributor of Shaklee products. Shaklee is a company dedicated to natural health. In harmony with nature, is one of their slogans. I made sure, before I left America, that I had sufficient vitamins & supplements. I'm as healthy as a hog! I don't think I've lost a pound. Our diet is simple, yet good fair. We have sort of a pancake bread & Tibetan buttered tea, most mornings. We get two eggs a week. On the off days, I use a dab of crunchy peanut butter & honey or jam. We get only one piece of fruit, a week, but whenever I go to the city, I stock up on oranges, bananas, pomegranates & apples, so I have a piece of fruit, most days. The other two meals are mostly rice, potatoes, & other cooked vegetables. There's always a

dab of chili, to be had, too. Dinner is usually a rich Tibetan noodle soup. We have a great Tibetan Cook, so all the meals are real tasty. However, you'd be flabbergasted when you saw how they wash dishes. Detergent isn't used, instead there is a chore boy in something which looks like those fine netak soap pads, which is in a dish. No hot water is available, in the kitchen, except that, which is boiled for tea. All dishes, pots & pans are washed & rinsed in cold water. Also, our cook, when he uses the squat toilet, rinses his left hand, which he uses to wipe himself, from a cold water spiot in the latrine. I haven't been sick a day, except a few days, when I first got here, which was mostly from jet lag & that only lasted a few days. Of course, I forgot to include Nutriferon, which is an immune

builder, those few days too.

I've gone on a lot, but I did want to answer your questions.

Life is good! And, as I've written before, to others:Sometimes I'm so full

of joy, that I want to cry!

Love & Namaste, Bob

Dear Precious Ones:

I'm going to try to send you a photo of Tenzin Dhondup, today. I just had my photos put on disk. I made one copy for here & will send the other to Linda & Russ, because that's where my mail is going. I won't be able to send the photo, from this computer, but hopefully, when someone gets off a better computer, I'll be able to attempt it.

I had an idea for Adam, Dick & Emily West's grandson, who is studying @

Geneso.

Dear Precious Adam: It sounded like you have a good sized Sangha in Geneso. ( For those not familar with the term, Sangha is what like a church for Buddhhist practioners.) Perhaps you could convince the authorities to try offering courses in Tibetan. Tenzin is willing to offer courses on Tibetan Language & Tibetan Culture. He would be willing to do it free, to begin with, if the college would allow him to take free courses & give him free room & board. Just a thought.

Also, about Tenzin's willingness to marry an American woman, sight unseen. In many Asian cultures, folks often are in arranged marriages. A husband & wife see each other @ the marriage ceremony, for the very first time. Once I asked an Asian, about how this worked out. I wondered if they could come to love one & another. He said, "You don't get a choice with who your siblings will be, but you come to love them too."

Tenzin believes, whatever happens, it will be because of his Karma/Destiny/Fate.

He's such a great guy! He, our Tibetan Cook & I spent last evening, first doing art galleries in Kathmandu & then experiencing some of its Night Life. We also visited Thamel, which looks like Little Italy, in NYC, during St. Anthony's Day. But you can't see the end of it. It seems to go on & on. It is a small street of all kinds of interesting shops & restaurants. There are red colored lights strung across the street, from above. It is quite the place. I had to keep from bringing home a pile of beautiful junk, which I don't need. Plus, I had to tell myself, if anyone wants any of this wonderful stuff, they will just have to come to Thamel themselves.

After Thamel, we went to a two floor night club. We ate in the top floor dining room. We were entertained by a group of Nepalese girls & boys singers. The instruments were different. The guy who offered the base beat, worked from a squeeze box type instrument. It had a keyboard, but wasn't an accordian. There were great drums & drum players & a few other instruments. Some of the women were real pretty, light skin & tar black long hair. Both girls & guys had nice voices. They sang Nepalese songs. I had buf curry, which is water buffalo meat in a curry sauce. It was real good. Tashi our cook had buf chili & I think Tenzin had that Tibetan soup, which we usually have for dinner, each night. It is a hardy soup, with thick home made noodles. Tashi's is great! Tenzin said the restaurant's was good too.

We were entertained by beautiful young male & female go-go dancers, but they didn't always do go-go type dances or songs. Sometimes they did what appeared to be a love dance, with the in a beautiful sari. The two guys were always dressed the same, in black. They all were quite good & I throughly enjoyed them. We stayed until after 10:30 P.M. & then had a long ride across town to our hotel in Boudha. I've been spending all day writing & answering emails. Tenzin is out with one of his classmates from Dharmsla. A real nice guy, who is an excellent carpenter. He just arrived here & wishes to stay & work here. They're out to find suitable space for him to have a living space & shop. I expect them back soon.

Tashi got up real early & returned to the monastery, for he had to make breakfast & t he day meals for Ado & the guests, Rinpoche's sister & her family.

I don't know if I told you about Ado, but here goes: Ado apparently fought with the losing Tibetan Army, against the Chinese. He is a distant relative of Rinpoche's, so when he had no place to go, Rinpoche took him in. He takes care of the yelping dogs. He's 72, but others say he looks older than my 77 years. He won't cook for himself. Tashi go a deal from Ado & the visiting Family, if he cooked lunch & dinner yesterday, for them ahead, then that was okay, he could go with us to Kathmandu & stay over, but then he had to be back this morning. He's such a great guy. I believe he's in his mid forties & is a great cook, even though he often eats with his hands & toilets in the traditional Tibetan manner. His hands all ways look real clean, though & his nails are always trimmed.

The trip across town was something. We rode on some real bumpy, tiny streets. Some with hardly enough room for two tiny taxis to pass. We encountered a lumbering bull & cow, who we stopped for as they meandered across the road. You wonder why they're in the center of the city, there seems to be no grass only garbage. I did see some folks pawing through the garbage, for something of value to their lives. Most side streets have no street lights & those head on cars, seem to always have on their bright lights. You wonder how the driver sees? The traffic on the main streets & boulevards can be horrendous, with couples on motorcycles zipping between

the cars & trucks. We d id see one accident, last evening. That's the first one I've seen, since I've been here & it wasn't real bad. It looked like something caused a taxi to lose control & he slammed into a post. No one was hurt.

Oh, anyone wishing to email Tenzin Dhondup, his email is: tenzin_dhondup2001@yahoomail.com He'd even be happy to correspond with a

woman, who would like to know more about himself.

I'm still waiting to get a good computer, but the people on the four good ones, here in this cyber cafe, must have lots of emails to read & respond to.

I had lunch, today @ a different place. I had an Indian dish & a Chinese dish & a glass of lemon tea. It was quite good & real cheap, 200 rupes, which is not quite $3.00 & I have a doggie bag with some of what I couldn't eat, for later.

Today, is some kind of special day @ the Boudha Stupa. I gave a guy a few rupies to plaster the thing with white & saffron colored plaster. Here I always thought those brownish-yellow streaks were from rust. I did Kora on all four levels, today. There a lot of woman & men around here, who look likeDear Precious Ones:

I'm going to try to send you a photo of Tenzin Dhondup, today. I just had my photos put on disk. I made one copy for here & will send the other to Linda & Russ, because that's where my mail is going.

I won't be able to send the photo, from this computer, but hopefully, when someone gets off a better computer, I'll be able to attempt it.

I had an idea for Adam, Dick & Emily West's grandson, who is studying @

Geneso.

Dear Precious Adam: It sounded like you have a good sized Sangha in Geneso.

( For those not familar with the term, Sangha is what lilke a church for Buddhhist practioners.) Perhaps you could convince the authorities to try offering courses in Tibetan. Tenzin is willing to offer courses on Tibetan Language & Tibetan Culture. He would be willing to do it free, to begin with, if the college would allow him to take f ree courses & give him free room & board. Just a thought.

Also, about Tenzin's willingness to marry an American woman, sight unseen. In many Asian cultures, folks often are in arranged marriages. A husband & wife see each other @ the marriage ceremony, for the very first time. Once I asked an Asian, about how this worked out. I wondered if they could come to love one & another. He said, "You don't get a choice with who your siblings will be, but you come to love them too."

Tenzin believes, whatever happens, it will be because of his

Karma/Destiny/Fate.

He's such a great guy! He, our Tibetan Cook & I spent last evening, first doing art galleries in Kathmandu & then experiencing some of its Night Life. We also visited Thamel, which looks like Little Italy, in NYC, during St. Anthony's Day. But you can't see the end of it. It seems to go on & on. It is a small street of all kinds of interesting shops & restaurants. There are red colored lights strung across the street, from above. It is quite the place. I had to keep from bringing home a pile of beautiful junk, which I don't need. Plus, I had to tell myself, if anyone wants any of this wonderful stuff, they will just have to come to Thamel themselves.

After Thamel, we went to a two floor night club. We ate in the top floor dining room. We were entertained by a group of Nepalese girls & boys singers. The instruments were different. The guy who offered the base beat, worked from a squeeze box type instrument. It had a keyboard, but wasn't an accordian. There were great drums & drum players & a few other instruments. Some of the women were real pretty, light skin & tar black long hair. Both girls & guys had nice voices. They sang Nepalese songs. I had buf curry, which is water buffalo meat in a curry sauce. It was real good. Tashi our cook had buf chili & I think Tenzin had that Tibetan soup, which we usually have for dinner, each night. It is a hardy soup, with thick home made noodles. Tashi's is great! Tenzin said the restaurant's was good too.

We were entertained by beautiful young male & female go-go dancers, but they didn't always do go-go type dances or songs. Sometimes they did what appeared to be a love dance, with the in a beautiful sari. The two guys were always dressed the same, in black. They all were quite good & I throughly enjoyed them. We stayed until after 10:30 P.M. & then had a long ride across town to our hotel in Boudha. I've been spending all day writing & answering emails. Tenzin is out with one of his classmates from Dharmsla. A real nice guy, who is an excellent carpenter. He just arrived here & wishes to stay & work here. They're out to find suitable space for him to have a living space & shop.

I expect them back soon.

Tashi got up real early & returned to the monastery, for he had to make breakfast & t he day meals for Ado & the guests, Rinpoche's sister & her family.

I don't know if I told you about Ado, but here goes: Ado apparently fought with the losing Tibetan Army, against the Chinese. He is a distant relative of Rinpoche's, so when he had no place to go, Rinpoche took him in. He takes care of the yelping dogs. He's 72, but others say he looks older than my 77 years. He won't cook for himself. Tashi go a deal from Ado & the visiting Family, if he cooked lunch & dinner yesterday, for them ahead, then that was okay, he could go with us to Kathmandu & stay over, but then he had to be back this morning. He's such a great guy. I believe he's in his mid forties & is a great cook, even though he often eats with his hands & toilets in the traditional Tibetan manner. His hands all ways look real clean, though & his nails are always trimmed.

The trip across town was something. We rode on some real bumpy, tiny streets. Some with hardly enough room for two tiny taxis to pass. We encountered a lumbering bull & cow, who we stopped for as they meandered across the road. You wonder why they're in the center of the city, there seems to be no grass only garbage. I did see some folks pawing through the garbage, for something of value to their lives. Most side streets have no street lilghts & those head on cars, seem to always have on their bright lights. You wonder how the driver sees? The traffic on the main streets & boulevards can be horrendous, with couples on motorcycles zipping between

the cars & trucks. We d id see one accident, last evening. That's the first one I've seen, since I've been here & it wasn't real bad. It looked like something caused a taxi to lose control & he slammed into a post. No one was hurt.

Oh, anyone wishing to email Tenzin Dhondup, his email is:

tenzin_dhondup2001@yahoomail.com He'd even be happy to correspond with a

woman, who would like to know more about himself.

I'm still waiting to get a good computer, but the people on the four good ones, here in this cyber cafe, must have lots of emails to read & respond to.

I had lunch, today @ a different place. I had an Indian dish & a Chinese dish & a glass of lemon tea. It was quite good & real cheap, 200 rupes, which is not quite $3.00 & I have a doggie bag with some of what I couldn't eat, for later.

Today, is some kind of special day @ the Boudha Stupa. I gave a guy a few rupies to plaster the thing with white & saffron colored plaster. Here I always thought those brownish-yellow streaks were from rust. I did Kora on all four levels, today. There a lot of woman & men around here, who look like

Dear Precious Ones:

I just had the best lunch! It cost me a little bit more than $1.00 & there was more than I could eat. It was @ a Yolmo Restaurant. I was informed, by a customer, that the Yolmos are a cast of Nepalese. They look Tibetan, but are Hindu worshipers.

The lunch consisted of maize/corn, instead of the normal rice, one gets here. It was like a very thick cornmeal mush. The accompanyments were: Dahl, which was much like our cook Tashi makes, but it had a tiny brown bean & rice, in it; A Meat dish, probably mutton, which was cut into small chunks, with bones & was in a tasty brown sauce; Sauted cauliflower, potatoes & onions, which was very tasty; Nepalese spinach, so I was told, whatever it was it was delicious; & Crunchies, sliced cucumber, sliced red onion, sliced tomato, sliced radish & what I thought was a string bean, but turned out to be a very, very hot raw chili. It was so hot, that it required eating lots of maize to tame down my very hot mouth. I thought my eyes were probably red & my nostrils spouting smoke. I was also given a glass of hot

water. I'll go there again! Where can one eat so much for a buck in the States?

Yesterday, I renewed my Visa. The Nepalese Government will only give out 3 month visas, which are renewable. It took most of the day, for the process.

When I first got to the window, I was lacking a photograph of myself, for their form. There was an independent, waiting outside, for just ones like me, in the same situation. He took me out of the visa precint to what appeared to be a local park. There were about twelve Nepales folks eating, what was probably their breakfast, with their hands. It was a pile of rice, with something yellow. Next to the little oven, of the restaurant, was a space, which was cluttered with all sorts of junk. In the front of the pile of stuff, there was a small stool. The guy quickly uncovered it & wiped the seat, telling me to sit He brought out an old black & white Polaroid camera & quickly produced four images of my face. He dried them by holding them near the restaurant oven, which was a global affair, with a round cover. They took the flat breakfast bread which Tashi makes for us, each morning.

He stapled one of the images to my form. After paying 2121 rupes, I was assured that my passport & visa would be ready @ 1:30 P.M. Our drive picked me up @ around 11:15 A.M. which gave us some time to go to the Post Office & fetch my Christmas cards, from the monastery post office box.

The Central Post Office of Kathmandu is a large concrete building painted light yellow. It is very humble, judging it by American marble palaces, or even local ones like J'ville. I wanted to mail a copy of my images, which I had put on a disk, to my brother Russ, so if something happened to the other one, I'd have a copy. The PO didn't sell packaging or envelopes. I was lead to a vendor, outside, where I purchased what I needed, a padded brown envelope. Then I had to find the stamp counter. It was in another doorway. A clerk weighed the package & sold me 90 rupes of stamps, which I attached to the package. I was then sent to the "Helper" who taped the package. The last step was to a female clerk, who canceled the stamps & put the package in a bin. Another door led me to where the Postal boxes were to be found. The numbers on the key for the monastery's box was 707. A man escorted me to, what looked like one of the stacks of the Old Library @ State Ed. There were rows on rows of boxes. Our box number did begin with a 7, but all the other numbers were different, however, the key worked & I retrieved my Christmas cards, thank! & a letter for H.E.Shyalpa from a woman in Providence, RI.

I took the driver to lunch @ a nice Chinese restaurant, with cloth napkins & cloth table cloth. The food was good. The visa was ready @ expected.

For the venture to get the visa, I was required to ride to town with two monks & one cook, to the Kathmandu Market, for the weekly vegetables for the monastery residents, monks, nuns, guests, etc. The Market was an amazing place. No meat, just veggies. The van was stuffed, before we left, with huge sacks of: potatoes, onions, string beans, cabbage, bok choi. The sacks of: egg plant, zucchini,pear tomatoes, ginger, cilantro, oranges, lemons were smaller. We have a very varied diet!

The vendors & buyers were indescribable. The next time I must take my camera, but even with a few images, I could never describe the site. Their heads & bodies were wrapped with all sorts of scarves, shawls & rags, around their brown skinny bodies. The only fat guy, was the rolly poly guy who took the money, when we left the market. The monks & cook seemed a bit prideful with each sack they brought to the car. Of course, they haggled with the vendors for the best price & I guess they felt, they always got the best price available. They spent about 5 or 6 thousands worth of rupes. One dollar is worth 70 rupes. So, if they had spent 7,000 rupes, they would have spent $100.00 for a week supply of veggies, for over one hundred people. Pretty good, wouldn't you agree. Can you buy a weeks veggies for each person in your family, for a buck? I don't think so.

It's time to close, but I must assure you that Nepal isn't experiencing any sort of political turmoil. I did see a couple rallies, but nothing serious. They'll have a national election in a couple months. It seems that people want some sort of democratic government. It's a country on the move, UP!

Life is good!

Love & Namaste, Bob