Album Tibetan from Designldg

Come Along

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:15:13 +0000

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It's funny how sometimes we can blend things which were not ment to be together.
For instance since a few days a song from Titiyo's album "Come Along" is coming to my mind whenever I am thinking of some tibetan monks I know.
I wonder what are their thoughs, where they are...

"There is hope, anything can happen" says Lhadon Tethong in French newspaper LE MONDE, www.lemonde.fr/web/portfolio/0,12-0@2-3216,31-1025904,0.html (in French)

"...Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free..."
www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/titiyo/come_along.html

I took this picture at the Tibetan temple in Sarnath near Varanasi (Benaras) - India.
"Free Tibet, Free China".

Shakyamuni Buddha or "The Awakened One of the Shakya"

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:53:12 +0000

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After the polemic which appeared under my last image on Flickr ( www.flickr.com/photos/designldg/2342196105 ) controverting religious, philosophical and political matters concerning FREE TIBET, I hope that this one will bring peace and wisdom to those who refuted the fact there was an annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China in 1959...

This Shakyamuni Buddha is the central statue on the Altar of the Tibetan temple in Sarnath where I like to come often.
This place near Varanasi (Benaras) is full of peace, this is where the Buddha thus journeyed to Deer Park (Sarnath in Sanskrit), where he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment.

Buddhahood is defined as a state of omniscience (sarvajñä) that is freedom from the obstructions to liberation (or negative states of mind such as ignorance, hatred and desirous attachment) and the obstructions to omniscience (which are the imprints or 'stains' of delusions imagining inherent existence).
When one is freed from mental obscurations one is said to attain a state of continuous bliss mixed with a simultaneous cognition of the true nature of reality, where all limitations on one's ability to help all other living beings are removed.
This includes the attainment of omniscience - that is the removal of all obstructions to knowing all phenomena (or seeing the empty nature of each phenomenon as well as each of their relative characteristics).
From the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism, when one conceives of a particular object the mind gives rise to the appearance of that object.
In perceiving the empty nature of all phenomena as well as each of their relative characteristics, one becomes both omniscient and omnipresent.

Happy Holi and Happy Easter to all of you.
"FreeTibet, Free China".

Free Tibet

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:26:36 +0000

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- FREE TIBET -
Tibetan monks are our shepherds, they pray for us, for our souls and we can't let them down...

Chinese invaders will not leave this land because this part of Himalaya has many valuable resources.
An huge Highway is already reaching the hills destroying the ecological system.
Those recent "riots" are one more oppportunity for China to try to get an hold on the Tibetan culture and to get a profit from this country.

Unfortunately it is only an economic problem therefore if you want to support Free Tibet you can only boycot Chinese products.

www.freetibet.org
www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qgb6_les-emeutes-a-lhassa_politics

I took this picture at the Tibetan temple in Sarnath near Varanasi (Benaras) - India.

A Midnight Winter Dream had me in its Spell

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:09:31 +0000

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Woke up on a good day and the world was wonderful
A midnight winter dream had me in its spell.

I dreamt about two monks visiting Sarnath
They sat under a tree nearby Lord Buddha's stuppa.

They told me of the Beauty hidden in our foreheads,
They told me of the ugliness we show instead.

And when we put a foot wrong do we learn from all the pain

After midnight we sat up half the night
And they began to tell me what it was al for

I woke up in the jungle they had gone I don't know where
Don't remember much at all but their words were echoing
A midnight winter dream and then wake again...

(Very much inspired by the lyrics from "Midnight Summer's Dream" by THE STRANGLERS)
I took this picture on Chrismas eve last December, it was just before sunset in Sarnath near Benaras.

Temple keeper

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:57:09 +0000

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"The oldest living city in the world".

This id one of the two lions which are standing at the entrance of the tibetan temple in Sarnath near Varanasi (Benaras), Uttar Pradesh.

When I come there I like to sit at its feet on the cold green marble and rest for a while.
This temple is out of space and time and I enjoy the silence of this place which gives me energy and inspiration.

Deep thoughts

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:02:25 +0000

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"The oldest living city in the world".
This monk is standing at the entrance of the tibetan temple in Sarnath.
He was reading mantras and sometimes he was looking at the few people who were walking in the gardens.
It was very hot that day and I think he was standing there in order to feel the wind which was blowing then just before the storm.
He saw me taking pictures of him and he didn't mind striking several poses but this picture was shot before he realized what I was doing and I think it's where he is looking the most natural when he was deep in thoughts.

Enlightened network

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:39:21 +0000

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"The oldest living city in the world".

At the tibetan temple in Sarnath, a monk is manipulating his cell phone.

I always find funny to see tibetan monks using the latest technology when I meet them in trains or in monasteries in the Himalayan hills.
They live far away from so many things but they are often kin of those very modern things.

Self Initiation

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:07:51 +0000

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"The oldest living city in the world".

The final objective of a Buddhist practitioner is to reach the supreme accomplishment, the illumination.
This can be reached quickly through the practice of the Tantric teachings.
The self-initiation of Yamantaka is taken from the Anutara Yoga Tantra, ad Yamantaka literally means "That which rids you of Death".

The one who meditates, enters in a mental state where there exists no "other", where his perceptions are transformed.
Using small drums, bells and vajras, in the way of the union of Practice and Wisdom, the practitioner is "reborn" in the family of the five Meditating Buddhas and invokes their power of transformation.

I took this picture in the tibetan temple of Sarnath, this young monk was alone there and reading mantras.
I knew him, we met several times and we talked three weeks earlier.
He saw me and he was smiling at me while he was reading loudly.
From his expression I felt that he was happy to see me again even if he didn't stop his work.
I sat nearby for a long moment and I enjoyed this peaceful place filled up with his voice.

Offering

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:42:42 +0000

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In the Deden Tsuglagkhang, the temple of Norbulingka Institute near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh (India).
Those offering cups are standing at the feet of the monumental Shakyamuni Buddha statue which is worshiped at least once a day by the members of the Tibetan community on their way to and from work.
Norbulingka Institute was created in order to preserve the identity and the cultural roots of the Tibetan community in exil.

Norbulingka Institute

nobody@ipernity.com (Designldg) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:28:06 +0000

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Norbulingka Institute with the Dhauladar range as a backdrop.
Nobulingka is a close Tibetan community near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh (India) in the Himalayan hills.
It is an Institute wich teaches the traditional values of Tibetan society and which is preserving Tibetan Art and culture.
Staying a few days among the students of this Academy was one of the greatest moment in my life.
This is where I understood the real meaning of the hindi word "Shanti" (Peace in english)...