Tashi Delek

In India, there are many Buddhist pilgrimages. Typically, most Buddhist pilgrimages are located in the states of Bihar and Maharashtra. Lord Buddha Pilgrimage is located in Bihar, while Nagarjuna Pilgrimage is located in Maharashtra. Many of our Buddhist masters were born in India and grew up in India. In the past, India had a strong influence of Buddhism, but gradually, the number of Buddhists in India declined. I went on pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya and Varanasi almost every year for His Holiness Dalai Lama’s teachings....

My monastery’s name is Sera Mey Monastery, located in southern India. Southern India is home to many monasteries; most of the larger ones are situated here. When His Holiness the Dalai Lama requested a state minister to allocate land for Tibetan refugees, the Karnataka Chief Minister kindly offered the land to His Holiness for this purpose. As a result, many monasteries and Tibetan colonies were established in southern India. However, we were only granted forestland, not pre-cleared land suitable for building houses or farming....

I have met many teachers in my life so far. From my school days, I started following their advice. In my school, I met various teachers through different subjects. But not all teachers are similar characters and have a different style of teaching. Some teachers teach very carefully, while others teach openly. Still, some teachers give many advices during teaching time, and some don’t. This is different from the styles of teachers and their mindsets....

I was born in Tibet, and my family’s occupations were both farming and nomadic herding. As a result, most of my childhood memories are based on these conditions. In the spring, some of my family members go to the nomadic place with yaks, sheep, and goats. Nomads never stay in one place for a long time; they change locations every week or month, depending on how much good grass is available for the animals....

Today, I am going to describe my daily meals in the monastery. In our monastery and school, the meals are served by the monastery. I think this is similar to all monasteries and schools at any place. Typically, we have three meals a day in our monastery. We have a friendly kitchen for all monks. From there, they serve three meals to each monk every day. So, the schedule of the meal in a day is: morning bell ring at 7 am, afternoon at 11:30 am, and evening at 5 pm....