By MIKE ALDAX
Tibetan monks don’t get overly excited by any form of entertainment. After all, giving up the need for instant gratification is central to Buddhism.
But when Lobsang Tsering was asked to name one of his favorite experiences in his travels to America, he reluctantly admitted: “I liked the demolition derby.”
“It’s a man thing, I think,” he said, using a subtle hand gesture to describe two cars colliding. “It is good.”
Tsering, one of several monks from the Gyudmed Tantric Monastery in India who brought their American fundraising tour to Napa earlier this week, said he has enjoyed experiencing Western culture and considers Napa his second home.
The monks have returned here for the third time in four years to raise money for Tibetan Living Communities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Tibetan refugees in India.
From now until Sept. 1, the monks will hold a number of evening events, including workshops, ceremonies and prayers, and will sell Tibetan handicrafts at the Off The Preserve! gallery in downtown Napa.
The gallery will also show the monks completing a Tibetan Medicine Buddha mandala, a meticulously created painting made of colored sand. At 2 p.m. on Sept. 1, the group will sweep up the sand and lead a public procession to the Napa River, where they will disperse it into the water.
“As we build, we get more knowledge, beautifying negative thoughts,” said Tsering of the mandala.
The mandala represents a world in its divine form, a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into an enlightened mind. Tsering hopes that people viewing it will be able to receive some of the mandala’s positive energy before it’s released into the river in an act that symbolizes the impermanence of life.
Although the monks are intent on spreading their culture and message, visiting the United States is also an opportunity to raise funds for their impoverished community in India.
About 131,000 Tibetan refugees have fled to escape the Chinese occupation of their country. The majority have gone to India. The refugee community is headed by the Dalai Lama in the Indian city of Dharamsala. He is the Tibetan political and spiritual leader who fled the Chinese occupation of Tibet to India in 1959 and was followed soon after by many other refugees.
The life in exile has been hard for Tibetans, and the monks of the Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, located in India’s Southern state of Karnataka are no different. The monks are forced to sleep in halls and in classrooms. They have no access to clean water or vegetables. The monastery’s resources are further strained by the responsibility for the well-being of about 6,000 families that live in the refugee camp surrounding the monastery.
With few economic opportunities in India, the monks, with the help of Napan Diane Aigaki, a grant writer for the exiled Tibetans, devised a plan to share the unique Tibetan culture as a way to raise funds for the community.
As a monk, Tsering feels uncomfortable “selling” crafts and services to Americans, since money and profit have no place in his religion. But he said he isn’t profiting personally from any of the proceeds. All of the money will go to his group’s goal this year of improving education for Tibetan refugee children and for medical advances.
“Tibetan children don’t have proper education because a lot of them have to work with their families,” Tsering said.
Napan Nancy Fireman, who is housing the Tibetans and works with the fundraising tour, said the group hopes it can raise enough funds to construct a hostel for the children to stay in while their parents search for income.
“All they need is a stable place to stay so that they can receive a proper education,” Fireman said. “And they also need better medical facilities, supplies and more experienced doctors and nurses.”
The monks will hold a Healing Puja at the Napa Valley Center today at 7:30 p.m. and will hold a Healing Sounds of the Universe at di Rosa Preserve Thursday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m. Both events require reservations and a $25 donation.
The Tibetans will continue creating the mandala for the public to view every day through Sept. 1 at Off the Preserve! Viewing is free to all.
For more information on Tibetan Living Communities or to make reservations for upcoming events, call 226-5991.
