Just when you were living yet another uneventful day......

The craziest thing happened to me today.

But first let me provide you with some relevant information regarding Buddhism:

*Be compassionate, put others before yourself
*The universe will provide for you when you are on the right path, that is to say, we always get exactly what we need.
*No event is by chance.
*What goes around, comes around (aka-Karma)
*Monks live in monasteries and have no belongings. Everything they receive (funds) usually go to the monastic community.

Today I was walking around Kathmandu, having just visited the famous Durbar square with all its monuments and temples. From behind me I heard a friendly "Tashi Delek" (which means Hello in Tibetan). This actually caught my attention (usually I ignore the million hellos I get in a day because they're almost always followed up with "rickshaw, madam", "trekking information", "you like look in my store" etc) because in Kathmandu, this is not a common phrase. Napalese is quite close to Hindi and "Namaste" is the general term. I was joined in stride by an older Asian man who claimed to recognize me from Dharamsala. I nodded, surprised and also a little ashamed because I definitely didn't remember him from any particular encounter I had there. At first I thought he just got lucky and assumed that, with the Buddhist symbol I have on my bag, I had been there. But he then mentioned that he had seen me at the Karmapa's monestary. He was one of the yellow-capped monks from the monastery and had taken part in the puja(see photo) I had been watching (as I recall, I was probaby lingering around there for a good hour). A bit blown away by the fact that this monk remembered me, I had no objections to him accompanying me on my walk to Nepali Immigration. We got to chatting and he mentioned, in a whisper, that he was trying to get to Lhasa. When I asked him where he was staying he kind of shrugged it off and mentioned that he wasn't. When I told him that I had been feeling sick he immediately removed the red ribbon he had around his neck and gave it to me, mentioning that I now had the blessings of the Karmapa and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I felt honoured and humbled by his simple gesture. When I told him I was from Vancouver, he mentioned that he, as one of the Karmapa's 25 monks, would be making a trip there next March and that I could sit beside my new friend during his teachings. I was excited at the opportunity this would present for me to meet the Karmapa again, not to mention the fact that I could actually sit with the monks! It seems to me that every conversation I get into ends with the person wanting money from me. And sure enough, this time was no different. But the one thing that was, was the fact that Norbu Dorje Lama actually never asked for help. He was trying to get to Lhasa to see his mother who is ill. He has requested that the Chinese allow him entry and they told him to come back with XXX Yen and they would let him in and drive him to the Tibetan capital. This is a crazy, pretty much impossible amount of money to ask of a monk. He just kept saying how happy he was that he had found me and kept saying occasional prayers to the heavens as we cruised the streets of Kathmandu. So we walked for a while and the thought that this was some crazy guy who has come up with a really good story to con yet another foreigner crossed my mind many many times. But this guy was walking around with nothing but the clothes on his back and a few rupees in his pocket and just as the thought was in the process of crossing my frontal lobe for the 17th time, he stopped mid sentence to help a blind man across the street. Was Buddha trying to tell me something?

I listened to my heart and I followed the signs and I decided to help Norbu out and give him the money. He had many offerings and promises for me for when we meet again in Canada, but I won't hold him to it, I know he'll do that himself. I don't ask for anything in return except for the confirmation that the words exchanged between us were the truth..... and that will only come if and when we meet again.

It blows my mind how life worked out for Norbu today, and I'm pretty sure he's thinking the same thing. He says he's been waiting 49 years to meet me and today he did, at exactly the right moment. As for me, we'll wait and see what the Buddha has in store. I hope that I can show Norbu and his lama posse around our world when they come. He asked me if I had a boat as he made paddling gestures with his hands....he really has no idea. He also said that he and a few other lamas would come to my house and create a thangka painting for me.....I'd love a snapshot of that.

So that was my good deed of the day. I followed that up by walking into a Trekking agency and yelling and swearing at the guy there for 30 minutes for ripping me off.

Peaks and valleys, I guess.

Izzy's Big Step

So I'm in the midst of reading The Alchemist (I know, I know, a little late) and am totally washed up in what Paulo is saying: People need not have fear of the unknown if they are capable of acheiving what they want and need (Which we all are). I guess the biggest problem we all face is clouding this view of what we want and need with what we think we want and need and living the rest of our lives unhappily trying to achieve it. Some are lucky however, they have a major moment in their lives; sudden realizations, a death of someone dear, a near fatal accident, a drastic life change; and they are able to turn on the windshield wipers and see the road, and realize that they are the ones who are actually driving the car down Unhappy street. Lo and behold, they take a left turn, not because they know where the road will go, but for God's sake it'll get me off Unhappy street!

So I'm kinda driving a rickshaw through the rocky roads of India with no idea about what I might find, but with an idea of the things that I like, that attract me. Whether that be art, culture, music, people...whatever. And being a rickshaw, people jump on, we have some good times, some good conversations and then they jump off and we all move on.

So I attracted something. Actually, I hit it...like a garbage-devouring black bull on the side of the road in the middle of the night (FYI: bulls/cows pull rank over any vehicle on the road). I met a nice Indian boy (and my metaphorical rickshaw was written off).

Actually we were set up and it occured by the means of what I thought were simply meaningless everyday choices. So let this be a warning to you all! Every step you take, whether you decide to turn into the Starbucks or strike up a conversation with the bum on the sidewalk, you're CHOOSING that moments path on the infinite number of paths in your life time. So as I passed on my phone number, and I'll be the first to admit that I was sceptical, as I'm sure you all are right now, the way I figured, I had been travelling(rickshawing) with strangers-become friends anyway, what was the harm in meeting a local and going on a road trip with him and his friends? To me it really was no different.

After spending 6 weeks talking to him on the phone, we decided to meet up and head north to Ladakh, one of the only places in the world where Tibetan culture is still fully preserved. He picked me up in his jeep in Delhi and the following day we left, escaping the Sept.13 bomb blasts by a mere 3 hours! As we zipped along the highway and heard the news (we were at one of the blast sights earlier that afternoon) I really felt that something else was (and still is) at play, pushing me around this map and watching over me. In this moment I checked myself, gave my head a shake and gave thanks for my precious life. This was all reinforced 3 days later when we traversed the highest motorable road in the world and popped out the other side during the beginning of a fatal snow storm that would trap hundreds of tourists in the mountain camps for 3-4 days.

Suddenly my travels in India were upgraded. I was now cruising with 3 local guys (we picked up his friends just after we left Delhi) in a 4x4 jeep, rickshaw long forgotten. I spent the last month hitting all the major tourist sigths in northern India and then some; for the past 10 days I was in a remote village with Ajit's extended family who are still keeping the traditions of the caste system very much alive and where the entire population was presented with their first white visitor. Needless to say, I was treated like a princess.

I've now escaped for a few weeks into Nepal to take a break from the intense 3.5 months in India. I plan to trek Annapurna and will renew my visa here; I've decided not to go to AUS/NZ but to return to south India for Christmas and New Years.

I leave you with this:

The floor of a crowded concert hall, trying to push myself to the front in order to get a better view. After battling for hours and hours, sweating, pushing, being pushed, scratched, bruised and battered, I get a glimpse. But it's not better, it's just closer, and there's a huge, tall sweaty guy infront of me and the music sounds the same!

Defeated but still happy, I now let the crowd do the jostling and see where it takes me - after all, no matter if I'm stage left, front and centre or at the back of the park - I'm having a good time taking whatever the band throws at me, wherever I am. I'm open to letting someone take my hand and lead me around. Maybe I can help them have a good time. I'm dirty, stinky and shoeless, what have I got to lose?

I think that might be what my life is for: providing the hand (or many hands) for people to hold. I think that's what all our lives are for. Let's let go of what we want and let someone hold onto us. Someone is holding onto me now, and I'm actually letting him. He's taking me amazing places and I've actually discovered that after a while, I've started to hold onto his hand too.

Beautiful things happen when you stop trying and just let life take you on it's own journey. Makes me wonder where I would be had I done it at a different time, say 5 years ago. But that's the way the world works: in all its beauty, it's absolutely perfect.

Paulo says there is a force that wants you to raelize your own destiny, just read the omens amd you'll come across your treasure.