A few weeks after arriving in McLeod Ganj, we discovered an English conversation class for Tibetan monks which needed volunteers. We were eager to help out, and have continued to do so throughout the majority of our time here. I will probably be writing more about the entire experience later, but through this volunteering we got to know the English teacher, a woman named Margaret from Australia, very well, and one day she invited our group to come and have a question and answer session with a couple monks from a higher class she was teaching. We were more than happy to participate. I already had several questions about Buddhism and I was just waiting for the opportunity to ask them.
The following are some of our questions and some of the monk’s answers. They are not word for word, but an account of what was said based on my notes.
Q: = question, A: = answer, and then I’ll add a “C:” to some of them for my own comments.
Q: What does “Ohm mani pedme hum” mean?
(this is a mantra, a very special phrase written around the Kora, in the temple, in prayer wheels, as well as repeated out loud in song or in chant)
A: This is the mantra of compassion. “Ohm” means body, spirit, and mind. “Mani” is a precious stone. “Pedme” is a lotus flower, a beautiful thing that grows in a dirty place (symbolic of the human being which is precious but lives in a dirty place). And “hum” is the five elements: earth, water, wind, fire, and space.
C: Put them together and what have you got? Well, I’m still not exactly sure, but now I know the meaning of the individual words and that all together they speak of compassion.
Q: What is the purpose of being a monk? (Why did you choose to become a monk?)
A: Many Tibetans choose at a young age to become a monk, often out of some desire to escape going to school. But the main reason is in order to learn and put in practice the necessary skills to gain enlightenment. Then, once one has gained enlightenment he can turn around and help others on the path to enlightenment.
C: At first I thought that becoming a monk in order to gain enlightenment seemed like kind of a selfish cause. Other people are working and supporting them financially so that they can study and follow that path to enlightenment, but the workers end up working their whole life and never get enough chance to study and become enlightened themselves. But the monks emphasized when we were talking to them that many non-monks may still gain enlightenment and many monks may not. Also that the reason a monk aspires to gain enlightenment isn’t just to save himself, but to be able to help more people to achieve that same state.
Q: When a person dies, what parts of them continue into their next life?
A: I forget the word, but essentially the soul or spirit continues along with the karma and merit they have obtained. But physical and personality traits do not continue.
Q: Is the family important?
*The monk who answered gave a disclaimer that his answer was his own opinion and not necessarily a Buddhist belief.
A: Family is not so important. Eventually everyone will reach nirvana and the world will be empty, so by people having more children they are adding to overpopulation and prolonging this eventual state of emptiness.
C: I think this is the area where my own beliefs contrast most with what I have heard from the monks. Of course, this was just his own personal opinion, but we, in our group, also shared briefly why we believe family is important. Not to change his mind. Just to share our view.
There may have been a few other questions, but that was most of them. We couldn’t get in too many because most of the answers were pretty long. It was a good experience though, and a practice I think could be used much more often to get to know other people, cultures, and religions. Just organize a Q&A session and then ask each others questions. It might be difficult to organize something like that, but if you could, it would be a great way to broaden your horizons and views of the world.
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