On September 9th my son Paolo and I went on a journey. First we stopped in Germany to see my family but most importantly to see my father who is in a nursing home.
He was delighted to see us and we had a few short but intensiv days with him in my hometown. Our next stop was Dehli/ India from where we took another Airplane to Siliguri
which is in Darjeeling. There we rented a jeep to take us to Gangtok/ Sikkim.
After resting one night, we took another jeep which took us to Rumtek monastery, which is further up the mountain. Once there we were happily reunited with my friend and teacher Khenpo Ghawang, abbot of Rumtek monastery. Once there we were taken care of as if we were royalty. Khenpo Ghawang said " Rest"and rest it was. Until the big earth quake hit but that is a story for another time. We survived it when many people did not. The monastery was largely destroyed but we were safe amongst the monks and kind people of Rumtek. My son and I mostly meditated and received teachings from Khenpo Ghawang on life questions and Buddhist wisdom while we were there.when I had visited last year I had begun taking vows with Khenpo Ghawangs help and this year I expressed the wish to complete my novice nuns vows. On the morning of October 6th the time had finally come.
My son took scissors and razor to my hair and my teacher handed me my robes before it was time for the ceremony. Now I am a novice Buddhist nun, which is important to the reader of this blog as not to be surprised to see me dressed in yellow and red robes with hair very very short. I am well on the path of introspection, mind training and study. I am lucky to be a midwife because all of this training and meditation is about creating space and developing my intellect and my heart in a balanced way. I hope my training will be useful while I am supporting babies and their mothers and families.
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