Mantras and Lollipops

Day 4

Day four from Namche to Pangboche was a long day (the longest) and up to the awesome monastery in Tengboche. I decided day 4 was going to be more spiritual if I had any say about it. The bowl at which the monastery sits was possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There was, however, tourists and only one monk at the gate to tell people to remove there shoes. He allowed me alone to enter the buddhist monk prayer room with their mats, robes, and completely ornate worship room. As elaborate as any movie you have seen and it really blew my socks off. (I kept my socks on). He gave me a menthol candy to aid in breathing as he saw I was on a rug in the back corner cross-legged, hands in prayer and attempting to connect with the sacred as the monks do routinely. My white American uneducated and muddled mind was like a canoe fighting the current instead of learning to steer with it. But there was so much noise.

I told Chhatra and Rom that this was a spiritual journey for me and I emphasized the monasteries. My guide literally said when we crested into the monastic bowl, ” you can spend…you know…7 or 8 minutes here”. I stayed probably 45 min inside myself. Ron didn’t want to enter. I then decided to ” have lunch” on the monastery step. I only had a mini-snickers but I made it last an uncomfortably long time until I had to lecture him on WHY I was here. His journey as a guide was not the same as one seeking a pilgrimage. Continuing on our walk I dragged my feet. I was not there. I was still at the temple. My mind had not caught up with my feet and I was ok with that. I liked where my head was at.

Mantras

The mantras I have been reciting outloud as I walk are basic ones. The most common is ” Om Mani Padme Hum”. Basically I believe is to focus oneself on combining altruism ( love and joy for all) with wisdom. To focus on this and keep it sacred. To focus on tgat sacred in order to transform the inpure to the pure in the body and mind.

The second mantra I’ve been reciting is, ” Om Ara Pa Za Na Dih”. This I believe is to focus on tge oneness of all. To remove ego and conceptual views tgatvseparate ourselves from everything.

So, whether I understand them completely or not, repeating such thoughts as live for all, wisdom, and oneness , cant hurt. In fact, to see those ideas in everyone you meet and in all the nature around is quite a great feeling. I think I will try and focus on such things more. This trip is the perfect primer.

We passed an old man. sitting in a folding chair, a weathered home-made sign, and a wooden box with various foreign words painted around the one word I recognized, ” donations”. This could easily be one of the many panhandlers at the exit of Costco. It was explained to me tgat he has for 30 years worked to keep the trail clean of litter. Tge fact that I doubted he coukd stand didnt matter. My guide described his notoriety with a reverence and respect and so, I was sure that at some time in his life he was active in trail maintenence. He still was, if only to bring the issue to forethought. What made this man different from a panhandler? Well, I put 2 bucks in the box and was overpaid in return by him standing cautiously, pressing his hands, bowing, and stating the greeting of tge godly, ” Namaste”. I returned the greeting but felt he gave me gold and I gave him a paper of no more worth than the trash he had once picked up. I love this man. How could you not.

At a teahouse in Pangboche, I was welcomed by a group of Israelis that were making their own food for Shabbat ( the Jewish holy day) . I had played a game of chess in Namche with one of them. A great game I list at the end but was a fun well played game. I errored only once which is all it takes with two evenly matched players. The group of 8 were traveling the same trail as I, but were taking an offshoot to a pass I am not going. So when we happened to stay at the same teahouse again at the next village the young gentleman invited me to eat Shabbat with them. Now maybe I DO have to tell you that this is an honor really and I would not and coukd not say no. We prayed in Hebrew but I only added the common word , ” Amen”. They were pleased that I knew that much. There was breaking of bread, and drinking of the same cup of some Nepali everclear posing as kosher wine. The food was called shakshuka. I shared stories of my giving up everything to help the Israeli Army. It seemed we were already friends before we met.

Lollipops

I needed a coke. We stopped at one of the many homes/convenience stores that sell lunch or souvenirs to the trekers on the ” highway to basecamp”. It’s rugged. Its cold, its badic, but there IS just ONE TRAIL from Lukla to Everest Base Camp which is an 8 day walk. Still in my monastic trance after leaving Tengboche, I directed Rom to stop for a coke. The break in the meditation was about time. As I opened the twist top coke, I noticed a single young boy of about 3-4 years old. I was eager to share the Tootsi-Roll Pops I had in my snack bag. I gave him the grape one because the cherry is my favorite. I motioned to the motherly figure (and grandma) to make sure the gift was acceptable. They nodded and smiled. The boy grabbed it with coaxing from my guide and ran back to the room of his guardians to unwrap it. I let them see that I too was opening mine to ensure, you know, that it wasnt poison. I love Tootsie roll pops and I have never eaten one with a frown. Of course I wanted to take a picture of this cute kid and remembervthis sharing moment, but he was shy. But from afar we exchanged and imitated the 1000 ways to suck a lollipop. The women in the back laughed and exchanged Nepali words with my guide. I asked what that was about. He said tgat they ” laughed at YOU”. They never see adults eating lollipops…” It’s for children”. I stared at him as purposefully as I could and told him tgat he needed to be more like a child.

Then I was outdone by the boy. I thought I was sharing basic wisdom of allowing your inner child to come though and not be afraid of of child wisdom. I then after several face twisting, right cheek, left cheek, finally CRUNCHED the lollipop breaking the candy cherry casing to reveal the tootsie core. The boy looked at me. I wanted to share this wondrous revelation of the chocolate inside. He looked, but was not impressed. Perhaps this was not his first tootsie roll pop. He stuck out his tongue ( now purple) slowly. On purpose with the same look from his eye tgat I imparted to Rom, my guide.

Now, this Nepali kid gave me no prior indication of knowing English, but with that glare of eternal wisdom came onecwird, ” SLOW”. I had been outwisdomed by the child. The teacher to Rom became the childs student. This one word ” slow” could have come from a 150 year old sage floating above a yoga mat with an ora of gold light. The sage was not mearly telling me to eat a lollipop slowly but to enjoy EVERYTHING and to do so slowly in a mindful way. To not hurry to get to some gooey center prise. For as the boy apparently already knew, it will come. The prize is in the licking. The chocolate will come. Trust the Journey. Enjoy the journey.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here. I am grateful for each breath. I am grateful for each lick of the lollipop.