drepung loseling monks visit kenyon college
	A couple of students from Kenyon College traveled down to Columbus in late January to announce a visit by monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery. The original monastery was built in Lhasa, Tibet, but it and more than 6000 other holy structures were destroyed by the Chinese during their occupation of the country. A number of the monks associated with the monastery and the Drepung Loseling Institute tour the country as part of a program called the Mystical Arts of Tibet. I think they might've visited Santa Fe when I lived in New Mexico (not the first time I missed such an event there only to catch it on the flipside in Ohio). The Students for a Free Tibet made it known that the monks would be on campus from 11-15 February. They were scheduled to construct a sand mandala, hold lectures on Tibetan medicine and aspects of meditation, and interact with attendees. I was excited to hear all this, because I had recently entertained the notion to arrange such an event in Columbus. I'd be interested to see how the kids at Sullivant Gardens would react to Tibetan monks, and vice versa. Let the benefit flow all around the West Side... So anyhow, the Sunday of the visit arrived and I prepared to head out. I took film, food and a framed fractal to present to the lama. I left later than I had intended and did not arrive on the campus until 7:30. By that time, the atrium space that the monks were using for the mandala construction was full of people. Lots of attentive, quiet people. I don't know if they had been asked to be hushed, or if the proceedings just had everyone transfixed. I walked around for a bit, trying to find a good vantage point from which to take some photographs. It was quite a fancy library where all this action was going on, so I was able to walk up to the third floor and gaze down through the wall of windows. I burned up a couple of rolls and then began to pick through the jewelry and incense. The monk behind the counter was one of the two whom I had greeted that morning in Columbus with a "Tashi delek!" that brought smiles to their faces. Just before I put down some cash for some temple music, I heard this rapid scritch-scratchy sound behind me. I turned and saw that a couple of the monks had begun to lay down the tiny bits of colored stone that would depict Medicine Buddha. I (and probably many of the people who'd left by then) hadn't known they were going to begin putting down sand that night. But then, it would only make sense that the depiction of the deity would be the first thing created. As I spoke to one of the lamas through his translator, he explained that they had chosen this invocation in order to alleviate and release the suffering of all the people in the area (and, of course, all sentient beings). He also wished for us to receive peace and prosperity in our lives. The monks finished their work for the night at that point. As I went to leave, another one of the monks whom I had seen at Columbus KTC extended his hand. I took hold and he recited the Chenrezig mantra: "Om mani padme hung." "Om mani padme hum." "Om mani padme hung." "Om mani padme hum." "Om mani padme hoong..." "Oh! Om mani padme hung!" I realized that he wasn't just being nice and bestowing a blessing upon me -- I had been reciting the mantra incorrectly and I was being given a pronounciation lesson. Now how this monk knew to stop this stranger and give him this lesson... well, that's a whole other story. One which will no doubt unfold with time. May any merit generated by the presentation of these contents be shared among all beings.