Moelam Choemo

A five-day Moelam Choemo was conducted at Gedu HSS ground—seven kilometers from Darla, where I currently reside, eat, sleep, and occasionally remember to water my plants.

It just got over yesterday. The ritual was headed by Je Khenpo and the central monastic body. A grand affair. Lots of chanting. Lots of incense. Lots of spiritual energy floating around like happy ghosts.

Moelam Choemo was conducted to bring peace and prosperity to the country and its people. May it work. May the roads improve. May the price of cooking oil drop. May my internet stop disconnecting every time a bird sneezes.

Darla school served devotees lunch for one full day. Just one day. But oh, what a day.

It was tedious. Not "oh, I have to fold laundry" tedious. Not "waiting for the bus in the rain" tedious. No. It was serve thousands of devotees tedious. A level of tedious that deserves its own medal.

Thousands. With spoons. And expectations. And second helpings.

We scooped. We smiled. We ran out of rice. We found more rice. We ran out of vegetables. We panicked. We found more vegetables. We considered adding a "one plate per person" rule, but then remembered we are Buddhists and also too tired to argue.

By the end of the day, my arm felt like I had been stirring the ocean with a ladle. My back had formed its own opinion about my life choices. And my soul—my poor, spiritual, Moelam-Choemo-blessed soul—just wanted to lie down and not look at food for at least twelve hours.

Here are some shots of the day. (See attached photos of chaos, kindness, and the world's longest buffet line.)

May the merits of our service bring peace and prosperity. And also, please, no more lunch duty for at least another year.

Tashi Delek. Now let me go find my bed.

Here are some shots of the day. (See attached photos of chaos, kindness, and the world's longest buffet line.)

May the merits of our service bring peace and prosperity. And also, please, no more lunch duty for at least another year.

Tashi Delek. Now let me go find my bed. 

Mat of grasses, twigs and branches

Train of People

Teachers on Leave

December Doldrums: Where Energy Goes to Die

Just as the year is about to come to an end, people's energy and synergy are dwindling. Dwindling like last month's salary. Dwindling like my patience during staff meetings.

The main reason? They have been so actively involved and working hard for almost nine months. Nine months. That's longer than a pregnancy, and arguably more painful. It's now time for a rest. A little drop-off from laborious and taxing works. A small, humble, please-God-let-me-sleep break.

Because a teacher's job is so heavy that even an undertaker boxer—you know, the kind who lifts coffins for a living—would be able to lift it only for a second. And then he would put it down and walk away slowly, possibly crying.

We need lots of free periods to deliver quality lessons. But do we get them? No. We get back-to-back classes, meetings about meetings, and lesson plans that ask us why we didn't submit the previous plans.

And Then There's the Moelam Choemo Factor

Another reason for the leaves nowadays is the ongoing Moelam Choemo in Gedu, seven kilometers from Darla school. Seven kilometers. A perfectly walkable distance. But apparently, it requires full-day leave and a spiritual passport mop.

Many devotee teachers are attending the ceremony there. Praying for peace and prosperity. Which is noble. Which is good. Which leaves the rest of us drowning in their absent bodies.

The Great Leave Escape

Complying with hard works—or perhaps escaping from them—teachers have begun to take leave from their works. Today, 12 teachers have taken casual leave. Twelve. That's the whole of a Lower Secondary school. If a school falls in a forest and no teachers are there to teach, does it make a sound? Yes. It's the sound of substitutes crying.

When such leaves are taken, substitutions come like battalions. Relentless. Unforgiving. Leaving one with no ways to catnap for clear teaching for the next class. No gap. No breathing. No five minutes to stare at the wall and question your career choices.

Meanwhile, the leave-takers? They would have taken forty winks like naps. Peaceful. Blissful. Probably dreaming of Moelam Choemo blessings.

And we? We are inflamed. Burning. Steaming like a kettle left on too long.

So here's to the end of the year. May it come quickly. May the leaves be balanced. And may the substitutes survive.

Deep breath. Red pen. Next class.

Today's List

Global Hand Washing Day

Darla's banner

Three Days of Hand Washing: Because Two Just Wasn't Enough!

Coinciding with International Hand Washing Day, Darla school celebrated Hand Washing Day for three consecutive days. Not one. Not two. Three. Because when it comes to hygiene, we believe in overkill.

The school Health Committee invited the Health Assistant (HA) of Darla Gewog to say a few words on the importance of washing hands. He arrived, probably with very clean hands, and highlighted a sobering fact: a number of people die due to not cleaning their hands.

He also talked to the assembly of students and teachers, stating that the main cause of any disease is simply not being willing to wash their hands properly. Not inability. Not lack of water. Lack of will. We have the will to scroll through YouTube for three hours, but not to rub soap between our fingers for twenty seconds. 

Global Hand Washing Day underscores the importance of handwashing regularly with soap and water as one of the most effective and affordable health interventions. Affordable is the key word here. Soap costs less than a packet of instant noodles. 

Hand washing helps fight many kinds of diseases and helps us stay healthy. Clean hands from touching unwanted things. In fact, we need a clean mind so that we can have clean hands. Otherwise, you could scrub until your skin falls off, but if your mind is still rummaging through other people's belongings, are you really clean?

There are many programs for the days. Today, Class XB gave hand washing demonstrations. Twelve techniques. I didn't know there were twelve ways to wash hands. Many of us have been using one technique whole life—the "rub and hope" method—and apparently.

There is hand washing for every class. Every single class. Each class was asked to bring jerry cans and make T-P holes (tap holes) for the days—and to be kept for the entire year. We did. There are now jerry cans lined up like soldiers. Some leak. Some are too high for small children. Some may never be used again after this week. But they are there. And they are beautiful.

Here are some snapshots of what's happening now:

My class IV B students

Jerrycans with T-P holes

True Faith and Love for God

People have all kinds of ideas about religion. Some think heaven is up there, hell is down there, and God is… somewhere over the rainbow. Beliefs vary. Faith in gods fluctuates more than wondering minds.

But here's what I think: you don't need to worship idols, chant verses you don't understand,  speak eloquently, or even look good. All you need is confidence in God's power and will. Just faithfulness. That's it. Simple, right?

Sometimes God brings tragedy. Sometimes deliverance. Mostly, though, He brings confusion. And silence. And a lot of waiting around wondering.

People complain, "God punished me even though I believed!" They say, He doesn't watch every little detail of our lives.  I think He’s definitely watching. The real problem is man's magnification of himself—we just don't see our own hearts. We blame God for the mess.

God's grace is always sufficient. He's not in some distant, unknowable realm. He's in our heart. 

Now, let me tell you about my own turn of life. During my training, I had to go to a random unknown place for teaching practice. Thanks to faith (or sheer luck dressed in piety), I met my life partner there. A blessing in disguise. I asked God for a reason. The reason He gave was beyond my imagination—mostly because He didn't give one. But the point is: God gives everything, often at crossroads, with a milestone effect. I asked for a blessing. I got a wife. Fair trade. 

The basic principle of all religions is the same: Dharma—the law of the self. So I respect all religions. I hate none. Habits change, rituals differ, and some religious outfits are seriously uncomfortable. But no religion sustains forever. That's why the guiding principle—Dharma—applies to all ages. 

What the world needs today is not dogmatic beliefs. Man can live without religion. But Dharma? That's essential. Self-awakening? Even more so. If a person lives without selfishness, they can become divine—or at least tolerable at times,

We want higher consciousness. Prayer helps. The power of prayer is supreme. It leads the world. It saves us from calamities and chaos. Prayer without common sense is just wishful thinking with extra steps.

Love is the basis for prayer. Prayer expands your canvas. Religion, at its best, teaches us to become conscious, good, and compassionate humans. 

The seeds and deeds of religion are souls. Outward worship is just conceited theater when there's no inner transformation. You can fold your hands all day, but if your heart is still a mess, you're basically a beautifully wrapped box of nothing.