By Matt Snyder

Herald Staff Writer



The Buddhists of the Gaden Shartse monastery in India opened their talk Wednesday at Westminster College by chanting a prayer, which began as a low rumble of words, five monks harmonizing together.

They shifted halfway through to higher notes that resonated through the Lakeview Witherspoon Room in the student center.

A crowd of about 50 showed up to hear from and ask questions of the Tibetan monks, who stopped in New Wilmington as part of an 18-month tour, said professor of religion Dr. Bryan Rennie. They originally come from a county-sized tract of land donated by the Indian government after the Tibetans fled from persecution by the Chinese government.

In India, the lay-person basis of their community was missing, so the monks organize tours through the United States and Europe to raise money and awareness, he said.

The chant was lead by Geshe Kalsang Gyatso, a member of the monastery specially trained so that he can chant at times for 18 hours straight. Most monks on the trip were chosen for a specialty, said Geshe Chophel. Lama Tenzin, for instance, was chosen because he could translate for the monks.

Chophel – the only American in the bunch – joked, “I was chosen because I speak English and I have a driver’s license.”



Learning through experience


Wednesday’s program was the monks’ second of two talks on campus; they also performed a healing ceremony on Tuesday.

Rennie said the healing ceremony was a sort of spiritual cleansing ritual. The Buddhists asked participants to visualize in their minds a being pouring rainbow colored light over them, carrying good karma into them and pushing bad karma out their feet like tar.

The ceremony is not meant so much to cure a disease like cancer, Rennie said, but instead helps people feel better and leads them to better health.

About 75 people were present for that demonstration Tuesday night, he said. Many of those present were visitors from the area, but by Wednesday students began showing up too.

The goal in bringing the Buddhists to campus, Rennie said, is to get his students to see faiths in practice that they might not otherwise come in contact with.

“It’s very easy to deride another religion and treat it as ridiculous until you meet someone who really believes it,” he said. “And then you realize that humanity is a great equalizer.”

“Rather than just being content with books, we try and make sure that our students get to experience to some extent alternative religions,” he said. Seeing religion as it operates in someone’s life is sometimes called “experiential learning.”

Several weeks ago students took a trip to a Hindu temple, Rennie said. “I have a Jewish rabbi coming to campus in a couple of weeks time, and a member of the local Muslim community as well.”

Experiential learning is not uncommon for college courses, Rennie said. The Buddhists also visited in 2005 and 2003, and while response has been overall positive, there have been one or two unsigned “poison pen letters” over exposing students to other religions.

Among the biggest differences between Buddhism and other religions, Rennie said, is that Buddhism is not centered on God or gods. It’s a more mystical, philosophical faith.



Life story of a monk


Asked if speaking to an audience that’s probably majority Christian presents any challenges, Chophel said he just tries to speak more to unity.

“From our point of view, all religions are good,” he said. He said the Dalai Lama might tell people, “Don’t become a Buddhist. If you’re a Christian, become a good Christian. If you’re Muslim, become a good Muslim.”

Chophel started reading about Buddhism 18 years ago when he said he was not a good person. He lost his daughter when her mother took her away, and he didn’t see her again until she was 9 years old.

He came from a rough background where his brothers would stand him up against a wall and throw knives at him, sometimes while shooting up on heroin. But he also saw some of his brothers who’d been in prison were turning their lives around. He wanted to also.

Chophel said he focused on changing his karma and it changed his life. Since then, he’s reunited with his daughter and they are on good terms.

He also spent some time as a counselor with children and teaching social studies with inner-city kids in Los Angelos. When he turned 43, he decided to move to India and become a monk. If people want to change their life, Chophel said, they need to change their karma – realize that in all interactions, it’s part them and part the other person. “It’s not all one person.”



Teachings of Buddhism


The crowd listened to Chophel talk about Buddhist teachings, summarizing some of their beliefs. At the root of it, said Chophel, Buddhism is about the wheel of Dharma.

“We’re all stuck here in this realm,” he said. “This realm is not where you want to be.” That’s because of suffering, or “unfavorable circumstances,” so that even when well off, people are still faced with prospects like aging, sickness and death, he said.

Buddhism also teaches that humans don’t have to be subject to that wheel, and that there is a link in the chain they can break, Chophel said.

Suffering is caused by ignorance, which leads to anger and attachment, he said, and ignorance is the breakable link.

Chophel said people often don’t see the interdependence of things. For example, there are people you may not like. But there are probably other people who do like that person.

If someone walks into the room and yells, he said, it’s often because they are frustrated or suffering. The normal human response is to yell back, but the Buddhist response is to see the person is suffering and, from that, form compassion. Chophel called such actions “skillfulness over ignorance.”

Chophel said people create their own karma, planting seeds that lead to favorable or unfavorable circumstances.

The principle is talked about in many philosophies and religions, he said, and can be somewhat summed up as “you reap what you sow.”

Likewise, he said when bad things happen – like if someone’s car gets smashed – that person “burns off” some of their karma. Seeing that, he said, helps people to deal with situations better. They stop blaming other people, and with no one to blame, they cease being a victim.

“We can change our karma,” Chopel said. That happens by creating good seeds instead, which can leave a person surrounded by more loving, kind and compassionate folks.