After leaving the Archive, we walked up Temple Road with Geshe Kunkhen. Temple Road is lined with Tibetan trinket stands—bracelets, Buddhas, and of course, Tibetan singing bowls. To our surprise, Geshe La explained that Tibetan Buddhists rarely, if ever, use Tibetan singing bowls—they’re more of a tourist item, and probably manufactured in Nepal. We stopped by a stand with a particularly gigantic bowl and watched as Geshe La coined a now classic phrase on our trip.
“18,000 my hat”
[rings bowl]
Wow, it’s big.
How much does it cost?
It’s 18,000… handmade.
18,000, this my hat… 18,000 my hat. Very good. Big!
One more smaller?
[No], big one good…