After pizza, we walked back towards McLeod.
When we reached the top of TIPA road, Phuntsok pointed out two monks walking toward us. Chemey said, “This is Tenzin Tsepag’s brothers.” Tenzin Tsepag worked for the Archive back in 2006, translating Tibetan teachings into English for DVD subtitles. Now he is the English translator for His Holiness during teachings in India.
Tsepag’s older brother, on the right, recently became a monk. I’ve met a few people here who entered monkhood in their later years. His other brother, on the left, had been a monk since he was young, and therefore, he said, had no traditional education. In a few days, he planned to go up in the mountains for a monthlong retreat to memorize some traditional texts. “The cell phone battery finishes after two days, and then… all time just memorizing.”
The Tibetans I’ve met are relentlessly humble, which makes it easy to underestimate their accomplishments. When we got back from Dharamkot, Lobsang said “He just acts like nothing,” but he is actually a distinguished Geshe (one having a monastic degree). He studied with Ling Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s own senior tutor, and is an accomplished Tibetan chanting master. Lobsang suggested we invite him to the new soundproof room at the Archive to record him.
There was a novelty to these two pairs of brothers meeting up on the roadside. And a refreshing warmth to our visit that I couldn’t imagine having in the U.S. It has something to do with the uninhibited gestures of human affection that are so common here.
You’re Tenzin Tsepag’s brother?
Me, yes, yes… we are different, yeah?
But I hear your voice—I can hear Tenzin Tsepag.
[referring to his brother] He’s oldest. Twenty years gap. Youngest, twenty years.
Twenty years! How did that happen?
My mother gives birth when she was 17. My father… makes children…
[everyone laughs]
My mother was 17.
Wow—
The youngest: 50… my mother was 50.
That’s amazing!
Amazing! Ha ha!
Maybe we should take a photo… brothers and brothers.
