Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 100-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering introduces himself to his Adelaide students through an interpreter, recounting his life from a childhood in Kham, Tibet. He describes being designated a monk before birth, his tearful early years at Dargie Monastery, and the Chinese occupation that forced him to flee in 1959 after learning the Dalai Lama had already left. The account covers the weeks of overland travel to Assam, refugee camps where Tibetans died daily from heat and illness, a decade at Buxar (including nine months hospitalized with TB), and the clearing of South Indian jungle to build Sera Monastery. He traces the six-year Geshe Lharampa examination process — the highest Geshe degree — before arriving at Buddha House Adelaide in 2001, and answers a few student questions to close.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 2008 02 28 BP.mp3
UUID: 2d18bf48-1817-4ecb-ac2c-50cd8d1b1cbe
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-02-28
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.3 minutes
Words: ~6,360
So so Deshi was asked was asked just to to to have an informal talk with you, to present himself to you. So first of all, he’s introducing himself. His his name is Geshe Pema Tsering. If if I miss anything, you just you you help me, please. So is saying so I was asking then because this is a bit unusual for the to to talk about himself, so I’m just asking the questions.
So I was I was asking when so when when did you become a monk? And I saying, look. In in in my country, in in in Tibet, in Kham, we have this custom where the the parents sometimes they decide if a son or a they decide if a son or a daughter is going to become a monk or a nun. So his parents and his uncles and so forth, they have already decided even before he was born that he was going to be a monk. Soon after he was born, they performed a ceremony.
His family, his relatives performed a ceremony of ordination even though he was not even one year old. At that time, was ordained, but he wasn’t studying the scriptures, text, or anything like that. But that’s the custom in his in his country. So then even though this has already been decided for him, his family, his relatives have decided already he’s going to be a monk. So then in the in the in the monastery, in the Dargie monastery where where in the province where he he comes from, they have already put down his name as a monk.
Even though he was he’s not actually a monk then, but they already put down his name as a monk. So then up until he was and then the dates are always a bit a bit vague. So up until he six, seven, or eight years old, he was just a child. Where he comes from, there’s no school, no kindergarten, anything like that. He’s just eating, sleeping, and playing around and wandering around.
So he’s he’s playing outside. He’s he’s playing with the other kids in the village and so forth, and he’s eating and sleeping. He’s not studying anything, not going to any school, anything like that, So it was it was an an uncle. Right? Yeah.
So so then when he was seven years old, then he moved to this monastery, the Dargie monastery. He moved with his uncle. His uncle was was a monk there. So his his uncle was a a a geshe. His name is Geshe.
He was staying with his with with his uncle then in the monastery. And still then, Geshe-la is not sure if he was formally ordained. He got the the the the vows of. Is that how you say it? If he got the the which is the vows of renunciated, the the when you leave your family home.
So even then, he’s not sure if he got the formal ordination or not. But he at that time, when he was seven, he moved into the monastery. He was living in the monastery, he started learning then the alphabet, the Tibetan alphabet. So then when when he moved into the monastery, Geshe-la is saying, then he didn’t have any more free time, any more time for any more time for playing or anything like that. So he had to study.
He had to learn the alphabet and learn to to read, to write, and so forth. And he said, and that that was very difficult. And he couldn’t see parents anymore. Even though he could see his house at a distance from the monastery, he couldn’t go there. He couldn’t see his mother and his father.
And he said he would see the animals, the goats and the yaks on the hills. He would look at them. He used to play with the animals and fool around with the animals. He couldn’t do that. He would just look at them.
He would just cry because he was having such a hard time, and he couldn’t do all the things that he was used to do. So he was just crying crying a lot, he said. He was not not very happy then. And he’s saying and so it wasn’t it wasn’t a very good time. It wasn’t a pleasant time.
And he says, I I I up until now, I I don’t I I I didn’t like my uncle very much because my uncle was always giving me things to do, to study and and and do and so forth. So I I didn’t really like it, and I didn’t didn’t really like him. But now that he he’s he’s grown up already, and when he looks back, now he’s very grateful for his uncle, for what his uncle has done to him and taught him because now now he really recognizes how kind his uncle was to him, and he’s very grateful for that now. And this is gonna give you a very good insight into the Tibetan pedagogics. So so he learned the alphabet when he was seven.
Then after he finished learning the alphabet, then he started memorizing. They have to memorize a lot of texts. So they have all the the rituals and the ceremonies that go around in the monastery, and they have to start memorizing all those rituals and ceremonies, rituals and ceremonies, all those passages. And then so every day, the teacher would come and and say, now you memorize from here to here. And, again, Geshe-la says that was that was very difficult.
It was very, very tough. And now now you correct me if I’m wrong, but then Geshe-la is saying it was a very big monastery, and there were is this on? And there were many other kids of of his age. There were about three or four hundred kids around the monastery. And so there are classes and classrooms in in the monastery, but Geshe-la was saying he didn’t go to the classrooms because his uncle was looking after his education.
Did he say anything that more on top of that? No. That’s it. He so he he didn’t he didn’t have to go. He wasn’t even allowed to go because his uncle was looking after his education.
So then so then when when the Geshe excuse me. So when when the Geshe was about eight or nine years old, Geshe is saying: his mom, his mother passed away. In the following years, naughty and another uncle passed away. As for his father, he didn’t even meet him. His father passed away before he he got to meet him.
And then so when when Geshe-la was about eleven years old, of his close relatives, there was basically only one of his aunties, a sister of of his mother, and and her daughter. So one of of one of his cousins. And there is nobody else left from his family, from his close family. Geshe-la is saying. Because of that time, there was only these two relatives left.
He had not only to do his studies and his work at the monastery itself, but he had to go down and work these two relatives and help these two relatives with with the work in the fields, with the planting of the seeds and the harvesting and so forth. He had to help to help he had to help them because there was nobody else left. For three, four, or five months, he he he stayed down working the fields, helping them. And he said that then it was a very, very nice time because he didn’t have to study. He didn’t have to do any of the studies, anything like that.
And then And everybody was treating him well because he was he was to become a monk. He was leaving the monastery, and he came down to help. So everybody was regarding him highly and and and treating him with some respect and treating him well, and he was happy about that. Felt felt good, he says. So then up until he was seventeen years old, this is how he was living his life.
He was staying the gompa for some time. He’s staying in the monastery for some time and then staying at his home helping for some time every year. And then so then Geshe-la went and says that up until he was seventeen years old, it was like this. And then when when he was seventeen, he’s student said, now you you cannot stay here anymore. You have to go and study.
If you if you don’t, you will be just another layperson, or or you you will be an ordinary monk with with without much knowledge. And Geshe-la was then saying his his auntie was then saying, you have to go and study, and you have to study hard and and and do the Geshe examinations and and so forth. So then Geshe-la is saying, so when he was about eight or nine years old, the first Chinese had already entered Tibetan Tibet. And when he was seventeen, then there were even more Chinese already in Tibet, and they were and they brought cars with them. And there were traders coming and going around Tibet.
So he went he went to to Halasa with some with some traders. Los. So then he he went he went to to Lhasa. And in Lhasa, there there were there’s a great monastery of of Sera. So he went to Sera with a letter that his uncle, Geshe Konchog, wrote for him to give to to his teachers, to his new teachers in Sera, in Lhasa.
So then the one main teacher that was teaching him the scriptures and so forth was who is also staying here in Adelaide. Pardon? Oh, there he is Khensur Rinpoche. That was his main teacher and then is another teacher who looks after students needs his food and so forth so there was which was his name was. It was his this other teacher who looked after his his needs, his food, and so forth.
So he brought this letter to them, and he started studying with these two teachers then, And then he said he had to bring a lot of so they had to bring a lot of money which was at that time was Chinese money which was coins. He had to bring a lot of those coins, a lot of that money. He said he had to it around his waist and it was very heavy. He got very tired carrying that around. But this is the money that he used to pay for for his stay, for his food, and everything else.
That’s what he gave to dorje, the teacher. So then from so then he arrived in in in Lhasa. He arrived in in in Sera, and he stayed there from from the age of seventeen years old until until he was twenty years old. He was staying and studying, etcetera, under the the guidance of and and. Oh, there’s so many topics.
Oh, So then during those three years, he was studying the collected topics. Then he was studying the tenets and the grounds and the paths and the seventy topics. What is that? The whole title of the text? Seventy topics.
During these three years, those are the the the main text that he studied in. And he said that says anyway, it was at the beginning, it was very, very difficult to to study those topics. And Geshe-la says, so then at the beginning, it was very very difficult. He didn’t really understand what is it what it is that he was studying. But because they were debating every day, he had the the classes, and then they went to debate with each other.
And and through this process of study and debate, Geshe-la says, slowly, slowly, everything started to sink in, and everything started to become more and more clear. So then when when he reached when he was twenty years old, then that was nineteen fifty nine. And then during that year, then the Chinese, they started the actual invasion, the actual so called the the so called liberation of Tibet. And then there was actual war, and they were bombing and and so forth. In the beginning, the Chinese were all very nice to them.
They would call them, friend, friend come here, and they would give them treats. For those who smoke, they would give them cigarettes and so forth. They were very nice. And in the beginning, everybody was fond of them. And then also the Chinese would come and help work in the fields, and they were all very smooth, and everybody would like them very much.
Everybody thought very nicely of them. And then slowly and slowly, Geshe-la says, progressively, they became they became the Chinese became less and less pleasant, became worse and worse. And Geshe-la wasn’t saying until it came to the point where they said, now you have to stop. You have to stop studying the dharma. You have to stop wasting time.
You have to studying the dharma and and religion and so forth. They they, how do say, they damage your wealth, your creation of wealth, your creation of material goods. What we need is we all need to eat, and we need to work to produce food and wealth and so forth until until the point that they said you know, the the Tibetans weren’t really listening to that, and then they took that those drastic actions that we know of And then and and then we we all know a bit about that. And the the Chinese were then saying that it is not it is not right to have some people who are rich and many people who are poor, that this difference is not right, that we should distribute the wealth amongst the people. The Chinese were always approaching the poor people and trying to talk them into So then the Chinese then, after talking this way, they created this descent within the tibetan community and there were some tibetans who were blaming and complaining and cursing and mistreating the rich people and saying they are bad, they’re not fair and so forth and then this this this how can I say that?
Pardon? Yeah. No. This conflict is is in your conflict, it started in pardon? Dissension.
Yeah. It was dissension, but, you know, it was people started, you know, pointing out on the streets. Oh, he’s bad. He’s a bad person and all that. They started this real confrontation.
So then Geshe-la says so then there was this this this big conflict inside the tibetan community then during that time then the chinese came in and invaded so there were a lot of people a lot of tibetans sympathizing who were sympathetic to the Chinese ideologies and so forth then. So there weren’t there was not much resistance, and there was the only choice that was left was to run away. And that was then that Geshe and many other Tibetans left to India So then in in So then in nineteen fifty nine then, many other monks and many other people they left and arrived in India then. They all traveled together but they weren’t exactly in the same group even though there was one large bunch of people going in, but they would sit and camp in different places and eat in different places. So Geshe-la is saying.
And the the reason why they they all were traveling together, but they had different groups, especially when they were going to wheat, because because of the provisions that they had, because of not only the provisions but the cooking capabilities that they had some people had big pots some groups had big pots and then there were larger groups with larger more people with these groups with larger pods so they could boil make the tea and they would eat the butter tea with the Jampa, with the roasted barley flour. Then some other groups had smaller pods so he was in a different group with different size of pots. So then because his teacher came from brought from his place a a larger pot, there was about fifteen people eating together with his teacher. And from where he was coming from, they brought only a smaller pot. There was about only seven people eating together with with.
Okay. So right before before they arrived in in in India, they ran out of of tsampa. They ran out of barley flour. And near the border of between India and Tibet, there were doctors. Okay.
Okay. The border patrol. So then during in the border okay so then this the border between India and and Tibet, where where they arrived, and then these people gave them a little bit of food and So then after five or six weeks, approximately, they arrived at this place. What? Is is is is this the place?
They arrive in in Assam Assam. Assam. Assam. Assam. Assam.
Assam. Assam. So then close So then if I could only see the map, somewhere close in in in Assam, but close to Arunachal Pradesh, which is northeast of India. So then they arrived at this refugee camp, and then the Indian government was giving them food, was giving them rice and dal. Geshe-la says they throw the food from the airplanes, and the Saminian authorities were they’re distributing the food rations.
Okay. So then from this place, where they got all the Tibetans arrived together, what are the the point of arrival, they were sent then to Assam itself, to another place in Assam. And the Geshe-la says there was another four or five weeks of of walking. So then the after after this four or five weeks, mass mass. They arrive at this this place in Assam, mass or something like that, where where they actually have transportation, trucks and cars and so forth.
So from then on, he didn’t have to walk anymore. They didn’t have to walk anymore. They would go on the trucks. Geshe-la is saying. And this region where where they were arriving was a very empty place.
There were no people. There were only fields and trails and and and the huts. They were all, how do you say, made of grass. And and Tibetans were coming from every direction, from east, west, and north, and from every direction. Tibetans were coming thousands by the thousands of Tibetans.
Geshe-la is saying that everybody everybody arrived at this place, or something like that. And all these batches were arriving at this place. And Geshe-la was saying and the and the Indian authorities were giving them some food, but it was extremely hot, and they were all coming fresh from Tibet. And in in this weather, every day, there were newcomers coming. And Geshe-la was saying every day, there were at least five people dying because of the heat, because of the conditions.
And during that time, even even many Tibetans many Tibetans died. They falling ill. There was there was the heat. It was the food. It was the weather.
Even though there were Indian doctors giving them medicine, treating them, and giving food, and giving shelter, doing as much as they could do, Geshe-la says, many Tibetans died and were lost. So then says he stayed in this place, where all the Tibetans were arriving for about he doesn’t he’s not very sure about it, but just about two years, he stayed in that place. And then only after that time, they sent him away. They sent the monks and the laypeople to different places. And one of the places where they him where where they were sending the the the monks was this refugee camp called in in Buxar.
And during these two years in this place, Missamari, he said there was no no study, and there was nothing to do, no work to do. All they they would do is sit down, sleep. There’s a place to wash, eat, and talk, play, maybe do some mantras, and that’s it. So then after that, they arrived at Bassa. And in Bassa, then there was only because they were only monks, then they could start studying again.
Do you know that? They did whatever they could from from many different places and many different sources they got the texts that they needed to study and since Geshe-la had already finished with the first few years of the curriculum he started then studying the Abhisamayālamkāra. He was saying that of the thirteen how can I say that the thirteen topics is it the thirteen topics of the course of study in in Sera they were all available there in this in this refugee camp plus and Geshe-la says it was not a nice place it was a very bad place actually Geshe-la was not saying it was a very bad it was a very hot place and many people died in Buxar many people got TB, and even even he himself got TB then? And he stayed there for for ten years. So then when when he got TB, he he had to stay in in an Indian hospital for nine months.
The Interpret it. Yeah. So then it’s what is it? Distinguishing the the they interpret it from the definition, isn’t it? So then it’s during the time where Geshe lah had to study it’s one of the major topics of the study isn’t it it’s a text from lama tTsongkhapa which is called distinguishing the interpreter from the definitive the the interpretive meaning and the definitive meaning of the scriptures.
And during that time was when Geshe got ill with TB loss. So then he was he was taken to the hospital. And on the second day, after the day after he arrived in the hospital, that was the day when where got to do his Geshe examinations. And, Geshe-la, I wasn’t saying that during the Geshe examinations, they all have to there’s a lot of a lot of the students that come for the Geshe examination. They are debating with with each other during these examinations.
And Geshe-la is saying he he wasn’t there. He couldn’t be there to see his teacher during the examination. And he said he was very he was very sad about that. So then in this way, so then there was all these his studies, and there was the TB and all these stories. So all this took place in in in Buxar during these ten years.
So then after ten years in Buxar, they were they were sent down to South India. So then when they first arrived in in the south of India, in the place where they were sent to, there was nothing. There was nothing there. There was only fields. There was no house.
There was nothing. So then the there were some how can I call that? Tractors? Tractors? Is that how you call it?
So then there were some indians authorities with tractors they would have this big chain linking the two tractors and they would go clearing the forest the and then in in the Tibetans, the monks themselves, they would have to of the small trees that were left, they would have to to clear that themselves. And then so then there was, again, when there was so much hard work to do, clearing the forest and all that, and and there was no time for study then. So during that time, they were all building building the houses, they build thirty seven houses. Monastery for ceremonies. So then every in each house, there were There were about eight eight people in each house.
So then Geshe-la was gonna say, you can see yourselves. The houses were divided in four rooms, and there’s two one room for four people, another room for four people, and the other two rooms for making food and So then there was the the the living rooms or the eating rooms. So there were two bedrooms and two living or dining rooms. And the Okay. So then So then for every for every four people for for every room of four people, there was a little kitchen, a little dining room.
So then, first, Geshe says, it was very nice. The houses were very nice. But with time, there were more and more monks coming. And the number of houses wasn’t exactly growing very fast. Places for building houses, there wasn’t there wasn’t much many more places for building houses.
So they started building houses one next to the other. And soon, it was all taken. So then, like I said, there were so many people coming from Tibet that they they had start building houses in in the fields themselves. So Geshe-la was saying, then nowadays, there’s there’s almost all the fields that were that were were taken by houses. So then there might be just a little piece of land for each house.
Insane. So then and and there was all these monks, and there were no place for gathering for for gathering together. So they started building the the halls. So they built one small hall first, and they started building it all in the future, taking all the the space that was available. They built one small hall first, and then there were more monks coming.
So they built another bigger, a larger hall, a larger temple. And then the more monks that came, they needed more larger and larger temples. They kept on building larger and larger temples. Geshe-la was insane. So all the area was taken by houses and temples.
And even nowadays, if you go, you can see the first temples and the progression of how how they grew. So then after three years after three years of having arrived in South India, then the the work became less, and then he started studying again. He started studying more and more. So then he arrived in South India when he was thirty years old. And then after three years of the hard work, started studying again.
So when he was thirty three years old, he started studying again. And he went on studying until he was until he was forty nine years old. When he was forty nine years old, then he did his Geshe examination. Is a is a he’s a which is of of the of the how can I explain that? It’s the highest levels of exam of accomplishment for you.
Yeah. So he this is the highest that you can get. So he’s, like, one of the best students. And Geshe Lharampa was then saying I was asking, so how was the whole Geshe examination thing? Geshe Lharampa was then saying, look.
It’s it’s actually it’s a very long process. In order to to get to the point of being a Geshe Lharampa, It it doesn’t happen in one year or in one day. You know? It was in the course of of six years, he was constantly being examined, having written exams, oral exams, debates, and so forth, going through all the major topics or divisions of of knowledge of of his course of study and and until until its conclusion and then and then he got the title he got the title of Lharampa So then that’s a tough one. So then there is a the the three titles.
Right? Which is a course of two years of examinations. The examinations, and it has to go through some texts, some major texts of of and then some major texts from Asaṇga and Vasubandhu, which is the the the lower and higher Abhidharma. Right? I didn’t get that.
This takes two years of study, of written examinations or examination and so forth. Then Lhupön, second level, which is Lhupön. Again, it’s another two years of study and examinations that qualify you as Lhupönpa. And then with two other topics, with more extensive commentaries and what was that? Do you remember?
Lhupön. More extensive commentaries and higher topics in relation to the first one, Kadam. Then finally, is the Lharampa, another two years, take into account all the previous topics, the previous four years with extensive commentaries and so forth. Then again, after all these these years of study, examinations, and so forth, then after that, if he if he has good marks, then he will be allowed to to carry the title of. So then during these six years, these three levels, he was studying the main texts which is the Vinaya, the Asaṇga which is so so then the the Treasury of Knowledge, Madhyamaka Madhyamaka texts, Vinaya texts, the perfection of wisdom.
And what was the first one? Which is text on valid cognition, yeah, which is valid cognition. And you had to debate each one of these topics extensively. Geshe-la was saying debating in turns. First, one asking the questions and one sitting one standing up asking the questions and another one standing down sitting down answering the questions, and they would alternate every fifteen minutes or so the the question and the and the answering.
And there were also written examinations where and then there were different length of of of examinations. There were examinations with ten questions, others with fifteen questions or so, and they they have to answer at least eighty percent of each one of them. The the the written examination, Geshe-la was saying it was it was quite difficult. He didn’t do very well in those. But in in the debate, he was very good.
So but he got first. He was first in his year. Time every college had only two people would become Geshe-la Rampa so he was one of those two people nowadays there are in every college there are many people up to ten people become become. So then he’s a he’s a he was born a year before. So then and so then after he got his he finished his exams at Geshe-la Rampa, and he got his title, then he was sent to study one year at Gyumey Monastery.
And then this in this during this year, Geshe-la says he didn’t study the same topics as he studied during the Geshe studies, the the five main courses during the Geshe studies. He was studying tantra. I was saying and and and during this this year of study, they go through most of what is what is to what is there to study, and one does not need to stay more than one year there. When people there students who go back there to study more, but there is not necessary. It’s not they are not asked to stay anymore than that.
So then so then after he studied after he finished studying at Gyumey Gompa, then he went back to Sera, and then he had some students. He was teaching there. So then Geshe-la went back to Sera. He was teaching there. He didn’t have many students.
So then Geshe Lhundrup Khen from Kopan monastery in Nepal in Kathmandu then invited the to go and teach there. And then so then Geshe Lhundrup asked him Lama Lhundup asked him to come to Kathmandu, and Geshe said, no. I don’t want to go. So then after some time, again, Lama Lhundup invited the Geshe to come and said, no. Now come.
Come to to Kopan monastery in Kathmandu and and have some have a break, have some vacations here with us. And here, the weather is nice, a nice place. You you rest. You you stay here for a month or so. You rest.
And then after one month, you go back. So when he was when Geshe was about fifty seven years old, then he accepted this invitation, and he went there to Kopan monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. And Geshe was saying that they pay for everything. He didn’t have to pay for anything, but he flew he went there on an airplane. Was the first time that he flew on an airplane.
And he so then so then Geshe-la went from South India. He went all the way to Delhi because there were no airplanes in Bangalore at that time. And then from Delhi, he flew to to Kathmandu. And So then went to Kopan monastery, and he ended up staying there a whole year and teaching, and he he got some money out of that. And then after one year, asked him to go to Taiwan.
So then so then he said, okay. I will go to Taiwan. And he went back to Sera because he had to make his documents. And then he was there in Sera waiting for many months for his documents. And during this time, he received a letter from from both Khensur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche advising him that it would be best, it would be most beneficial for the teachings for the Buddhadharma if he would come to Australia instead of going to Taiwan.
So then in in two thousand and one, then Geshe arrived here in Adelaide, arrived here in Buddha House, and by then, he was about sixty one years old. So now nowadays and since then, there is nobody else who’s saying, now you come here, or you go there. So these days. But Geshe-la says and Geshe-la says, but his student he has many students in in Sera back in South India, and his students say, don’t stay long. Don’t stay long here.
Come back. So then this is his whole story. Did anybody write it down? So, guess, I want to know if you have any questions, if you would like to ask anything quickly, maybe? So he he doesn’t know.
He doesn’t know about the future. And Geshe-la thinks that sometimes he thinks about going, going back. But Geshe-la says nowadays, all his students have already finished finished the course of studies. Some of them went on to become geshes. Some of them went on to to work in the in the monasteries and so forth.
So they don’t need him. They don’t really need him anymore. And Geshe-la thinks that he feels that here, there are still many new people, new students coming all the time. And if he can show something to them about the dharma, then he he feels it’s best. It’s more beneficial.
And that’s how he feels about it. Says maybe in the future, if he grows too old and too weak and maybe, you know, start falling ill and so forth, maybe maybe then then maybe it will be alright to go back. I would say, well, maybe it’s better to stay here then. So, you know, we don’t know. You have any more questions?
Would you like to ask anything else? So, look, all sorts of They went in all different directions. So then so the many many of those people are already dead. Some of them went on to be become geshes. For example, Geshe Tsugla and Geshe Dawagaltsen, they both studied there in the same monastery.
And many and and different many others went different ways. There were so there were many people in this. Some some some of them went on to become monks and geshes. Some of them went on to become laypeople like ourselves. Many different roads to.
Is that okay? He lived in in fifty nine. Same year. So then it says that the Dalai Lama left on nineteen fifty nine on the fourth Tibetan month around the first or the second of the fourth Tibetan month. And as soon as as as as people knew that he had left, people quickly went went away after him.
If if if if didn’t hear that the Dalai Lama had left already, he probably wouldn’t have left also. If if he didn’t if he hasn’t if he hadn’t heard that, he wouldn’t he wouldn’t he wouldn’t see any need to leave. But since he heard that Dalai Lama had left to India, he says, you know, what what we’re going to do now? We’re we’re gonna leave. Tough call.
So then now he’s in and he’s well. Yeah. He’s well. Okay? Be happy.
Very happy. Yeah. Be happy. No. Does does Khensur Rinpoche give teachings in this Yeah.
Yeah. Or is that an center as well? Sorry? Is that an active center still? An active center.
Yes. Wednesdays. Wednesdays. Twice a week. It is twice a week.
One once on Wednesdays, and then another day. I don’t know. Sunday. There you are. Very good also.
Absolutely. And you wanted to ask about He, Adam, would like to take the the five lay vows. So I don’t know what on the program when we have He doesn’t have to take all five vows? That’s that’s what he wants. I’m just he asked me to to tell the Geshe that he wants to take the vows, but there’s we do that usually in in the Buddha day or something like that when there is a big Like taking refuge.
Like taking refuge after the refuge. So Next for the day, Saga Dawa. But then Saga Dawa. Yeah. Just after the Dalai Lama has been in Australia.
I don’t know. Super has Okay. Yeah. Wait. Maybe maybe we can arrange something.
And it’s open if anybody else wants to take a refuge or take vows. vows. Maybe we because he he he already took refuge already. And says, with regards to taking the vows, you know, don’t don’t hurry. Think about think about it carefully because once you take it, it’s not easy to keep.
Okay. Is that okay? Good. This Are you okay? Yeah.
Yeah. That is only.