His Home Land, Ladakh

Even if you don’t speak Tibetan it is obvious that Ngawang talks about Ladakh all the time. You can hear the word over and over. He is very proud of the heritage of his home land. Ladakh is a very mountainous land with small forests. The Zangskar region is famous for the many highly realized gurus who have visited there, such as Marpa, Milarepa and Naropa. Due to the warm summers, His Holiness the Dalai Lama often takes vacations there. There are rocks which are believed to be self-arisen in the forms of deities. The 21 Tara and 3 Maitreya Buddha formations are very popular and Ngawang, who has seen them, says they are very clear.

Ladakh has good summers but cold winters with heavy snow when the local people bring out their traditional clothes to keep them warm. Ngawang is very fond of the food in Ladakh which is natural and has no preservatives and which he says tastes excellent. Nearly 5000 tourists visited Ladakh in 2003.

His Student, Tsewang

Ngawang is the teacher of the other monk at Gyuto, Tsewang. It turns out that they are cousins in the sense that Ngawang’s grandfather was Tsewang’s grandmother’s brother.

So, now its Ngawang’s turn to pass on all the training he has received in memorization, rituals and chanting.

Ngawang Today

Ngawang is now the resident Chant Master at the Gyuto Center. With a warm personality and a big laugh Ngawang always seems to be telling stories and jokes. Even non-Tibetans laugh and they have no idea what he is saying! This is his first trip to America and he is really enjoying it. While here Ngawang’s main interest is to support Donyo and make the Gyuto Center a strong base for the Dharma to flourish.

Maybe we can talk him into giving chanting lessons!