Back To Boudha Part 3

Hello! I hope you are happy and healthy. The party rocks on here in Boudha. I hope it is going well where you are. Just one more post next week and this year-long SEO project will be done! Thank you for reading, and thank you for clicking the backlinks. Be well. Love, Tenzin ***p.s. As always, if you find these weekly bits bothersome, let me know and I’ll stop sending them to you. If you find the reading at all enjoyable, please—it literally takes only seconds—click one or more or all of the highlighted backlinks following this paragraph. This simple process is completely without risk, cost, or difficulty. All it does is bring you to the site that is highlighted. Each click is a big help in pushing Fearless Puppy up in the Google rankings. Whether you browse the sites or close the windows immediately, your help has been delivered when you click. Thank you! FEARLESS PUPPY WEBSITE BLOG FEARLESS PUPPY ON AMERICAN ROAD/AMAZON PAGE REINCARNATION THROUGH COMMON SENSE/AMAZON PAGE FEARLESS WEBSITE Festival Time! and Family As A Work Of Art Tihar festival in Nepal (called Diwali in India) resembles American Christmas season, New Year’s eve, and Fourth of July all rolled into one. It features a love, respect, and gratitude for many aspects and elements of Nepali life. Lead time in and a straggling finale time out of Tihar, as well as the Dashain Festival that comes immediately before it, combine with Tihar festival week itself to produce nearly a month of celebration! There is a constant barrage of fireworks. The folks here call them firecrackers but noise from the explosions sound more like American M-80s. Even at the relatively quiet Pema Boutique Hotel the explosions from the street can be heard. The main focus of Tihar is dedication and appreciation. There is one day honoring dogs and crows and another honoring cows. Several other days honor various important characters in and facets of Nepali life. Peak day honors brothers and sisters that come from the same parents. I have to say “from the same parents” to clarify that this sacred festival’s celebration of siblings is more intense than the already intense feeling of family that exists between all Nepali people. There are distinctions of socio-economic class and status here, but they don’t seem to interfere with the familial camaraderie that is so much a part of this nation. The most respected member of any community might not hang out with the lowest caste person, but he would refer to him or her as brother or sister. The most powerful person in town calls his waitress bai ni (younger sister) and his cab driver bai (younger brother). If that same powerful person is younger than the person they are addressing, then dai (older brother) and didi (older sister) are the terms used. But the Tihar ceremony itself doesn’t traditionally range that far. Its most sacred day involves children of the same parents. Appreciation is shown by way of Tikas, special attention, food, gifts, and flower garlands. A Tika is that mark placed in the middle of the forehead where the third eye resides. It can be more decorative than the usual simple dot. In the ceremonial Tihar holiday process, it signifies a commitment by the person administering the Tika to care for and protect what or whomever receives it. Whether you put one on your dog, cow, sister, or brother, the process swears your allegiance to them. It is a very touching experience to see a large population of dogs, cows, and humans wandering city streets en masse with third eye markings on their foreheads and brilliant orange flower garlands around their necks—knowing that each Tika mark and flower signifies a commitment of love, respect, and protection for the living creature that wears it. Nearly all businesses are closed on this day. Many close for a full week or even the entire month of festival time. Folks here work very hard and are usually efficient at whatever they do for a living. When party time comes, they do just as good a job of it. Most of my friends are very tame party animals—but they still know how to have fun. Some of them don’t smoke or drink at all. This is true of my friends Tenzing and Dolma. Dolma escaped from Chinese government oppression in Tibet at the age of eight. She became a talented ER nurse but recently retired to care for her baby. Her husband Tenzing Tenzingartist@gmail.com is an internationally known Thangka (religious iconic painting) artist, originally from the high-altitude Nepali region of Dolpa. His work has been commissioned by people around the world and featured in TV interviews internationally. This couple has a four-month-old baby that has to be one of luckiest children on Earth. Little Tenzing is constantly being smiled at, cuddled, and loved. This family lives in near-constant happiness. Their festival extends throughout the whole year. I hope yours does too. ​ Many thanks to our wonderful friends at Pema Boutique Hotel for their help and support. ***The books Fearless Puppy On American Road and Reincarnation Through Common Sense by this same author are also available through Amazon or the Fearless Puppy website, where there are sample chapters from those books. Entertaining TV/radio interviews with and newspaper articles about the author are also available there. There is no charge for anything but the complete books! All author profits from book sales will be donated to help sponsor an increase in the number of wisdom professionals on Earth, beginning with but certainly not limited to Buddhist monks and nuns. ***If you missed the Introduction to the new book or would like to see several chapters of it that are available for free online, go to the Puppy website Blog section. This is a book in progress. You will be reading it as it is being created! Just like you, I don’t know what the next chapter is going to be about until it is written. As the Intro will tell you, this is a totally true story—and probably the only book ever written by and about a corpse journeying completely around the world!