We Celebrated His 5th Year Anniversary

Yesterday we joined with others to celebrate the Five-Year Anniversary of Venerable Lama Gyaltsen Tamang at the Maui Dharma Center.

Lama Gyaltsen is such a sweet, beautiful soul, and we've grown very fond of him. I photographed him yesterday inside the Temple, and then he performed an unusual act which made my S.O. and me giggle. Instead of individually putting a kata (the long white blessings scarf) around our necks as it is usually done, he put it around both of us to "renew our vows." We told him we would take turns sharing it!

The Venerable Lama Gyaltsen

I recently asked Lama Gyaltsen if he would pose for a photo for me.

Lama Gylatsen is the head of the Maui Dharma Center
the island on which I live. My family was also closely connected to the late Lama Tenzin who passed away in 2001. A small group of us made a pilgrimage to Tibet with Lama Tenzin in 1998, and a film was made of this adventure. Lama Tenzin hadn't seen his family for 40 years since his escape into India, and so his reunion with his family was very touching. Below is a photo of the late Lama Tenzin.