|
Dreams Are Flying From Nepal
Remote school will cross the world with Dream Flags.
2/2/09
 In
December, a box full of white cloth, black Sharpie
markers, watercolors, rope, thread, and needles, was
shipped off to the Peter Moran of the U.S.
Educational Foundation in Katmandu, Nepal. A few
days later, Pete emailed:
"Very auspicious circumstances.... I had tried to
reach Gyatso-la to no avail, and was walking down
the street in Thamel yesterday and ran into him!"
Pete was
delivering this box of Dream Flag materials to one
of the teachers of the Lo Kunphen School and
Mentsikhang. A Mentiskhang is a traditional
Tibetan healing center. Lo Kunphen is located in the
northern border between Nepal and Tibet at altitudes
ranging from 6,500 ft. to 26,000 ft. (2,000 to 8,000
meters) elevation.
Pete also
delivered a sheet of information and directions
which he translated into Tibetan to support the
teachers and the thirty students who would be making
Dream Flags at Lo Kunphen. This included "The Dream
Flag Song," with the words of the Hughes poem "Dream
Keeper." He wrote:
I also
translated the song, though I had to make some
creative decisions to get the meaning across.
Most importantly, I had to use the Tibetan word
"smon lam" (pronounced monlam), which
generally means "aspiration prayer" instead of
using the Tibetan "gnyid lam," which means
"dream." The reason is that the word dream in
Tibetan only refers to the experiences one has
while asleep--it can't serve as a word to
connote "hope" or "aspiration." Actually, the
word monlam works very well--it
essentially means something close to
"wish-path"--and it fits in with what you are
trying to get at.The literal translation is
something like this:
Bring me
your aspirations, and
By bringing me your heart songs
I'll roll them up in cloth of blue clouds,
Stainless aspirations, free from the rough
fingers of the conditioned world
I'll keep them well!
Now Pete's work
and the Dream Flag materials are at the Lo Kunphen
school where students will create Dream Flags. Like
the prayer flags that adorn the slopes of the
Himalayas and carry good wishes across the winds,
these flags will carry their good wishes across the
world to Philadelphia.
In addition to
this delivery, he also translated our written
information and directions in to Tibetan to support
the teachers and 30 students of Lo Kunphen who would
make Dream Flags. Now Pete's work
and the Dream Flag materials are at the Lo Kunphen
school where students will create Dream Flags. Like
the prayer flags that adorn the slopes of the
Himalayas and carry good wishes across the winds,
these flags will carry their good wishes across the
world to Philadelphia.
On Friday,
March 6th, "Windhorse," a musical, dance, and visual
arts collaboration commissioned by the Network for
New Music, will premier at The Great Hall at the
University of the Arts in Philadelphia. It will be
the work of composer Andrea Clearfield, Group Motion
Dance Company, and visual artist Maureen Drdak.
Proceeds from "Windhorse" will
benefit
Lo Kunphen school. Lo Kunphen
co-founder
Tenzin Bista, senior monk of Lo Monthang's
Choede Monastery, will be coming to the U.S.
for this event, and he will be
bringing the Dream Flags of Lo Kunphen students!
They will be exhibited at University of the Arts. There
will also be a performance at West Chester
University on Mary 8. Attending either of these
performances is a wonderful way to support
extraordinary school. Donations can also be made
directly
with
information
here.
Another way to
support Lo Kunphen is to attend the fund raising
event to be held in Center City Philadelphia on
Sunday, March 1st. It will preview parts of "Windhorse"
and be an opportunity to meet with and support
(through silent auction and other events) the work
of Lo Kunphen. Please see the link on the left for
details.
The route of
Dream Flags from Philadelphia to Lo Kunphen is a
"Series of Fortunate Events!" It started with the
musical collaboration of Philadelphia's University
of the Arts composer Andrea Clearfield who has
played improvisational music for the annual
Philadelphia Dream Flag Celebration since its
inception six years ago. Last summer, Andrea was on
a Trek in Nepal with Dartmouth anthropology
professor Sienna Craig, a specialist in traditional
Tibetan healing practices and longtime friend of Lo
Kunphen. Sienna and Andrea met with Gyaltos Bista
and presented him with a Dream Flag tee-shirt,
telling him about this American project inspired by
the local tradition of prayer flags. From there, the
emails flew, and soon the dreams of students from Lo
Kunphen will fly in Philadelphia.
We hope we can
send our dreams to the heights of the Himalayas as
well!
|
