Connecticut Tibetfest 2005

As everyone knows by now, I have been excited about TibetFest coming to my area. The Connecticut TibetFest is "an event to raise awareness, and funds, to assist Tibetan refugees preserve their endangered culture." I was not able to get a schedule, but as I found out later, after arriving at the festival, the newspapers printed one. The fest is held at White Memorial, a wildlife conservation area of 4,000 acres and teaming with wildlife. The bullfrogs were all hanging out in the green pond hearing humans make their music for a change. White Memorial is where I went to science camp as a child. I can tell you the green pond used to be full of little painted turtles. It was and still is lovely.


The turnout was smaller than I expected. Of course I wanted to attend so badly that I was expecting a crowd. The real clue there is the Dali Lama could not come. If he was coming, well, I probably could not have gotten through the crowds. I was a little sad that it was not more attended than it was though. It was not well advertised somehow. I mentioned the event to a lot of people, but they had not heard of it yet. Other people mentioned they saw it later, after it was too late to go. The small crowd was a great benefit to me though. I am one of those people who goes to events in the pouring rain, in full rain gear, enjoying the open space. Today, I needed no such gear though. It was hot.

I arrived at 10 on Saturday and finally got the schedule. Nothing was happening until noon, although they were playing Tibet music CD's, so I left. I had a few hours work that had to be done and I was going to have to leave for a few hours at some point. I was having an awkward week in terms of timing... Unfortunately, I missed the opening. People there tell me the opening ceremony was great. It was our first chance to hear the multiphonic chanting. I was off somewhere else.

If you have not heard of multiphonic singing, I must tell you a little about it. If bullfrogs became magical creatures complete with musical instruments and would play for us, they would perform like the Tibetan monks. I mean this is a most delighted way! I would not be at all surprised if they had a lot of bullfrog influence in one of their past lives. These monks sing in such bass notes with the deepest resonation imaginable. Bullfrogs, and monks, make the most beautiful music that projects through the air. The monk's voices overtones occur naturally as a by-product of their practices such as yoga and visualization.

I heard something else about this particular kind of music. The music is disguised with the words not being perceptible due to the sometimes great elongation of syllables! I am told that even the native Tibetan speakers cannot decipher the meanings hidden in the music. Being able to hear and understand the chants is considered harmful to the uninitiated listener!

The Dalai Lama considered the question about the public performances of the monks and the meaning of the music being performed to audiences around the world. Many of the places where the monks perform are full of not only uninitiated, but not even Buddhist in many cases. This is how he answered:

Although it is not possible to witness the interior processes that are the substantial realities underlying these rites, one can observe the exterior aspects.... We feel there is a beneficial result from seeing these creations since they create a subconscious affinity with the practices and they purify one's instincts....Based on their inner achievement, the Yogis can unfold energies which serve the benefit of the entire country, such as in ceremonies which consecrate images and icons, exorcise negative forces, prevent natural disasters and epidemics, and uplift the spirit of the times." (Parabola, Volume X, Number 3)


The fest has a time of its own. I have the printed schedule and nothing actually happened on schedule. Is this a facet of the Tibetan culture? Some things happened sooner, other events simply occurred later. It is funny in a way to our point of view. My awkward timing continued with me. I completely missed the dancers at every time they were ever scheduled to dance... Whatever that ended up being. but I did see ladies and little girls in the traditional costume and those pretty braids they wear all day. I wandered off to watch the monks create one of those amazing sand mandalas as they vibrated particles of colored sand into and ornate medicine mandala missing the dancers once again.

The monks spend long periods of time bent over on pillows like this making their designs bent over double. I looked closely at the beautiful sand painting. You cannot tell, even in person, that it is made of sand. It is very lovely in to see the bright swirls of designs and the raised textures of the forms. The monks looked like they were having fun creating this mandala. They joked and bothered each other nicely like brothers short of whacking each other with the pipes. This is a practical experience of impermance, since the beautiful creation is carried and released into the river at the end of the festival. I am told on Saturday that they have been working on it since Thursday night. It is the Medicine Buddha Mandala. The mandala tools were nearby. This includes the pipes which have little ridge that are vibrated with another metal piece to release the little sand grains through the opening. There are small cups filled with the dyed sands which are made from ground up stones. I am unsure what the tape is for, but they did have a small roll of scotch tape available. A ruler is used to draw the base design according to the traditional layout that is covered with the sands.

I did finally catch something that was happening on stage. Techung who is singer/songwriter from San Francisco, co-founder of Tibetan Dance & Opera Company performing. According to the brochure he toured the world and produced four solo albums. He was also the voice and music on the IMAX Everest movie. (Highly recommended I say!) He had a wonderful voice that really carries but I had to troop off to the Dharma talk I had signed up for after he started late.

The Dharma Talks were with Rinpoche Tsultrim Phuntsok, who is Abbott for 9 years of the Drepung Goomang Monastic College. I went to the table where I had signed up and the lady was holding the signature sheet saying that these were the speakers. I told her she must be mistaken. " I am not speaking on anything... I think that is a sign up list," I said. I looked a bit surprised and everyone laughed. She explained that she was filling in for someone who is on a break and if we could come back in a few minutes, she was sure we could get better information. We came back in a few minutes and we were told to troop off to cabin 10. No one knew exactly where that was and we did find it anyway thanks to a map. It was just a question of if we had followed the map correctly and which cabin it actually was. We all stood by a building with no 10 anywhere on it until Rinpoche showed up. We were relieved to be successful.

After the adventures of finding the place, we felt for sure the talk would be on path. It was actually on ignorance. I sat in the only fluffy chair in the place as Rinpoche lectured and the interpreter told us what he said. I was trying to peek at Rinpoche to see how or if he differed in energy from us while he was listening to the interpreter. He seemed yellow to me, like the way children draw a sun and the interpreter seemed a little this way too. Normally, I would find people who have found their place to be blue or a lot of Buddhist teachers are purple. Rinpoche turned suddenly and smiled at me. I returned the friendly smile and I stopped. Heheheh.

The lecture was interesting, complex, and slow due to the interpreting involved. That is ok though, I needed time to think about the steps they were presenting. The idea of what we really are and looking at how we perceive ourselves is presented. The table was offered as an idea. We just see the table and say it is a table. We do not see all the conditions that came about to make this a table. We cling to our idea of self the same way as though we simply just came about. However, we are not a completely separate existing self. The mention of karma and past lives came up too. One man asked about if there is no self as we see it, what is it that reincarnates? The answer given is that the self that we may perceive does not reincarnate, the true self does. It is apparently the duality of our perception that creates the gap if I understand correctly. The interpreter stated that he himself has studied this for a very long time, and he does not understand this as well as he would like to. Rinpoche stated that we must meditate to come to understand our true selves. He suggested two ways of meditation. One was traditional meditation the other was academic meditation. I had not heard this term before... academic meditation. (This may not be the exact word he chose. I cannot remember his phrase now.) He specifically said that we can take classes on these subjects to help us understand. He added that this should not be a problem since we are so well educated. After all this telling me not to think, I laughed a little inside, but nicely. I left the lecture feeling happy to finally experience something... and it was something. It was a good lecture and it is special to have a class with someone who is called Rinpoche.

I went back to the main area to see Nawang Khechog from Boulder, CO sing and play. He is one of Tibet's foremost composers and musicians according to the brochure. HE IS AMAZING! He was a citizen of Australia for awhile and wailed on the didgeridoo like a rock star. He was so good, I was sorry he is married. ;-) (Hehehe... ancient rock n' roll joke.) I had never heard it played like that. He played the traditional instruments of Tibet the same way in his music but he could also be soft and soulful. My brochure for the event states that "He is one of the first Tibetan musicians to be able to break into the international music scene." I tell you, he could play in the underground clubs as far as I am concerned. Nawang had been a monk for 11 years according to his online biography. I figured that out as soon as he started the multiphonic chanting in his music that the monks are famous for. Finally, I got to hear this singing first hand... the main reason why I am so excited about the fest! Amazingly enough, it is that bullfrog singing that is nothing like his normal singing voice at all! I figured incorrectly that one would have to be a baritone to do it.



I needed some food and there was not only Tibetan vendors selling goods, but also traditional food. I got some noodles. Yech. They were ok, and got me by the day. I definitely will go for the dumplings the next time, which is also good advice for anyone who enjoys firm pasta. Surprisingly enough, there is a lot of meat available. This only occurred to me as I am passing one food vendor and he yells, "FRESH FRUIT!" specifically at me. There are Thai chicken stands, hamburgers and good old American hot dogs being slung at this joint. I got over my noodles and back on track.

Namgyal Phurbu a singer songwriter from Minnesota plays toward the end of the day. He is very popular with the Tibetan people since he plays all their popular tunes and everyone Tibetan in the audience sang along. He was the one guy that got the chants of ONE MORE! ONE MORE! ONE MORE! So he came out and played one more. The Tibetan people know a lot of music and often sing along to a lot of the music.


At one point toward the end of the fest the monks and musicians perform the Dali Lama's special prayer together. I am told that this is historic, it has never been done before in this way. Many of the Tibetan people sang with them. At the very end the monks finally arrived for the closing ceremony and did the full line and traditional musical instrument line up including their multiphonic chanting. The long horns and those great traditional hats were included. They were in their full regalia (as far as I know!) and giving the frogs in the green pond the first music they ever thought of. It is great. Finally! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I went home satisfied after a good, but very hot day.

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See Photos of Tibetfest that I took: http://www.msnusers.com/SpiritalLearningCenter/2002.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_Message=17313&all_topics=1

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Someone asked me to hear some of the multiphonic singing. Try theses links from Amazon. I have links under another posting called Vibrations of Monks for additional clips.

1. Initiation Ceremony of Guhyasamaja Tantra/Offering of Seven Royal Emble

Listen Music Sampler
Listen Windows Media
ListenReal One Player

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000065T35/ref=m_art_li_3/103-5405719-6435827?v=glance&s=music Link to the page where the music clips came from.