my April culture contribution is the Sacred Art Tour that the Tibetans are doing in Lethbridge.
This morning Theo and I went to the Honpa Buddhist Temple to attend the service and listen to the chanting. I was quite surprised he wanted to go with me. I think it was mostly because it's his sensei's temple, so he was curious. I'd never been before I didn't know what to expect, but really it was very informal (after all, it's Lethbridge). It turns out that the chairperson of the temple is a scientist I used to know from the Research station and I was relieved to see someone I recognized. I asked if we had to take off our shoes, but he kind of smiled and said "no. It's just like a normal place". Okay!
The chanting was amazing. My son wanted to know what instrument that was - he couldn't believe it was a human voice. During the service the congregation also recited a sutra in Japanese, and there were also prayers and the Heart Sutra in Tibetan.
I didn't take pictures inside the temple, but did take some later on at the venue where they were drawing their mandala. The photoset is here. Stasha didn't want to leave - she was completely absorbed in watching them prepare the drawing. They'll be here all week, so we're going to keep checking back as they get started on the sand.
I'm sorry to say that the monk's tranquility did not rub off on Theo and Stasha in any way whatsover.
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