I used this as a draft when Karma — the principal at Nyiphug Namdrol Norbuling Monastery — asked me if I could speak the students on why Tibetan language is important, so they use it more outside of class. The entire speech in Tibetan… What an adventure.
This draft is a guide on what to speak about so I can follow something if I got nervous. Also I use it as to show what level of ideas I am able to express.
Intro: who am I, country, etc.
Since I am a bit nervous apologies if make mistakes.
Learning Tibetan as I teach English in Pema Tsal. Exchanging language.
Started learning about 2 years ago.
Apart from that also learning Buddhism online. (interaction) Ask them: do you how many students are we in our online class? 3000!
Example: if you want to make a drawing what do you need? — a pencil. For certain tasks we need certain tools. If you want to study Buddhism similarly Tibetan is the best tool.
Reason why Tibetan is essencial. On pujas in my country a Tibetan sentence is perhaps this size (show small space with my hands) whereas in Spanish or English the text takes this much (show a 3x bigger space). Tibetan words are infused with meaning that when translating, a subset of it’s meaning is rendered and the rest might get lost.
If you use Tibetan daily you will learn it faster. If you rely only on the book and Tibetan class you will go much slower. I am very shy when speaking Tibetan. So I had to stop being shy in order to improve. And don’t worry if you make mistakes! Now I am making them. If I wanted to not make mistakes my message would not be possible, I’d be slow and I would not have your attention.
If you don’t know Tibetan well, your meditation won’t be the best. If your guru has to give explanations not in Tibetan the wisdom you can get from the meditation will not be the same. Since you want precision in your practice you must use Tibetan. People in the west they struggle: they are anxious, depressed, sad. If you are good meditators, they will love learning from you.
And lastly, more and more westerners are starting to learn Tibetan and Buddhism. They, like me, have interest in going for pilgrimage. Since they visit monasteries they speak with monks. If they see young monks like you which they can interact in Tibetan with, they will feel more motivated and will speak to their family and friends saying the tradition is alive, it’s not dead. Therefore you and us together will have a better opportunity to help people.