Sunday was the 17th Karmapa’s 33rd birthday . Although I am not a Buddhist I was lucky to find myself at the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, New York, which serves as the North American seat of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage..
The celebration was most inspiring, and fun. Beautiful people traveled from all over the world to have the opportunity to meet this man and get a blessing. The amazing performances from various dancers and singer from Nepal and Bhutan dressed in traditional costumes and clothing transplanted everyone back to Tibet and Nepal for a day. It was not only spiritual but it was like taking a trip to a land not many people have seen or visited.
The weather played games with us, at one point the celebration had to be stopped because of pouring rain , as people stood over the birthday cakes with umbrellas to keep it from getting washed away.The sun came out a few times , then the fog rolled in very strangely and suddenly, then it lifted and a bright sun showed its face, only to have the skies once again close up and shower the crowd with a fine mist of rain.
The birthday cake had to be protected from the heavy downfall..
And the day ended with everyone feeling blessed and happy.
