Today was a great day. With our fearless leader sidelined with sickness, Brad and I had to venture out alone. We began with going to a local monastery to talk with one of the Tibetan Buddhist monks that Bo had built a relationship with. When we walked into the monastery, it was surreal. There were hundreds of worshippers their, sitting in front of a golden statue reciting their mantras. We went to an adjoining room and sat around a table when another monk joined us. It was not Bo’s friend but a visiting monk from Hong Kong. It didn’t take us long to see that this monk was really advanced in his position in the Buddhist hierarchy. He spoke flawless English and then we noticed his picture was on the wall. These pictures are generally reserved for key leaders and this was no exception.
We spoke for two hours, sipped tea and had a really great conversation. He was very hospitable and eager to share with us the teachings of Buddha and to learn more about Christianity. When we began our conversation, he mentioned that the two faiths were essentially the same. After we had an opportunity to explain the Gospel, he could see that they were indeed very different. He taught that people are all good and simply had to remove the evil things from our lives to achieve Enlightenment. Buddha offered no help, he simply showed the way. Almost like a hidden treasure underneath a pile of garbage. Once the garbage was removed, we could know our true selves. We told him the Bible taught that were we flawed and fallen. We were wrecked by sin and needed God to save us. This could not be done on our own merit, but was rather an act of God’s grace given through Jesus. The monk had many good questions, and we agreed to each take a deeper look at Buddha and Jesus respectively.
After our meeting, we were really pumped about the opportunity and headed to Swayambhu. Swayambhu is a Buddhist and Hindu temple on top of a mountain overlooking the Kathmandu valley. It was quite a hike to the top. I am glad Bo was winded as well so I didn’t feel like such a wimp when I was breathing hard when we reached the top. It was a great view but really heart-breaking to see these people bow before man-made images. The desired to give sincere worship but sought created things rather than the Creator. We had lunch at a small shop with a Tibetan Buddhist lady. Bo said she was a woman of peace. This is someone who was not a believer but open to the conversation. He referred to her as “the Tibetan Ms. Barbara.” It was a good description. She was very sweet and a very good cook. We talked with her for almost an hour and she is hopefully going to meet us at church this morning.
On the way down from the temple we had tea with another Buddhist friend of Bo’s. He teaches English and has had many conversations with Bo concerning the Gospel. We enjoyed each other’s company before we had to leave to meet the pastor of the only Tibetan Christian church in the Swayambhu region of Kathmandu.
The pastor of this fellowship has an incredible testimony. His name is Kel-Sang. His passion for Christ is contagious. Kel-Sang also runs an orphanage that has 17 children. We played games, sang songs and had a great time with the children. The older children spoke English so they were able to interpret for us. We were also reminded why kids in America don’t play “Red-Rover” any longer when one of the children was almost decapitated. Tibetan Christians make up 0.02% of the population of Kathmandu and part of Kel-Sang’s vision is to continue to adopt these unwanted children and disciple them to make an impact for Christ as they grow older.
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