A pleasure meeting you, Venerable Losang Samten, at the Glencairn Museum

Got lost while finding the entrance to the Glencairn Museum.

You never really get lost, so I took these photos of  Bryn Athyn College, possibly dormitories, and then drove out, drove straight toward the Cathedral which was the entry way to the museum.

 The sacred sands, colored with dye, which Losang drizzles onto the Sand Mandala, with something that looks like a long thin ruler. It makes a singing sound. 

 He had left his drawing table, so I strolled around taking pictures, after ascertaining it was allowed.

What should I call you? Should I call you, Sir? I asked him.

No, he laffed. Call me Losang.

He has a cough. He was drinking black tea.

He was very happy to answer all my questions. I bought $33 worth of merchandise which will help Tibetan refugees.

Losang is originally from Tibet. Other Tibetan monks live at the Spring Garden house. Visit the website here.

He stood at the table greeting visitors until it was time to build the mandala.

I took a walk and visited the Marc Chagall and The Bible Display.

Click to enlarge.

If only my granddaughter Grace Catherine were here she could match up each of the pictures with the handout I got.

Losang, I asked. Are you a vegetarian?

I eat meat, he said, if people give it to me.

I told him I had tilapia and mushrooms for lunch.

What's tilapia? he asked.

It's a delicious fish, I said.

Then I told him that I'm a counselor, who helps people, and I used to visit a Buddhist monastery in Bensalem, PA.

He clapped his hands and was delighted to hear that. 

What a great personality he has!!!

Here's his touring schedule, which I asked him about.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Oh, they'll love you there, I said. They'll all hippies.

He laffed.

Canada

California

Texas

Canada

The famous stained glass of Bryn Athyn.

Do you believe in reincarnation, I asked.

He looked at me and said nothing.

Who were you in a past life, I asked.

A cockaroch! he laffed.

The assembled crowd laffed along with him.

 You need steady hands to do your work, the hands of a surgeon, I remarked.

The Sand Mandala would be filled up on the blue mat on Sunday at 4:30 pm.

What do you do with it when you destroy it? I asked.

It's funneled up on the blue sheet and dumped into a pond.

Last time, said an official, there was a snake in the pond. Wonder who the snake will be in its next life.

People who attend the ceremony on the last day can take some of the sand home with them. 

 His comfortable clothes and shoes.

I sat down on this velvet couch and watched him, entranced.

I started mumbling, to myself, my own mantra. I told him I meditated this morning, which I did at the Willow Grove Giant Supermarket. Then I sat there and read a chapter in

 

One of my purchases was Losang doing meditations. In fact, it's on my nearby CD player right now.

 These mandalas, he said, go in the altar of a home.

He rang a gong, laughing that when you meditate and you fall asleep, this gong is rung. Remember, he lives off Spring Garden Street.

What a relief to hear I'm not the only one who invariably falls asleep when she meditates.

 A weaving of St George and the Dragon on the wall.

 Departing.

 Spring Garden.

If only that street were as beautiful as its name.

 Exodus.

The Tree of Good and Evil.

Will you taste the apple?