Getting to enlightenment - how to do the Dalai Lama’s teachings

Grabbing a good spot at Tsuglagkhang

People come from all over the world to listen to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama teach in the Tsuglagkhang Temple in McLeod Ganj. This is the exiles’ concrete equivalent of Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, and it is the hub of the world for Tibetan Buddhists for a few days every October when HHDL comes home from travelling and teaches to his home crowd and many fervent students like me.

You won’t find out from this post how to achieve liberation from samsara, but there are things it helps to know to make your teachings experience easy and more enjoyable.

What you take

A cushion, a mug, an FM radio and headphones, an exercise book and pen. And to get your spot in the temple, you need a texta pen, a flattened cardboard box, a roll of packing tape. 

Don’t take your phone or a camera - you can’t take them in with you and you will have to leave them at a deposit office.

Your notebook doesn't have to be a Sponge Bob
Squarepants one. But your cup needs a handle - the butter 
tea is hot

What you do

1. A few days before the teaching, go to the secretariat office in Bhagsung Road and register for your teaching ticket. It’s a quick and efficient process, costs Rs10 and you get a photo ID that will get you into the teachings.
2. Get a cardboard box, flatten it out and write your name on it in big letters with your texta.
3. Buy an FM radio from a local shop. They are widely advertised.
4. Two days before the teaching, go down to the temple and pick your spot. There are lots of big flat cushions, grab one, tape your cardboard label to it and leave it in place to hold your space. Try to get a spot where you can see into the main gompa for a view of HHDL or with a view of a TV screen for the live transmission.
5. Go down early on the first day, the security queues will be long so give yourself at least an hour to get in and get settled, expect the temple and your space to get crowded, but never bad tempered. 
6. Give yourself plenty of time to go the toilet - the queue makes Woodford festival toilet queues seem express.
7. Tune your FM radio to the designated station for your language’s instantaneous translation - it’s a great way to listen to teachings. Have your exercise book and pen ready to make notes on the precious teachings.
8. Have your cup ready for freely offered sugary butter tea, served by young monks and nuns from huge silver tea pots. Also expect to be given rounds of fresh bread. We took biscuits and sweets to share with the monks and local people sitting around us, who brought snacks too - our corner group turned into a community picnic spot by the end of he teaching.

Sit back and listen to the teachings. And who knows, you might even get enlightened!