The sun is shining and it is nice and warm. The birds are singing and the flowers are in bloom.

It’s good to be home, yet my mind seems to be elsewhere…

Is it still called homesickness if you long for some place else?

My mind keeps wandering of to Kathmandu, which we called home for more than three weeks.

This week the local Tibetan community in Nepal is gearing up to an event so huge and so important for Tibetan Buddhism in general and the Karma Kagyü (ཀརྨ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད) school in particular:
The monastery of Sharminub (ཤར་མི་ནུབ་) is playing host to the final rites of its founder His Holiness the late 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche. That is, if the Nepali government allows the kudung (སྐུ་གདུང་ – the sacred remains of Rinpoche) into the country.

His Holiness Shamar Rinpoche always had a close connection with Nepal and Kathmandu and his final wish was to be cremated at Sharminub monastery.

We had the good fortune to see the monks prepare Sharminub for the arrival of the kudung and to join the Tibetan community and the lay practitioners all over the world in wishing that the kudung would be allowed into Nepal and wishing for a swift rebirth of this great Buddhist master.