Susie Bryan

This short trip to India has shown me more about myself and the world than I’ve learned in the rest of my entire senior year of high school. For the most part, I was able to set aside my personal mental, physical and emotional discomforts and problems in order to focus on soaking in the contents of the interviews, the cultural differences, and my own gradual transformation. The interviews taught me about acting ethically, nonviolence, and truth; the experiences showed me the application of those things, and the reflection I did in my journal and on my own allowed me to track my journey. When, as a class, we talk about the learning journey, I can now affirm that the Return is the most important part; in the past few days of being back in the United States, I’ve really realized what I got out of the trip and how I’ve changed because of it.

Mani Shankar Aiyar

The interviews, first off, gave me the ideas I need to begin incorporating into my life. Mani Shankar Aiyar’s points about power, and what kind of role it should play in society, first began this process. He talked about why he had gone into politics and said that his original intention was to get on top and have some kind of power. He pointed out that though his intentions hadn’t been pure, the result of his actions was actually not unethical or wrong, because he had come to the realization that in order to do his job and attain that power, he needed to help others and look out for the wellbeing of the people under him. This was a direct application of the Dalai Lama’s Ethics for the New Millennium point that it’s in our self-interest to act ethically and out of concern for others because of the interdependent nature of the world we live in. The interview with the Dalai Lama himself also revealed key concepts that needed to be applied, like his comment that the purpose of education is to reduce the gap between appearance (perception) and reality – in other words, to move towards the truth.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

This idea of truth came up later at the Tibetan Children’s Village when we got into small groups and the kids there talked about the awareness and perspective needed in order to take oneself out of the equation, which leads to seeing the truth, which makes violence unnecessary. In essence, they were saying what His Holiness had said, but had a deep understanding of it within their own lives and were also able to apply it to specific situations.

Samdhong Rinpoche was another figure whose interview I got a lot out of; he said that if you discover yourself, you become a virtuous person and that everyone has their own truth. That made sense. These simple ideas made the application of ethics in my own life more possible, because umbrella terms like truth and virtue were suddenly being individualized in such a way that they became attainable.

Rinchen Khando

Rinchen Kandho’s interview was equally rewarding. When she talked about gender inequality being a dumb problem to focus on because the real issue was a lack of general respect and acceptance, rather than a specific case of it, I understood the larger point being made. And although each of these individual interviews and experiences had a slightly different emphasis (Hari ki Pari stressed the oneness of belief and love, while the Gujar Village experience drew attention to an individual’s greed and how unnecessary it is), they were all saying the same thing: the inherent interdependence of the people in this world makes it pointless and counterproductive to do the things that single us out. This tied into every experience and interview we had. By the end of the trip it not only made sense, but seemed applicable as well.

Coming back to the U.S. and trying to apply all of these ideas in my life back home has been a test of my core values. There have been two sides to “The Return” so far that have challenged me: observing and noticing the differences in cultural attitudes between India and the United States, and trying to apply what I discovered on the trip and now believe to be right. So far, I’ve noticed a general sense of excess and ungratefulness in the society I live in, both in terms of material goods and opportunities. Whereas before the trip I would have thought nothing of a shopping trip or a homework assignment, I now put a lot of thought into those simple actions, asking myself: “Why am I doing this? Do I want to do this? Do I need to do this? Who is depending on me? Who can I help? How important is this?” etc. I find myself unconsciously picking up trash around campus, or apologizing for my attitude earlier in the day, or noticing and appreciating a friends’ silence in a different way.

Tibetan Children's Village

Though I’ve been very good at observing these differences, I haven’t been the best at applying what I thought I had learned on the trip. In my notebook during the interview with Rinchen, when I was exhausted, nauseous, and upset with my class, I wrote down, “Note to self: remember how kind people on this trip were to me and spread that around”. So far, I haven’t been able to do this effectively. It’s been too easy to fall back into my old patterns of behavior and forget that the people around me are a blessing. So the compassion I swore I would have is lacking simply out of habit. I wish I could have bottled up some of the feelings I had while I was there, like when we were at the Tibetan Children’s Village, or after the interview with the Dalai Lama, when it seemed that the whole world made sense in the simplest of ways. And I knew (if even for just a split second) that I could be the good, kind, compassionate, honest, driven person I wanted to be. I don’t know how to explain that feeling to anyone else and I certainly don’t know how to recreate it here for myself; if I did know, I’d do it every day.

Susie Bryan

Emma Fladeboe

I find there is an almost amusing dynamic to our class, which has become especially conspicuous to me during this trip. Being the small and relatively close-knit group that we are, we often get frustrated with each other’s shortcomings. We, in turn, become relentless in provoking each person’s respective annoyances, whether it being too bossy, being a downer, over questioning of others involvement, not participating, or complaining. We reach breaking points where we divide and tell ourselves we can’t take it anymore.

Mount Madonna Students at Heritage

But then, something both amusing (as I said before) and strange happens. We have a great interview, or a meaningful conversation with the students at the Heritage school, a dance party at the Ashram, or a sad goodbye with kids we have become attached to, and it’s like it never happened. There is a subconscious decision within each of us to let it go, to overlook it for the greater whole, to set it aside for the purpose of what really makes us friends. Whether it’s a voluntary or inherent choice, our class has this unmistakable and valuable tendency to accept each other’s faults in these trying situations.

This is what really makes us a community. Not because we all go to school at Mount Madonna, not because we’re all seniors, not because we all go on trips together. We are a community because we have developed the practice of forgiveness for the sake of progress and relationship.

Emma Fladeboe

PK Hattis

The way I see it, there were two different types of experiences I had on our journey to India. There were several deeply emotional experiences such as when I felt great happiness and contentment at the Sri Ram Ashram, and when I felt profound shock and despair at the poverty and chaos at the market place in Old Delhi. These were just a few of the many experiences I had in India in which my emotional state was dramatically altered or challenged. During these moments I discovered something new about my own happiness and undeniable connection with others.

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

However, there was also another type of experience that had a significant impact on my mind and the way I reason and make decisions in life. These experiences were mostly through our interactions and interviews with various leaders on the trip. The interviews that had the greatest significance for me were our last three. These were comprised of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Samdhong Rinpoche and Rinchen Khando. While these three individuals had different outlooks, they essentially stressed the same points and made me truly think about and evaluate the way I have been living my life.

One aspect of our trip that had an impact on me was the way the Dalai Lama, Samdhong Rinpoche and Rinchen Khando interacted with us. While I did not expect conversations based on ego and overconfidence, I was surprised by how clear and straightforward the dialogue was. For example, during our conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama I was struck by the pureness and clarity of his thoughts. This created a feeling of equality in the room. He made me feel as though I could reach eternal peace and prosperity and that all the tools were already within me. I just needed to figure out how to use them.

At Heritage School

Our interview with Samdhong Rinpoche had the same effect. Although it was slightly harder to understand and follow the depth of his brilliant thinking, I still believed that I could reach the state of inner peace he had achieved. I will never forget the words of wisdom that Samdhong Rinpoche gave to us. When asked if he had any parting advice for us he replied quite simply, “No…advice is too easy to listen to and follow. I would rather you find your own authentic truths and follow those. That will lead to the deepest truths and therefore the best learning and success in life.”

I can honestly say that I will never forget this statement. Not because it was clever or unexpected, but rather because it was unlike anything anyone had told me before. I am naturally a very trusting person and when I find someone that I respect and admire, I will listen intently and openly to the values and beliefs they carry with them everyday. While this is in no way a negative quality to have, in my complete awe of these individuals, I forget to listen critically. I am quickly learning that this is the most important type of listening of all. While advice from others you respect is always welcomed and can often help serve as a model for what your own values can look like, there is no replacing what Professor Rinpoche called, “Your authentic truth.”

A trip like the one we took to India becomes what you make of it. If you want it to be a vacation, it can be that. If you want it to be a final trip with your classmates, it can most assuredly be that as well. As someone who has toyed with both of these strategies I have found that ultimately the best mindset to have is a willingness to be vulnerable and an openness to be changed.. Being placed in a completely new world like India, you are bound to have new experiences and with new experiences come new emotions and understanding. But without the openness to change, they stay as undeveloped images in your mind, when they could turn into life changing lessons. I got so much out of this trip because I went into each situation without preconceptions or rock solid beliefs, but rather an open mind that took in each experience and examined it carefully. Therefore with each new idea, I cut away all that distracted me and let myself be affected. I write this as the same person that left for India 3 weeks ago; same emotions, same dynamics, but with a changed perspective and a new outlook.

PK Hattis

Lindsey Colton

It’s still hard to put into words what I have taken away from the experience of traveling to India with my class. I am definitely still processing everything that happened, how I dealt with it, and how I will move forward with what I learned. What I know for sure is that the trip pushed me way past my comfort zone and forced me to see what I am truly capable of.

Students at Sri Ram Vidya Mandir

Being sick for the first part of the trip was a bummer to say the least. I felt horrible physically and emotionally. I had to stay back at the YWCA in Delhi, and missed out on the first interview and the first opportunity to go shopping. I felt like I was a burden to have around because I wasn’t able to contribute anything. And most of all, it made me feel homesick; I just wanted my mom to take care of me. But not being able to get what I wanted was actually a blessing in disguise. If I hadn’t been sick, I wouldn’t have discovered that despite my lack of comfort, I made it through and now know that it is okay for things to be hard, and it’s okay to be put to the test, and that I can handle it. I had a lot of self-doubt before the trip, but I came home with confidence.

Sri Ram Ashram

Once I started feeling better physically, the trip really began for me. When we got to the Ashram, it felt like home, and I felt better. I can honestly say that Sri Ram Ashram is the most loving and caring place I have ever been. They have created such a strong family unit and I feel blessed to have spent time there. It broke my heart to have to leave the kids after just four days. I will never forget the look on Kiran’s face when she asked me when I would be coming back. The kids there need people who stay in their lives and I want so badly to be that for them. I can’t wait to go back, but I don’t know when that will be.

Hari ki Pari

What I loved most about the trip was that everything we did had equal importance. Interviewing the Dalai Lama was an incredible honor and a once in a lifetime opportunity, but even if we hadn’t gotten the interview with him, the trip would have been just as great. I don’t think I can pick just one favorite moment of the trip, but one that had a lot of significance for me was going to Aarti at Hari ki Pari. I have never felt like a religious person. I would mostly call myself spiritual, not religious. Being at Hari ki Pari felt like a huge wave of spirituality came and swept me away. It didn’t matter what you believed in or if you believed in anything at all. One thing was constant for everyone there. You could feel the energy whirling around you. I am still in awe that people participate in that ceremony every night. There is a very special unity and tradition about it. That night was when I really fell in love with India.

Seeing something so drastically different than what I am used to made me rethink a lot about what is important to me. I appreciate so much of what I have at home, but I also envy a lot of what India has. I have everything I could possibly need, but I am not as happy as the people I met in India. I feel very fortunate to live in a place without the poverty and corruption of other places around the world but I am starting to see on a more basic level where my priorities should be. India opened my eyes to the fact that living in America, I am so cut off from the rest of the world. It’s easy to hear about India from a far, but to actually be in it is a completely different story.

Lindsey Colton

Noah Limbach

Jet lag, train rides, crickets, the sensory overload of Old Delhi and the serenity of the Golden Temple, the Taj Palace hotel and the YWCA. One day, car horns, the smiling faces at the Ashram, the pulsing masses at aarti and elderly Tibetans mumbling prayers as they walked the streets, the smells of burning trash and Indian food, small group discussions, excitement, confusion, contrast, challenge, connection, inspiration, the Dalai Lama¹s infectious laugh, and Krishna’s grinning face as he frantically scrambled over our suitcases to escape the moving train. Just a few outstanding memories from the two weeks I spent in India; a brief peek into a country so vast and varied that no one could possibly comprehend it.

In Old Delhi

We skimmed the surface of thousands of years of history, adding in our own small way to the infinitely complex web of experience and memory that defines India today. If there is one thing I took away from India, it is a sense of deepened wonder and curiosity about the world I live in. The spirit of wanderlust, drugged into sleep by the comforts and petty worries of everyday life was once again awakened within me. Like Rama, in the ancient Hindu epic, Ramayana, discovering his true destiny when faced by the terror of the demon army, an encounter with the intensity, diversity and (barely) controlled chaos of India has reminded me of my duty to myself to experience as much of the world as I can, because in the end, genuine experience is all that really matters.

At Sri Ram Ashram

The day after I returned, I saw a marathon runner with the words DIE LIVING tattooed across his chest. Everyday, when he looks in the mirror, he is reminded of his commitment to truly experiencing the world, even if it kills him. When I was in Guatemala, a fellow traveler said that he could never truly know himself unless he subjected himself to every possible situation, and by traveling, he meant to come as close to this as he could.

Meeting Pathways students

The reason ethics cannot be truly taught in a classroom is because school does not provide the diversity of experience necessary to form them and test them simultaneously. The best we can do in school is to build a rudimentary framework of ideas to help us process what we see once we leave.

I also realized that in terms of the Learning Journey, everything I have yet experienced is still part of the first phase, the Call. All the small journeys so far have really only awakened my interest and helped me to keep moving on, if each such experience continues to inspire me, I wonder if I will actually ever reach the Journey stage. I hope that I, too, can die living.

Noah Limbach

Interview with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

Our journey was one of extreme contrasts that often followed one right after another: In one moment we were navigating the crowded markets of Chandi Chowk in Old Delhi where humanity presses up against you in a chaotic dance of life. In the next we stood in the spacious grand elegance of the American Embassy compound near the wide grassy boulevards of Shati Path. Touching the outstretched hand of an impoverish child reaching for coins gave way in just minutes to dignified Member of Parliament with palms pressed together in front of his heart in a traditional Indian greeting. We traveled crowded two lane highways where head-on confrontations with mammoth trucks and busses were common.

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“You don’t teach curiosity, but you create the context in which it’s important to show up. Because staying curious is the best way to learn, it’s the best way for self-development, and curiosity is connected with compassion. When you judge people there’s no compassion in it, but when you’re curious about people there’s a possibility of understanding who they are.”

 – Ward Malliard

A few days ago I was privileged enough to tag along with Malliard and his senior high school class from Mount Madonna School in Santa Cruz, California, a class of just 15 students. Over the course of his career in teaching, Malliard’s students have interviewed leading global thinkers and world leaders across several continents, and during this trip alone, his class has interviewed Timothy Roemer, U.S. Ambassador to India, Mani Shankar Aiyar, a member of the upper house of parliament, Samdong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Rinchen Kandho, head of the Tibetan Nuns Project, and His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama. His students were poised, intelligent, and mature, while at the same time they managed to retain the youth and innocence of adolescence.

As the son of United States Congressman, he “went over the wall,” as he says, but never strayed too far from his upbringing. He is driven by political awareness and social service, yet at the root of it all is his desire to do good in the world and “to be on a journey that I don’t know how it’s going to turn out.”

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Michaela Schuessler

Today we interviewed Rinchen Khando Choegyal, founder of the Tibetan Nun’s Project. She was the perfect person to interview last because it seemed like her ideas combined the perspectives of many of the other individuals we had previously interviewed.

Interview with Rinchen Khando

One of the highlights of this interview was when Emma Petersen asked, “I imagine that what you and others are doing for the nun’s project takes sacrifice. If this is true, I am curious to know what values come to an individual from personal sacrifice?” Rinchen Khando Choegyal responded by saying that she wouldn’t call it a sacrifice. It was something she wanted to spend her time doing and she enjoyed it.

Another highlight of the interview was when I asked the advice question at the end of the interview. She said that we should have set values and stick with them.

Rinchen Khando

She also said we should have moral courage and know what’s right and wrong. The last piece of advice that stuck with me was when she said don’t cling onto things when they don’t turn out how you hoped they would. She said let go and start fresh. It was a great interview to have at the very end of our trip.

Michaela Schuessler

Kevin Koda

Samdhong Rinpoche

Today we interviewed the Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, a truly intellectual individual. Being a well studied Buddhist monk he is also an authority on the teaching of Buddha and on training the mind through meditation and other traditionally Buddhist methods. Throughout the interview he mentioned the idea that the human mind has inner intelligence but is limited by conditioning, such as by the way we are taught to learn by regurgitation of what we are made to perceive as fact.

Interview with Samdhong Rinpoche

At the end of the interview I asked him if he had any advice for us, his reply was simply “No”, something that elicited surprise in both myself and the rest of the class. He explained to us that the only way to gain knowledge is to gather information, examine it, and determine the truth of the object or idea in question. After a period of thought about this, I have decided that he did in fact give us a piece of advice by encouraging us to learn by our own means and a guideline for how to do so. I appreciate the depth of his answers to our questions. In my a opinion, he is a man of incredible intelligence and spiritual faith and someone to strive to be like.

Kevin Koda