Much to our surprise, our dear and beloved Lama Tashi came all the way from India—from the foothills of the Himalayas—in order to share his sound and teachings at the 19th Annual Healing Sounds Intensive. We have known Lama Tashi for nearly 25 years. Lama Tashi, former Principal Chant Master at the Drepung Loseling Monastery, is a Geshe (the Tibetan equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy) and is currently Director of Institute of Himalayan Cultural Studies. Jonathan first met him in the early 1990’s when Lama Tashi was one of the first monks from his Monastery to tour the United States.
Lama Tashi has attended several past Healing Sounds Intensives, teaching on such subjects as “Sound and Compassion” and leading various Tibetan chants.Then his position as Director of the Institute of Himalayan Cultural Studies demanded too much of his time and he has not been able to come to the Intensive for many years. His appearance at this year’s 19th Annual Healing Sounds Intensive was certainly one of the highlights of the week. We began with Lama Tashi’s teachings on the powerful mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” (which invokes the Buddha of Compassion). Next, the entire group of nearly 100 people took part in a trance dance in which we chanted the mantra accompanied by several master musicians, including drum master Gayan, guitar wizard Chuck Wilson and the celestial zither of Laraaji. The results were extraordinary. It was a truly beautiful, transformational and heartfelt experience. Through great fortune, the “Mani” chant (including the introductory teaching by Lama Tashi) was recorded and is currently being worked on for potential release. We gave it a listen last night, and it is absolutely stunning. We will let you know more about this.
This Summer’s reunion with Lama Tashi was the first time we’d seen him in many years. We showed Lama Tashi the cover for his new release of Chen Dren, as well as playing him a portion of this recording (available at our exclusive download section on the Healing Sounds website. Lama Tashi was very pleased with it. We were, of course, delighted at his response since this recording is his first official release since the Grammy nominated “Tibetan Master Chants”.
To conclude this story of our latest encounter with Lama Tashi, here’s a picture of Andi, Jonathan, and Joshua Goldman with Lama Tashi after the Lama had presented us with beautiful ceremonial scarves. Lama Tashi’s appearance at the Healing Sounds Intensive was magical—we became aware that he would be joining us only a few days before the Intensive began. You never can tell what miraculous events will occur at the Healing Sounds Intensive! Once again, we invite those of you interested in joining us at next year’s 20th Anniversary Intensive to register early.
