| Since The Beginning | www.alligatorbayou.com |
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A Special Day We meet wonderful people and make lasting friendships every day at Alligator Bayou, but the morning tour of March 28, 2000, is indelibly imprinted in the memories of everyone aboard the Alligator Queen. On that day, nine Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in a mountainous region of India graced us with their presence and exulted in the beauty of the swamp. The monks were visiting the Unity Church of Christianity in Baton Rouge, where they were performing "The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing." This breath-taking ceremonial production--featuring long horn trumpets, bells, cymbals, prayers, songs for peace, multiphonic (overtone) chanting and rich, intricate costumes--has toured 100 world cities each year for the past eight years. The performances are sponsored by Richard Gere Productions under the direct supervision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. You may be familiar with Tibetan spirituality from two major films: "Seven Years in Tibet" (Columbia) and "Kundun" (Disney). Both movies portray the plight of the Tibetan people and the mystically inspired arts of the Dreypung Loseling Monastery. Performances of "The Mystical Arts of Tibet" enable the monks and the people of Tibet to preserve their rapidly disintegrating cultural traditions; bring to light the difficulties faced by the Tibetan people; establish communication with the higher powers of good; and bring about world healing on environmental, social and personal levels. Since 1959, when Communist China invaded Tibet, the Chinese government has killed about 1.2 million Tibetans and has destroyed 6,500 monasteries. The Drepung Loseling Monastery, home to the early Dalai Lamas, was also destroyed. Most of its monks were killed, imprisoned or defrocked, but about 250 of them escaped with the Dalai Lama. Supporters from throughout the world built a replica of the Dreypung Loseling Monastery in southern India; today it houses 2,500 Buddhist monks, mostly Tibetan. The monks pray for a world outcry that will someday enable them to return to their homeland, but only if the political solution will satisfy China also. In the eyes of these nine Tibetan monks, the Alligator Bayou crew saw the joyful peace of acceptance and their inner attunement to the justice and harmony lying beyond this material world. |