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Early Monday morning we piled back into the car and drove down the valley to a small village called Tashi Jong, about three hours from Dharamsala to meet Ani Tenzin Palmo at her nunnery. Tashi Jong is home to the 9th Khamtrul Rinpoche, whom we had hoped to interview, but he was too busy due to the lama dances being held at his monastery. We did however get a chance to film the dances, which was quite a sight.

After a few hours at the Khamtrul Rinpoche’s monastery we drove to the outskirts of town to the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery where Ani Tenzin Palmo lives and teaches a community of nuns. Her teacher, the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche, instructed her to build the nunnery. It is still under construction and won't completed for several more years. We were invited into the simple one-room apartment where Ani Tenzin Palmo lives. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she shared her thoughts and opinions with us, offering a less optimistic view about the fate of the world than we had previously heard from the other Tibetan Buddhists. She talked about how everything is now commercialized, including spirituality, and that although she hoped to see a global shift in consciousness she felt it was unlikely. 'People are just too unwilling to let go of their attachments and ego, especially now with all the new comforts we have acquired. I mean do you really expect all of Asia to give up its cars, washing machines, TV's and fridges? Maybe if America does it first, but don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.'

We left early this morning (Tuesday) for Delhi where we will be interviewing environmental activist and lawyer MC Mehta before flying to Chennai and on to Auroville.

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee