Challenging their thoughts

Challenging Their Thoughts

Lhasa, Tibet

June 1999

We visit a Tibetan monetary filled with hundreds of young men.  They are scholars in training.  As part of their daily training, they challenge each other to their thinking.  They sat in twos, facing each other and one makes a statement.  The other listens and then lunges forward, claps loudly and shouts out an opposing  retort to the statement. The first young monk then thinks for a moment and lunges forward with his response.  This goes on for an hour which seemed like infinity to me because each clap takes me by surprise and startles me.  I am exhausted by the end of the hour.