Women's Assembly, Langar, Tibetan Monks, Opening Plenary

Today the Parliament opened.  On the way into the Parliament, at the south end of the Convention Center where you must enter to register, there are two teepees set up just outside the center and the Native American tribes from Utah had a fire going and were offering blessings to people coming into the Parliament.  They had sticks of sage and other herbs, which they would light in the fire and then wave all over those who came for the blessings.  It smelled wonderful!

Today the Parliament proceedings began with the first inaugural Women’s Assembly, a full day of plenary sessions and breakout sessions featuring women religious leaders from every imaginable tradition and workshops led by women on topics ranging from the Divine Feminine, to Women Re-Imagining their Traditions, to Feminist Mormons speak out.  The Opening Plenary included a Maori Tribal Grandmother from New Zealand, scholar Diana Butler Bass,  women swamis from India, Native American women elders, and other women activists and religious leaders speaking and chanting and praying from their various traditions.  The prayers went on for nearly 45 minutes instead of the 15 planned for, but they were fascinating and in several cases included drumming, chanting and singing by all in the assembly, which was nearly 3000 people!  

After the opening plenary we made our way to the Langar, where the Sikh community hosted the entire Parliament for lunch.  One of the huge halls is dedicated to the Langar for the duration of the Parliament and the Sikhs are feeding everyone every day that we are here.  We filed into the Langar hall and put our shoes in the shoe racks.  Those who did not have head coverings were given white scarves to wear in the Langar hall and we were ushered to our spots on the floor, in rows.  The Sikh community fed us and the food was delicious.  Naan, rice, dal, and paneer in tomato gravy, and a yogurt with chick pea crisps.  They had chai tea and coffee on the way out.   The Langar hall was set up exactly as community kitchens are in Gurdwaras in India.    Part of Sikh spirituality is feeding everyone a common meal, where all eat together on the floor, and those who are served then later serve others.  Sikhs feed people as part of their religious practice and they know how to do hospitality better than any other group I know. 

After a very filling, free lunch at the Langar, we wandered through the Exhibit halls and the Cultural Hall, where there are booths from all kinds of interfaith and faith based organizations from all over the world.  I spent quite a lot of time walking around there, knowing this would be my only chance, given how much is going on the rest of the time we’re here.   I met Dr. Shafiq in the middle of the afternoon and we spent some time preparing the session we are doing tomorrow afternoon. 

The Tibetan monks from the Dalai Lama’s monastery in India are here, and they were preparing for the opening ceremony for their Sand Mandala project.  While they are here they will create a sand mandala, and then on the last day, they will do the ceremony where the mandala is destroyed.    At 5:15 the monks began the ceremony, which took about 20 minutes.  They chanted prayers in Sanskrit, and played instruments, all to prepare the space where they will be creating the mandala, in essence consecrating it for that purpose.  These are the monks who are able to chant in such a way that they create two tones at one time as they utter the chant.  It is a very distinctive sound and comes from years and years of chanting and deep meditative practice.  As soon as the monks were done consecrating the mandala space, the Jain community did an evening prayer service in the temple they have erected in the convention center right next to the Tibetan monks mandala space.  It was wonderful to have both of those ceremonies happening right next to each other, one after the other.

The evening concluded with the Opening Parliament Plenary, which began with a long procession of religious leaders of all religions, led in by a procession of flags from all the 80 countries that are represented at the Parliament.  The Native American tribes from Utah accompanied the procession with drumming and chanting.   It was very lively.  The opening plenary went on for 2 ½ hours, which was a bit much for most of us!  And, many of us were shocked to see a podium populated entirely by men, and this at a Parliament that is focusing on women as one of its issues of concern and that just earlier in the day held a Women’s Inaugural Assembly!  It seemed like they felt they had covered participation by women by segregating the women off in their own assembly and then didn’t need to include them in the line up for the plenary.  A few of the speakers sheepishly noted the absence of women on the platform and I am sure the Parliament planners are going to here about it from a lot of folks!  Notwithstanding that critique, some of the opening speakers were really inspiring.  Rabbi David Saperstein was truly energizing and exciting, and then a bit later, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, who led a prayer and spoke extemporaneously, brought the gathered crowd to their feet as well.  The Jewish speakers really stole the show this evening.   And we were all pleasantly surprised when the final prayer was offered by a Sikh woman.  So the Parliament is off to a rousing start, and it is very energizing to be around so many spiritual and religious people from all over the world, from all different world religious traditions, talking and dialoguing on issues of concern to everyone:  climate change, poverty, youth, women. 

Pics today include the teepee on the south side of the center, scenes from the langar, the Tibetan monks at the mandala ceremony and a shot of our U of R students with me and Jessica in our special U of R Parliament shirts after the opening plenary, with “Rocky” the school mascot!  It is now 11 PM and I have to be up before dawn to get to a Zoroastrian worship service at 7 AM tomorrow!  No rest for the weary at this gathering!