Himalayan Home - 1. HH Chapter 1

Although I was born in the small town of Maydena in Tasmania, Australia, from the age of just two years, my home has been over 6,000 kilometres away from the nearest point of Australia, where my father – Dr Christopher Hamilton works as at a local hospital and my mother – Anne works as a teacher and nurse. For me, I grew up speaking four foreign languages, Dzongkha, Tibetan, Nepali and Hindi, while I only speak English at home with the family.

My home where I have grown up, is in the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan, a Himalayan country which is mostly mountainous, that rise up to 7,300 metres above sea level, with the sub-tropical plains that are no lower than 200 metres above sea level. My full name, is Dechen Christopher Yeshe Hamilton, with my first name being Bhutanese meaning Health and Happiness, and my third name being Tibetan meaning Wise One, but in my adopted home, I am called by my first and third names, Dechen Yeshe.

We have our main home in the capital of Thimbu, an apartment on the third floor, where my parents and I live for seven months in the late autumn, winter and early spring, and for the rest of the time, for five months, we live in the northern mountains, where my parents work in a number of very remote villages, where they provide medical care and assist with education of the children in the remote areas of Bhutan.

For seven years from the age of 4 ½, I have attended Pelkhil School, a private co-education school, to get my primary education in Thimbu, and I get home schooled by Mum when we are out in the Mountain region, as we move around the mountain villages every three weeks, when up there.

From when I was young, we have followed a lot of the Buddhist customs, including getting up early for an hour of meditation, followed by some exercise, usually a good walk depending on if the weather is fine, followed by breakfast, and an hour of reading Buddhist text, before heading off to school.

Although in Buddhist customs, lunch is the second and main meal of the day, we as a family diverted from this a little, by having a light meal at dinner time, followed by some more meditation before heading to bed for a good night’s rest.

As I entered secondary school, also at Pelkhil, from the age of twelve, it was during the Second Semester, when Mum and Dad went away overseas for work, I became a boarder at the school, which I didn’t mind, at all as I had many friends and I was doing exceptionally well with my studies. I was shocked when Mum returned home, four months later and a month after Dad had returned, arriving with a newborn baby son, and my baby brother, who was named Kalden Christopher Hamilton.

At school, I played soccer and futsal, volleyball and badminton. I also did Judo to keep me fit and active, and I was doing all of the main subjects including Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Social Studies, Bhutan History, Mathematics, Geography, Religious Studies and English Literature, as well as Music and the Nepali and Dzongkha languages.

It was at the beginning of the main holidays in December, after having completed Year 9 at school, with Kalden nearly aged three, when Mum and Dad announced that they were sending me back to Australia to complete my final three years of secondary school, as a boarder at The Hutchins School, which is one of the oldest and prestigious schools in the Tasmania, with it being part of the Anglican Church Schools, and is where Dad attended School as a lad and where I was christened in the Anglican Church, when a baby in Tasmania.

I was told that I would spend weekends living with my Mum’s older sister, Aunty Grace in Lindisfarne, an eastern suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, which is 11 kilometres to the north and on the other side of the River Derwent, from the school that I will be attending at Sandy Bay.

Although I have never been back to Tasmania since I was a child, Aunt Grace has visited us a number of times in Bhutan, and she had shown us photos of her huge house, that has stunning views of the River Derwent, and it is just 8 kilometres from the nearest Buddhist Temple, as our family made a point of been as involved in the community as possible, which included attending temple a few days a week.

I was informed that I had just three weeks left at home before I would be travelling to Tasmania, where I would have two weeks to get settled in at Aunty Grace’s place, before commencing Term 1 of Year 10 at my new school. With very little time left in my adopted home country, I spent as much of it with my friends, playing sports, camping and.

As the date grew near, non-other than Aunty Grace arrived in Bhutan, where she will travel back to Australia with me, since it will be my first overseas flight since first arriving in Bhutan 12 years ago, and I was pleased that I was not going to be travelling alone, and she brought with her my brand-new Australian passport, with my full name in it, which made me groan in embarrassment.

My parents informed me that we would be travelling business class, so as to be able to carry the extra luggage, as I wanted to take some of my traditional Bhutanese clothing with me, as well as a lot of books that are in the Dzongkha and Tibetan language, so I don’t forget how to read in those languages.

Once in Tasmania, Aunty Grace will be helping me with shopping in the more Australian style of clothing and footwear. The flight to Australia would be via Singapore, which is 5 ½ hours long with a 45-minute stop, followed by a 12-hour flight to Hobart, with a 3 ½ hour stop in Melbourne.

After a very tearful farewell to some of my good friends and to my parents, who all came to the airport to see me leave, Aunty Grace and I boarded our first flight. Just over twenty-one hours later, we landed at Hobart International Airport, and although I had slept for a good part of the second leg of the international flight, I was still tired from the long-distance travel that I had just endured.

Aunty Grace had parked her car in long term parking at the airport for the week that she was away, and once we had stored all the luggage away, we set off for the 35-kilometre journey to Blackmans Bay. I was pleased to see that there are mountains in Tasmania, but they are not as tall as those in Bhutan, as I looked at all of the amazing scenery as we passed by.

Since learning that I would be spending at least the next three years in Australia, I had been doing a lot more research about Australia, since it is technically my home country. I had seen many wild animals in the mountains of Bhutan, like tigers, rhinoceros, snow leopards, takins and bharal blue sheep, but some of the Australian animals I saw pictures of online were even stranger still.

When I enquired about the furry bear with rounded ears that chews on gum leaves and the spiny looking creature, that rolls into a ball, when it feels threatened, Aunty Grace thought it was quite funny, that I though they were strange looking.

I mentioned that I would like to visit the nearby monastery as soon as possible, and Aunty Grace said that she would take me the following day, and that it was important to get some rest first, before doing activities like that, plus all the shopping needed for me.

What I had been reminded also is that the seasons are in reverse in Australia, so while it is the start of the Winter in Bhutan, with an average temperature of 12 degrees, it is the start of Summer in Tasmania, with an average temperature of 32 degrees.

It took me just over two days to recover from the long-distance travelling, before I felt more awake and ready to explore some of Tasmania’s capital city and surrounds, and I was very keen to do that as soon as I physically could, but Aunty insisted that I get as much rest as possible.

My first thing I wanted to do was to visit the nearest Buddhist Temple, and having already researched this information, Aunty Grace handed me a piece of paper with all the information about the Buddhist Monasteries in Southern Tasmania.

The second nearest option is also in Hobart and it is more of a meditation centre, but it is a rental space in the middle of the city, and I didn’t get any feeling of peace and harmony at that place, when I looked it up online, so that was also crossed off the list. Next on the list, is also a meditation centre, located in the mountain ranges near Dromedary, north-north-west of Hobart, and I could see this as a possibility, and I put a question mark on that one, before going onto the next one.

The next one is located in the township of Snug, located 20 kilometres south of Hobart, and it is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, located in a very quiet location, well away from any general traffic noise and pollution, and I smiled as I went and I informed my Aunty that I wanted to check out the Tibetan Meditation Centre and Temple in Snug.

After confirming that there would be a meditation session at this centre the following day, I spent the rest of the day researching as much information that I could get on the centre, as well as looking at the other Buddhist centres located in central and northern Tasmania.

Feeling a little sad that I had now let my adopted country, I sat down at my desk after dinner, and started up my laptop computer, and I began typing my very first letter to a very important person in my life, and I wrote it in the Dzongkha language, with my laptop computer still set as that as my main language.

“My Lord Buddha, it is with great sadness that I have left the beautiful land and kingdom of Bhutan, where I have lived since the age of two, and as you know my father works as a doctor there, and my mother as a teacher and nurse. I have grown to love and understand your teachings, and I continue to read your text of the Three Universal Truths, the Four Nobel Truths, and the Nobel Eightfold Path.

I also meditate on a daily basis, and as you know I have been following your teachings, through His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. I am sad that I am no longer able to travel through the Himalayan Mountains, each year with my parents, where the skies are so blue, the air so fresh and the peace and tranquillity is so glorious, I am at peace knowing that I have you in my thoughts always, as I begin a new chapter in my life.

Soon I will be begin attending the private school in the State of Tasmania, in Australia known as the Hutchins School. I know that it is an exclusive school, but it is where my parents wanted me to go for the final three years of my schooling, and on weekends and holidays, I will be staying with my Aunt in the Suburb of Blackman’s Bay.

I am hoping that I can soon find a Buddhist Meditation Centre and Temple, where I can spend time meditating, and spending time thinking of you and continuing to study your teachings. I also want to begin exploring some of the mountains in the Tasmanian Forests, to see if I can find a place of peace, like I felt when joining my parents for five months in the Himalayan mountains, each year for the past 7 years.

I thank you my Lord Buddha for taking the time to read this, and please bless your devoted servant the Dalai Lama as he continues his work of promoting peace around the world.

May all beings have happiness, and the causes of happiness. May all be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow. May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless. And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion. And live believing in the equality of all that lives. (Buddhist Prayer)

Your humble servant always, Dechen C Yeshe H.”