HERMONS ON THE MOUNT

“It Shall Be Rebuilt”

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple..."

I’m sure Hermonites from all over the world and from all groups and ages are geared up to celebrate the occasion in their own way. The spirit and the manner in which some Hermonites, including some from abroad, joined the school to celebrate MH’s 125th birth anniversary on March 11, 2020, is proof enough of our strong bonding and camaraderie. The spirit of MH is alive and refuses to die.

However, we are well aware that Hermonites all over the world are conscious of what’s happening to their beloved MH. Some have given up on the school, others are holding on. Hopes are high but apprehensions are genuine. What can I say at such moment!? Keep going. Aim. Shoot to score!

During the celebration of the Methodist Church’s 150 years of ministry in the sub-continent many years ago in Lucknow, one of the speakers reminded the delegates of what Mahatma Gandhi said about the Church in India. Bishop Robert Solomon of Singapore in his keynote address recalled an incident between Stanley Jones, an American Methodist Christian missionary, and Mahatma Gandhi. When Jones asked Gandhi, “You are an ardent practitioner of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount; why don’t you join the church?” Gandhi replied, “I have no problem with Christ; my problem is with church.”

When I see what has been going in our beloved Mount Hermon, the temple of learning in the past several years I’m reminded of how Jesus Christ reacted when he saw what was happening in the Church of God in the city of Jerusalem:

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” (Mathew 21)

In 1967 when Dr. Welthy Fisher spoke at our Speech Day she reminded us how we should go about our job, particularly when things don’t go our way. She, while quoting an old Chinese proverb, said: “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

Those who are concerned about MH and have displayed their love, affection and loyalty to the school need not despair “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.

It is the law of karma. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:8-10)

When the Chapel portion of our school’s main building was restored and rededicated on August 15, seven months after the disastrous earthquake of January 15, 1934, our Principal Miss Lila Enberg in her dedicatory speech said, “We need not mourn for the greater glory of the former building that was shattered by the earthquake. Instead we all rejoice that the latter glory is greater than the former. The Assembly Hall is now more firmly constructed, more strongly bound together than before. We would now, therefore, render hearts full of thanksgiving to your Gracious God who, of His infinite mercy and goodness, has made all this possible. It was He who gave the faith and courage that enabled us to say: ‘It shall be rebuilt!’ ”

In this hour of another crisis at MH may we, too, have the faith and courage to say: "It Shall Be Rebuilt!” and mean it.

Inch by inch

Step by step

One day at a time

WE SHALL OVERCOME!

 

(Ref: Hail Mount Hermon! A TRIBUTE, Jigme N. Kazi, 2020, Prowess Publishing, Chennai, India.)

 

 

SIKKIM’S SAKYA CONNECTION

The last king of the celestial race, which reigned in Minyak for 25 generations, became very powerful. At this time (13th century), this king invited Sakya Panchen, the famous Hierarch of Sakya, to his kingdom. During a ceremonial rite being performed by the Hierarch, the deity, Guru Dragpa (a wrathful aspect of Guru Rinpoche), appeared to the king and gave him a ruby seal with the sign of a scorpion from a hidden store (ter, hidden spiritual treasure). After receiving this gift, the king became even more powerful, conquered large parts of China and also brought minor provinces and states of Kham under his control.

   The successor of the above king was directed by the same deity to go southwards to Sikkim. In a prophetic injunction, the deity directed the descendants of the Minyak Dynasty to go towards south of Tibet to the sacred hidden land called Beyul Demajong (The Hidden Valley of Rice).

   Accordingly, 25 generations after the founding of the Minyak Dynasty in the 9th century by one of the sons of King Trisong Deutsen, Guru Tashi, a scion of the Minyak House, went westwards on a pilgrimage in the first half of the 13th century. He was accompanied by his five sons. During their pilgrimage in Lhasa, the statue of Jowo Rinpoche Sakyamuni (in Jokhang Temple) prophesied that they should proceed south-west to a place called Dema-Jong (Denjong). Accordingly, Guru Tashi and his family travelled to Sakya, located north of Sikkim in Tibet. In an authentic old record, it is said that there were three brothers as chiefs of Kham Minyak and the middle one was prophesied to go towards Sikkim.

   On their way, they visited several important or renowned places of pilgrimage in Tibet and then, came to Sakya to pay their respects to the Hierarch. The Hierarch was engaged in the construction of a huge monastery and was busy trying to build the hall of the monastery. This monastery had seven storeys which were supported by four huge wooden pillars and 160 smaller pillars. The people struggled unsuccessfully to erect the four pillars.

   The Sakya Monastery, located in the city of Sakya in Tibet’s southern province of Tsang, was built in 1073 by Khon Khonchog Gyalpo. The name Sa-kya refers to the region’s grey (kya) earth (sa). From 1074 to 1959 the monastery served as the seat of the Sakya Trizins, the spiritual heads of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogyal Phagpa, the fifth of the five founders of the Sakya Order, expanded the monastery in 1268.

   Guru Tashi’s eldest son was well known for his strength. He raised the pillars of the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, located at the vicinity of the Sakya Monastery, and placed them in their proper places. This Herculean feat earned him the title “Khye-Bumsa,” meaning the one who possesses the strength of one lakh (one hundred thousand) persons. Guru Tashi’s family stayed in Sakya for some time, and Khye-Bumsa married Jomo Guruma, the daughter of the Hierarch.

Sakya Monastery in Tibet

The Sakya Monastery, the principal monastery of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism located at Sakya near Shigatse in Central Tibet, has two parts – the northern and southern monasteries. They are located on either side of Dhrum Chu River.

   The northern monastery, built on the hill side in 1073 by Khon Kongchog Gyalpo, the founder of Sakyapa, was destroyed by Chinese Red Army during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The southern monastery, built in 1268 by Chogyal Phagba, the fifth Sakya Trizin, survived the Cultural Revolution as it not only had a series of defence system around the monastery but also because of the changes in the policy of the Central Chinese Government of that period.

   Some of the giant wooden pillars of the southern monastery, the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, were raised with the help of Khye-Bumsa, an ancestor of Sikkim’s Namgyal Dynasty, in the 13th century. These pillars still stand strong to this day.

   Giant pillars of the Sakya Monastery raised by Sikkim’s ancestor Khye-Bumsa in the 13th century are still seen in the main hall of the monastery.

 

(Ref: SONS OF SIKKIM: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim, Jigme N. Kazi, Hill Media Publications and Notion Press, 2020.)

 

 

LANDMARKS OF THE DECADE (1989-1999)

Though the Rising Sun Party under R.C. Poudyal’s leadership was a cause for worry for Bhandari before the November 1989 (Assembly) polls the party soon became ineffective after the elections with Poudyal opting to stay in Delhi instead of leading the Opposition in Sikkim. In retrospect, this was Poudyal’s greatest mistake and he never fully recovered after his party’s electoral defeat.

The next person who gave much hope to the people was A.K. Subba, who was then trying his luck in lottery business. After Subba became the PCC chief he did much to organize the party in the State and even held a meeting of the North-East Congress Coordination Committee in Gangtok in 1991. But Subba dithered when he was asked to choose between his lottery business and politics. He opted for his business concerns, where he was believed to have made quite a fortune, and lost his place in State politics. Had Subba captured the imagination of the people, who were looking for a saviour to save them from Bhandari’s dictatorial tendencies, his fortune may have risen and Sikkim’s contemporary political history could have been different.

A section of the local Press indeed played a very significant role in feeding the public with a variety of news and views during this crucial period. At times some local journalists displayed tremendous courage and professionalism despite threat to their life and properties. The fight for preservation of freedom of the Press in the State culminated in the protest rally by six local journalists in Gangtok on June 19, 1993.

The man who chose to keep mum but was carefully taking stock of the situation was Pawan Chamling, who was then a member of the Bhandari Cabinet. More than the rumblings within the backward classes it was the general disillusionment with Bhandari’s regime that inspired Chamling to try his luck for the top job. While Chamling tried to wean away the OBC supporters of the ruling party to his side, others, including the minority tribals, also sided with him.

When Chamling felt that it was the right time for him to come out he made his moves. Within weeks of his utterances such as “I’m a democrat, not a sycophant” in Sikkim Observer, Chamling was dismissed (in June 1992) from the Cabinet. After consolidating his position in the OBC-dominated belt of south and west districts Chamling finally came out in the open when in March 1993 he formed his new political outfit, Sikkim Democratic Front.

By mid-1993, anti-Bhandari and pro-democracy activists under Chamling’s leadership gained the upper hand. Chamling soon emerged as the sole representative of the suppressed Sikkimese people. But political development soon took a new turn in early1994 after the income-tax issue surfaced. The crisis finally led to the abrupt ouster of Bhandari from chief ministership in May 1994. Dissidents within the SSP plotted against Bhandari for his dubious stand on the income-tax issue, where the tribals deeply felt betrayed and let down by Bhandari and his MP wife.

For six months before the November 1994 polls Sikkimwitnessed a brief spell of Congress rule under S.M. Limboo, who became the dissidents’ choice for the chief minister’s guddi. Limboo performed pretty well and paved way for a free and fair polls (November 1994) in which the SDF emerged victorious. Bhandari was finally ousted from power after he became CM in October 1979 on an anti-merger platform.

The electorate had given an anti-Bhandari verdict in favour of the SDF and Congress(I). While the SDF won 19 seats, 10 seats went to SSP, leaving Congress with two while one went to A.K. Subba, who contested as an independent candidate. When Chamling formed the government on December 12 (1994) the expectations of the people were very high. In the last five years the Chamling Government did much to live up to its expectations but, by and large, the people felt let down.

The SDF has once again been voted back to power in the October (1999) elections. With 25 MLAs in the House of 32 to its side there is no reason why Chamling cannot put the house in order and provide political stability and economic prosperity to the people this time.

(Ref: Sikkim Observer, December 1999)