Building Bridges

Two days ago we visited a Buddhist monastery in Bayankhongor, Mongolia and sat with the monks during their prayers. Afterwards as they chanted “om mani padme hum” [ I worship He who sits on the whorl of the lotus flower ] on their beads, we chanted Hare Krsna softly on our japa mala. When there was a break, I took the opportunity to discuss philosophy with the senior monk and presented him a Bhagavad Gita, for which he was very grateful. Before leaving one of the oldest monks asked for my bead bag so he cou