Shede Dhondup

I am currently reading The Art of Happiness at Work by the Dalai Lama. Yesterday when I was reading, he mentioned the Tibetan word "dhondup" meaning success. It reminded me of my Tibetan name given to me by my friend Jack 4 years ago in China.

I asked him to give me a Tibetan name. I remember he wouldn't do it right away. He thought on it, and in a few days gave me a card on which he had written my name. Of course I couldn't read the Tibetan script, and he wasn't sure how to write the romanized version, but from the words that he said, I wrote Shede Dhondup. He told me that it means happiness, and success in everything you do.

I rarely meet people like Jack with whom I have such an immediate human connection with. Our commonalities have nothing to do with culture or similar backgrounds. He's a former Tibetan monk from a nomadic family. I'm a kid from America, privileged enough to travel to far away places. But I think we found a connection in our interests in the deeper things of life. I met him soon after he had left his faith and was searching. At the time, I thought I had the answers for him, but little did I know I would find myself in similar circumstances years later. I still get emails from him every sixth months or so, though we aren't able to share as freely as I'd like. He's one of the rare people you meet for a brief time, but feel that they won't ever be permanently out of your life.