Haikus from the train from Gaya to Delhi:
There he sought to be
Knower, a cristalline truth
Just to find himself
Oh great tree of trees
Refuge of Awakenings
May your roots spread wide
Be skillful in war
There's fight in your surrender
Practice right effort
Eight spokes of a wheel
Carries its rider to light
Generous teaching
"Kindness is weakness"
Then death is life and life death
Open up your heart
Alright, I'm giving myself an hour to get this down and then I am off to do some hit and run traveling around the north in my last week here. My time in Sri Lanka was very full and since we're getting to the point now where I can tell you all stories in person in a couple of weeks...here is a little snipit summary thing.
I arrived in Delhi after a 14 hour train ride from Gaya...made my way over to Jagajjyoti ("light of the world") Buddha Vihar since thats where the chief monk from the meditation center in Bodhgaya had a room arranged for me. I was taken over to see the giant Lotus Temple (a Ba'hai place of worship around the block) and the Iskcon Temple (a Hare Krishna house of worship...I chose to stay after on my own and see a light and sound show about the Bhagavad Gita and some of the tenets of the tradition...long story short...I have never been more freaked out by a tradition's show and tell and don't think I will ever bow to Krishna again...and no, to answer your next question...I have never been trapped in a room with the Scientologists so there is still room to be outdone). Got up early and headed for the airport to catch my flights down south and then to the island.
Bhante (pali: "Teacher":) came to pick me up at the airpoart when I arrived and took me to his friends' temple in Colombo. There I met Mangalam Thero (the chief monk and a friend of my teacher's since their 20's) and Sarda Thero (who cracked me up almost the entire time we were together even though he spoke almost no english..."no happy biscuit" haha) who were very kind and offered me food continuously and with whom I watched much cricket...though I had no idea what was going on...(but I did learn a little while I was there...you are kind of a freak if you don't know about cricket in Sri Lanka, so we extended my education passed the mere meditational/philosophical into the sporting realm). Bhante and I spent the next couple days seeing some of the Temples around Colombo, going to the Zoo (and the hospital where I tossed a third of my budget for the trip seeing a doctor who didn't listen very well and getting some tests...but I feel awesome now on the plus side...still got one week left in India though...knock on sandlewood), and hitting up Kandy town to see the Tooth Relic temple and hearing some crazy magical stories which have sort of worked their way from the Sri Lankan folk realm into the Dharma. One night I asked, "Is that in the tripitaka (pali: "three baskets" referring to the Pali Cannon comprised of the suttapitaka: the teachings of the Buddha to the lay community, vinayapitaka: teachings of the Buddha to the monastic community, and the abhidhammapitaka: Buddhist philosophy-psycology/commentaries on the Buddha's teachings by prominent disciples and teachers after the Buddha's death)?"...wondering why I had never heard about any of these stories of the Buddha in Sri Lanka before...and he informed me that the source for the stories that were depicted all over the walls of the temples etc were from the records of the early Sri Lankan kings...and it all made a little more sense.
Then we made our way to the Anuradapura area, into the jungle/forest adjacent to a village (known only by the name "small village"), to Bhante's temple/two bedroom, no bathroom brick structure. It was beautiful and quiet and filled with green and the sounds of Sri Lankan wildlife. (The entire island is a tropical botanical garden...other than Colombo and Kandy...everything is covered in green...its warm all year round and Bhante told me that they actually try not to plant trees since you can drop a seed anywhere and it grows wildly in record time). I had my doubts for a bit at first but once the teaching started I could see that I had made the right decision to go down there. Bhante is a very good teacher and has clearly found some things out and been able to integrate them into his life and mind. I will not go into detail with regard to the specific practices and discussions since I have gained a respect for the privacy, for lack of a better word, of the teacher-disciple relationship and the necessity of context for certain practices and aspects of the Dhamma...and becasue there isn't much time here and to brush over even generalizations would be a diservice here. I will say that the analytical meditations he had me doing were incredibly difficult for me at first and caused me a great deal of frustration...which I was able to work with later. I have realized that Metta practice, especially toward myself, is going to have to comprise a large portion of my practice for a while to come...I have underestimated its importance and will have to continually reshape the practice in the future...it must evolve as we do.
On the second day in the woods, Bhante invited me to visit the school at which he teaches English and I got to teach the "itsy bitsy spider" and hand out candy. From the reaction of most of the kids crowded on the walls looking into the classroom (the rooms are not enclosed since, with the whether on the Island, there is no reason to have them enclosed haha...that and money probably doesn't permit it) I was the first foreigner they had ever seen. We had a blast there and the principle invited me to come and teach next time I was in the area...then he gave me cream soda and chocolate wafers...it was yummy. Long story short...I will be looking into ways to begin fundraising for Nepal and Sri Lankan schools and for Suren's medical school fund when I get back...and anyone that can offer some help/advice/money/whatever is welcomed with open arms.
I was ordained as a samanera (pali: "little renunciate", novice Buddhist monk) on the 16th of March, 2011 and given robes and the name Sobite (one of the Buddhas in the line of 28 in this age...to be honest I don't know much about the name other than that he is described as the Buddha of virtuous/good works according to Bhante). I followed dasasila (ten precepts which include the five lay precepts [no killing, no taking that which is not freely offered, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to tell lies and not to inbibe intoxicants] but the sexual misconduct vow changes to a Brahmacariya vow [one of celibacy] and then five more are added [no eating after mid-day, no sleeping on high or luxurious beds, no wearing of garlands, no body decorations, no handling of money] and we did puja by chanting, lighting coconut oil candles and offering jasmine flowers and incense at the ancient stupa and shrine opposite the temple, which was also were we did sitting meditation (this was also the first time I had done regular outdoor meditation, which also added to the difficulty but was a welcome change and a good experience. I liked eating my bland food out of my begging bowl and not having to wonder what I was gonna wear and living in the quiet jungle with a good teacher (and one other monk who didn't speak much English and who was recovering from an injury and who I won't get the chance to talk about here) and monkeys and peacocks and those aweful wonderful horrible dogs that embodied everything paniful in physical existence, who taught me so much and allowed me some clarity into my own mind and instincts and unnecessary suffering, though it was difficult to always be present with the lessons.
Ahhhhh!...there are so many more things and places etc to relate to you but I gotta get outa here and be on the move again up north. In short, I learned a lot, plan on visiting again before too much time passes, saw many cool sights, the Island is beautiful, the people there were consistently the nicest I have met on this trip, I was proposed to in an ice cream and tea shop haha and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go...I have no doubt I made the right decision...though it looks like I will be completely bypassing Dharamsala (though it was one of the main reasons I originally set out to India...things change...something for next time) and Amritsar (home of the Sikh golden temple and an ugly bit of British violence during the colonial era fight for Independence)...but I am going to try to see Reshikesh (birthplace of Yoga and very near to the source of the Ganges, Dehradun and Chandigarh before heading back to Delhi to fly out on the first of April.
I'm off. Be good...be well...breath and smile and I'll write again soon...and see you soon :). My phone is having some difficulty so unless I get it figured out there will not be any more pictures up on FB until I get back/get it fixed...it also means no pictures from the last week of this trip and that email will be a little more difficult for me so forgive that please. Peace from the East...and Metta to you all.
May you be healthy in body and mind
May you be free from anger
May you be free from suffereing
May you achieve unbound happiness and lasting peace
There he sought to be
Knower, a cristalline truth
Just to find himself
Oh great tree of trees
Refuge of Awakenings
May your roots spread wide
Be skillful in war
There's fight in your surrender
Practice right effort
Eight spokes of a wheel
Carries its rider to light
Generous teaching
"Kindness is weakness"
Then death is life and life death
Open up your heart
Alright, I'm giving myself an hour to get this down and then I am off to do some hit and run traveling around the north in my last week here. My time in Sri Lanka was very full and since we're getting to the point now where I can tell you all stories in person in a couple of weeks...here is a little snipit summary thing.
I arrived in Delhi after a 14 hour train ride from Gaya...made my way over to Jagajjyoti ("light of the world") Buddha Vihar since thats where the chief monk from the meditation center in Bodhgaya had a room arranged for me. I was taken over to see the giant Lotus Temple (a Ba'hai place of worship around the block) and the Iskcon Temple (a Hare Krishna house of worship...I chose to stay after on my own and see a light and sound show about the Bhagavad Gita and some of the tenets of the tradition...long story short...I have never been more freaked out by a tradition's show and tell and don't think I will ever bow to Krishna again...and no, to answer your next question...I have never been trapped in a room with the Scientologists so there is still room to be outdone). Got up early and headed for the airport to catch my flights down south and then to the island.
Bhante (pali: "Teacher":) came to pick me up at the airpoart when I arrived and took me to his friends' temple in Colombo. There I met Mangalam Thero (the chief monk and a friend of my teacher's since their 20's) and Sarda Thero (who cracked me up almost the entire time we were together even though he spoke almost no english..."no happy biscuit" haha) who were very kind and offered me food continuously and with whom I watched much cricket...though I had no idea what was going on...(but I did learn a little while I was there...you are kind of a freak if you don't know about cricket in Sri Lanka, so we extended my education passed the mere meditational/philosophical into the sporting realm). Bhante and I spent the next couple days seeing some of the Temples around Colombo, going to the Zoo (and the hospital where I tossed a third of my budget for the trip seeing a doctor who didn't listen very well and getting some tests...but I feel awesome now on the plus side...still got one week left in India though...knock on sandlewood), and hitting up Kandy town to see the Tooth Relic temple and hearing some crazy magical stories which have sort of worked their way from the Sri Lankan folk realm into the Dharma. One night I asked, "Is that in the tripitaka (pali: "three baskets" referring to the Pali Cannon comprised of the suttapitaka: the teachings of the Buddha to the lay community, vinayapitaka: teachings of the Buddha to the monastic community, and the abhidhammapitaka: Buddhist philosophy-psycology/commentaries on the Buddha's teachings by prominent disciples and teachers after the Buddha's death)?"...wondering why I had never heard about any of these stories of the Buddha in Sri Lanka before...and he informed me that the source for the stories that were depicted all over the walls of the temples etc were from the records of the early Sri Lankan kings...and it all made a little more sense.
Then we made our way to the Anuradapura area, into the jungle/forest adjacent to a village (known only by the name "small village"), to Bhante's temple/two bedroom, no bathroom brick structure. It was beautiful and quiet and filled with green and the sounds of Sri Lankan wildlife. (The entire island is a tropical botanical garden...other than Colombo and Kandy...everything is covered in green...its warm all year round and Bhante told me that they actually try not to plant trees since you can drop a seed anywhere and it grows wildly in record time). I had my doubts for a bit at first but once the teaching started I could see that I had made the right decision to go down there. Bhante is a very good teacher and has clearly found some things out and been able to integrate them into his life and mind. I will not go into detail with regard to the specific practices and discussions since I have gained a respect for the privacy, for lack of a better word, of the teacher-disciple relationship and the necessity of context for certain practices and aspects of the Dhamma...and becasue there isn't much time here and to brush over even generalizations would be a diservice here. I will say that the analytical meditations he had me doing were incredibly difficult for me at first and caused me a great deal of frustration...which I was able to work with later. I have realized that Metta practice, especially toward myself, is going to have to comprise a large portion of my practice for a while to come...I have underestimated its importance and will have to continually reshape the practice in the future...it must evolve as we do.
On the second day in the woods, Bhante invited me to visit the school at which he teaches English and I got to teach the "itsy bitsy spider" and hand out candy. From the reaction of most of the kids crowded on the walls looking into the classroom (the rooms are not enclosed since, with the whether on the Island, there is no reason to have them enclosed haha...that and money probably doesn't permit it) I was the first foreigner they had ever seen. We had a blast there and the principle invited me to come and teach next time I was in the area...then he gave me cream soda and chocolate wafers...it was yummy. Long story short...I will be looking into ways to begin fundraising for Nepal and Sri Lankan schools and for Suren's medical school fund when I get back...and anyone that can offer some help/advice/money/whatever is welcomed with open arms.
I was ordained as a samanera (pali: "little renunciate", novice Buddhist monk) on the 16th of March, 2011 and given robes and the name Sobite (one of the Buddhas in the line of 28 in this age...to be honest I don't know much about the name other than that he is described as the Buddha of virtuous/good works according to Bhante). I followed dasasila (ten precepts which include the five lay precepts [no killing, no taking that which is not freely offered, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to tell lies and not to inbibe intoxicants] but the sexual misconduct vow changes to a Brahmacariya vow [one of celibacy] and then five more are added [no eating after mid-day, no sleeping on high or luxurious beds, no wearing of garlands, no body decorations, no handling of money] and we did puja by chanting, lighting coconut oil candles and offering jasmine flowers and incense at the ancient stupa and shrine opposite the temple, which was also were we did sitting meditation (this was also the first time I had done regular outdoor meditation, which also added to the difficulty but was a welcome change and a good experience. I liked eating my bland food out of my begging bowl and not having to wonder what I was gonna wear and living in the quiet jungle with a good teacher (and one other monk who didn't speak much English and who was recovering from an injury and who I won't get the chance to talk about here) and monkeys and peacocks and those aweful wonderful horrible dogs that embodied everything paniful in physical existence, who taught me so much and allowed me some clarity into my own mind and instincts and unnecessary suffering, though it was difficult to always be present with the lessons.
Ahhhhh!...there are so many more things and places etc to relate to you but I gotta get outa here and be on the move again up north. In short, I learned a lot, plan on visiting again before too much time passes, saw many cool sights, the Island is beautiful, the people there were consistently the nicest I have met on this trip, I was proposed to in an ice cream and tea shop haha and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go...I have no doubt I made the right decision...though it looks like I will be completely bypassing Dharamsala (though it was one of the main reasons I originally set out to India...things change...something for next time) and Amritsar (home of the Sikh golden temple and an ugly bit of British violence during the colonial era fight for Independence)...but I am going to try to see Reshikesh (birthplace of Yoga and very near to the source of the Ganges, Dehradun and Chandigarh before heading back to Delhi to fly out on the first of April.
I'm off. Be good...be well...breath and smile and I'll write again soon...and see you soon :). My phone is having some difficulty so unless I get it figured out there will not be any more pictures up on FB until I get back/get it fixed...it also means no pictures from the last week of this trip and that email will be a little more difficult for me so forgive that please. Peace from the East...and Metta to you all.
May you be healthy in body and mind
May you be free from anger
May you be free from suffereing
May you achieve unbound happiness and lasting peace
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