From Brahma to Buddha, Fall 2008

This has been a wonderful and crazy couple of weeks. After a great couple of days in Delhi we went to Amritsar and stayed at the Golden Temple. It is the holiest site in the world for Sikhs, so people from all over make pilgrimages there. They offer free accommodations and food to anyone, and we took advantage of that. The food was great, especially this rice pudding like stuff called keer. They serve food all day long, people are constantly filing into their huge dining hall, and everyone sits together on the floor. No separation or questions of economic status, religion, country, just everyone eating together. Afterward, you had the option to give back by doing some service to help the temple run. Several of us helped to wash the dishes after every meal. I actually really enjoyed it. Again, no divisions or judgment, just people helping together. It became very peaceful. just listening to the music projecting from the temple - a drumbeat and chant - along with the incessant, rhythmic clatter of the metal dishes in the sinks. The women around me gave me shy smiles, pleased and amused that a Western woman was amongst them. I was wearing a salwar kameez one day, and the women next to me told me I looked like an Indian woman, which was amusing.

After Amritsar, we met up with our wonderful guide, a Tibetan man who goes by Peter, and drove to Dharamsala. I am writing you from Mcleod Ganj, Upper Dharamsala, where the Tibetan government in exile is located and the Dalai Lama lives. I walked passed his house today. We began our stay here with a 10 meditation retreat at this place called Tushita, which was wonderful and intense. 6 AM wake up everyday, with 3 45 minute meditation sessions, 3 hours of teaching on Buddhist philosophy, and apart from a 1 hour discussion group, silence. And the last 2 days were just meditation - 7 times a day for 45 minutes each - and total silence. Even writing this now I sort of wonder how I got through it, but at the time it felt strangely easy. Silence felt really necessary and natural after this first month of constant activity, and despite the pain it caused my back, I really enjoyed meditation. But this experience is really better described in person, so I think that's it on that...

We have just started homestays in Dharamsala, and so far I love my family. My Tibetan amala is so kind and warm and welcoming, I felt instantly at home with them.

We had the surreal and rare and wonderful opportunity to sit for a private audience with his Holiness the 17th Karmapa, who is the head of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. To give you an idea of the hugeness of this
opportunity- Tibetan Buddhism has 4 schools, the Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelugpa school (we sat retreat in this style) so the Karmapa is essentially equal to him in power and authority.