From Brahma to Buddha: Spring 2009

2009-03-20T12:08:14Z

I have enjoyed every minute that i have spent with my family. Their kids make me laugh and their bright nervous smiles make my days so much better.

A collection of pictures, more on the way...

2009-03-20T12:13:29Z

Golden Temple, Amritsar

My homestay sister, Dechen and I eating veggie momo's in the living room. My Amala spent a few minutes arranging everything properly on the dining room table so she could show off this photo to friends and family

rickshaw driver on the side of the highway, Delhi

view of Dharamsala from up on the mountain

Pema, my favorite puppy in McLeod Ganj, a street dog from outside the main entrance of the Temple. I've been trying my best to take care of her for the past week. She's sick with Parvovirus, a infectious canine disease. If all goes well she'll be out of the animal hospital within a matter of days.. many people are helping me try to find a home for her.

]]> Our stay in Dharamsala is coming to an end. Tomorrow marks the last day of independent study classes and we're leaving for Tushita early Tuesday morning for a 10 day meditation retreat.

The Homestay Fam

2009-03-20T12:29:08Z

Here's my Amala, Pala and an Aunt who was visiting from Tibet (I wish I could remember her name). My family is wonderful, and I'm going to miss them so much!

Introduction to Buddhism Retreat

2009-03-24T12:44:32Z

The group has just begun their intro to Buddhism retreat at the Tushita Meditation Centre. We don't expect to hear too much from them during the next week and a half, as part of the experience is learning to be in silence and minimize external distractions as the mind settles.

Out of Retreat

2009-04-04T23:52:00Z

Since emerging from their retreat at Tushita this week the group has packed up, said goodbye to friends, families, and teachers in Dharamsala, and headed south to the warmer climes of the plains. Deb lost her voice soon after the formal silent period was lifted, so please send good thoughts to her larynx. Otherwise, all are doing well and we hope to hear from them on the blog soon to update us on their recent activities, meditative and otherwise.

John

Tushita Retreat

2009-04-12T14:01:21Z

We spent 10 days at Tushita participating in a Introduction to Buddhism silent meditation retreat. Our days were filled with teachings of basics of Buddhism and meditation. The meditation allowed us to experience what we learned in class. Each of us had karma yoga job such as cleaning the toilets (always fun!), recording the sessions (that was an easy one!), and the best job - ringing the gong! Thank you Sonam and Jess! Even now, after the retreat is over we are doing our best to implement what we learned into our daily lives especially when it comes to attachment (we love our chocolate cake), impermanence, and compassion.

Here is a picture of all the wonderful people we met on the course. If you are reading this, please keep in touch!

Samosa Jump

2009-04-12T15:32:12Z

10 days I was away form my two busy cell phones and email. It was really a good experience to get a deeper understanding of Buddhism. Our teachings were based on the four noble truths, Lam Rim and practices on mindfulness meditation. Ani Tenzin Pelmo was really inspiring to us and we are really grateful for getting a chance to sit in a silent retreat. We have to get rid of non virtuous actions and reduce our self charging, attachment, anger and ignorance. We have to think and work for the benefit of all sentient beings through daily practices. From that we have a hope to get away from cyclic existence and to reach Nirvana and Enlightenment.

After Tushita we we had a chance to jump in a swimming pool. In this picture, I am doing a "samosa jump." Now we are enjoying Jaipur. Everything is going well!

pics from dharmsala

2009-04-18T02:50:43Z

Amber Fort/Fathepur Sikri

2009-04-18T13:39:09Z

Life in the Pink City

2009-04-21T10:09:58Z

So we're here in Jaipur, and it's smokin' hot! Every morning I wake up soaked in sweat, but I won't go into detail about my bodily functions. In 5 or 6 days we fly out to Ladakh- we're looking forward to a break from the heat. Jess, Christina and I (and sometimes Peter) have been taking Bollywood dance for an ISP. It's so much fun- I love it! We practice our booty shakes and hip wiggles. For our next song we're doing Muja Mujhey. I just might have to give a dance performance at Grandma's birthday party.

My homestay family has been keeping me busy. We go out for family dinners/functions almost every night. I've been to two Indian weddings so far. The weddings are so huge and extravagant...there were fireworks, horse drawn carriages and a buffet with whole sections devoted solely to Chinese and Italian food, not to mention unlimited ice cream. The horses pulling the carriage even had their hooves painted hot pink. I think when I go back home I'm going to miss the unexpected things that happen here. Like elephants walking down the road, or seeing ten people piled into a rickshaw. And rickshaws! I'm really going to miss rickshaws, I'm not sure why we don't have them back home... They're the funnest mode of transportation, especially when we get to ride in the back. All in all I've loved my time here. I was feeling a little homesick last week, but I've bounced back. It's hard to imagine I'll be back in Canada in 24 days. As Jess would say, bahut acha!

Papaji

2009-04-22T04:42:37Z

For my Jaipur home stay i am staying at Jan path Guest. My home stay father which i guess would be grandfather is named papaji. He is an extremely nice 76 year old man who loves to give advice. He sits you down and as soon as the conversation is started then there is no stopping it for at least two hours. Though he always is giving advice even when hes not asked, most of the time it is very good advice and i think i will implement it into my life.

Safe Arrival in Leh!

2009-04-28T13:11:00Z

Namgial, our coordinator in Ladakh, met the group's flight this morning to welcome them to the cool, clean air of the high Himalaya.

They are resting up now at the guesthouse, letting their bodies gradually acclimate to the altitude for a day or so before striking out to explore the sights of Leh and beyond.

John

2009-04-30T13:30:09Z

Right now the group is on bed rest in Leh because of the altitude so I figured that I would kill sometime and write. The easiest thing to say about my experience in Jiapor was that it was HOT. Jiapor is a desert and right now it is the beginning of summer there. It was at least 100 degrees everyday with no ac (we had fans but they didn’t do much help). I took bollywood dancing as my independent study, which was so much fun and my favorite part of the day. The other two girls in my group Sarah and Christina took it with me. Our dance teacher was named Preeti and she might be one of my favorite people in the world. She is the sweetest person I have ever met; she always put us in a good mood with random stories and joking around. She is a national ranked dancer, a doctor, and has a PhD in yoga…basically one of the most impressive people ever. It was so hot and we danced for 3 hours a day so I should have been dead by the end but the group would always get super hyper and have more energy after dance then we did when we got there.
It was pretty hard to say bye to my homestay family because I got so close to them over the past 3 weeks. I loved my homestay family in dharmsala but I was definitely closer to my homestay family in jiapor. In dharmsala I felt like a guest the entire time, but in jiapor I really felt part of the family. My homestay mom’s name is Seengeta, she was so warm, blunt, and had a great sense of humor. She would wear the most elaborate saris everyday and even forced me to wear them a couple of times. The kids in my family were absolutely insane; they always had so much energy and never gave me any space. If I was sleeping in my room they would come in, wake me up, and force me to play cricket with them. Of course it was a bit annoying because most days I was absolutely lethargic from the heat, but I really loved that they treated me like a sister, and not like some creepy white girl living in their house.
My family was huge because in India it is very common for many generations to live together. The sons stay with their parents and when girls get married they move in with their husbands familys. (The ideology behind dowry comes from this tradition – the girl’s parents pay the boys parents for taking in their daughter. Of course the tradition of dowry has been twisted throughout the years and abused but I wont get into that.) In my family their was a grandma and a grandpa, their 2 sons and their 2 wives, and a combination of the couples 4 kids (a 8 year old boy, a 6 year old girl, a 4 year old boy, and a 6 month year old girl).

We have just landed in Ladakh and it is completely gorgeous. It is also freezing here which is awesome after Jiapor! The group is here until May 13, we do 5 days in ladakhi homestay in a village and then a 5 day trek. My birthday is May 12 which is awesome because I am turning 18 in India!

2009-05-11T13:41:46Z

Christina, Sarah, Preeti, and I at dance class in Jiapor

Homestay kids in Jiapor

View of Ladakh from the plane

making ladakhi bread with some of my homestay family in domkhar

View of the Indus River and the Himilayas from my homestay roof in Domkhar

My homestay sister Tashi Lamo and my neighbor with a very naughty goat!

Tashi Lamo and Me standing my the indus river ( I MISS HER SO MUCH!!!)

Me at the 16,000 ft peak on the trek!

Last day of Trek

2009-05-11T13:56:05Z

Today was the last day of the trek…I honestly cannot believe that I survived. It may have been the most physically challenging thing that I have ever done. I am so sore, smell disgusting, and have blisters all over my feet but I feel pretty bad ass. We climbed to the top of a 16,000 ft pass where it was freezing, snowing, and so windy. I think my cheeks will be permanently pink from the wind burn. It was hard but a lot of fun. I am proud of myself because this trek just showed me how strong physically and mentally I have gotten on this trip. I am probably in the best shape of my life right now, which is awesome. But the trek also required me to stay positive and motivated which I don’t think that I would have been able to do before. I honestly think that it would have been impossible for me to do it in the beginning of the trip. It was absolutely beautiful and camping was really fun (except for the 3rd night where it snowed and I was in a very light tent so Sarah and I ended up spooning the entire night to keep warm). It was nice because we took it really slow and I really bonded even more with the group.