From Brahma to Buddha, Spring 2011

Om mani padme hum is a Tibetan Buddhist mantra that literally translates to "jewel of the lotus," meaning something like "purity of all living beings," or "for the sake of goodness." It can be a simple reminder, a phrase of motivation, or a sort of forgiveness (when, for example, I accidentally sweep up a moth). It's a prayer for the Buddha of Compassion. And it's amazing how powerful this simple group of words has become for me over the past ten days.

At Tushita we got a chance to really examine our "crazy monkey" mind and its inner workings, through meditation and teachings. The mornings and afternoons were based around the Buddha's essential teaching of the Four Noble Truths. We also had an hour of "breaking the silence" through small discussion groups after lunch.

As we came to familiarize ourselves with looking at our minds, I started to really appreciate my breath and my aliveness, and returning, or "retreating," to the cushion for Ondy's guided meditation- whether it was an analytical Tong-len, a visualization, or a morning mindfulness meditation.

Around day eight of the silence I was really just beginning to miss music, my admitted attachment... as in, I was totally craving it. In the evening the group was seated in the gompa, watching a video of His Holiness giving a teaching, when the power goes out and the Dalai Lama freezes, laughing in mid-point. Sure enough, my cry for music was met when everyone in the meditation hall began to sing the om mani padme hum mantra, twenty-one times. It was very awesome.

A few of the many other moments that stick out in my mind include...

- the walk around the forested ridge that we took on day seven, visiting the hermitage huts of long-term meditators and stupas that recognize highly-realized lamas

-the silent smiles that constantly connected the participants (fifty students of all ages and all walks of life from twenty-three different countries!!!)
-yoga before lunch, led by a good-humoured Dutch teacher

-the mischievous monkeys that swing along waving prayer flags and steal our cookies

-the candle ritual this past last evening, where each person places three candles around Lama Yeshe's stupa, one for the world, one for a chosen place or people, and one for ourselves

Encountering the Dharma at Tushita has been truly amazing, and the atmosphere there was one of total calm and connectivity... but of course "with every meeting, there is a parting." So now, we've checked out from this Buddha supermarket, with a cart full of concepts like duhkha, samsara, clarity & awareness, shunyata, shamatha, impermanence, renunciation, karma, equanimity, and many other foods that we can bring into our "precious human" day to increase happiness, for ourselves and for other beings.

Posted by Jennifer at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Greetings loyal blog readers! We have recently returned from our 10-day Introduction to Buddhism retreat at Tushita Meditation Center. The retreat was held in virtual silence. We had a one-hour discussion session each day and we were allowed to ask questions during the teachings but that was it. The last two days were completely silent and we pretty much just meditated all day long. It was quite an interesting experience. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't gotten sick. I got a parasite. That's right. There was a charming little family of amoebas living in my intestines and they were not particularly friendly. I had to leave the retreat one day to visit the hospital and then the day after we got back, I fell ill again and had to go BACK to the hospital. Things are on the mend now, though.

Anyway, I learned a ton about Buddhism. Our teacher was excellent. One particular concept in Buddhist philosophy particularly stimulated my mind. It was so complicated that we actually spent a full day talking about it. The concept I'm referring to is Emptiness, the idea that all things in our reality our "empty" of true, inherent existence. That is, nothing exists independently. We sentient beings are naturally programmed to believe that we exist independently from the rest of the world and that everything in the world exists independently of each other. When we walk into a room and see a table, we believe that there was already a table there, that we are in no way contributing to the existence of that table. But according to Buddhism, this is not the case. The existence of the table is entirely dependent on external perception, conceptualization, and labeling. If you're lost, don't worry. If you completely understood and internalized this concept, that would mean you had already achieved enlightenment. During the teaching, I raised my hand and asked to age-old question, "So according to this theory, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to see it or hear it, does it fall?" Glen, our teacher, laughed and shook his head. "There is a flaw in your question," he said, "You're assuming that there is in fact a tree there." At that point, a fuse went out in my brain. But after the class I went up to talk to him and we got into a whole conversation about quantum physics, which was actually really useful in helping me understand the concept, at least from an intellectual side. But I'll spare you the details of that conversation.

Finally, I should mention the monkeys. There were so many monkeys at Tushita! There are quite a few in Mcleod Ganj to be sure, but nothing compared to Tushita. Pretty much anywhere you looked you could see monkeys swinging from trees, preening each other, or eyeing your food. Or you could hear them landing on the roof above your head or squeeling during our meditations. Quite amusing, I must say!

Posted by Catherine at 5:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A local woman, 40 feet up in a Rhododendron tree, collecting branches.

Picnic time! Enjoying chai at the top of a high pass, Triund.

Josephine thanking Ama Adhe for sharing her life story with us about 28 years in a Chinese prison.

Amanda with Ama Adhe.

Watching a traditional Tibetan dance at Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts

Jennifer checking out the art of Thangka paintings at the Norbulingka Institute

Amanda cruising around Tenzin Palmo's nunnery that is nearing completion.

The ladies honored to be with Tenzin Palmo, a western nun that spent 12 years meditating in a cave

A view of McLeod Ganj with all the houses clinging to the hillside.

Hanging out at Catherine's homestay, keeping her company.

Posted by Ellie at 9:48 AM | Permalink

Jennifer: Massage, Cooking, Yoga, English Conversation & Daycare!!

Jennifer spent her mornings learning the art of Swedish & Shiatsu massage from her kind teacher, Mahinder. She also learned some delicious Indian cooking from his wife. Jennifer has been busy in the afternoons with a variety of activities: yoga, English conversation with Tibetan refugees, and volunteering her time taking care of young Tibetan babies! She literally had her hands full with activity!

Jennifer and Mahinder with her "happy" sign

Receiving singing bowl treatment from Mahinder

Cooking class! Making some delicious eggplant curry.

Catherine: Jewelry Making, Cooking, Yoga, and English Conversation

Catherine has been working with her homestay father, a very skilled silversmith, on two pieces of jewelry. She completed a beautiful ring and pendant after many hours of detailed work and patience. Catherine spent her afternoons either attending yoga class or volunteering in English conversation with local Tibetans.

Catherine and her jewelry making teacher (and Pa-la), welding pieces together

Putting small pieces of silver together is getting her ready for surgery!

Check them out! Professional.

Catherine enjoys a cup of chai while Jennifer does all the hard work!

Josephine: Woodcarving, Yoga, and English Conversation

Josephine spent her mornings in a small woodcarving studio working on her piece of art, drinking chai, and hanging out with her woodcarving teacher. She was busy in the afternoons teaching English to local Tibetans or attending yoga class.

Josephine and her woodcarving teacher in the small studio the size of a hallway

Working on a piece similar to the Tibetan flag: a snow lion roaring to the mighty Himalaya

Final product: Josephine is roaring like a lion, FYI.

Amanda: Tabla, Yoga, and English Conversation

Amanda has been busting out some incredible tabla beats over in the village of Bhagsu. She speaks the rhythms of the tabla as she plays and the beats run throughout her head for the rest of the day. Dhati Dhage Tina Kina...

Amanda with her tabla guru, Ashok-ji

Amanda's notebook filled with tabla beats...

Tabla fun!

Posted by Ellie at 5:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We decided to have a group outing to the local bowling alley to celebrate our 2nd to last night in McLeod Ganj. The experience was truly unforgettable. First off, there were only 2 lanes. The alley was built on the side of the mountain and the lanes were not completely flat so we had to account for some tilt when we bowled. The scene was complete with Bollywood music, workers that showed no excitement, and us being the only people there! Not to mention the scary stuffed animal in the corner...still not sure what that was all about.

Note: "Excited" workers and Catherine yawning:)

Stylin'

The Dalai Lama decked out in lights for Dreamchasers bowling alley

Catherine showing us how it's done

Our last speaker, Palden Gyatso, a Buddhist monk that was imprisoned for 33 years under the Chinese and has lived to tell his story of unthinkable tortures. He has a strong message for us to fight for human rights. He tells his story in his autobiography and now documentary, Fire Under the Snow.

Farewell Dinner
Our last night farewell dinner to all of our lovely Tibetan homestays! We made sure to have a speech written in Tibetan so that everyone could laugh at our pronunciation. Well done ladies! Jennifer's parents had left a few days earlier to head to Delhi and try their luck at getting a visa back to Tibet.

Amanda with her homestay Ama-la

Josephine and her family

Catherine and her homestay Ama-la and Mango, her little brother

Posted by Ellie at 5:30 AM | Permalink

A volunteer cleaning the pool of nectar (the water surrounding the Golden Temple)

The group with a spectacular view of the whole Golden Temple complex

Deb-sorry i havn't posted squat.

Essentially Amritsar is dirty and busy, not leaving much room to breath-at all. When we first arrive, we are slapped in the face with India once again- it's a bit of a change from little ol' Dharamsala. Once we finally get to the Golden Temple we are surrounded by thousands of people with knifes, silver bracelets, turbans, and more people. The Golden Temple- to get the best idea of what it looks like-look it up on Google. What it feels like (well to me) was oddly peaceful, considering there were so many people there. On the outside it looks like masses of people unorganized throwing various objects too and fro. When you look closer, it's masses of people throwing things too and fro, helping people. The place is a machine of goodwill. To get chai you must walk towards the courtyard (where everyone must cover their heads) where volunteers help clean the marble floor. Once inside the chai complex there is a man or women sitting on the chair handing out bowls for chai-she is also a volunteer. When I got to the giant vats of chai there is someone turning the spiket on and off. Once I sat down and try to chat with the women, men generally swarm trying to hear me speak my broken Hindi. Then the guard with a spear shoos them away. One you're finished with your chai chances are someone who is also done will take your bowl and put it in a giant grocery cart thing that, when full, will go to the dish washing section where more volunteers clean all the dishes. And so on and so forth. This place is completely run by volunteers.

My favorite part of the temple was venturing back (by myself) to the back allies of the volunteering halls to where all the food was cooked and the chapatis were made. From the loud speakers came live sikh chanting and the women would constantly try to talk to me in Punjabi, which I don't speak. After my first 200 or so I finally got to making round chaptis and got complimented. They were surprised a gora (white person) could ever do such a task. While i was working though they would always correct me when I made a mistake, the whole system relays on team work-aggressive team work-but team work nonetheless.

Josephine hanging with the Punjabi ladies making chapatis for the masses

Amanda and Jennifer chopping onions. Amanda is full on crying from this:)

Food for the masses, free food for all classes

A Sikh family enjoying the view

Although this beautiful temple is surrounded by India's streets full of must and deceit there is still a golden heart.

Ps. mom-sorry for the grammar mistakes- but india doesn't care about grammar right now

Waga Border ceremony of lowering the flags of India and Pakistan.

Sikh guards roaming the temple complex

Jennifer enjoying the sunset light

Posted by Josephine at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The stars aligned and allowed us a chance to go visit the village of one of the guards at the Golden Temple. Peter's new friend, Sher Singh, invited us to his house for lunch...Punjabi style. They grew everything we ate for lunch down to the rice, wheat, and delicious fresh paneer (cheese), and rice milky pudding! Yum! We were quite the scene as not many white people make it to those parts. Every neighbor came out to see, either from the rooftops, or peeking over the mud walls to see the American group cruising through the dirt lanes of rural India. It was a lovely glimpse into the simplicity of village life. Grow enough food for your family and to sell, to make just enough. to be. happy.

A view of the big family chaos from above

With Sher Singh's family, a guard at the foreigner's quarters in the Golden Temple

Peter and the grandfather

The extended family: brothers, sisters, and their respective children

Getting ready to eat a delicious homegrown lunch! Fresh rice and paneer...yum

The neighbors leaning over the wall to check out the white girls:)

Some women check out the scene from above

Posted by Ellie at 10:19 AM | Permalink

im trying to plan the after-program. its hard though. not the planning but everyone i talk to has somewhere more amazing i should go. and by may, everywhere is about 100 degrees f anywhere that i could relax that isnt 10,000 ft above sea level.

India never doesnt feel temporary. but i feel IN it. some moments, never more than a moment, i feel like 'this is where i could be me for at least a while' but i never really know. buddhism says that i dont exist. only my mind and my body. so then i feel weird because according to 'them' we exist according to three things; the cause and conditions of our existence, our parts, and our label. at tushita I spent ten days in the mentality that you should always be present in the fact that you are your parents child,

you are a body and a mind, and you are whatever you tell people you are. if i go around telling people i have a different name and age, i exist as someone else whenever im with them.

no im not stressed out. really. more than one person in more than one place has told me that i would only be homesick if i wasnt liking india. and i mean homesick like uncomfortable. cus here homesick is missing like toilets. and looking like you own the place. psychologically im reallllllly present but i didnt have to try to feel that way. im out of my element, im not even in an element. i mean its constant learning, right? we had the best speakers in india lined up for us and every person i talk to i learn a fraction more about how the people work. scenery? amazing, but not even a thing. the US has mountains too.

but like and dislike arent even considerations anymore. it just happens and goes. even people. you meet everything and everyone knowing that it moves and ends fast. its weird that way to not be given the time to... analyze. no. even to be drunk with a feeling or really feeel it. uhhh. incoherent commmenntts. i mean its always head up eyes alert, consequences and digging for what you want because im not WORKING towards anything. i mean it gets weird sometimes, when youre in situations where no one is thinking about what theyre doing or why theyre doing it which is always. so for me to think about whats going on really doesnt work.

im empty right now. its not like im going around spilling over. traveling is kind of empty. the girl next to me just said after that when youre traveling around it kind of feels like youre never doing anything. if i really was fully processing the way i normally do i would have damage so, i mean instead of not soaking anything in, its changing the process. this part i havent finali'zed enough to articulate but thats... the window im looking through.

GO LADAKH, GO FORTH AND PROSPER PEOPLE AT HOME

Posted by Amanda at 10:20 AM | Permalink

10pm. Luggage loaded. Chai flowing with chai wallahs roaming up and down the row "Chai chai, pio chai". Break out the yahtzee while jammin' to some Michael Franti. Laughter. People bustling, trying to get in before the train starts to move. Towards Delhi. Lights out. Fans blowing. Mosquitos buzzing. Let's try to get some sleep. On this rickety, start and stop train ride through the plains of India.

The night train Yahtzee tradition continues....this time Peter takes 1st

Posted by Ellie at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Flying over the mighty Himalaya. Um, breathtaking?

This is just a glimpse of how excited they were to be in the mountains

Shiny, happy students

We landed safely in Leh yesterday and have been taking it easy, watching Bollywood movies, and sleeping the rest of the time. Our bodies are slowly getting used to being at 10,000 feet although going up the stairs leaves us quite winded. The group was ecstatic to be up in the mountains with fresh, crisp air to breathe leaving the noise and pollution of Delhi behind. It should be an enjoyable time here in Ladakh. We leave to go to the village of Domkhar tomorrow where we will be staying with Ladakhi homestays for one week. And then off on a week long trek! Communication will be very limited here but we'll try and drop a line when we pass through Leh!

Posted by Ellie at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The group and their Domkhar homestays

Ellie's homestay family with little Rigzin and his abi-le (grandmother)

I sit in my Domkhar homestay with the TV blaring a Bollywood dance video, girls dancing in hardly any clothes and men wearing expensive watches, driving fast cars, and sunglasses. Such a drastic difference from the setting I'm sitting in. The 3-year old boy, Rigzin, is sitting and watching with innocent eyes while eating processed white bread and drinking butter tea. His mom is sitting on the dirt floor cooking thukpa over a wood-burning stove. The room is sparsely decorated--two posters: one of a beach with palm trees and the other, a herd of wild horses running though a river with the moon rising in the background. In between the two is a prayer wheel that is in constant motion. Constant motion. Is there any way to stop this powerful force of modernization that has seemed to be set into motion reaching even the most remote villages in Ladakh? The ancient colliding with the new? Surrounded by rocky mountains with little contact with the outside world--how could all the dancing, bright lights, money, and music not be appealing to these little innocent 3-year old eyes? If only they could understand my language...they would hear how much our culture is speeding up, so much that we often have little time to sit down as a family to eat dinner or just enjoy the silence of being together. Once the grandparents walked in, the TV was switched off.

I can almost see their traditions disappearing before my eyes. Will there still be cute, old Ladakhi ladies in their traditional dress wandering the streets of Leh when this next generation grows old? I hope my fear is not right. One of the students was talking about how much the Tibetans were protecting their culture, fighting for it to survive ever since they were invaded by the Chinese. Maybe because the cultural destruction of TIbet is so apparent. But the same thing seems to be happening here but only slowly, slowly, almost invisibly. So slowly that I'm not sure if many are able to see the modern creeping its way in and pushing the traditional out. I pray for this culture to survive the test of time.

Jennifer and Catherine with the students of Domkhar Government School.

Namgial, our Ladakh coordinator, with his home village of Domkhar behind

Jennifer and her Ladakhi homestay family

Josephine and her Ama-le

Posted by Ellie at 10:22 AM | Permalink

The whole crew at the start of the trek

Entering the beautiful Markha Valley.

We reached our 16,700 ft pass! Where's all the oxygen?

It will be a quiet week or so here on the blog as the group enjoys walking among some of the most spectacular (and youngest) mountain peaks and valleys on earth.

If they are extremely lucky, they may also enjoy a fleeting glimpse of the endangered and exceedingly reclusive Snow Leopard. Although almost never seen in the wild, paw prints and camera trap images such as this one taken in Ladakh prove Panthera uncia is still hanging on out there. More likely will be sightings of resident Blue Sheep, Ibex, Marmots, Golden Eagles, and the giant Lammergeier, with its incredible 10-foot wingspan. And plenty of Yaks.

The Arugamammas up at the top!

Hanging prayer flags for our loved ones and for the happiness of all sentient beings!

Kushok and Piu (Jenn, aka "monkey")

Posted by Global LAB at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)