Plum Village: Touching the Earth As the Dharma Rain Falls

Plum Village: Touching the Earth as the Dharma Rain Falls

One day the Buddha gave Rahula, a young novice, a Dharma talk about the earth’s capacity to receive, embrace, and transform all kinds of elements. There are four great elements: earth, water, fire, and air (mahabhuta). The four great elements all have the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. “Rahula,” the Buddha said, “learn to be like the earth. Whether people pour milk or fragrant liquids, deposit flowers or jewels, or pour urine, excrement, and mucus on the earth, the earth receives them without discrimination.” Why? Because the earth has the capacity to receive, embrace and transform. The earth can receive excrement and urine because it is immense. It transforms them into flowers, grass, and trees. If you cultivate your heart so that it is open, you can become immense like the earth and can embrace anyone or anything without suffering. (p. 190, The Path of Emancipation, Thich Nhat Hanh)

I first came across the above story last January when I was stuck on a train for 36 hours while coming back from Bodh Gaya. If it wasn’t for the immense train delay I wouldn’t have finished reading the 600 paged, “Old Path White Clouds” which is Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk, poet and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh’s, retelling of the life story of the Buddha.  For me, the train delay was entirely worth it because when I came across this dialogue between the Buddha and Rahula it summarized what my beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has given me—the aspiration to always have an open heart and embrace whatever comes my way like the earth. During the past two weeks I was able to deepen my practice and partake in his loving, gentle and inspiring teachings at the annual Summer Retreat in Plum Village, the Buddhist Practice Center he founded along with his colleague, Sister Chan Khong, in Southern France.

One of the West’s most popular Buddhist teachers, his teachings on mindfulness have transformed the lives of so many individuals and communities from a variety of spiritual, religious and political backgrounds. He manages to combine the beauty of Mahayana Buddhism with the core teachings of the sutras about mindfulness breathing and the four establishments of mindfulness and make it relevant and accessible to us in our daily lives.  While he is often cited as being the founder of the “Engaged Buddhist” movement (which is often described as Buddhists who seek to connect insights from their dharma practice to social, political, environmental causes etc.) when asked about what “Engaged Buddhism” means to him by one of my friends at a Dharma teaching last Sunday he said that “Engaged Buddhism” can also be seen as applied Buddhism, it has to do with your daily life, like brushing you teeth (He often jokes about when he brushes his teeth he is so happy because at the age of 83 he still has teeth!), doing your dishes and interacting with your friends. The kind of Buddhism people often think of as engaged is socially engaged but you know anything you do correctly will profit society, if you have peace and happiness it will affect the world in a positive way.  Thay often says that he is a Buddhist free from Buddhism!

Last September, when I first came into his presence, I literally felt as if I was hit by a tsunami of love and I knew my life had changed forever. I am so grateful to him and his teachings on the “Art of Mindful Living” because they have given me true freedom, deep peace and so much joy—his words and loving nature have opened my heart in ways no other teacher has. During his time in India I was fortunate enough to attend two retreats (one just for educators on promoting mindfulness in the classroom) and every speaking engagement of his in Delhi along with an unforgettable peace walk on Gandhi’s Birthday. His essential teaching is to live deeply each moment of your life. To do this you must practice mindful breathing and bring your mind back to your body. The Buddha said it is possible to live happily now—Happiness is possible in the present moment and the practice consists of completely placing ourselves in the present moment to look deeply, when we do this we will always see that there are conditions of happiness already—true happiness comes from inside, from within. We spend so much time in forgetfulness, never really living, planning (a few weeks ago I read a great book that addresses our tendency to obsessively plan the future and how this can be ineffective written by Harvard Psychologist Daniel Gilbert, “Stumbling on Happiness”) or worrying about the future, replaying the past. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have goals, plan for the future or learn from our past but we must distinguish between productive thinking and unproductive thinking and train ourselves to think in a positive way. Through cultivating the energy of mindfulness we are able to befriend our anger and alleviate the pain and suffering of ourselves and of others. In Dehradun, I was able to ask him what faith is and he told me, “It is believing in ourselves and in the seeds of compassion, forgiveness and joy which our ancestors transmitted to us. If we believe and water these seeds we can overcome anything.” So in a way, faith is complete trust in one’s Buddha nature, in ones capacity to awaken and transform any situation.

Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh’s students refer to him as Thay which means teacher in Vietnamese) founded the Unified Buddhist Church in 1969 in France during the Vietnam War. He became a novice monk at the age of 16 and in the early 1960s he founded a grassroots relief organization in Saigon to assist those who were left homeless during the Vietnam War. While in Plum Village I read Sister Chan Khong’s autobiography, “Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War,” which gave a detailed account of their remarkable lives including their exile from and eventual return to Vietnam, the contributions of this grassroots organization, “School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS),” and their tireless efforts to promote peace throughout the world. One of the reasons why Thay is so special to me is that he is this remarkable blend of scholar and master practitioner. After founding SYSS he then studied comparative religion at Princeton University and lectured at Columbia University but his main focus was urging the US to withdraw from Vietnam. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In 1966 he established Tiep Hien, the Order of Interbeing. Interbeing is a word Thich Nhat Hanh created to refer to the core Buddhist Teaching of dependent origination—that nothing exists independently, everything exists because of other things. Thay’s poem, “Call Me By My True Names” is a great illustration of this: http://www.quietspaces.com/poemHanh.html. The Order of Interbeing is a community of monastics and lay people who have committed to living their lives in accord with the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings which to me are a dynamic interpretation of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path—the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. The trainings emphasize non-attachment from views, direct experimentation on the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, and skilful means. I’ve been studying the trainings for the past year and they’ve really changed my life especially the training on non-attachment from view: “Aware of the suffering created by attachment to views and wrong perceptions, we are determined to avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views in order to be open to others’ insights and experiences. We are aware that the knowledge we presently possess is not changeless, absolute truth. Truth is found in life, and we will observe life within and around us in every moment, ready to learn throughout our lives.”  For me, the trainings have given me an ethical guide to skillfully navigate myself in the world so I never feel lost or have confusion about anything. But mindfulness isn’t about right or wrong, it is about looking deeply and generating concentration so you can have insight and cultivate your inner wisdom.

While I was in Plum Village the nuns asked me to share my experience of practicing the Mindfulness Trainings with those attending the retreat. Initially, you can receive Five Trainings, they are a modern, beautiful interpretation on the Buddha’s original Five Precepts—don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t commit adultery, don’t drink—and then those that wish to become a part of the core community must take up the study and practice of the 14 trainings, I’ve placed both on my blog in case you are curious along with my notes from Thay’s teachings. I don’t see the trainings as a black and white interpretation of right and wrong, rather they are a way to open my heart and try to live more compassionately—at least this is how I view them. During the past 8 months Thich Nhat Hanh and his students have revised the Five Trainings extensively so that they are more relevant in our day and age and reflect a Buddhist vision for a global spiritual ethic. I renewed my commitment to practicing the new version of the trainings when I was in Plum Village. Still it is important to understand that you don’t have to be Buddhist to practice the trainings. When I was in India I met a Christian Minister who is a student of Thay’s. In fact, the first of the 14 trainings stresses the importance of not being bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even Buddhist ones—the teachings should only be seen as a guide to develop our understanding and compassion. While I was in Plum Village I befriended a lovely yoga teacher from Brussels. It was so wonderful to connect with her about Yogic Philosophy and discuss Advaita Vedanta as well because these traditions inform my practice in numerous ways as do a variety of other spiritual traditions as well.

Plum Village (www.plumvillage.org) itself is breathtakingly beautiful and radiates with peaceful energy. Located in the French countryside, in the summer time the region is filled with fields of sunflowers! The monastic’s and lay practitioners that live there are so warm and friendly and I made many new, special friends from all over the world! If I had to choose one word to describe the weeks I spent there it would be “nourishing” and I would be happy to chat to those of you that are interested in spending time there. Unlike other retreats I’ve been to the schedule in Plum Village is much more open and relaxed. During the retreat your rise at 5:30am, sitting meditation from 6-6:30, followed by breakfast and then a teaching (usually with Thay) at one of the Hamlets (Plum Village consists of 3 Hamlets, Lower Hamlet house nuns and Upper Hamlet houses monks and they are relatively close to each other but New Hamlet which is where I stayed houses nuns and it is considerably farther away from Lower and Upper Hamlet.).  The teaching is then followed by walking meditation and after that you eat lunch. Everyone is assigned tasks to contribute to the community—I was responsible for taking out the trash and washing pots during the retreat. After you finish you work you have free time until dinner and after dinner there is usually a teaching or discussion in your “Dharma family.” Your Dharma family is led by a monastic and made up of a group of people that you share work tasks and conversation with. Being the youngest non-monastic in my Dharma family I found our discussions so valuable and learned a great deal from the wisdom and life experiences of my Dharma brothers and sisters. During my time in Plum Village we also had a beautiful festival to honor our Ancestors and a festival to honor our Parents. One a week we practice a “no car day” and all of the food is organic and vegan to help reverse global warming. We also have one day a week called “Lazy Day” which is where we have no plans or obligations and your only job is to be lazy—this practice reminded me of Abraham Heschel’s thoughts on the Sabbath (great summary found at: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/2000/08/A-Palace-In-Time.aspx).

A dharma friend of mine with an experience from a tradition that stresses sitting meditation for hours a day did jokingly say to me once, “Oh yeah, in Plum Village you just sit for half an hour and write a poem about it!” I did feel that it was important for me to do sitting meditation for more than 30 minutes even though the idea is that you are meditating, fully present and practicing mindful breathing during everything you do. Each Hamlet has a beautiful temple and a meditation hall where you can practice sitting more—pictures up on facebook! I really enjoyed the flexible schedule, it emphasized Thay’s whole, “Happiness is here and now, nowhere to go, nothing to do I’m not in a hurry. Happiness is here and now, somewhere to go, something to do but I don’t need to hurry.” Thay himself walks slowly and mindfully at all times and you know he has mastered the art of living each moment deeply. One afternoon I decided to do walking meditation all the way into a nearby town a few miles away. I was walking joyfully through the fields of sunflowers, with each step nourishing my soul and I was going so slowly that a lovely French man in a tractor stopped and asked me what was wrong and if I was injured because I was walking so slow and offered to drive me to town!

Thay has numerous practices to help us live mindfully and if I shared even some of them this e-mail would be 1000 pages! He has published hundreds of books, has written the most beautiful poetry and I have read several of his books and poems. I’ve found his teachings on death and the practice of “Touching the Earth” the most liberating though.  The practice of “Touching the Earth” can help us touch our true nature of no birth and no death. If the ultimate fear is death then understanding (not just intellectually) that you never are really born and you never really die can be the most liberating experience in the world. For me, “Touching the Earth” is a way to really look deeply at our own nature as a product of dependent origination and our existence in this remarkable web of life. It consists of deeply touching in this moment the presence of our parents, ancestors (blood, spiritual, and land and when we touch the earth we release any negative habit energy we have received from our ancestors and give it to the earth to transform), children (if we have them—I usually visualize my students), the lives of those we’ve touched, and all of the animals, plants and minerals that exist in us and we exist in. When looking at life in this way, that we have no separate self, that we are interconnected with everything makes living so much richer.  Feeling this interconnection then we realize that how we live our life affects everything and the suffering of living beings is our own suffering—the commitment of a Bodhisattva is the relieve this suffering. The practice itself is very, very rich and you can find it in many of Thay’s books (I highly recommend, “No Death, No Fear”). I also would be happy to elaborate more about it in person or on the phone though I’m still very much a beginner—to strengthen my practice I’ve actually made a CD guiding myself through the various touchings of the earth that I would be happy to share. It is important to not practice in form though—what’s the point then? I call this empty practice and if I’m not mindful this is what I end up doing.  Thay stresses that to really practice we must use our intelligence and our skills to make nourishment and transformation possible—we practice to awaken ourselves and to awaken others. 

I’ve been blessed to have a solid, loving sangha in New Delhi made up mostly of my colleagues at the American Embassy School—our Tuesday evenings together have been a refuge for me. Almost all of us attended the retreats with Thay when he was in India (we wrote about our experience during one of his retreats and this “Mindfulness Report” can be found at: www.aessangha.com) and his teachings have transformed all of our lives and many of us have tried to bring mindfulness practices into the classroom. I tried to practice mindful eating with my students. During the orange meditation one of my ninth graders, Yeon Ju wrote: “At first I wasn’t exactly sure why Ms. S wanted us to put so much thought into just an orange. Plainly there were the orange pickers, the sellers, and the market owners in line of the process of selling the oranges. However, when reminded of the poem that we read in class about how in order for this paper to have been made, a rainfall would have had to happen for the tree to grow and etc. I was then able to concentrate on the deeper meaning of the activity which was to get out of the trance of thinking that the orange is a simple matter, and should have been in my hands without the efforts and the natural process of a thousand events. Before the orange pickers, or even the farmers who planted the orange tree, the Earth had to exist. It may sound like an exaggeration to think about the pre-historic times just for an orange to have happened. But like all humans, and the current existence of you, me, and us, an orange took just as much amount of process. In conclusion, I learned that we shouldn’t take everything for granted but actually think about how it came to be and how much effort or time was put into just one simple existence and be thankful, thoughtful, and simply more aware of my surroundings.” I hope to do more practices with my students this year and am trying to write an article for “The Mindfulness Bell” publication about this.

I’ve also been blessed with a loving family and their solidity and stability has given me the ability to attempt to live life deeply and while I have a long way to go it feels so refreshing to have found a path and a true teacher. My parents will be attending Thich Nhat Hanh’s Day of Mindfulness in New York City this October and if any of you are in the US and have the time I definitely recommend checking out his tour schedule (www.tnhtour.org), he also has two monasteries in the US—one in San Diego and one in New York and there are hundreds of interfaith communities of mindfulness all over the world! A few days ago my father celebrated his birthday. When I was at the Root Institute in Bodh Gaya last January I came across Thay’s book, “No Death, No Fear” in their library and the first page I opened to had the following passage which I included in the card to my father: “One day as I woke up I remembered the words of a folk song, ‘My father and mother have given me so much merit.’ Their merit is my generosity, love, forgiveness and capacity to offer joy and happiness to others. They have given me this precious inheritance. Our children are our continuation. We are our children and our children are us. If you have one or more children you have already been reborn in them. You can see you continuation body in your son or your daughter, but you have many more continuation bodies as well. They are in everyone you have touched. And you cannot know how many people your words, actions and thoughts have touched.”

I am so grateful to the brothers and sisters of Plum Village, to my ancestors, to all living beings and of course to all of you—we all continue in each other. Thank you for touching my life. During the first Dharma teaching Thay gave he said, “Who is the Buddha?  It’s you when you are full of love, understanding and peace. Sometimes you are the Buddha sometimes you are a part time Buddha. Whether you choose to be a full time or part time Buddha the choice is yours.” It’s really up to us, we choose. I’ve attached a beautiful song entitled “No Wait” sung by some of the nuns to this e-mail. When I first heard the song it brought tears of joy to my eyes, it felt as if the Buddha was speaking. I love the lyrics but my favorite lines are: “You are the farmer. You are your field. Tend to your land. And grow your freedom.”

I will be back in India next week and in the mean time I’m sending you all warm wishes from France! Now I’m off to stroll the streets of Bordeaux and mindfully eat French pastries, savoring each bite while looking deeply at the many miracles that have come together to make the delicious treats exist.

With Love from Bordeaux,

Meena

Pure Confidence of the Heart (My Dharma Name)

Gina’s Food Prayer

Bless the Earth that nourished this food;
The Farmer who grew this food;
The Cook who prepared this food;
My Body for keeping me happy, healthy, full of love and in the present;
And God for making it all possible.

Student Reactions to the Orange Meditation & Mindfulness

What follows are excerpts from my student’s reactions to an orange meditation activity I did with them and discussions on mindfulness and happiness.
Excerpts from Student Responses to the Orange Meditation & Mindfulness
At first I wasn’t exactly sure why we were to put so much thought into just an orange. Plainly there were the orange pickers, the sellers, and the market owners in line of the process of selling the oranges. However, when reminded of the poem that we read in class about how in order for this paper to have been made, a rainfall would have had to happen for the tree to grow and etc. I was then able to concentrate on the deeper meaning of the activity which was to get out of the trance of thinking that the orange is a simple matter, and should have been in my hands without the efforts and the natural process of a thousand events. Before the orange pickers, or even the farmers who planted the orange tree, the Earth had to exist. It may sound like an exaggeration to think about the pre-historic times just for an orange to have happened. But like all humans, and the current existence of you, me, and us, an orange took just as much amount of process. In conclusion, I learned that we shouldn’t take everything for granted but actually think about how it came to be and how much effort or time was put into just one simple existence and be thankful, thoughtful, and simply more aware of my surroundings. – Yeon Ju (Grade 9)

We all ate oranges mindfully. We thought about the orange very precisely. Where did it come from? How did it get here? What did the seed go through to become an orange. This really made me think more about the orange and realize its significance. – Gautam (Grade 9)

When we eat food at home we don’t think of what people went through just so we could enjoy our food. The process of when we started eating the orange I was actually thinking about what people did and for the first time in my life I felt as though I was thanking people I don’t even know. This helped me realize how fortunate I am. It also made me think how everything we eat and drink starts off as such a little thing and that we are dependent on other people in order to get our supply of food. – Akash (Grade 9)

I think mindfulness is very important to life, not just religiously, but in general. When one is aware of his or her surroundings, and pays attention to every little taste, smell, sight, and sound, life becomes a lot more enjoyable. The orange, for example, can be a whole experience, not just a snack, if a person takes the time to smell it, feel it, and get each texture and taste out of every mouthful. There were a lot of sounds and smells one wouldn’t notice if her or she didn’t take the time to stop and just sit quietly, observing and being aware. – Nikhil (Grade 9)

Slow eating involves you to think about the food such as people who bought it, grew it, moved them to stores etc. When we did that activity with the orange, I began to realize that there are a lot of things involved in that orange in order to grow. There is rain and sun involved in terms of nature, also people who grew it, and the meal they had to eat in order to work and people who moved them to stores. If we think about it deeply there is an almost infinity of things involved. - Kyu Min (Grade 9)

I think mindfulness means awareness. Awareness and thinking of everything that surrounds us. To understand this, we all got an orange and had to think of how it got in our hands, of all the people who worked for it to grow. We talked about how we didn’t take enough time to eat and think about all these people which are involved in it, which I think is true, we do not take enough time to savor the things we eat nor think about the work of others to make all this possible, we should be more aware of all this. – Mathis (Grade 9)

Happiness is cultivated by tackling the minute challenges during the day with mindfulness and without being burdened. I think that happiness, to a large extent, can be cultivated by one’s attitude in searching for it instead of dwelling on problems. It is a matter of resilience of the mind and the heart. I want to to continue to find reasons daily to be mindful, grateful, and happy in order to create a pattern of happiness that will lessen any obstacles such as anger, stress, materialism, jealousy, insecurity, and pessimism in my life. – Mary (Grade 12)
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Sogyal Rinpoche in Delhi

Last summer when I was in Ladakh I read Sogyal Rinpche’s Tibetan Book of Living and Dying which is easily one of the most important texts I’ve ever read. Sogyal Rinpoche was in Delhi a few weeks ago. Before I knew he would be in Delhi I had already planned a trip to Bali (which was amazing–I went to a surfing/yoga retreat for women). What follows are notes one of my Dharma friends took from his talk. Many of my friends who attended the talk said that Sogyal “woke them up.”

The Nature of Mind

Sogyal Rinpoche

April 10, 2009

 

The main purpose of our life – the heart of being human – is being happy

 

“My crown is in my heart, not on my head” Shakespeare

 

In the longing to be happy, we destroy our happiness as if it is our worst enemy – Shantideva, The Path of the Bodhisatva

The mind can make a heaven out of hell, or a hell out of heaven  - Pascal

 

The 3 Vehicles of Buddhism convey the essence of Buddha’s teachings:

1. Peace: “Commit not a single unwholesome action”; “At least do no harm” (Hinayana Tradition)
2. Compassion: “Cultivate virtue”; loving-kindness, bodhicitta (Mahayana Tradition)
3. Wisdom: “Tame this mind”; purification, transformation (Vajrayana Tradition)

True mind is already present in us but encased in the ordinary mind

 

The fault of the mind is that is sees self and experience as:

• Permanent
• Singular
• Independent

 Samsara: Mind turned outward, lost in its projections

Nirvana: Mind turned inward, recognizing its true nature

 

Understanding the nature of your mind gives you the opportunity to “own your mind” not in an outwardly grasping way. . .but from inside

 

To see a painting in the dark, you need a candle that is still and bright

Shamata > creates stillness

Vipassana > creates brightness

 

Shamata with support: use of an image, mantra, breath, chanting, bell, senses, thoughts, emotions, as focal points, has effect of calming mind, like putting a baby to sleep

Shamata without support: Mind is rested, “chilled out”, in a state of non-distraction, just being

 

In using thoughts and emotions as focus of meditation:

1. In the beginning, it becomes like watching a movie, where you are looking at your life but less entangled
2. Later, the thoughts and emotions dissolve, there is a gap

When meditating:

25% mindfulness

25% awareness – loving vigilance, looking out

50% abiding spaciously

 

Just as water when you don’t stir it will become clear, so with mind, when it is left unaltered, it will find its true peace

 

“Machupa” natural, authentic, unaltered

“Manzupa” not grasping

 

The key is not altering. Mind in its natural state is like a crystal, luminous

 

Just as space is not defined by what passes through it, so mind is not defined by the thoughts or emotions passing through

 

It is not the appearances, the phenomena, that bind us. It is the grasping.

Emptiness is not nothingness. It means pure experience, empty of projections, concepts, storylines, unaltered

 

“Death is like a mirror reflecting the true nature of life”

 

When we die we touch the ground luminosity of our deepest nature, the mother luminosity.

The teachings are like the path luminosity, the child luminosity that leads us, gives us a glimpse of the great luminosity. So when we die, if we have been fortunate to receive the teachings of the path or child luminosity, we will recognize the ground, the mother luminosity.

 

There are 3 kinds of faith:

1. eager faith: longing, like thirst in a desert
2. vivid faith: recognition, inspiration; like finding an oasis in a desert
3. confident faith: trusting that one has found something essential; like trusting that drinking water will restore health, quench one’s thirst

For more on Sogyol Rinpoche’s teachings:

Rigpa Center for Tibetan Buddhism

http://www.rigpa.org/

 

 

 

SLOW…

The past days have made me think a lot of about slowness and in our Sangha yesterday the following was shared by my dear Sangha brother, Michael:

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Laughter. Angers. A swirl of conversation. A rush of foot traffic in every direction. Stop for a moment. Become a rock which redirects currents in multiple directions. Bodies and voices are going everywhere at once. Do any know where they are or where they will end up? Do they care?

Is the movement the meaning? Are the words simply a musical accompaniment to endless purposeless search? The sun rises, the sun sets, thunder rolls, rain falls, the sky clears, and up and down the street people rush rush rush. He she who is still, who is no longer part of the swirl, becomes suspect. Those passing look suspiciously at any solitary figure. Has he no purpose? Is she lost? Is there danger here? Move swiftly away, swiftly forget. No time to worry about the lost, the silent, the ones who move too slowly. Pick up your feet, accelerate, must not be left behind. – Michael L. Newell

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist…most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by the multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence…It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful. – Thomas Merton

Despite our good hearts and equally good intentions, our life and work rarely feel light, pleasant or healing. Instead, as it all piles endlessly upon itself, the whole experience of being alive begins to melt into one enormous obligation. It becomes the standard greeting everywhere: “I am so busy.” We say this to one another with no small degree of pride, as if our real exhaustion were a trophy, our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. – Wayne Mueller

This is what we mean by the term spiritual: It is the ecstatic force that stirs all our goals. When we perceive it, it is as if our mind were gliding for a while with an eternal current. – Abraham Heschel

Another Dharma Filled Weekend in Delhi

Yet another exciting weekend of the Dharma in Delhi…
On Friday evening The Khyentse Foundation and Siddhartha’s Intent India hosted a panel on “What the Panditas and Yogis brought to Tibet” with some well known scholars who were on their way to Khyentse Norbu’s practice center, the Deer Park Institute, in Himachal Pradesh for a conference on “Translating the Words of the Buddha.” The purpose of the conference is to map out the future of dharma translations for generations to come.
On Saturday the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama hosted teachings given by Venerable Ogyen Trinley Dorge, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. Thanks to my dear friend Sonam (Secretary to HHK) I was able to meet him privately before the afternoon teachings began and receive his blessings in his room at the India Habitat Center. My favorite part of the teaching was when HHK said, “Buddha is a possibility not a person.”
What follows are my notes from Friday evening’s event and Saturday’s teaching. I’m not a great note taker and the following is most certainly lacking…Still, better than nothing I only have notes from the morning portion of the teaching with HHK since the afternoon was mostly the Medicine Buddha initiation. For more background reading we were provided Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s commentary from FPMT.
Steven Goodman, CIIS
Tibet’s knowledge of the scholastic and yogic traditions from India
Intellectual transformation and spiritual transformation
Yoga is the elimination of mental movements (Patanjali, citta vritti nirodha)
Tibetan translations of yoga – linking back to natural and relaxed state
Union of empty open state and compassionate state
Linking of skillful means and compassion
Kosambi sutta – relationship between pandit and yogi
Rationalist and mystical (Anuradha and Musila)
Perhaps those 2 trends the theoretical and intellectual rigor of Indian traditions preceded
What is the relationship between the pandit and yogin?
Dharma has two aspects (texts and spiritual transformation)
What is the relationship between intellectual acumen and spiritual transformation?
Don’t get hung up on the person who delivers but the dharma
Don’t get hung up on the word but the spirit
Rely on wisdom awareness
Makes our quandary more vexatious
What material is deemed worthy of studying
In time these traditions enshrined in projects of translation
The relationship between pandit style and yogi style-→ enduring legacy of Nalanda greatly influenced India and Tibet
Shantideva and Naropa are amazing examples of the Mahapandit
Transformation of these traditions to questioning “is being a pandit enough?”
Yogins of Naropa pandit style
Rely on a true teacher
Padmasambhava says, “May I come to be inspired by a mind no longer filled…”
John Dunne, Emory University
Transmission of Nalanda tradition of Buddhist Philosophy from India to Tibet
Several streams of thought
Under which each moment passes
Table of elements of mind and body
5 aggregates
Nagarjuna, pillars of Nalanda system
True nature is no nature at all, interdependence
Nirvana is not escape but transformation
No difference between samsara and nirvana
Emptiness is abandonment of all views
Jake Dalton, UC Berkeley
Yogic Traditions in Dunhuang
Discussion of manuscripts found in China and what they say about India
NW China influence of Tantra
Wide range of ritual technologies
Pan Indian response to changes in society
Rapid social change and religious response
Lost history of Indian yogic ritual
Locally produced ritual mandalas
Personal sadhana texts
DNA of early Tantric Buddhism that later shaped the canonical tradition
Gene Smith, Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center
Tibetan Travelers to India and Indian travelers to Tibet
This transfer happened very often…How Tibetans saw India and Indians saw Tibet
Many voyages of Tibetans to India but less and less because sickness prevailed
Many Indian pandits to Tibet
John Dunne on mindfulness – Smriti (sati in pali) is used multiple ways, Smriti is a technical term…that moment of consciousness has stability
Cultivate mental stability…awareness
Saturday, March 14th – Teachings with HHK
Mind training, no need to get too philosophical
How to develop tranquility of mind in an easy and practical way
When Buddha began teachings the path of awakening he did so in Sarnath and the first teachings were about the facts of life…4 noble truths based on the reality of interdependence
Nothing has a result without a cause, interdependent arising and resulted
Suffering does not occur because of an independent cause
We must focus on the cause of experiences instead of the symptoms
The karmic cause of suffering
Karma is what is embedded
We must pacify our minds
We need to experience the truth of the cessation of suffering
Experience of well being is maintained
The cessation of suffering is not a safe landing but complete freedom from the root cause of suffering
Karma and habitual mental afflictions
You cannot borrow an enlightened mind, inherent nature of all beings
In all situations the role of the mind is significant
Must cultivate the stability of mind
Eight Verses for Mind Training by Geshe Langri Tangpa (1054-1123)
Composed by the Buddhist Master Langri Tangpa (1054-1123), Eight Verses for Training the Mind is a highly-revered text from the Mahayana Lojong (mind training) tradition. These instructions offer essential practices for cultivating the awakening mind of compassion, wisdom, and love. This eight-verse lojong enshrines the very heart of Dharma, revealing the true essence of the Mahayana path to liberation.
As we practice these lojong teachings in daily life, we train the mind to embrace reality in a completely wholesome, wise, and compassionate way. These excellent practices help us purify our negativity and awaken the heart by giving us a way to transform adversity and hardship into a direct opportunity for spiritual growth. In this way, rather than perceiving difficult people or adverse circumstances in our lives as an obstacle, tragedy, or punishment, we now meet these experiences with deep compassion, wisdom, and skill, using them as the actual path to enlightenment.
By way of these treasured practices we eliminate our competitive, selfish, and reactive nature, as well as our false and exaggerated concepts of self (also called self-grasping and self-cherishing). It is important to understand that the greed, jealousy, anger, pride, selfishness, and attachment, which cause us so much suffering, are actually misperceptions of reality, not inherent conditions of our mind. Therefore, these precious lojong practices can purify our misperceptions and delusions completely, revealing the natural radiance, clarity, wisdom, and compassion of our true nature.

With the heartfelt desire and determination to attain enlightenment 
For the welfare of all living beings, who are more precious than a 
Wish-fulfilling jewel for accomplishing the supreme goal, 
May I always cherish them and hold them dear.
Verse I – Cherishing and caring for others is the source of all happiness. Cherishing ourselves over others is the source of all suffering and negative conditions in this world. Therefore, our determination to attain enlightenment should always be motivated by our heartfelt desire to serve the welfare of all living beings. The attainment of enlightenment is the supreme goal. Our enlightenment comes from the cultivation of bodhichitta (the awakening mind of love, compassion, and wisdom). Bodhichitta arises from our deepest compassion. To develop this compassion and reach the supreme goal, we need others. In this way, all living beings are the principle source for our spiritual development and for accomplishing the supreme goal of enlightenment. In addition, at some time each of us has been, and will be, a source of great kindness and benefit for one another. The immense kindness of all living beings is integral to our own human existence. Considering this, we can understand how living beings are even more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel and that we should always cherish them and hold them dear.

Whenever I am with others 
May I think of myself as the lowest of all 
And from the very depths of my heart 
May I respectfully hold others as supreme.
Verse 2 – This verse calls us to train the mind in proper humility, eliminating our habitual arrogance and pride by ‘thinking of ourselves as the lowest of all.’ This is certainly not suggesting we belittle ourselves; we should have self-esteem and self-confidence. Rather, a practice is being offered for taming our exaggerated sense of self-importance and for cultivating true humility and respect for others. The afflictions of arrogance, superiority, pride, and competitiveness create disharmony among people and prevent us from learning and evolving. Therefore, by respectfully holding others as supreme, we become more humble, gentle, and open. This naturally brings harmony and compassion into our relationships and helps us to achieve great qualities, virtues, and spiritual realizations.

In all actions, may I closely examine my state of mind, 
And the moment a disturbing emotion or negative attitude arises, 
Since this may cause harm to myself and others, 
May I firmly face and avert it.
Verse 3 – This verse calls for the sincere practice of mindfulness, closely examining our state of mind throughout all our actions. Through this practice of mindfulness, the teachings encourage us to firmly face and avert any disturbing emotions or negative attitudes the very moment they arise. The reason for this is that our delusions, disturbing emotions, and negative attitudes can provoke us to think, speak, or act in nonvirtuous ways which may cause harm to ourselves and others. This behavior brings karmic consequences and perpetuates our delusion and suffering. Therefore, throughout the day, while working, driving, walking, studying, talking with others, and so forth, we should closely examine our state of mind and heart. By training our mind in this skillful way, we will be able to firmly face and avert disturbing emotions and negative attitudes as they arise and before they develop any further momentum or power.

Whenever I meet people of unpleasant character 
Or those overwhelmed by negativity, pain or suffering, 
May I cherish and care for them as if I had found 
A rare and precious treasure difficult to find.
Verse 4 – When we encounter unpleasant people, or those overwhelmed by negativity, pain, or suffering, we often prefer to ignore or avoid them rather than cherish and care for them. We may consider ourselves to be more important or more evolved than such beings, and we usually turn from them, as we do not want to be bothered, hurt, or contaminated by their condition. This verse suggests reversing our usual self-cherishing attitude by learning to cherish and care for such people, being joyful and grateful as if we had found a rare and precious treasure. To overcome the delusion and egoism of our self-cherishing, we view this encounter as an opportunity to serve and bring happiness to others, rather than a nuisance to be avoided. In this way, our self-cherishing mind diminishes and our compassion deepens so as to embrace all living beings without exception.

Whenever others, because of their jealousy, treat me badly
With abuse, insult, slander, or in other unjust ways, 
May I accept this defeat myself 
And offer the victory to others.
Verse 5 – Learning to accept loss and defeat for ourselves and offering gain and victory to others is the very foundation of the bodhisattva practice. Although it may appear, at the worldly level, that we suffer loss by way of this practice, ultimately the practitioner receives the greatest benefits of spiritual wealth and virtue. In learning to accept harsh or unjust treatment, we should not allow ourselves to react with anger, behave in the same nonvirtuous ways in return, or to abandon others because of their actions toward us. This is the essence of accepting defeat and offering the victory, and the accomplishment of supreme patience and kindness. By accepting defeat and offering the victory to others, with the pure motivation of heartfelt compassion, we destroy the ignorance of our self-cherishing at its very roots.

When someone whom I have benefited
Or in whom I have placed great trust and hope, 
Harms me or treats me in hurtful ways without reason, 
May I see that person as my precious teacher.
Verse 6 – When we are kind to people, helping them, giving them our trust and hope, we naturally expect to be treated kindly in return. When people repay our kindness and trust by harming us or treating us in hurtful ways, we often react with anger, hurt, or disappointment. After such an experience, we may find it difficult to give them our love and respect. This type of ordinary love is conditional and impure. As practitioners, we want to embrace a situation such as this with skillful wisdom, compassion, and unconditional love. Therefore, it is essential that we have a way to transform these difficult experiences into the actual path to enlightenment. To accomplish this, we learn to see a person who harms us or treats us in hurtful ways, as our precious teacher. This person becomes our precious teacher because of the priceless dharma lessons we receive. Through their kindness, we also receive the ripening and purification of our own negative karma, which is the inevitable result of our having done a similar thing to someone in the past. In this way, we can see how even our worst enemies can be our greatest benefactors and precious teachers.

In brief, may I offer both directly and indirectly all help, 
Happiness and benefit to all beings, my mothers,
And may I secretly take upon myself
All of their harmful actions, pain and suffering.
Verse 7 – This verse refers to the essence of Tong-len practice (Giving and Taking). We are to offer, directly and indirectly, our help, happiness, benefit, skills, and resources in loving service to all beings who certainly, at some time in the past, have been our own mothers. In Tong-Ien practice, with strong compassion, we visualize taking on the obstacles, problems, illnesses, and suffering of others. We then visualize giving them all of our happiness, comfort, love, virtue, prosperity, and great insights. In this verse the word ’secretly’ suggests this particular practice of compassion may not be suitable or may be too difficult for beginning practitioners. It also means that this practice should be done discreetly, and not openly displayed or spoken about so as to gain praise or recognition.


May I keep all of these practices undefiled by stains of the eight worldly
Cconcerns (gain/loss, pleasure/pain, praise/blame, fame/dishonor),
And by recognizing the emptiness and illusory nature of all existing things,
May I be liberated from the bondage of attachment and mistaken views of reality.
Verse 8 – It is essential that our spiritual practice not be defiled or stained by the eight worldly concerns. For example, engaging in these practices hoping to be recognized or praised as an excellent dharma practitioner is not the right motivation. Nor should we practice with expectations of gaining something special or pleasurable for ourselves. Our motivation for practice must not become polluted or obscured by worldly concerns and attachment. The right motivation is to act exclusively and compassionately for the benefit of other beings. Our mind training practice must also be unified with our direct perception of ultimate truth—emptiness. As we gain realization of ultimate truth, we understand the empty, illusory, and impermanent nature of all existing things. With this realization, grasping or clinging to external appearances, or being deceived by them, diminishes, and we gain liberation from the bondage of attachment and mistaken views of reality.
Mind Training in awakening/bodhichitta
Training the mind through applications of 7 points of instructions or cultivating practice of equality and exchanging of oneself and others
Attitude of self cherishing is VERY inhibiting, limiting
Cherishing others from the heart creates openness and possibility of vision
The discerning ability of the mind
Not just in the realm of mind
Self cherishing is the end result there is no good for oneself or others
Need for world peace, good and reliable environment
Clear this is the story of result of fanatical self cherishing
Addiction to self cherishing
When there is no clarity to what one is pursuing one is not anchored in discernment and reality
Sense of what is vitally important in our life
When you make others valuable it is in your own interest, appreciating the worthiness
Grounded in humility
Humility should not be misunderstood or discouraged
There should always be time to train the mind
Emptiness is opportunity and possibility and so is compassion
Faced with consequences of development and tremendous environmental side effects

A Very Different Return to Rishikesh…

Exactly one year ago I made my first trip to Rishikesh. This weekend I returned for my fifth visit but instead of my usual itinerary I had a very different Rishikesh experience at the famous Ananda Spa. Friends had urged me to visit Ananda while I’m holding a residential permit in India and can qualify for the Spa’s special residential rates.

While I’m slightly ashamed of myself for splurging on a weekend and not practicing mindful consumption Ananda itself is beautiful and I had a much needed rejuvenating weekend.

The highlight of my brief stay at Ananda was undoubtedly the time I spent talking with one of Swami Parthasarathy’s senior students. At Ananda a Vedanta class is held twice daily. I had low expectations for the class but was pleasantly surprised and was able to engage in some of the most mind blowing discussions I’ve had since my dear mentor, Ramuji passed away in June of 2007.

Three years ago my uncle gave me a copy of Swami Parthasarathy’s “Vedanta Treatise.” It’s funny how things come full circle. I wasn’t quite ready for the book back then but now I’m ripe and can’t wait to closely read it. What follows are some of my notes from my discussions with Swamiji’s disciple, Ronan (he’s Irish-Australian and been living in India for close to 8 years.)

“As you think so you become.”

Misunderstandings mimic knowledge

Subject vs. object

We are awareness…

Have possessions but don’t be possessive

Indiscriminate thoughts, different reactions to the same stimuli

False value

Appetite in order to be here

Intellect can re-educate the mind

INTELLECTUAL CONVICTION

Inspiration has a short term value

Subject vs. Object
You vs. World
Inner personality vs. Circumstance

Focus on your experience
Free will
Thoughts my mind produces

You can only strengthen intellectual conviction by asking questions

Refinement of articulation

Subtle intellect

Milton poem…

By definition an introvert is not dependent on contact but an extrovert is

In Vedanta God is consciousness

You cannot use two unknowns

Moksha is liberation from identification of limited equipment (physical, emotional etc.)

Turiya – pure consciousness

In Samsara the subject and object are conjoined

We have some degree of free will in the waking state which is why it seems more real to us

Krishna and Gopis story (you are where your thoughts are)

Unconscious = deep sleep
Subconscious = dream
Conscious = waking

In deep sleep the “I” is unmanifest

Turiya, bliss

Rid the ego that is producing desires for the waking world

Be in the world but not of it

I need to read: Bertrand Russell, (Unpopular essays, conquest of happiness, marriage and morals), Francis Bacon,. Nietzsche, Aristotle, Socrates, J. Krishnamurti, Plato, Thomas More, John Stuart Mill, Marx and Engels, Thomas

His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Delhi Day of Mindfulness :)

Yet another exciting Saturday in Delhi. I love living here so much. Most days I have to pinch myself just to make sure I’m not dreaming. It is going to be so hard for me to leave! This morning I heard His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak for the second time but this was the first time I heard him speak in English. His Holiness gave the keynote address at the Global Congress on World Religions After September 11th at Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi. After he spoke Rajiv Mehotra chaired an interactive session with His Holiness where he only answered 3 questions and mine was one of them!

Religions can be a force for good when they work with each other. His Holiness spoke about how he is just a simple human being, a simple monk and we are all the same in that we desire happiness and want to overcome suffering. We all come from a mother who has immense affection for her child and this affection has planted a seed of affection in ourselves. In our blood an appreciation of affection is there. He also said that those of us that have loving, affectionate mothers are usually inclined towards greater happiness–maybe this is why I’m usually just so very happy!   He stressed the importance of compassion and caring as the foundation for a happy life. Destructive emotions hurt our health and it is essential that we promote human values and the message of love and compassion. The more interaction we have between faiths the more harmony we can have and it is our global responsibility to promote religious harmony. He did stress that spiritual and political institutions should remain separate which is interesting given the fact that he is both a spiritual and political leader. 

I asked His Holiness to speak about Education and Ethics and for some practical guidance as a school teacher that believes in the importance of promoting harmony and awareness among her students. He told me that education is to teach reality. I interpreted that to mean not only is it was important to teach my students that everything is related and interconnected but to also make sure they had discernment. He spoke at great length about teaching warm heartedness but a teacher MUST model warm heartedness and that is how it is taught to her students. This warm heartedness would promote a sense of responsibility among students and is an important element of what he calls secular, moral ethics. Anger and hatred eat away at our immune system but compassion strengthens our immune system.  

Aside from my question he answered a question about the Tibet situation. Aside from stressing nonviolence he talked about how President Hu Jin Tao is promoting harmony but harmony depends on trust. But in a nation with censorship there is no trust so how can you have harmony? 

He also joked around about the Guru Chela relationship between Tibet and India. His Holiness has such a special presence and when he answered my question I was just a few feet from him and I could feel compassion radiating from him and my eyes welled up in tears.  It was such an inspirational morning. 

Not only did I hear His Holiness speak but I also ran into so many wonderful familiar faces and friends I had not seen since a conference I went to last March in West Bengal at Shantiniketan in honor of my mentor, Ramuji. 

After hearing His Holiness speak I went to a beautiful space in Tilak Marg for our monthly Delhi Day of Mindfulness led by Dharmacharya Shantum Seth. We engaged in our usual sitting and walking meditation practice and gathered as an all Delhi Sangha. I feel so blessed to have found my guru, Thich Nhat Hanh. I love Thay so much! As a special treat we had Indian Buddhists from Nagpur speak with us. Our guests actually took refuge in the Three Jewels and were given diksha into the Buddha Dharma by Ambedkar himself on October 14, 1956. A Theravandan Monk, Vimla Kirti Ji, one of the Buddhist leaders in Nagpur spoke about how 85% of Indian Buddhists live in Maharashtra. His Sangha brother, Mr. Patil, also from Nagpur spoke about how the Buddha Dharma has transformed the lives of so many Dalits.

The more I delve into the dharma and think seriously about social change it becomes clear to me that the only way we can transform society is by first transforming ourselves.

Osho Commune: Just Too Weird (Even For Me)

Have you ever found yourself in a place so bizarre and ridiculous that all you can do is laugh to yourself and think “Where the f**k am I? Is this place for real?!?!?!?” ? Well, this is precisely what happened to me during my stay at the Osho Commune in Pune. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed so I don’t have any photos to document just how strange the entire place is. Sometimes my curiosity lands me in the most absurd places and there is absolutely no embellishment in what follows…

I really dig a lot of what Osho has written (though Osho never really “wrote” anything and the 600 + books to his name are really just transcriptions of discourses he gave) and thought that while I’m living in India it would be interesting to visit the commune and a good opportunity to practice “openness” and “non-attachment to view.” I really didn’t think much about what to expect when I decided to visit Osho Land but within seconds of my arrival when I was greeted by a man that looked like an Indian version of Kenny G I realized I was in for quite an interesting experience. I’m pretty open minded, have done enough weird shit in my life so I figured I’d just roll with the whole “Osho experience” and make the most of my time there. Though I did bypass having a past life regression and opted for an extra plate of organic broccoli instead and I also managed to escape the commune to check out the Iyengar Yoga Studio in Pune which was really, really cool.

The Osho Commune is a cross between a space station and a Zen paradise and is really nothing more than a bizarre, new age spa where wealthy people go to have an “experience” (myself included).  When I arrived I found out that the Commune is also called the “Osho International Meditation Resort” and upon discovering this I seriously thought I’d ditch the whole idea of staying at the “Resort.” I felt ashamed of myself for wasting money in such a ridiculous manner because I am really trying to live more simply but I was already there and just so tired and at the very least figured it would make for a good story.

No matter how hard I tried it was impossible for me to take anything that went on there seriously. In fact, my stomach is sore from laughing so much at the ridiculousness of it all and I was actually reprimanded and almost kicked out of a few “meditation sessions” for laughing too much. But it was just so totally insane I couldn’t help laughing! In order to get rid of our deep conditioning we were asked to speak in “gibberish” for an hour, act like animals (I had to bark like a dog and act like a cat) and my personal favorite—”connecting with our inner child” where we had to crawl around, scream, cry and act like babies/infants while screaming “mommy!” How could I not laugh hysterically? Ouch, my stomach is still hurting from laughing so much! On the third day I had to call my big brother and my friend Gina in the States to share how it was this insane new age spiritual supermarket!

Upon my arrival I had to take an AIDS test (some of you know about Osho’s liberal views on sex) and after a lengthy registration process I was escorted by this Ewok looking man to get my “robe.” In order to participate in any of the activities you have to wear a maroon robe (don’t ask but the maroon color has to do with energetics or something). A middle aged Indian man who insisted on calling me “baby girl” picked out my “robe” which was really just a tight fitting, scandalous, backless maroon dress. I figured I’d never do anything like this again so I put on the “robe” but also managed to snag a maroon shawl too. Staying at the Osho Commune isn’t cheap but there are tennis courts (they call it zenis), a pool, a sauna and access to all of the “meditation sessions.” The food is pretty affordable and excellent but there is no money at the commune and you have to buy everything using “Osho Vouchers.” When I was there I really felt like I was caught in an episode of the twilight zone and I had to wonder if anyone else there took it seriously! I could literally hear Osho laughing at what his devotees had made of this place because in so many ways it goes against a lot of what he stood for.

Every evening the entire compound shuts down for the “Evening Meditation” in the Osho Auditorium which is futuristic looking structure with a large marble hall inside. You have to wear a white “robe” for the evening meditation (again it has to do with energetics). As you enter live music is playing which is a cross between John Tesh and Yanni and you are expected to just totally let go and dance. There were probably more than 500 people in the hall dancing like crazy and I figured I’d just have fun with it and try and get in a good workout too so I just did the little capoeira I know and jumped up and down like a maniac. After dancing for some time all of a sudden the music stops and we had to throw our hands up in the air, jump and scream “OSHO!” Everyone got so into it and it totally weirded me out. After dancing and screaming “OSHO!” we then watched a discourse Osho had given on Zen and I actually really enjoyed this. Even though the entire commune is completely strange I still think a lot of what Osho has written is right on. But after the discourse you have to start screaming like crazy. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. On my right a man with a heavy South Indian accent was screaming in Telegu and to my left a middle-aged Californian woman screamed demonically “Mother F****r!” I just sat there in the middle laughing hysterically at how bizarre it all was. Then after the screaming we have to stop suddenly, maintain silence and lie down in savasana. After savasana the “Evening Meditation” is over and we leave. As I was leaving all these people were saying how great the meditation was and I just thought to myself, “When the hell did we meditate? I thought we just danced like fools and screamed like idiots with a pretty cool Osho talk sandwiched in between.”

So, I’m all for being friendly and hugging people I know but getting down with strangers is just not my thing. My second day I was quietly reading “Old Path, White Clouds” while sipping chai at the “Zorba the Buddha” Café not to far from the “Osho Plaza” and “Buddha Grove” and all of a sudden Daddy Yankee starts blasting and this incredibly beautiful but of course bizarre Brazilian man just picks me up and grabs me (apparently he was excited because he thought I was Puerto Rican—I haven’t been mistaken for being Puerto Rican since I was living in NYC 5 years ago!) and at that moment I decided that I had had enough. After two days I’d had my fill of amusing stories from sketchy encounters with strange men and I made a sign that said “practicing silence” pinned it to my “robe,” wrapped myself in my maroon shawl and boycotted all activities except for the sitting silent meditation which was held three times a day at hour long intervals in a really nice marble meditation hall with of course a large Osho statue erected in it (but right before you enter the hall there is a dentist chair—I never really got why that was there). I really enjoyed these sitting sessions because I rarely get a chance to sit like this and focus on my breathe, posture and awareness. (There was also an “Osho Vipassana Sitting” but it was pretty different from Goenka-ji and we weren’t even told to scan.) Aside from these silent sitting sessions, which were held in the morning, early afternoon and late afternoon I just read, swam and relaxed. But in order to swim in the pool or use the sauna you have to wear a maroon “Osho” bathing suit which was of course scandalous and the type of thing I would only bust out in Brazil but I figured “When in Rome…” There was this crazy Scandinavian woman that monopolized the sauna and every 15 minutes she would just start yodeling! It was totally insane! I think in addition to taking an AIDS test you should have to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to visit the commune. I know I am totally judging here and have a LONg way to go but the whole Osho path seems so selfish to me. I really believe with all my heart that “To whom much is given, much is expected” and while I understand you can’t really know if you are truly helping if you aren’t enlightened there is absolutely no real emphasis on protecting the environment and helping others but I know that wasn’t what Osho was about.

Even though I totally failed with practicing “openness” I think that even Thich Nhat Hanh would have found the whole “Osho experience” beyond absurd. And just how I thought a lot of what went on there was ridiculous and strange I’m sure if someone walked in on my sangha singing Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village songs they would think we were a bunch of weirdos too—it’s all relative I guess. So, if you are into reading Osho I would suggest sticking to just reading his stuff and not visiting the commune in Pune unless you are only looking for a really good laugh—which you will definitely get. I’m glad I spent a few days there, I have no regrets. I’ve had enough laughter to last the next few years and it was such an amusing way to start my Winter Travels! I’ll be laughing about this whole experience for years to come! I haven’t even shared half of the insanity I encountered there. I could write a novel about the characters I encountered there.  Still, I did meet some genuinely sweet people there. I met a young man with down syndrome  who I really connected with and unlike me he was able to just not judge and truly roll with the “Osho Experience.” When I was in Middle School I spent every study hall volunteering in my school’s Special Education classroom and worked at a school for autistic children the summer before I went to college and always felt like I was being helped more than I was helping.

I just arrived in Aurangabad and am off to visit the Ellora Caves but just had to send out this email—I’ve been laughing so much and writing this has helped me let a lot out. I have to stop laughing to myself or else people will think I’m crazy! My stomach is really sore, ouch! I don’t think it is possible to laugh this much. In fact, I was thinking about one of our interpretive dance sessions this morning and I walked into a glass door, ouch!

Pune itself is a really cool city. In fact, after Pondicherry it just might be the most chill place I’ve ever visited in India and I could totally come back here and spend a lot of time. Visiting the Iyengar studio was awesome. I got to observe BKS Iyengar’s daughter, Geeta teach an all women’s intermediate two-hour Iyengar class. Wow, Geeta-ji is super strict and was yelling a lot throughout the class! The class was almost all Indian women and I was impressed with just how strong they all were. Unlike many female yoga practitioners in the US all of the women (even the few foreigners there) were anything but “traditionally slim and fit.” In fact, each woman had a pretty enormous tooshie and so does Geeta-ji and they were all wearing these tiny shorts. It’s funny how different yoga is in India and how us Westerners have such deep conditioning with respect to our bodies etc. The studio itself was gorgeous and I’ll post pictures on facebook when I can! 

After Ajanta and Ellora I’m off to Bodh Gaya where I’m taking some courses with this amazing American Nun, Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi who was in retreat for 6 ½ years at the Root Institute. I am also hoping to get seeds from THE Bodhi tree to plant back in the states!

Well Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 Smiling and Giggling,

 Meena

 

“My finger can point to the moon, but my finger is not the moon. You don’t have to become my finger, nor do you have to worship my finger. You have to forget my finger, and look at where it is pointing.” – Osho, The Rebel