Bodh Gaya - 2nd Week

Hello everybody,

It's the end of my second week, and I'm very happy and healthy. Thanks to everyone who has been following along my journey; I love reading your comments. A brief note: because most internet cafe computers lack anti-virus software, there's considerable risk in plugging my digital camera into them to upload pictures, and that's why I haven't managed to share them with you all just yet. Thanks for being patient. If I ever do find a safe computer, I'll do my best to post them.

Last time I left you I was about to go through temporary monastic ordination (1 week) in the Burmese Theravada Buddhist tradition. Well, I currently type from inside a humid internet cafe, adorned in my brown monastic robes and American sneakers. This is the first time I've wanted to leave the vihar since ordination; I'll definitely be getting out more after I "de-robe" on Monday and return to lay life. This experience as a temporary monk has been deeply satisfying and reflective for me. Taking on 5 additional precepts has made me reflect more on the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of my thoughts and actions, and the benefits of following the vinaya, or Buddhist monastic code. Most meaningful has been going through this with other curious American students. Every night at 7pm we (the ten monks who ordained) get to sit, sip honey-lemon tea and discuss Buddhism, philosophy, Burmese culture, ice hockey, and a whole range of topics with our Vipassana teacher Uh Lha Myint. This weekend the ordination experience ends with a 48-hour silent Vipassana retreat, which we'll spend most of in Vipassana sitting and walking meditation. Needless to say, I anticipate it with great joy. It will certainly be a challenge.

This week I also got to write and turn in my first paper . . . all hand-written! I started a week early and it took a lot of time. As many of you know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to essays, so I had plenty of loose-leaf thrown about my room scribbled with black, red, and blue print, arrows, 'x's, and editing comments. I wrote this paper for my philosophy class on petas, or "hungry ghosts", as they are seen within the Theravadan Buddhist tradition. The idea was sparked by constant references to ghosts in Bodh Gaya, and the ubiquitous belief in ghosts among Theravadins. For them, hungry ghosts occupy one of the six major realms of being - humans occupy a higher one. I learned a lot, and have a lot to say about the subject if you're curious to talk about it. Or, you could just pack a bag of raw meat and head into the cemetary at midnight and engage them yourself. But most Buddhists don't recommend it.

The Philosophy class has been wonderful. It's taught by an alum from this program who has gone on to study in Tibet, get his masters from Naropa in Tibetan Buddhist Studies, and who is now completing his Phd at Harvard. He's ridiculously knowledgeable, but easy to talk to. His lectures are dense and trance-like, and I'm constantly impressed and appreciative of my peers' engagement and probing questions. Our professor really engages students outside of class too, so there's already a very strong back and forth between us on a whole range of topics, which seem to be pushing his understanding too.

Well, I have to be getting back to the vihar (monastery). Hopefully through these entries I can drop not only updates but also more consistent pieces of the experience so that you all can get an image of what it's like to live in Bodh Gaya.

Again, thanks for keeping track. It's always securing to have a few tethers back home.