Bodh Gaya - 9th Week, End of Classes

Namaste mere dosts,

Yesterday, classes ended, and today we begin the Independent Study period. Everyone flocked out of Bodh Gaya on last night on late night trains from Gaya to Dharamsala, Sikkim, Calcutta, Rishikesh and flights to Burma and Thailand. I'm one of the few people left in Bodh Gaya because my friend Alex and I will be staying to do solitary retreat at a local retreat center. After retreat, I head off to Dharamsala to interview Tibetan Buddhists and do library research for my project on Tonglen, or "taking and receiving," meditation.

I've recently receded into finals mode rushing around, paper writing, test cramming, luggage packing habits, so I look forward to retreat. It's been years since I've been as social as I have over the past 10 weeks, despite being in a monastic environment. Communal meals, classes, meetings, events, rooming, and the like have occupied my time completely -- mostly for the better. I've made likely lifelong friends with students and professors both, and have cherished their conversation, care, and criticism for me. I feel so blessed to have had this chance to appreciate the talents, insights, and kindness of others. So much wisdom and compassion leaks out of them daily! That said, privacy should serve me well at this point. Time to settle my body and mind and to concentrate and investigate what's truly important.

I don't think I've really taken time to describe what the Mahabodhi temple is like, and it warrants so much attention. Pictures can be found through the link below of this remarkable and deeply powerful site. Frankly, it's quite unsettling every time I visit. The very subtle, but intense, environment of practice pushes me to consider my own presence for the sake of others. On my recent visits, the stupa has been particularly bustling. Pilgrims Hindu and Buddhist - monks, nuns, and lay - from India, Burma, Thailand, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, Bhutan and other major Buddhist countries can be found circumambulating (walking around the temple in circles), prostrating (mostly Tibetans, who might do full body prostrations all day long), chanting, singing, reciting mantra, or meditating. Visually, the temple site and it's gardens are extremely well-cared for, in contrast to the rest of Bodh Gaya which typically isn't privileged to outside donation. It's also breath-taking to see the see of orange, yellow, burgundy, gray, and pink robes of the different traditions and cultures. Westerners are rare, but they can be found too.

Meditating there is a real joy. It's much different than sitting anywhere else. Some might say it's being surrounded by such inspiring, devoted practitioners, which is certainly true. But, I also wouldn't hesitate to ascribe a deep spiritual presence to the place that settles, yet challenges the mind.

Well, thanks to everyone whose been commenting on my posts and maintaining contact. I treasure your words, even if they're brief. And apologies for spelling errors and the like. I don't take the time to edit because of scarce internet time. My dad is apparently turning them into Zen koans. Feel free to do that if you can.

Week 7

Hey everyone,

Only two more weeks left of classes; then I'm off to do my Independent Study. The past few weeks we have been blessed with the presence a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and scholar from Nepal. Each evening we've had 2-2.5 hour long teachings that have been wonderful! The Tibetan dialectical style is highly logical and rigorous. Students, including me, got into hourlong back-and-forth debate with him on subjects like self, no-self, karma, time, death, the list goes one.

I was personally blessed to have, probably a 15-20 minute debate with him (in front of the whole group of 40-50 people) about the existence of self. Talk about exciting/nerve-racking. He asserted that there was no self that could be found when we closely examine our own experience, whereas I took the position that the self did exist, just that we have multiple selves over time, they're impermanent, and completely dependent upon causes and conditions . . . This was one case where almost any of my friends or family from home would've been completely lost, and wondering what the hell I was doing in India. There have been many situations like this where my life here seems completely absurd without the appropriate background knowledge in Buddhism.

If you're wondering, no one technically won or lost the debate because it wasn't formal. If it was, he would, of course, obliterated my arguments. Anyway, it was really engaging/refreshing to have a teacher practically dare us to hash out the details of Buddhist teaching with him.

Bleh! Time is so finite! I have to get off the computer now! More details from the week later . . .