Lama Yeshe « Point of Reflection

The Journey of the Baby Buddhist – Part 2

06082009058 Well after an exhausting trip to the hills, I surprisingly had a good sleep. We were all awoken to the sound of a gong. The gong would be a pleasant bell which would be rung by someone 10 minutes before every task. This was a karma yoga job for one of the retreaters and she did this job very diligently. Must appreciate that. Rain or shine, mostly rain, the gong would ring on time for us to be where we should be.

After opening my eyes, I remembered the schedule. I remembered that I did not have my camera to take in the beautiful though cloudy morning. And well I sighed to myself. At least I got a decent bed to sleep. And all good roomies. So what if we were in silence.

I also remembered that I had to put my name down in the shower rota whereby we would be able to take showers once in three days. Water was scarce and we had to be conscious about how we used it. So well, I had my chance the next day in the evening 6 :30.

I ran quickly down to the functioning toilets. Did my jobs and rushed quickly to sit on my chosen cushion. And slowly like me all of us poured in. We made ourselves comfortable and started the mindfulness meditation.

The lead of meditation was humorous and very intense. But something about her attitude just did not sit right. But I said to myself. Its all fine. And its all good. I had a good session. And then it was time for breakfast. The menu was porridge, bread butter/peanut butter, bananas and tea of course. You could have tea with lemons which was always freshly stocked. This would be the same for the next ten days. I was excited about the peanut butter which was homemade from the kitchen but after two days it stuck to my throat and I could not have it. I was better off with porridge bananas and bread with butter. Safe and sound.

After breakfast it was time to freshen up. I spent the time reading up on books by Lama Yeshe and other nice books inside the Gompa. Some of us went back to their rooms. Some like me read, some went about their Karma Yoga jobs. I loved Lama Yeshe’s wisdom and insights. His books were so easy to read and understand. I was in the process of becoming his ardent fan. I like spirituality when its practical and Lama Yeshe makes it so smart and easy.

06082009064 We started teachings at 9:00 and that went on to 11:00. We were taught about Bodhicitta, Delusions, Death, Karma and rebirth, Impermanence and one of the most difficult topics, Emptiness. I felt very connected to the teacher who taught with her heart and was so patient with all the questions I asked. She was a 63 year old Australian Buddhist nun who went through the subjects with simplicity.

Obviously there were questions from all around. I had more than a few in my mind. To some I got partial answers and to some I did not. I agreed with some concepts and disagreed with some and well I realised I had to do some studying on my own.

11:00 AM was yoga time. We had these sessions in the main Gompa with Lama Tsong Khapa looking on. I love that life size statue. So much serenity. We had a wonderful person Sheila whose Karma Yoga job was to take us through an hour of yoga session to stretch our bodies since we would be sitting through. I really liked her sessions because for each difficult posture she would have three or two different options to go about. From simplest to the toughest. It was like moving with the body’s flow and its important to do with what the body can.. inspite of all challenges.

After Yoga we had lunch at 12:15. Lunch was a mixture of Dal, Rice, Some veggies boiled or otherwise and salad. They would throw in some fruits too or a fruit salad. I remember after some 5 days we got mashed potatoes and one of the retreaters with an excellent sense of humor, lit up when he saw mashed potatoes.. He is a humorous one from England. I remember laughing when we were learning Emptiness and he quipped : Well, if we are empty, and if we were to refrain from saying “I” and replace it with “this body and mind” , the bartender would throw me out of the pub if I asked : “this body and mind needs a beer ” LOLOLOL

06082009068 We had loads of humorous moments. Some somber ones. Some silly ones when someone went on re-explaining Buddha concepts from a Hinduism point of view. Obviously another Indian. He could not take the course after a while because one of the teachers were kind of condescending towards Indian attitudes and life and well he became quiet angry.

I think lunch was the best food time of the lot.My insides lit up too on seeing mashed potatoes.

Lunch and breakfast Entertainment : Monkeys.. loads of them. One day they would have a gala time snatching somebody’s breakfast and god !! they were swift and fearless.

We had Kalu and Ninj Ye ( doggies) who were supposed to guard us from the monkeys. Ninj Ye was more active but sometimes she got tired of chasing monkeys. Kalu was better off getting pets and some food from all of us.

Once, during breakfast, I stepped on Kalu’s tail by mistake and he squeaked in pain. When I said sorry with remorse and petted him for my mistake, he quickly turned around to sit where I was sitting and literally asked me for some food by constantly pawing my knee. It was like : “Sorry does not cut it.. if you are really sorry, give me some food !! Yeah !! “ Of course I understood and I gave him some bread from my plate.

After lunch, it was Karma Yoga time. So while some were cleaning the dishes, cleaning the toilets and some sweeping the different areas of the monastery, I also went ahead with my job of sweeping the corridor of one part of the monastery and cleaning the basins.

06082009066 It was ironic.. I got the job I usually always ran away from every time. I hate sweeping and putting up mosquito nets.. LOL

So well karma eh !!! One cannot escape from it.

2:00 to 3:00 was discussion time. We would have questions based on the teachings. This was the only time we could talk and we had a nice time. We quickly were aware that one of us just could not take the teachings and he just did not believe in Karma. So well we said Bye to him. There were quite a few who left in the middle of the course. So anyway, our discussion time was one of the good times where we discussed many things related to our lives and the teachings. It was interesting to hear so many different thoughts from so many different cultures and countries.

After discussion it was tea time and then it was back to teaching.

I enjoyed the teaching sessions a lot. So we had an animated discussion on why not to kill mosquitos since they were also sentient beings and how a mosquito could be our mother. Some said that what if the mosquito would be spreading malaria and wanted to drink our blood to and spread disease. How can we think that it was our mother.. The discussion went round and round till the teacher had to stop it.

It took some time for our western colleagues to have the concept of Karma sink in deep. Some still had questions but it was interesting how everyone was at least willing to listen and think about it. We really came to like the group and looked forward to the teachings everyday. But though we wanted to know more, we just skimmed through the topics and rightly so since it was an introduction course.

06082009067 We had breaks in between which I spent time reading Dharma books and texts to get a feel of what the beings thought about life. And I got addicted to the books. I could not finish them quickly enough. But it was good reading them. We are not allowed to read any other books other than Dharma books. Tushita had a good library which had a good collection of books and movies.

After teaching it was time for guided and analytical mediation. Since I could not connect with the lead, it was quite difficult. I just went ahead with my own techniques and found peace there. Many found it very exciting and also had mini realizations.

We had some interesting changes to the daily schedule. Once we were taken on a walk to visit two Stupas. It was a good trek. I liked going there and spending some prayer time. Stupas in Buddhism have a lot of importance and has a strong energy around it. In spite of the constant rain, it was clear during the walk. We also watched couple of videos of Dharma Talks by Jetsulma Tenzin Palmo. She is an inspiring woman. I am reading her books : Cave in the Snow and Reflections on a Mountain Lake.

Quiet a story, being the first Western Nun ever and everyone wants to know about her experience of living high up in a cave for 12 years. Quite interesting.

The last evening we had a nice Light Offering ceremony. It was a beautiful moment.

06082009063 We had our dinner everyday at 6:15 PM and it was Thupa Thupa and Thupa. I kind of got sick of it by the last day. I tried to add two different available sauces to make it worth swallowing.. But it was too much.. I think I will stay away from soup for a while.

I mean it was good.. but its enough for now.

7:30 to 9:00 after dinner would be spent on meditation again. I liked these sessions since there was less talk by the teacher and more of singing mantras and visualizations as well.

We did the Buddha Mantra :

Tadyatha Om mune mune mahamunaye svaha.

I loved the Vajrasattva Mantra which is to be sung for purification.

oṃ vajrasattva samayam anupālaya
oṃ Vajrasattva! Preserve the bond!

Vajrasattvatvenopatiṣṭha
As Vajrasattva stand before me.

dṛḍho me bhava
Be firm for me.

sutoṣyo me bhava
Be greatly pleased for me.

supoṣyo me bhava
Deeply nourish me

anurakto me bhava
Love me passionately

sarva siddhiṃ me prayaccha
Grant me siddhi in all things,

sarvakarmasu ca me cittaṃ śreyaḥ kuru hūṃ
And in all actions make my mind most excellent. hūṃ

ha ha ha ha hoḥ
ha ha ha ha hoḥ

bhagavan sarvatathāgatavajra mā me muñca
Blessed One! Vajra of all the tathāgatas! Do not abandon me.

vajrū bhava mahāsamayasattva āḥ (hūṃ phaṭ)
Be the Vajra-bearer, Being of the Great Bond! āḥ (hūṃ phaṭ)

And many more..

The energy when all of us sing this is tremendous and we would go to bed with the mantra ringing in our heads. A nice way to go to sleep.

Sleep was a humorous story as well. Since we were working so much on our minds, consciously or subconsciously, I would be unlocking some past blocks and would have dreams. But the three of us would be pleasantly woken up by our beautiful Irish roomie LAUGHING (HEE HEE HEE) in her sleep and talking something about the teachings and then LAUGHING (HEE HEE HEE) again. This went on night after night and the mind also learnt to ignore it !! We told her later and had a good laugh.. It was quite entertaining.

06082009071 Anyways, the last day it was pretty emotional for many. I connected with some of them. We exchanged emails. And wished all of us well. And it was time for me to come back .

It was pouring and I was one of the last to go. By this time, I was really missing Rocky and the birds and was ready to come back to the real world. I was glad I did this.

But the journey back had its own story.

I took an auto to Dharmashalla Bus Stand going all the way down. Something in me told me that I am going all wrong. This feeling always works when I am going the wrong way. I called up the bus guy and he says I have to come to Mc Leod Ganj whereas in the ticket it was written Dharmashalla Bus Stand.

So I took a cab all the way up to Mc Leod Ganj and get to know that my seat number is not the right and I am given a seat which is right at the end. This, inspite of booking the tickets a month ahead. Well forget the fact that they took AC money for a standard bus. I am not even going there.

So I sit at the last seat. I see this Tibetan woman munching on chips and cookies and going on munching munching munching munching till the smell sickened me. I was just hoping that she would be ok and had a strong stomach. And just as I thought, when the bus started to move, she started to look around to puke or whatever and it took forever to open the window.

The last seats were empty besides mine. I chose one corner and she sat herself on the other corner taking in some fresh air. The sitting position came to lying position and she slept all around me.. My butt, my legs, pushing the middle of my butt, since I was also trying to sleep.

I softly urged her to go a little on the side but NO !! She was bound to have her sleep lying down, no matter where her head went. I ultimately realised that either she will sleep or me. So I sat through the night and let her sleep.

06082009070 Well that was not enough. The ride was pretty bumpy and we were thrown six inches high at every bump.. it being the last seat and I just held on with my whole strength and just when I thought there was solid ground, we would hit a bump and the Tibetan Woman SHRIEKED “AAAAAAAAAAA” at every bump and would wake up and then go to sleep again..

If I was not interrupted by her scream, it would be by the bump or it would be by her pushing me and my butt to any corner with her head..

I just gave up and sat it through. And well we had about 3 punctures. I took the time to just walk and talk to the colleagues and actually had a relaxing time.

Buddhism says, take away someone’s suffering and make it yours. And it earns merit in the karma world.

Well I certainly made sure that the lady slept in peace butt or no butt.

Reaching Delhi, I sat in the airport just glad that it was done and I was at peace again when I reached home.

Well, thats it .. I guess.