Saturday, January 16, 2010

Week three in the land of Bodhi...continued

Well it seems I've made it back safely on earth. Finally started feeling better yesterday after spending the better part of 5 days in bed with yet another stomach problem...ayayay. So for the rest of this trip, I'm being extra careful with what and where I eat but even then, bacteria sickness seems very random and pretty tricky to avoid here no matter what. This time I also happened to be in the middle of a very good program on death meditation with Alexa, but thankfully I received all of the main teachings I need to practice this kind of meditation before i fell off the boat. And again I was so lucky to be taken good care of during all of this...thanks Alexa! It's so great to be feeling better again, we even went for a jog around rural Bodhgaya and found a GIANT Buddha statue today. And afterwards went to one of our favorite restaurants here called Mohammed's for sesame tofu, delicious garlic potatoes and momo soup...heavenly after eating very very little for five days. After writing this post we'll meet up with our good friend Michael Jackson of Bodhgaya for chai and probably brainstorm some more about how he can get into the US and study there. He believes he was probably a New Yorker in his past life, and is going to do whatever it takes to moonwalk his way back home. We'll do everything we can to help him.

Alright, next post i'll talk a little about seeing the Dalai Lama here (amazing!) and also the wonderful train ride here from Dharamsala. For the next 5 days we're on "vacation" from meditation programs...which will be really great because we've been pushing our energy levels lately. Sounds pretty comical, I realize this....but it is true! Then we're back on the dharma wagon (can we ever really get off this thing?) on the 21st for Mingyur Rinpoche at Tergar Monastery which i'm very excited about.

And soon soon more pictures, as soon as i find a fast enough computer around here!!

Love!












Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Week three in the land of Bodhi...

Greetings from outer space!!
Well, that's at least what this feels like at the moment. Sick again with some sort of wonderful new bacteria, feeling spacey, and listening to the flaming lips doing pink floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon in Bodhgaya. That's right, I'm still here! It seems I just can't get enough of this holy place. Going on 3 weeks now, and looks like we'll be here til at least the 25th of January...5 weeks total. In terms of buddhist teachings and teachers, it feels like one incredible opportunity after another here. Along with my friend Robert, I initially came here just to attend the Kagyu Monlam (Kagyu - one of the 4 main buddhist lineages, Monlam - prayer festival) with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. This is held every year at the Bodhi Tree - the site of the Buddha's enlightenment which happened 2500 years ago. It was heartening and amazing to go to this every day, waking up early to sit under the Tree and recite peaceful aspirations for the world with thousands of people (along with a few modern day buddhas) in attendance.

...well folks, there is much more to this story but it seems my energy is getting low and I should probably get back to the guest house before it cools down too much. We have to come into the main town to do internet stuff, and the guest house is a little ways away from here. But stay tuned, much more to come...