ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

November 2017

Today began at Jetavana. We were accompanied by His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgön Chungtsang. I had met him in Delhi, and he is truly one of the kindest people you will ever meet. All of my pictures of him are so terrific because his goodness just shines through. Like so many Tibetan monks, he suffered greatly at the hands of the Chinese, and yet you would never know it by his demeanor. He is quite the scholar besides. I strongly urge you to read his bio, which I have linked here.

Our monks chanted at the Mulagandhakuth which are the remains of one of Buddha’s huts in Jetavana Monastery.

I had to fight THREE official photographers that travel with His Holiness, and as the “girl” I was asked to get off of the wall I was standing on as it was holy ground. While I get that it is okay that the monk photographers stand on holy ground I was curious as to why the male layperson photographer wasn’t asked to get down. I ignored the request.

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The afternoon was once again spent chanting in the big tent the Tibetans had erected for their conference, and once again there was Tibetan chanting. I could sit and listen to the Tibetan chanting all day. It is really very gorgeous.

Chanting is different between countries. The style of chanting is influenced by the type of Buddhism practiced. Theravadan is the most rigid form of practice, and the chanters are not allowed to put melody into their chants, as that would imply they are enjoying it, rather than speaking the word of Buddha. All of our monks are Theravadan but the Burmese seem to put a more strict message in their chanting. The Thai’s have a lilt to their chanting, and because of that, it is much easier for me to follow. The Thai’s in my photos are in the saffron robes, and the Burmese are in the maroon robes.  These are the Thai’s chanting on the Ganga River.

I had a few odds and ends to tack on here.

I was eating dahl the other day and there was a strange bean in it. Turns out it is the Makhana seed and is very particular to the state of Bihar in India. I will admit it was rather tasteless, but it was also the first I had ever seen or tasted.

Gifts! Gifts are exchanged every time we meet someone. I showed you the pictures of the celebration at the Buddhist temple in Lucknow. Here is a photo of the people from Lucknow offering gifts to our monks.

Today we gave them gifts of books and tote bags, and they gave us framed pictures of a famous monk and an inspirational saying.

I think it is a truly lovely tradition, but I always wonder if people consider how these things will get home. At GBU our monks were given huge, and I mean huge, pots for boiling water for tea. They absolutely loved them, but putting 30 of them on the bus was a sight to see, we are already squeezed pretty tight with all of the stuff we are carrying for the ceremonies, to say nothing of our own gear.

We are starting to look like a band of gypsies. We have our bus, the truck that carries all the cooks, kitchen and tents, and then another small van that carries the crew and their gear. Seriously, we look like a gypsy caravan when we roll into a monastery for the night.

This is Pannavamsa. He graduated from Tamasriya, a school with 30,000 students. He studied there for three years, and while there he had no food and no place to sleep, so his master built him a hut and told him it was important to learn but eating was not.

He is now in Bodh Gaya studying.

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November 2017

Today was another road trip. We were to start at 5:00 as the monk’s last meal must be before noon, and we had a long drive to reach our lunch spot.

This is actually their last meal of solid food, afternoon they are allowed liquids, so soup is always served to the monks about the time that we would normally have dinner.

We didn’t actually hit the road until 6:00 and that was in the deep fog, so driving was slow.

The monks informed us that there were no watches during Buddha’s time and that there are special dispensations for travel, but we still did not reach our destination until around 1:00. There were some monks that adhered to the rules, and as I write this at 9:00 at night, they are really very hungry.

Our lunch spot was at the Buddha Vihar Shanti Upvan in Lucknow. They served us royally in their stunning dining room

 

We were many miles from lunch to our final destination and I was able to give two lectures, one on Ashoka and one on Sravasti, our next stop. I was truly honored when the monks thanked me, and are starting to call me teacher.

Behind us is an entire large bus of lay people and monks from the temple that hosted us that will be joining us in the chanting ceremonies at Sravasti. We are honored and pleased to have Indians attending this ceremony, this is the first time that native Buddhists have taken part.

The problem is there are already 2500 Tibetan monks in town for another event. We had made arrangements for our monks and ourselves to stay in a monastery, but the plans for our traveling companions fell through, so our crew was on the phone for hours, madly trying to make other arrangements. The head monk in Sravasti, or Rinpoche, did all the arranging, including some that will spend tonight in tents.

Our crew will have arrived ahead of us, and I understand that an entire crew of Thai people are in town just to help decorate the event with flowers.

It is truly amazing to watch this all unfold when you realize how far out in the country we are. We are only about 50 to 60 miles from Nepal.

This is Kavasara. He is still working on his English so I did not get much from him. He is from Burma and his Mother is from Thailand. She is 51, and he is here to do Buddhist studies.

Buddha found enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, so Bodhi leaves are a sign of respect and honor and are given out in many ceremonies.