This was written on March 7th 2006 and uploaded March 8th as I struggled to learn how to write in Word and then import to the weblog. Below is what I wrote last night, then formatted over and over again [and again] until Rashid regretfully closed the Internet Shop, as flummoxed as I at the obstinacy of Typepad. I guess I must write to the Typepad page, without thesaurus, work count and those other dandy options. I have only one more hour to make this happen tonight - cause I'm off to see Brokeback Mountain at one of the many tiny cinemas. I refuse to wonder how these movies reach here so quickly . . . but there is a full range of Oscar nominees and, I guess, Oscar winners. So to last night: This is my first weblog since arriving in India on December 29, 2005. I so appreciated the emails that asked where my cyber voice had gone. In truth, I’ve been really busy since I got here and only now can write at leisure. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to send some notes that go back and forth in time, recalling the highlights of the first two months, plus the fabulous time I had with my daughter Pam in Turkiye.
Of course ‘leisure time’ means I am in McLeod Ganj now, waiting for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to begin his teachings on March 14th. This year he will speak for two and one-half hours each morning and the same in the afternoon – in 2004 he spoke for three hours each afternoon. I’m pleased there will be more time, with a break for reflection. I’ve purchased the two texts His Holiness plans to use, and am reading Shantideva’s The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. For those of you who may remember my impatience with The 100,000 Songs of Milarepa – it is no longer on the reading list. One of the books is formidable – translated in the early 1900’s using Olde English. The one I am reading is in four line prose and I often wonder if I miss the point.
To begin to build on my small understanding of Buddhist philosophy I signed up for an eight day course at the Tushita Meditation Centre, about a 20 minute walk into the hills above McLeod Ganj. There are 58 persons enrolled - from Europe, North and South America, Japan, Israel, Australia and
Today at lunch I do believe I saw a nun named Pauline, from England, who was very kind to me over a breakfast two years ago. I was struggling with Milarepa and a host of other confusions; she gave me both clarity and hope that I would learn something in time. Participants keep silence at Tushita except for discussion and question periods so I did not go up to her table, but I smiled for the rest of the lunch hour, and after lunch as I did my chores. Everyone does ‘karma yoga’ after lunch – washing dishes, sweeping, picking up garbage, cleaning toilets and so on. My job is cleaning windows and I smiled as I cleaned, just recalling that brief conversation and Pauline’s generous nature. All in all Tushita is quite the place and if you are interested there is a good website at www.tushita.info
The teacher is Lama Namgyal, an Australian monk living in northern Goa for the past twenty years. He is warm, clear, keenly aware of the varying levels of understanding in the room - and has a great sense of humour. He says he will cover the first eight chapters of Shantideva's prose writing, and I hope to be somewhat prepared for the teachings after his explanation of the text.
The day begins at 8:5 AM with a 5 minute guided meditation. To be washed, fed and in place by this time I am up at 6 bells. Feels like home. After the meditation there is a tea break, then one and one-half hours of teaching until lunch. The afternoon takes us to discussion groups - we will stay with these groups for the remaining 7 days. The discussion group lasts and hour, followed by another half-hour break for tea. When we reassemble in the Meditation Hall the Lama asks questions on the discussion group findings, and then general questions for the Lama take us to 5:00 PM . . .when we break again, just for 15 minutes. At this point I can't face one more cup of tea, even with ginger and lime. The day ends with another meditation and we are on the road back down a little after 6:00. It is a full day that leaves little time for anything else.
The first discussion group is a challenge. . . Impatience overcomes me as two young men – one a journalist with an admitted 24 hours experience with Buddhism and another who has meditated for 20 years but never attended a course – take over the discussion question, and talk with one another. The third man in the group, from Denmark, says not a word, nor do the three young women from Israel or the young woman from Austria. Hard to break in at the best of times, but for these women English is their second or third language. Connie from Quesnel is in my group and we exchange eyes of exasperation. Eventually the teacher in me takes over and I begin to solicit the opinions of the others – not quite through my teeth. Everywhere I am reminded of my need to practice more compassionately.
Question period is more of the same as five or so people - all but one of them male - speak their questions out into the air, vying for the Lama’s attention and response. I’m sitting at the back – on a chair – and I watch as one young woman after another raises, then eventually lowers her hand. I have a flashback to the international human rights class I taught in Chennai last month, when ten men and one woman either cheered or felt oppressed by my focus on women, equality, discrimination, empowerment and so forth. I do not have a quiet mind for the final meditation of the day. As I write I wonder if this week will be the time I find new ways to deal with my equality-impatience?
Sleep overcomes me, although I have so much more to write. I want to put up a note on International Women’s Day, but that will have to wait for tomorrow, the 8th of March. Good nigh for now, and do feel free to send me ideas on curbing impatience . . .
So that was yesterday. Today I skipped out on the after-lunch discussion group and question period - to register and get my pass for the teachings at the Security Office, write some postcards and sit here, hoping for a published blog. There is a walk around the Temple that people tell me offers some gorgeous scenery, so I am off. My thoughts on Int'l Women's Day will go up in time. I'm thinking about all of you as I sit here and write, and if I could - I would transport you to this lovely place high in the Himalayas where people trek, camp, walk, browse, learn, eat, sleep and socialise. I am so contented to be right here - it is a good moment.
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