12 hours overnight bus journeys up the Himalaya can be quite sleepless, but surprisingly the whole journey was not so bad. I was wedged between a very big, friendly monk and the window. So with the help of some blankets I was not thrown around too much and actually slept. I am here in McLeod Ganj for 12 days at Tushita meditation centre to do a meditation retreat, on a practice which I have been promising myself to do for many years. 
We start tonight so no phone, no internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to the next few days.

McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010 but I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit in 2002 as India and Pakistan had their nukes pointed at each other and all the embassies were advising all foreigners to get out of the country ASAP. Anyway back then McLeod had more trees and less concrete, more chia stalls than coffee Wi-Fi cafes and more dharma bums and practitioners than rainbow dressed, matted haired, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but it still has to be the most international town with 4 streets in the world. From the bus stop to the post office you can hear, Tibetan , Hindi, English Japanese Korean, all the European languages, Russian Mongolian, Kashmiri, Chinese Korean, Vietnamese and Hebrew. So many people are drawn here to see their Holinesses the Dalai Lama and Karmapa but also with the rise of the middle classes in India there are many more tourists from the Punjab, Mumbai and other parts of the country. It has a great climate in the summer when it is way too hot in the rest of India, the Tibetan/multicultural environment is relaxed and easy going and we can be grateful for this place through the kindness of the Indian government and Himachal Pradesh local people who have hosted the Tibetans here for just over 50 years now.

I learned so much being in this town, sure I learned all about the Buddhist teachings but that knowledge is only valuable when used in practice; i.e relating the teaching to ones experience of human existence. Admitting old habits and dysfunctional desires, admitting I have an uncontrollable, self concerned mind, but knowing that I can change it and develop. Then the work begins, trying with great effort to develop the heart and mind, becoming less selfish and more self aware, aware of oneself in relation to others and developing concerned for all others, not just my friends and family. Taking responsibility for my action, thoughts and words is tough especially when I am a feisty, stubborn Scott and I have fallen down many times. (I have also learned to take myself not so serious which has to be a good thing). Did I say this is not an easy path, it is a lifelong practice and it is not a path of constant improvement just coz I place my hand in reverence in front of the Dalai Lama or Buddha statue. Only I can, through my own thought, words and actions, save myself. This can be a tough pill for some to sallow but then again so many westerners are attracted to Buddhism because of this aspect of self responsibility as well as the lack of an outer savior and Buddhism’s scientific manner of investigation of mind and the world. Buddhism  makes sense to me and I am happy to have a framework with which to understand this senseless and crazy world. Anyway enough of this blah blah for now, where was I; oh yes

Today the retreat starts at 7 pm at Tushita, as great centre just up the hill nestled in the woods; just a wee bit cold in the winter but great in the spring.http://www.tushita.info/

Tushita is part of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition a centre which began in Nepal in the 70's and has now so many centres all over the world.http://www.fpmt.org/  It is a great organizations and offers great beginning classes.

Anyway I am off to explore, go down to the main Temple of the Dalai Lama, who just last week had Desmond TuTu for South Africa visit him   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nJVrWk32E.

and probably talk with some old friends.

Tibetan Camp, Majunukatilla, North Delhi.

Turns out there is a White House in the Tibetan Camp in North Delhi. For the astronomical price of $8 per night  you can stay at the White House, it has hard beds, a drippy shower, traffic noise 24/7, a grumpy monk at the reception desk and electric plugs that work when they feel like it. On the good side the food is cheap, simple and the bus to McLeod Ganj leaves from around the corner here tomorrow night. I have visited with my dear friends Pema and Tenzin and their daughter Chitso who is a very health happy 2 year old who smiles to everyone and loves to dance to Bollywood music at full blast. The Tibetan Camp is  a labyrinth of small alley ways with tall buildings, people are just crammed into this small area which the Indian government gave to the Tibetans on their arrival form Tibet over 50 years ago. To say  it is overcrowded is an understatement. However everyone comes through these street on their way to McLeod Ganj and since it is Tibetan new year soon there are new arriving refugees, and visitors from the Tibetan Camps down in south India.Just next to Tibetan Camp is a Shik community which has built the most beautiful white temple and land which is for them a religious site and across the freeway is a Hindu community and market which stays open into the wee small hours selling all kinds of foods.  I feel  lucky to be staying at the White House, not for the name or for the cultural diversity but for the simple fact of it was the only room available.

Cool blog from one of the locals    http://www.majnukatilla.com/

Swami Ji

How can I ever describe to you the phenomena that is called Swami Ji?

I simple Hindu monk, maybe but this man works tirelessly to uncover corruption, strives for social justice, educates young men and keeps them on an ethical path, cleans up the environment, and is trying to save the Bodhi tree from neglect and disease as well as having it’s limbs being cut off and sold. Name a political issue and he will be “hammering” on some politician’s head to get improvements done and changes made. You can often find Swam Ji at the chai stall under the tree across from the main temple, on his cell phone or computer, sipping tea or smoking a beedie but always in deep in conversation with someone about the latest issue.

Originally from Bengal , Swami Ji lived in a monastic ashram in Gaya or some time but decided to leave the ashram and do his own practice of being a wandering monk. He had a ticket for the train that night but had a few hours before the train left so walked to Bodhgaya

He came to say goodbye and pay his respects to the Bodhi tree. In front of the tree he found himself crying and was comforted by western women who had once herself been a Hindu nun. They talked and after some time she took him for a meal. He never left on the train that night but rather has found his calling and has now been in Bodhgaya for 5years. He says he was put here to uncover and bring attention to issues of corruption and social injustice in this holiest of Buddhist places. Swami Ji rustles the feathers of many people in town and in the state capital Patna. Many people do not like his blunt in your face style but he has brought attention to many issues and people are changing or at least being kept in check by his presence. A real dedicated man, of action, a simple monk and force to be reckoned with.

You can join his face book page at the Holy Mahabodhi Tree for updates on the tree

Dreams of creating the Tara Sanctuary or Tara Surachit Sthan

In my last days of working with Ecoles de la Terre in Bodhgaya I came to learn that Rajesh the director and myself have a similar wish for the homeless and destitute women of Bihar. I discovered that the EDLT trust has a parcel of land in a nice quite place where he is hoping to build a home, or safe place for women and their children. Here women can recover and heal from any violence they may have endured and also learn some news skills so that they can become financially independent. Ecoles de la Terre already has school close by for the children to attend and the vocational program which the women could join  is just at the end of the dirt road. Sunita, the women’s health care practitioner and Dr Sunil are also available for medical care. So the support infrastructure for the dream to be maintained is already in place and the land is secured, what is needed now are the funds to build. Research also needs to be conducted on how many women and who in the area are in need dire of such a sanctuary. This could be a problem as many older ladies who have been widowed who now live with their grown children and their family actually work as beggars to contribute the family income. So these women do have a roof over their head, food and a family. In Gaya the town about 5km away, I have also discovered there are places where women have been trafficked and held for sex, so of course I need to find out more about how to get those women out of that situation. Rajesh has had this idea for some time but has been busy running the other projects to secure funding. When we talked it was uncanny how we had very similar ideas and passion for creating a women’s sanctuary. So what to do now?

We drew up some very basic plans for five rooms, bathroom, kitchen and workspace which still leaves space for a garden to grow vegetables and a few fruit trees. This plan could very comfortably house 20 women and the workspace could also be used for extra beds as expansion of the program demands. If and when the time comes more rooms could be added as funding comes in. Of course Rajesh wants to make the finances for the sanctuary self sustainable with small business loans to the women as they proceed in their recovery. He also would like to encourage the women to support and assist new women who may come into the sanctuary as well as get local women involved in support of the sanctuary.

 So now I am also asking for your help; if you know about fundraising, or have suggestions for me or Rajesh please please do make a comment or better still send me an e-mail. I am thinking about trying to get on the Kiva web site, but this may be more for individuals rather than established organizations who want to extend their services. Any and all suggestion you have would be great as this is new territory for me and some guidance is always appreciated. 

Mohamed’s Restaurant

For all the Bodhgaya wallas that could not make it this year I wanted to enclose some photos of our favorite restaurant which is also in so many ways our refuge from the crowds while we are here. The guys at Mohamed’s restaurant have been fantastic as always, looking after our nutritional needs, giving us a good laugh and satisfying our out odd cravings for western food. The restaurant is temporary constructed for the season, with mud walls and a blue tarp roof over bamboo poles. All the meals are cooked over open wood fires which have been built into a mud and brick counter. It is really quite ingenious as the fire can be stoked without moving the pot off the stove. Anyway dishes served include, garlic potatoes home fries, sesame tofu with spinach and potatoes, veg dal curry, finger chips, tomatoes vegetable pasta, momos, banana and honey pancakes, nutella chapattis, coconut lassi, apple pie, chocolate balls, oat porridge and eggs cooked the way you like em! You ever go hungry at Mohamed’s, the food is clean and the dishes washed well but you do learn the menu by heart. News this year from Mohamed’s; Umesh got married, Mohamed’s baby turned one and his wife and other 2 kids are doing well, he also opened a new guest house this year. Prem’s boys are doing well in school and Prem is now working at the new guest house. Mumtaz was sick for a wee while with some stomach bug but is ok now, Sky showed up to help out for Kalachakra and is now off to work as the new owner of the Trek and Dine in Dharamkot. New to waiting tables is Sonu who got promoted from the kitchen and has done a great job. The small army of cooks in the kitchen rarely comes into the restaurant but I see the same faces in the kitchen and they are always happy to see their regular customers. Most of the guys have been with Mohamed since he began the restaurant in 1995. If you remember the TV show Cheers, well Mohamed’s is kind of the same thing but without the booze. Thanks guys could not survive Bodhgaya without you.

The Micro Finance Ladies

I was lucky to be in the office today when a meeting was held for a group of women who are participating in the micro financing program. This group of women have already taken out two loans and paid them back in full and are now in tea process of taking out their 3^rd loan. So the meeting was to go over their small business plans for expanding their business as well as go 0ver all the rules and regulations and make clear the new loan recovery date and place. It was also just a good time for EDLT to congratulate the women on their success so far and for the women to get together for a good chat and to cheer each other on. The women are from Bodhgaya and surrounding villages. The group of women I talk with told me they were very happy with the program and that were glad that they could now earn their own and not be so dependent on male family members. They were defiantly groups of stoic women and very, very proud of their accomplishments who had defiantly created a strong bond with each other. I would have liked to have met these women before they started the program to see if and by how much their self confidence had grown. The business the ladies owned are chai stalls and small lunch stalls selling veg. curry, rice and chapatti; small shops selling flour, sugar, tea and rice; selling the vegetables they have grown and selling very fashionable ladies accessories such as brightly colored, gold and diamante studded plastic bangles, rings and hair clips. It was a real pleasure to met the women especially because they were so confident, happy and positive about their future business venture

Meet Anjali

 I met Anjali in computer class when she was struggling to write a job application in English and since then I have gotten to know her a wee bit more. Aged 15 she had 5 siblings and her father has a small shop that sells flour, sugar and rice. She say “he is a good, simple man who care for mother and children; we middle cast but very poor.” She says she feels lucky to be able to go to college in Gaya as her father and mother never went to school but they push their children to get an education. She is studying economics and would like to work on the computer in a bank one day. I wondered why she came to the computer classes here at the vocational centre when she was already in college, but she told me that there are no computers in college?! and that the vocational center was her only chance to get computer tuition for free. This just goes to show how the ‘colleges’ in many parts of India are in name only, in fact I have hear that many teacher rarely show up and that it is possible to pay for your degree and hardly attend classes, if you know the right people. Guess that expensive American education has some weight to it after all. Anyway, Anjali has landed a job in the EDLT’s office so we work together. She travels from Gaya on the bus 4 days a week, leaving home around 7am and works from 9am until 3pm; she has to be back home before dark at 6pm. The days she is not in the office she is in college. We work on the data entry of all the classes test results of the 5 schools and swap English and Hindi lesson throughout the day. She has taught me some tricks on excel and I have shown her ways to organize her office and do data entry quick and easy with no mistakes. On talking about marriage Anjali say she does not want to get married but rather wants to be a successful business lady. On asking why she does not want to be married, when all the other girls talk about marriage, most of the time, she quickly says “marriage no good for girl!” Probing deeper she reveals that she has seen many women being “tortured” by their husbands. Rather a strong word to use but she continues that, husbands try to control their wives, shout and beat them and that husbands also have girlfriends drink and smoke. She continues that she sees women “suffer” at the hands of their husbands and she wants “not marriage, I happy myself and help family.” Anjali is a bright young women, always smiling and eager to learn, I hope she can continue to work in the office and practice her growing computer skills some more. Maybe she will escape bad marriage and live her dream, it certainly helps that her parents want a better life for her than they did. This story is not so different from the story of my grandparent and parents generation and it reminds me to be grateful to my family for all their encouragement over the years.

Is This Development?
Development is hailed as the cure all for the 3^rd world or as we label these days, the developing world. It may well be but there is often a huge mess created in the process and western nations and people can be in too much of a rush to ‘help’ the developing world develop. Case in point; the water pump in the Bodhgaya near Mohamed’s guest house. It is common knowledge that a Japanese group donated the money for the much needed water pump and yes it was great in the beginning, but that was before the advent of the plastic bag invasion. In the late 1990’s plastic bags  and coke were the new craze in India, goodbye to recycled newspapers glued together to make bags and hello to modernity in the form of a bright colored, various sized, non biodegradable plastic bags. Everything from loose flour and sugar to already packaged items went into plastic bags and every shop keeper worth his salt had to be seen giving away plastic bags with every purchase. Maybe it was some kind of shop keeper status symbol. Anyway, all the soap, shampoo and dish detergent went into plastic bags which were then discarded at the water pump. Now that alone should not create such a problem but the Japanese in their rush to help India develop forgot to put in a drainage system in this low laying area. A pump with no drainage system? So the water pumped up has to drain back into the soil and with plastic bags everywhere the water just stagnates and stagnates becoming an attraction for malaria carrying mosquitoes, until monsoon when the bags get washed away further downstream and become someone else’s problem. Lesson learned here, 1) pumps need drainage system too and if you do not have the money for drainage, do not put in the pump; 2) development of the mind has to happen when introducing new technology so that age old habits will change as well. 3) think before you rush in to ‘develop’ and come back to check on the project.

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Family Planning in Rural Bihar

Today was the family planning expedition into rural Bihar, four of us in an old jeep boldly going where the electric pylons and wires have not gone. I have seen poverty, but this was literally dirt poor. All mud roads impassable during monsoon, mud and thatch huts with the animals and people living side by side. No running water or sewage system, just a shared village pump and open air bathroom in which ever field took your fancy. The narrow main streets had just enough room for the jeep and were lined with buffalo or cows grazing just outside the house door or roaming around amount the goats, chickens and half naked, matted haired children. Due to living in such un sanitary conditions in close proximity to animals Dr Sunil told me that villagers suffer from all kind of skin diseases and worm infestations, along with TB, childhood diseases and malnutrition.

Dr Sunil was also helpful in translating the conversations between the health worker Sunita and the village women; being a man it was not culturally acceptable for him to talk about family planning with women directly. In one village we had to meet with the men first before we were allowed to talk with the women and the men also listened it and gave their opinions. This was a new area for EDLT to work in and we were doing the first on many information sessions to introduce ideas on family planning and EDLT’s work to the villagers.

 The Indian government has a program set up where they pay for women or men to be sterilized; of course the men will not even think of having it done so it is up to the women. However the government relies on local NGO’s to do the leg work of informing the people of this service, bringing the people to hospital and assisting patients with after surgery care. The very thought of recovering from a big surgery like that in the comfort of your own home in the village is just asking for major infection and come to think of it I am not so sure I would trust a Bihari hospital either. Anyway EDLT’s family planning program uses the government funded surgery as a platform to talk about all kinds of contraceptives and offers ideas on how to plan the gap between children. EDLT tries to encourage parents to have fewer children and emphasis a better quality of life for the family; such as less worry, work and money providing for fewer children, getting the children and education and having time to spend enjoying children. I met women who have 6 or 5 children, they were thin and looked exhausted and were hardly 26. The danger with big families is that not only may there be not enough food but there is a high risk that parents will send their children off to work in the city or worse still sell girls unknowingly into the sex trade. So good family planning, stops over population and abuse of children.

Sunita and Dr Sunil were so kind in answering my question about women’s health and told me about the variety of problem’s women face. Girls getting married in their teens is a huge problem, because the mother and baby do not get enough nutrition during those years of maternity and breast feeding. There is a high infant and mother mortality rate at birth, the villages closes to towns have a higher rate of AIDs and STD’s and I learned about an infection called Leucorrhoea, brought about due to bad sanitation which can render a woman infertile; and an infertile wife in rural India can become a social outcast, since motherhood brings status. Dr Sunil helped me talk with some of the women and I backed up what Sunita was saying that having fewer children equals a better quality of life for everyone; what else could I say. After a day of talking and driving around to different villages I think Sunita and Dr Sunil had spread the gospel of fewer children pretty well and I am sure gossip travels fast in the area. Next week they will go back and talk some more, answer questions and maybe take along some women from Bodhgaya are who have already gone through the surgery, and who have used other contraceptive methods. In the village I also noticed that Suntia would pull in the older women into the conversation to get their approval and for them to give their opinion. It is essential to get the approval from the older women and men as they will have a lot of say in how the program proceeds or does not proceed. I have learned so much today and in many ways it is hard to describe and truly relay the range of emotions I secretly went through while seeing such abject poverty. It is also so evident in the village that education is the key to end poverty. Not necessary a formal university education, just basic knowledge of health, the human body and nutrition in relation to the environment, the three R’s and some street smarts about the world outside the village.

Contrasts.
So much has been happening this week. At the stupa or main temple the Nyingma molam  (prayer festival) has been taking place and it has been just beautiful walking around the stupa after work a admiring the butter sculpture, water bowl and flower offerings. Last evening, just after sunset I was sitting quietly doing some prayer recitation when a crowd of monks and nuns stated to gather with butter lamps. They started o sing praises to the lamas and the three high lams were being escorted around the Bodhi tree, amidst clouds of woody smelling incense, on the marble walkway scattered with rose petals to the sound of conch shells and Tibetan horns. I forgot it was the last night of their 10 day prayer festival. And it was fantastic to just sit there and have this beautiful scene appear before my eyes.  Wow! just doesn’t cut it. My heart seemed to expand beyond into the crowd and fill with stillness and joy. I do love the stupa, Bodhi tree and grounds. This week a few of us have also been lucky enough to receive teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and his Holiness the Karmapa also started a 3 day teaching today. There is also a Buddhist cultural program taking place on a make shift stage in the middle of town. I was wandering home last night around 8.30pm past the beggars, drunk Indian young guys still celebrating Saraswati day, monks, taxis, tractors and rickshaws trying to avoid the cows, goats, chickens and dogs along with their shit when like a mirage on a beautiful stage decorated in gold cloth with colour lights, were Thailand dancers in traditional costume, with gold headdresses and full makeup.  Wow! just doesn’t cut it. Amazing in such muck there can be such breathtaking beauty. I have to laugh at the unbelievable daily surprises and contrasts of this town. Also there is a relic of the Buddha himself on display for 3 days. And the chief minister of Bihar will come to receive a blessing too.  Now here is a different take on mixing religion and politics.

Now what else; the women at the vocational training centre are just great. Now that they are getting used to me we are having some laughs over doing hair updoos and backcombing or attempting to make g-mail accounts and more excel sheets. The morning I had to show them e-mail I had one girl just flatly refuse to join in, she wanted nothing to do with e-mails. She was not shy, but did not speak English so not knowing what was going on with her I left her to do the excel sheet homework and continued in broken English to show the girls e-mail. One hour later I asked her again and this time she agreed to try. The other girls left and her and her friend stayed to open their g-mail accounts and send each other e-mails. Well it was like watching paint dry, they were so unsure of themselves and every step had to be discussed and talked about between them before they pushed a key. Oh so much patience I had to muster up but in the end it was really good time invested with them. Once they figure out what was going on and had a personal e-mail with their own secret password they were smiling from ear to ear, quite proud that they had conquered their fear of technology. (They reminded me the fear I once had in the university library when I saw all those books in one place and had to use the filing system to find a particular book. I was so overwhelmed, scared and felt so stupid I left in tears). Anyway, Sunita explain in broken English that she did not want to do e-mail because since her father was only a farmer she could not or should not learn internet. She was holding back because of her caste and because she honestly thought she could not manage to learn, turns out I was also the first western person she had ever talked to. Very humbling, to say the least and so satisfying to see her confident.

The office this week has also been very busy, still data entry for all the school half yearly reports but also a new project to write up. Rajesh the director is planning a, savings program for men and an expansion of the micro financing for women. So we have been exchanging ideas on how this will all work, projecting figures and also researching where the funding to set this up can come from. So this has been very educational for me and Rajesh seems happy to have someone do the proposal for him.  I do not know much about micro financing but it seems to be doing gangbusters here in Bodhgaya. Ecoles de La Terre has had 100% of it’s women borrowers repay their loans and more women want to take out loans. So it works well, the women are happy and the interest earned goes right back into covering expenses and funding new loans. I do have a bit of an ethical dilemma though. Even though EDLT charges far less than the government recommended 2% per month on a loan and gives back approx. 0.5 % of the interest earned as a reward for good credit, micro financing still profits from the hard work of the very poor and usually it is the women. Women are always the ones who get paid less for their work and in the home their work goes unnoticed and not appreciated. Even countries do not count women’s work in the home to their national GDP and in developing countries that includes farm labour and cottage industries as well as work in the home. So  that’s my grip, can micro financing charge maybe 0.5% per month and take that wee bit longer to grow and sustain the NGO, please!