This post is from mid February ?
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, non internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to thee next few days. McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010. I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit then 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 with matted hair, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but the 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 His 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 India. 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 Himachal Pradesh local people who have hosted the Tibetans here for just over 50 years now.
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, non internet and no talking for 11 days. After being so busy in Bodhgaya I am looking forward to thee next few days. McLeod has grown so much even since I was last here in 2010. I lived here from 1996 until 2002. It was a quick exit then 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 with matted hair, backpackers just up from Goa and out of university. Times have changed and so has this town but the 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 His 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 India. 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 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 experinece of human existancenes. Admiting old habits, disfunctional desie and in general uncontrollable self concerned mind. and admitting wee youreally are, then trying, often woith great efffort to develop the heart and mind, becoming less selfish and more self aware, aware of oneslef in relation to others and concerned for the welfare of others. Did I say thisinot a easy path it is a lifelong practice and it is not a path of constant imrprovement just coz i place my hand in reverance in fornt of the Dalai Lama or Buddha statue. This makes me question the world, my movtives and actions and it is a path that oneself can only developwi by accepting all the rap tat ie thughs at you and taking that pain and suffering as the material, the clay with which to make happiness flourish. nyway
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