Introducing The Bodhgaya Blind Beggar Band.

This band of very merry men have entertained us for months and I just had to share.

Back to the World.

first retreatants with  Ven. Antonio

So the big question after retreat is;  how to be in the world but not of the world? Suggestion welcome.

Retreat went very very well. The teacher, Venerable Antonio was fantastic and I even stayed on to do a second retreat with him which ended a few days ago. Antonio gave teachings every night and showed the importance of the Hinayana path; i.e. the practice of calm abiding and insight meditation, in relation to the practice of the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist paths. This is o a connection often missed or should I saw not emphasised enough in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism which is heavily influenced by the Vajrayana tradition, even though it does hold the teaching of Hinayana and  more so the Mahayana. I think many of you Tibetan Buddhist  can relate that you may go to a teaching with an initiation then end up having  a daily commitment before you can  sit still for half an hour far less keep your mind focused enough to visualize a diety.

So what does this all mean in practical terms  for all yi none Buddhists readers? In short; I just had an opportunity to lay down a very stable foundation for practical application of the teachings and it has given me a lot more confidence in the whole canon of Buddhas teachings by seeing how the foundation relates to the  higher practices which I aspire to do one day. The more I learn the less I know and the more I just love learning and realize what an amazing and skill full teacher the Buddha was.  Today I sat under the Bodhi tree and just thinking of the Buddhas kindness, wisdom and skill at teaching us ADD humans brought a wee tear to my eye. Will we humans ever get his message peace?

Anyway great retreat  and Antonio's web site is   http://venantonio.com/
On the site he has some reading recommendations, talks from past retreats and teaching and his schedule.  He is one of the best western Buddhist teachers I have heard.  So enjoy.

The dragons with the meditators 

On the shorter second retreat many of the people in the first retreat stayed on and we were also joined by a group of  young folks from the USA. They are doing a gap year before university and travelling Indian with a company called ,
Where their be Dragons. http://www.wheretherebedragons.com/

They were a great bunch and I was very impressed that they all put a lot of effort into meditation and took lots of notes in the teachings. For beginners to jump into 7 hours of meditation with no talking, no book, no computers and phone every day for 6 days in this sweltering heat was commendable to say the least. They left to go to Varanassi and then Ladhak so I wish them all the best.

So I moved back into Mohamed's Guest House in Bodhgaya  and have been volunteering with an old friend Sonam  who has started his own small teaching center. Starting tomorrow Lama Chockyi Nangpa Rinpoche  abbot of the Jonag tradition monestry in Shimla will give 4 days teaching  and Tara initiation.  http://www.jonangmonasteryshimla.com/Jonang_School.html
So seems like I have a good dose of Tara this time in Bodhgaya, Yahoo !!.  Anyway the building is brand new and there was lots of cleaning and painting to do, so my knuckle are skinned  but the place is looking great.
It has been all go since leaving retreat, but I am so glad to be  helping out. Sonam has not got a web site for his place yet but he hope to host more Buddhist teachers as well as fund a primary school in a near by village and start to do some medical assistance for local village women. So good luck to Sonam and I am sure we will be working together in the future.