Quotes from a Buddhist Monastery

Considering we had so much time to ourselves, I'm pretty sure we all read these quotes almost everyday.  And after 10 days of reading them, countless times, they really began to sink in.  So just thought I would share.  :)

 

Life in a Buddhist Monastery

 After attending a 10 day course on Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism and meditation, here are a few things that I've learned....

Contrary to all popular belief, monasteries are NOT  a quiet place to live.  Living with 350 monks who are chanting and reciting mantras before 5am is not my idea of "quiet."  But waking up to an amazing sunrise every morning scored them some extra points.  :)

I wasn't really sure what to expect prior to going on this retreat, but the schedule definitely took care of that.  The first week we had meditations, teachings, discussion groups, and had to observe silence for half the day.  The last two days were ALL meditation and complete silence for 48 hours...and let me tell you....you sure do find a lot of stuff in that little head of yours when there is absolutely nothing to do but think.  :)  With no computers, phones, and only books on Tibetan Buddhism, you really learn to become ur own best friend. Luckily for me I'm pretty cool.  :)

Our schedule for the final 2 days

The schedule for the first 8 days

I eventually learned to choose the people I sat next to during  meditation sessions wisely.  Maybe it was after one session where the girl next to me seemed to have quite the staring problem, was constantly digging in her plastic bag for who knows what, and definitely made it clear she wasn't interested in meditating.  Lucky for her, we were meditating on compassion and patience, otherwise I'm not sure what the outcome would have been.  I moved cushions the next session.

Our meditation hall :)

I also soon discovered that after sitting cross-legged for hours every day, day after day... after day... after day...it is now my position of choice...not sure how that happened.  And whoever designed the monastery must have known that people would need some sort of leg workout after sitting for so long.  Thank you for the 10 days worth of squat toilets?

A pretty damn nice place to meditate :)

One of our Tibetan Lamas

On one of our last days, we had a light offering ceremony which was held in complete silence.  With over 100 people lighting candles for those they care about, and nobody talking except for the prayer led by the monk, it was a pretty moving ceremony to say the least.

Light offering ceremony held in the garden

There were well over 100 people from countries all over the world, some who came to Nepal specifically for this course.  Everyone had a different story and was there for different reasons.  We all had r own experiences with the meditations and all took away different things from the teachings.  But in the end, we were all there 4 ultimately the same reason.  The course was absolutely amazing and I honestly don't even have the right words to describe it.  If you ever find yourself in Nepal, don't miss it.

With one of my roomies on r last day :)

Randomness of Nepal

Here is a quote from my 96 year old Nepali roommate….

“The people of Nepal are just happy go lucky people.  They don’t have money but they are still happy.  They eat, drink, and are merry.”  As he laughs away, sipping on his brandy and eating rice and lentil soup.

A puja (ceremony) for his wife who passed away 2 years ago

Many offerings, incense and rituals for the puja

After spending my first 8 weeks here and getting to know the people, I couldn’t agree with him more.   Sure there are over 12 hours of power cuts a day, garbage everywhere, pollution so bad you can actually see it, but that doesn’t bother them…or at least it doesn’t show.  All of the Nepalese people I have come across are so happy it's contagious.  And when the power comes on, and we can actually watch t.v., it's like the most exciting thing ever.  :)

Pretty sure the dump yard is right along the river

Although it doesn’t seem like there is always order to things here, somehow things always manage to find a way to work.  I have yet to see one stop and go light here, but at the busiest intersections there is always one lonely cop that acts as the traffic light for the day.  It somehow works. 

Traffic Light

There are shoe repair men on almost every corner and people carry absolutely everything on their backs, including ginormous dressers. The fuel shortage here is quite ridiculous...people will LITERALLY wait for half a day for petrol...and then come to find out that the gas station has run out and they should try back in a few days when more petrol will be delivered.  So if someone doesn't show up to work, understandable...they prolly dont have any fuel to get there.  Although they could, and probably do take one of the many forms of public transport here.  The most popular one being a super packed bus with people packed to the brim like sardines.  Some of these bus rides here are so packed, people are literally hanging out of the bus, hoping they aren't gonna get whipped off!  Oh and no need to worry about not catching a bus, trust me, they find YOU.  

Note the guy hanging out of the bus...like I said, they will find YOU.

You can't see, but the second person carrying the dresser is actually me.

The road I am now living on was a dirt road for the first week while I was here.  And let me tell you, I couldn't believe that I could actually SEE the dust. And I now that I know you are all wondering, yes we finally got some asphalt put in.  And it was MORE than an exciting day.  I'm pretty sure everyone in the neighborhood watched the entire process from start to finish.  And now, the people are so excited that I don't even see anyone using the sidewalks anymore.   :)

The dust on my road b4 the asphalt

Guys watching the asphalt allll day long, pretty sure they didnt move from this position.