To Varanasi and Back

We're sorry it's been nearly a month since any of us have posted. We're being kept very busy here at the vihar. The past month or so has been so amazing and full in so many ways...it feels funny to try to blog it. But here are some of the things we've been up to.

We spent the first three weeks studying Theravada Buddhism and Vipassana meditation with U Hla Myint and two Burmese nuns. They were wonderful. U Hla Myint is one of the nicest, sweetest people...he was always cracking himself up...and the nuns were amazing. Meditating for 2+ hours a day has also been really amazing. Around the second week or so, the four of us ordained as monks/nuns for nine days. We were given robes to wear, shaved our heads, and upheld an extra five precepts. It actually turned out to be a rather uncomfortable experience for me. We were supposed to get our food before the rest of the community, and to eat separately; people called me "bhante" instead of Alex; and we weren't allowed to do any work, so people would clean up after us. It definitely felt like a hierarchy and made us all pretty uncomfortable...but a worthwhile experience none the less.

It's also been great to get to know Bodh Gaya better. We've been making lots of friends and trying not to stay too "sheltered" at the monastary, although some days we're just so busy that it can be hard. But we've recently started eating dinner outside of the vihar, which has been really nice. It's been exciting to see the different festivals and celebrations and to be making lots of friends.

Around the second weekend we had a meditation retreat, and the following weekend was our long weekend (no class on Friday or meditation all weekend). We spent our long weekend in Varanasi, or Benares, which is one of the oldest cities in the world. Aside from just exploring the city, we took a boat down the Ganges River, which was really beautiful, although a bit shocking, since many people are cremated along this part of the river. There were dead bodies and ashes along the shores. I also decided to buy a sitar - SUCH a beautiful instrument, I had no idea. We happened upon a concert of classical Indian music, and I got a lesson with the sitar player, which was quite exciting for me...

Now we're back at the vihar and we've just begun our study of Mahayana Buddhism and Zen meditation with our new Sensei, Ekai Korematsu, here on the right. We sit at the vihar in the mornings and take a rickshaw over to a Japanese temple for the evening meditation. Zen is totally different than Vipassana...it's really cool to get to practice these different techniques. Starting this week we're taking turns taking Sensei out to dinner in small groups. This weekend, we'll have another short Zen retreat.

We're also finally organizing our independent study projects. I'll be going to the Dharamsala Region, which is where the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government live in exile, to study compassion as a healing force in Tibetan Buddhism. I'm gonna sit a retreat practicing Tibetan meditation, and I'm hoping to get to talk to rinpoches and other Tibetan practitioners.

We have so much more to tell you about, so many great stories, but now for evening meditation...