Tree Prose

Allora! (common italian phrase meaning…”so”)

I arrived safely in Viareggio, Italy last night. I am staying with my ‘family’ here…at the internet cafe completely hyped-up on cafe’. I tried to resist, but it is Sunday, which means, you wake up late, eat breakfast, sit in the sun for a bit, chat over an apertivo, eat lunch, nap and then have un espresso. When in Rome, oh wait??

How weird was it to go from smog ridden, cow, lepor, and vendor-packed, poor and dirty Pahar Ganj in Delhi to perfectly clean, orderly, stylish and wealthy Italy? One must reach a strange state of flexibility in order to remain centered in such different external environments. I suppose business people, politicians, spiritual leaders do this all of the time. In Tibetan Buddhism there is a meditation which aims to achieve a state of equilibrium towards all by visualizing someone you love, then someone you are neutral towards, then an enemy and wishing them all relief from suffering. I think this practice of equanimity helped me manage the shift.

Speaking of Tibetan Buddhism, people around McLeod Ganj were insistent upon refering to The Dalai Lama as His Holiness. Personally, I thought it a bit strange. Or at least my reflex was to go, yeah right…whatev. Then I spent 7 days receiving teachings from him and mamamia!

First, one must obtain a security pass for a mere 5 INR (10 cents) prior to the event and prepare a seat. The teachings in McLeod are free so everyone can participate. They are held in His Holiness’ temple. The day before, everyone goes there and marks a spot on the ground with their name using newspaper and tape. The first morning at 6am, we lined up outside of security (no phones, cameras, knives, etc.) with several thousand people armed with an umbrella, cushion, phaleb (Tibetan bread), a mug for the tea offering, a notebook and security badge. When the gates open, everyone scurries in to get their seats…Koreans in the Korean section, Taiwanese in the Taiwanese section, monastics had their own area and then ‘Foreigners’, translated as westerners…funny. They give us a prime area too…I assumed the opposite.

People start packing in. Sitting as close as is humanly possible in order to get the best view of His Holiness, who teaches in Tibetan. Via radio we got transmission from an english translator who nearly simultaneously gives the teachings. Thank goodness I was with a group of experienced practitioners. I bought the cheap 100 rupee radio, which received 0 signal, while they were armed with a great radio and headphone splitters…who knew?

We found copies of the text that His Holiness was teaching from in English. It was a combination of Asanga’s chapter on Ethics and The Basic Path with commentary by Lama Tsong Khapa. Incredibly interesting and applicable…His Holiness would read and then continue with comments…the teachings lasted from 8:30 to 11:30 followed by a review with the translator at 2. The text covered exactly how to consider action in regards to not creating any negative reaction and accumulating positive opportunities for more action. In the Gelug lineage, one of the 4 main Tibetan Buddhist traditions, wisdom is one of the two crucial ways to work towards “full enlightenment”. The other being compassion, hence the bit about “for all sentient beings”. Wisdom can be gained by learning, reflection and meditation.

Compassion is considered the masculine aspect while wisdom is the feminine. And wow, is His Holiness a walking ball of both. It was incredible really. When he walked from his home to the temple every morning, we all bowed our heads in reverence (but peaked up with the eyes of course!) and as he would walk through, he’d address different people. Not only would he turn those folks into pure elation, but everyone around that person felt blessed too. You could see this wave of joy roll over the crowd as he walked by. Magical, really. One time, on his way out, I got a straight look in his eyes…an unforgettable moment. It must sound crazy, but I challenge you to give it a go!

On the last day, he offered the opportunity to take Refuge in the Three Jewels, The Buddha (compassion), Dharma (wisdom) and Sangha (community) and to take the vows of the Aspiring Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Vows. I always resisted taking vows because I thought being part of a religion excluded others. But one would argue whether Buddhism is actually a religion and as I have mentioned before, the entire purpose includes all sentient beings, so I decided to make it official in my own mind. So now when someone asks if I am a Buddhist, I can say yes. Somewhere along the last month, I realized that commiting to a particular practice, when done in the right mindset, is actually a huge help, not a hinderance along the way. If I ever start discriminating, consciously or unconsciously, please bop me upside the head.

So, His Holiness it is!

Thoughts?
Love,
tp

10 days in silence and something really clicked. I have been “sitting” and studying yoga, buddhism, hinduism, etc. for 7 years and it amazes me how repetition makes realizations blossom and understandings go deeper, and how each teaching methodology creates intensely different results.

My first two years of yoga provided a method for working the physical body, which eventually leads to deeper work on the pranic (life force), energetic, mental, wisdom and bliss bodies.

A 6-month stint at a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastery provided a glimpse of working with the mind. But because of where I was in the practice, the utterly methodless ways of Zen left me feeling depressed.

Retreats with Gangaji are pure bliss. However, it wasn’t through my own conscious effort that I was arriving at this state. Instead it was through her presence and grace. This always left me confused about what practice to do when I returned home after a retreat. (anyone on the ‘other side of the shore’ that is reading this, please insert smile and patience here)

Agama yoga works on all of the bodies or koshas, so when I ‘found’ the school, I thought, wow, “this is it”…this is where I will spend the next part of my life studying, practicing and being in service.

As a side note, I went to a Tarot card reader at The Sanctuary, while I was in Thailand. I asked him several things about my life, and the cards were revealing. The last question I asked was in regards to my plan to spend the next 3-5 years at Agama. 7 cards, four represented pleasure, abundance, success and love, the fifth a warning about the foundation of the organization–so far so good–the 6th and 7th were curious. Both were dark angels and they were facing Pao, the card reader. Cards facing the reader apparently mean that they represent something I am not aware of yet. The cards themselves represented aspects of the mind. At the time I took it lightly, “oh well, suppose I’ll figure that part out in time, whatever”.

Back to the Tushita retreat, which was “gentle”…I stayed in a dorm room with 9 other women. We ate 3 meals a day, had introductory teachings on Emptiness, the Perfect Human Rebirth, Reincarnation, Bodhicitta, etc…i taught yoga, we had tea breaks and discussion groups. The meditations were often guided and never lasted longer than 45 minutes. The result of this ‘lite’ retreat was powerful.

Over this last 7 years I have been looking for something to do. no? Yes, a practice that makes complete sense, a place to practice and a community to practice with. Buddhism as transmitted by the Tibetans is looking pretty good.

The key that unlocks the door beyond all of the other keys that have unlocked so many doors is that the Mahayana (The Greater Vehicle) tradition, advocates that to attain full enlightenment one must work for the benefit of all sentient beings…and the main example of the practice at work is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Who in my opinion, is one of the modern day examples of a true leader.

It doesn’t just say it either…it gives incredibly (sometimes ridiculously:) detailed descriptions and practices for exactly how one can go about obtaining this lofty goal and provides loads of different paths depending on individual temperment, etc. And contains aspects of all of the things I have practiced to this point…but specifically addresses the mind.

So this week I am at His Holiness’ teachings and next week I head to Italy. More as things develop.

How are you?

Heaps of love from Mcleod Ganj,

Tiff