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

Tags: India, Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 9:10 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.