This week I have the great honor of being neighbors with Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. We live, oddly enough, on the floor known as the “Deva Realm” of the blue building or library building here at the Burmese Vihar.  It is probably so named not so much for its inhabitants, not the likes of me at least, as its place above the other floors. Anyhow, time is short as usual, but there has been an amazing shift in ‘energy’ since he... Read more

Living in India I find that I receive just little snapshots of life from back home; some stories, election news, the ups and downs of my friends and family. One friend emailed me the story of some recent excitement in Missoula: The national news and NPR carried a story this morning about a Missoula(maybe Frenchtown?) woman who rescued her dog from an attack by a blackbear.  The bear swiped the woman (who wants to remain anonymous) on herleg as she... Read more

Some more photos of course, and bits of life here… Let’s see… Where were we? Well, we’re back from Varanasi and into another couple of weeks of studies (for me, teaching) and meditation. We’re on to Zen now with Sensei Ekai Korematsu Osho. Sensei Ekai is amazing: clear, direct, funny, and very deep. Even so, I find my life as a Zen-student utterly failing. Too much the scholar perhaps, too much a Westerner (apparently the “Western” mind and that of... Read more

In describing Varanasi, I don’t think I could do any better than the Harvard scholar Diana Eck, author of  Banaras. I skimmed the pages of her book in preparation for my own journey there and found a few passages well worth sharing. As she writes, “To linger in Banāres is to linger in another era, an era which one cannot quite date by century.” And, “Banāres is a magnificent city, rising from the western bank of the River Ganges. where the... Read more

Such is India.  A stupa at the Burmese Vihar at the end of my floor, pleasantly called the “Deva Floor” as it is reserved for teachers and meditation masters. The first wave of illness has made its way through our students and faculty here at the Burmese Vihar in Bodh Gaya. Nothing serious, fortunately, but plenty of trips to the clinic. In all, about a third of the group has dealt with something, mostly minor colds or a quickly passing... Read more

   From the train to Bodh Gaya, this and the next two. The Ganga (Ganges). In Bodh Gaya (this and below).  The poverty is at times pretty daunting here, with a literacy rate of less than 50% – the lowest in the country, and a drought this year putting additional strain on everyone. Above, rickshaw drivers await customers outside the markets. Rickshaw peddling is hard work on these old bikes and the pay is incredibly low, about $1 an hour... Read more

Little time, as usual – but here are a few random photos from Delhi. Diseased Delhi – the headline as we arrived. Luckily we all stayed fairly well and made it to Bodh Gaya safely. At the Qutb Minar. The Qutb Minar itself.  From the National Museum in New Delhi – a Jain Mahavira statue. At the Jama Masjid, a massive mosque in Old Delhi. Time to run for now – more soon! Read more

Our time is up in New Delhi, next stop: Bodh Gaya. With some caveats. First our train was to leave at 4pm this afternoon, but was delayed to 7pm, and then four more hours to 11pm. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s delayed again and we have to stay the night. It has been a very rainy – apparently at record levels around here. This has precipitated an outbreak of Dengue fever, along with other diseases including malaria, H1N1, and... Read more

I’ll try to write more later, but that’s about how much time I have now, so here goes: Landed in New Delhi yesterday. Not too hot. New airport. Clean. Fast. Traffic still crazy. Man riding motorbike 10-15mph in middle of highway talking on cell phone. Missed turn-off? No problem, just back up, traffic goes around. Use horn a lot. Bigger vehicle wins. New Suzuki Swifts seem to be popular, along with many other tiny newer cars, then many buses, auto-rickshaws,... Read more

“Let both laymen and monks think that it was done by me. In every work, great and small, let them follow me” — such is the ambition of the fool; thus his desire and pride increase.” – Dhammapada 74 It’s interesting how some of the cardinal virtues of American culture: ambition, desire (drive?), and pride, are seen as vices in early Buddhism. But in truth we need to be careful here. For, as the great English scholar David Webster has... Read more