Ready for takeoff!

Our trip has come to a close, and it’s been a bittersweet day. After being in Kathmandu for almost a month we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, and had a life changing time. This morning we had two final presentations. One was about the Development and the Environment in Nepal, and the other was about Christianity vs. Buddhism.
 It was so interesting to be able to understand how much Nepal is advanced in sustainable initiatives such as Eco-Groups, only organic foods, and solar panels everywhere. There are many developmental issues from the pollution, to the dirt roads, and the poor water conditions. We believe in the strive and dedication that the people here have towards making a change in Kathmandu. Learning the differences and similarities about Christianity and Buddhism was also very interesting, because they have many more similarities than we thought. One thing that differentiates them is the belief in a creation story.

After presentations, we had the pleasure of having a fully treated meal by Tereza Joy, and Larry. Both Loppon, and Rigszen joined us as we toasted and cheered to a successful trip. After lunch, some of us went to Himalayan Java Café to cherish the last time (during this trip) we’ll be able to visit our favorite coffee shop In Kathmandu.

We hope to bring back the love and compassion the people have here for all sentient beings, and for the environment. Even as we left we were gathered by the monks that helped us thrive and learn here. There kindness and care is immeasurable. They accompanied us to the airport, and gave us blessed scarves (a Nepalese tradition). We are all so touched by the way we have all been welcomed, and became a family over these past few weeks. The bus ride to the airport was a little too quick, as we all soaked in as much as we can of the last pieces and memories of Kathmandu.

We will never be able to forget being exposed to the culture of Kathmandu and making this fantastic city our home. A few of our favorite moments were flying around Mount Everest, seeing the majestic stupa for the first time, witnessing puppies being born, and traveling to remote towns in the hills of Nepal. We’ve all learned so much throughout this month here, and will forever hold these memories close to our heart. Nepal has been our best friend for the last month, and although we will dearly miss her all of us are excited to be back home with our family and friends. We’ve said our last goodbyes to the stupa, and are ready for takeoff.

Farewell Nepal!  

The One With the Burnt Jacket

On a Tuesday evening,  towards the end of their adventures in Nepal, Aubrey, Kavya, and Sabrina found themselves packing their bags while pondering the attachments they have developed towards Nepal and the feelings of sadness that they are experiencing about leaving.

It all started at breakfast. The three were happily enjoying their various foods and busily preparing for their presentations. Professor Larry was enjoying his breakfast and email-reading by the warmth of the portable gas heater. All of a sudden the smell of smoke filled the air. Sean, the monk in charge of the kitchen, rushed out and threw Professor Larry's jacket on the floor and stomped on it. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look. Sabrina thought that the smell of burning fabric was revolting. Aubrey was thankful that Larry was unharmed. Kavya was thinking of roasting marshmallows. At this moment, the girls knew it would be an interesting day.

Before their presentations, all three girls were nervous. Presenting what one knows about Buddhism in front of Buddhist monks who have been studying for their entire lives tends to have that effect. Sabrina's group was first up. She presented about the concept of suffering and emotions with her group members Zoe and Jon. The group stood in front of the shrine room, doubling as a classroom, with palms sweating and knees weak. As their classmates and various monks from the monastery started to slowly saunter in, Sabrina was silently wishing that everyone would hurry up so she could talk. She reflected on the fact that her nervousness was a form of suffering, and that made her feel significantly better as suffering is impermanent. After a few minutes, Professors Larry and Tereza informed the class that our esteemed guest was actually the Khenpo, or headmaster, of the college. No pressure though. The presentation went better than it did during practice, and others in the class found it to be very moving. Sabrina was glad that it was over. Aubrey was impressed by how well organized the presentation was, and was nervously thinking about her upcoming presentation. Kavya was hyped to start presenting so that she could use the restroom afterwords.

Aubrey, Kavya, Blythe, and Vanny all presented about the Buddhist theory of attachment. Kavya, usually fearless when it comes to presentations, was shaking with the added pressure of pleasing the Khenpo. She took a deep breath and let the negativity go through the exhale. Aubrey was surprised words were coming out of her mouth and was worried about meeting her time mark. The audience easily grasped the complex ideas of attachment through the group's usage of Disney characters. When it was over, Sabrina was proud of her friends and the professional manner in which they presented. Aubrey was glad to be able to drop the awkward personality one adopts during a presentation. Kavya was glad people laughed at her jokes.

The next presentation was given by Johnny, Emily, and Alisa. They discussed the topic of impermanence and how we can bring this idea back to our daily lives in the United States. They used a helpful example of pouring juice into water and drinking it (eww) to embody the difficult concept. The presentation was well received by the audience, and all were relieved that all three of the presentations had gone so well.

Aubrey and Sabrina went to Roadhouse for lunch and Kavya went to get a much needed massage. The view of the stupa at lunch was beautiful, and Aubrey and Sabrina reflected on how this was our last full day of being able to experience a view like this one.

During this time, some of our classmates went to do community service in the monastery. They helped tidy the shrine room in the temple (not to be confused with our own small shrine room/classroom). After a solid ten minutes of cleaning, a monk offered the group tea and cookies, and that concluded the service work of the day.

As the day came to an end and the girls started to pack, Aubrey reflected on how this would be the last sunset she would see in Nepal. Sabrina had mixed feelings about wanting to continue exploring Nepal and also wanting to go home to see her cat. Kavya felt a profound sense of sadness at leaving this beautiful culture behind but realized that this sense of sadness was also a type of attachment. Her sadness also stems from a place of being so very content in Nepal, and from the realization that leaving means going back to being the leader of the free world (or Saint Mary's world for now).

P.S. Kavya found the Karma bank and made a fat deposit. The rest of us are still looking.

Home Stretch

Today ended up being a partial day off for some, as others did conferences with Tereza. Zoe got the opportunity to sleep until it was too late for breakfast (which ends at 10, mind you). In the meantime, Jon went with Kavya, Emily, and Katherine to get a full body massage. But apparently it was too cold for a full body massage, so they settled on a foot bath and a light "full body" massage. Poor Jon couldn't do the full body massage anyways, because Fatima's (the acupuncturist/herbal medicine doctor/massage parlor) has no male attendants, and it would be too inappropriate for a woman to perform a full body massage on a man. Nonetheless, Jon wasn't discouraged. He still got a much needed foot massage/cleaning (ew). They came back refreshed and rejuvenated.

The time then came for meditation after about an hour of relaxing in the warmth of the morning sun. Today's meditation was different from the past in that we had a surprise location: the Padmasambhava shrine room, tucked among the construction of the monastery. Upon our entrance, we noted the cool, dark wood floors and then the massive statue that laid before us. This giant golden statue standing 30-40 feet tall overlooked this petite shrine room. Larry reminded us the story of why Padmasambhava is such a significant figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The long story short is as follows: the king of Tibet in the 8th century was actively attempting to bring Buddhism to his country. He attempted to do so by building a Buddhist temple, but was struck with dismay when opposition arose. Evil spirits and angry citizens would tear down the progress on this temple each night, stalling the introduction of this building to the country. In desperation, the king called upon Padmasambhava (who originally came from what is now known as Pakistan). Padmasambhava came per his request and changed the intent of the spirits and converted the once-angry citizens. From that point on, construction on the temple went smoothly, and not long after, Buddhism was officially introduced to Tibet. (Side note: we visited one of Padmasambhava's meditation spots during our first week when we went to the cave on our way to Pharping.) We also learned the rather disturbing component of the shrine of a staff with 3 human heads. One was supposed to be fresh and dripping with blood; on top of it lays a head a few days old; and at the head (pun totally intended) would be a human skull. He told us what it is supposed to symbolize, but we (Zoe and Jon) were too creeped out by that entire concept and the aggressiveness of the statue's facial expression to remember the symbolism. And then we meditated. I feel like that's self-explanatory...

The rest of the afternoon was mostly free. However, some of us had our one-on-one meetings with Tereza to discuss our reflective essays, and meanwhile, there was the option to go to a talk with Jose Cabezon, a graduate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He presented at Rang Jung Yeshe Institute, a Buddhist school primarily targeted toward westerners, on the relationship between Buddhism and science. He had four main points: 1) the Buddhist objective of science and the idea of religion with wissenschaft, (which is the study of religion and science). He said that many mediators are objectified and dehumanized as objects because there may be subtle changes in the brain that can't yet be measured by science. 2) Buddhism and its conflict/opposition with science. For example, in the 1800's, the 13th Dalai Lama tried to introduce science and math into the schools, but it was rejected by many. 3) Buddhism and science are very compatible and almost identical. Henry Steele Alcott revived Buddhism in Sri Lanka by building 300 schools, and he said that science and Buddhism say that human beings are subject to universal laws. Anagarika Dharnapala, a Sri Lankan who worked with Alcott, said that Buddhism and science say that there is no god, and there is no appeal to the supernatural. 4) unfortunately was forgotten, due to distraction and previous engagements.

Prior to this talk, Zoe and Esha discovered that Tashi's wife owns a salon by the stupa area. And by salon, I mean, everything salon. They do nails, hair, threading, waxing, you name a beauty treatment, they can probably do it. We went in today because Esha wanted to get her hair chemically straightened. I (Zoe), on a whim, decided to do so as well. We both have a lot of hair, so the process took waaaaay longer than we expected. About halfway through, Esha ordered a pizza as they continued to work on our hair. Four and a half hours later, our hair is now pin straight and should stay so until it gets cut. What an interesting (and rather painful) experience. I don't think it's ever taken me 2 hours to just flat iron my hair, not to mention all the tugging to get all the kinks out of my curls.

Following this talk, Jon went with Nick and Morgan and Max to Thamel to be a support system for Nick's first tattoo. Nick was a bit nervous. They sat Nick down in the chair, and were immediately thinking about buying themselves chocolate and tea. Jon didn't get the chance to see Nick's finished tattoo. They bought the chocolate and tea while waiting for Nick, since only the person being tattooed was allowed in the tattooing area. Jon still hasn't seen Nick's finished tattoo (it's now almost 10:30), since he had to come back to work on this blog and our presentation for the monks tomorrow.

It seems like that is what a majority of us have focused on this evening. Many people have been reading through the course materials, scouring for quotes to be used in our papers and presentations. Some of us (*cough* Sabrina) are already done with our papers, while the rest of us will likely wait until Friday night to frantically piece together something coherent. Tomorrow three out of the four groups will (hopefully) present to a group of the monks here at Shechen the Buddhist teachings that we have learned and will apply to our lives.

Only two more days, guys. Hang in there.

Pullahari & Thangkas

We spent the past few days staying at a different monastery called Pullahari. Here we went on a two day retreat where we were isolated from the business of Boudha and tucked away in nature. Each morning we hiked the steep stairs from the rooms where we were staying to the building where breakfast was served.

After breakfast we broke our normal routine of having meditation because we were gifted with early morning lessons from Chokyi Rinpoche at Pullahari. We sat on mats in a beautiful temple which was the perfect environment to absorb his lessons in. The first day he taught us that Buddhism is a balance between nihilism (belief that nothing matters) and eternalism (belief that everything matters). The next day he taught us about the 3 poisons in life: Anger, desire, and ignorance. These 3 poisons prevent us from reaching nirvana and living a good life. Not only did he teach us but he was able to answer our questions and have a dialogue with us. We feel very blessed to of been able to absorb his knowledge.

We spent our afternoons working on our group presentations for the monks back at Shechen. We are doing presentations on various concepts central to Buddhism philosophy. It was nice to be in a calm environment to get a kick start on our projects.

Today is January 29th and we are back at Shechen! Today we took a trip to a Thangka painter's studio apartment. His name was Noedup Rongae. Thangkas are a Tibetan Buddhist art form depicting different deities, stories, or objects from the Buddhist tradition.  He told us that wrathful deities are typically done on black backgrounds and peaceful deities are painted on red backgrounds. They are made with paint brushes that only have a few fine hairs to create the detailed designs. He took us to where he kept the Thangkas he was in the process of making. Everyone was in awe of the intricacy of each piece. He also explained the importance of keeping this tradition alive in the tumultuous modern world. We were also introduced to tibetan tea, a kind of salty butter tea.

We are continuing to learn more each day and are absorbing all that we can from Kathmandu with the short time we have left! We can't wait to see what adventures tomorrow holds!

-Katherine and Max

How can you summarize two amazing days?

January 24

It was an early start for our group, we got on the road at 8 and headed to Dhulikhel. It is a small town with a view the Himalayas added to our schedule because we asked to go to the base of Everest before we left. In Dhulikhel, we visited an important Buddhist pilgrimage site, the Namo Boudha stupa, as well as the Thrangu Tashi Monastery. The story behind the Namo Boudha was fascinating to us all and it is worth sharing. A prince and his brothers came across a tiger nursing her baby tigers but she was almost dead. The prince felt an enormous amount of compassion for the tiger because if she died so would her nursing baby tigers.  He told his brothers to go on without him and that he would catch up but instead he sharpened a branch to cut himself. When he cut himself, he fed the tiger his blood and sacrificed himself for the family. The tiger ate him and only left his bones for his brothers to later find. The stupa is built where his bones were found and there is a slab in commemoration of him.

We were lucky enough to visit this place after driving on skinny and curvy dirt roads and hiking up seemingly endless stairs. 

After getting to the top our group split up to take in the view of the Himalayas, take pictures, shop, and pay their respects to the stupa. Next, we visited the monastery and temple. We first saw a huge statue of buddha and witnessed people offering money and people paying their respects. It was a beautiful room with tons of things going on, it took our class 15 minutes to soak it in. 

The second temple we visited was eye catching because of the vibrant colors, intricate artwork, and statues. 

Larry showed us around the room, sharing his knowledge about different people and stories represented. He said he could spend a month telling us about everything in the room but settled for 30 minutes because we were all eager for lunch. 

We had lunch at a beautiful hotel with an amazing view of the mountains. Some of us explored the grounds before lunch, others waited anxiously for their food, and some massaged. 

We were served buffet: mushroom soup, mushroom rice (are we noticing a trend?), noodles, mac and cheese (the most traditional Nepalese food), potatoes, steamed vegetables, and chicken (the non-vegetarians were very pleased with meat for a change). After lunch, we got more time to soak in the scenery and walk around. Some choose to go on a hike and others stayed back to nap or give each other massages. The hike had a part of the group see a water tower like structure in the process of being built and they were very determined to climb this 12 ft structure amidst the very large spiders (The Nepali equivalent to daddy-long-legs). 

They accomplished this tremendous endeavor and enjoyed the well-deserved view.  It was a very refreshing and relaxing day filled with smiles, laughs, and snores. 

January 25

Our course got real today, after meditation, as our projects and our critical reflection essay were assigned. We talked about the assignment then had the chance to free write and discuss our ideas. We got out early so that we could all grab lunch before heading to talk with the Ripoche and do our community.

We then went on to the school, we had visited a few days prior, to join some of the classrooms and interact with the kids. So in groups of three, we were scattered among different grades ranging from 5-10. The students were so excited to see us but soon they were quite nervous when they realized they would have to answer all of our annoying questions. I'm sure they felt just as we do when our parents ask us a million question. Once the common interests aka Justin Bieber, were found everyone was having a good time singing along to the teen sensation.  Futbol was another topic the children loved to share all about.  On a more serious note though when we all shared our inspirations we had some surprising results (I certainly never had dreams this ambitious at 13 yrs old) they wanted to be engineers and computer scientists and all sorts of other outstanding aspirations. 

An amazing experience we were so fortunate to see, the Boudha Stupa lit up for the Nepali New year! Even though today is not the actual day, allegedly people pay for the Stupa to be lit in preparation for the new year!

There has been a trend amongst our group for getting tattoos and two more decided to join the group. We all have gotten tattoos that symbolize Buddhism, some even the same, but all have personal meanings that go way beyond the Buddhist meaning. It was amazing to share this specific type of bond with all of our classmates and I will always remember. How many Jan term classes can say that they got the chance to tattoos together?

We also ended the day with great news that one of the dogs at the monastery gave birth!

Signing off from your tremendous tattooed twins ;) 

The Kids are Alright

Let’s get just straight to the point and talk about the best part of our day, a special shout out to Larry Mermelstein and Shirley Blair for creating the causes of this experience. Today something extremely special happened. As a group, we visited Shree Mangal DVIP School here in Boudha, Nepal, which offers education for the forgotten children of the Himalayas. This has been the most inspiring and fulfilling experience we have had here in Nepal. The video that all of us watched before arriving left tears in the eyes of some, and left a sinking feeling in everyone. These children come from one of the poorest and least hospitable regions in the world, so much so that many of the people left to Afghanistan or Iraq to find work. Let that fact sink in for a minute, they exchanged their home villages to find work in what we consider to be some of the most dangerous and poorest places on Earth.

              At the school, you could find none of that expected damages of poverty, the kids seemed healthy, were most definitely happy, we walked into the schoolyard when a small class of what seemed to be first graders playing on the playground. They were apprehensive at first, but after we joined them in their playtime they began to exhibit all the outward signs of children. Laughter, smiles and plenty of running around. The playground that they had would never have lived up to American school standards and would have probably attracted a lawsuit back in the states, but the kids did not care and ran, screamed, and jumped all around and on it as they should.

              After our time in the yard, we were shown around the school by a couple of administrators, some of us touring the yards and the different facilities while many other visiting different classrooms and talking to the children. The younger students were doing many of the activities that we remember doing in school, coloring, dancing and learning their abc’s, yes abc’s, English lessons started very young. It was an absolute blessing to have a chance to interact with them during that time, though many were apprehensive of us at first, when one joined in they all clamored for our attention, everyone wanted a chance to say hello or to high five!

Once the kids were done with class, it was tea time. A few of us stuck around to join them. As tea was being prepared, we were excited for the unexpected interactions to come. The first girl to sit with us was the cutest 10 year old girl in pink Hello Kitty shirt and a flower crown headband. Although she was shy in the most adorable way, she was brave to sit with a couple of Westerners by herself that she had never met before. Soon her friends followed. The girl who first sat at the table, asked us to sing our national anthem. We couldn’t say no. . . so embarrassingly we belted out the Star Spangled Banner as they giggled at our horrible voices. Since we had to endure the embarrassment, we asked them to sing their national anthem in return. It was a beautiful exchange.

Swaying in Swayambunath

Yesterday we started our day in Swayabunath! The three statues we saw were the biggest statues in Nepal! These statues are fairly new and have only been there for only about ten years, but it was exciting to see how many people were giving offerings. There were also offerings of flowers in water. Then we proceeded to visit the stupa, a.k.a. the monkey temple. We circumambulated around a few times and got to witness people give offerings to the temple of small pox. They hope for their children not to get disease or get it cured if they already have it. There was something many of us noticed, there was a man selling little birds. We had thought they were being sold as pets and we wanted to buy them to let them go, but that was the purpose. To buy them in order to let them go. Afterwards we proceeded to a class at the Tanka school. There we witnessed the different levels of paintings. There were the students, masters, and professionals. We got to pass around the art and see the differences in details. One of the most interesting things we noticed was that there were two types of Mandalas; the cosmic and traditional. The traditional were more based on story-telling of the samsara. The cosmic Mandala’s were incredible complex.

The next place we visited was Patan, there we had lunch and enjoyed walking around a little bit and getting to see a different part of town. The environment in the streets were similar to what we see leaving the guest house, metal houses and street shops.

The last place we stopped at was Thamel. Here we cannot wrap up all of our experiences because we got to explore on our own. We all had a different experience, but I think we can all agree that this part of town was different than what we had been seeing. There were more tall buildings and many more junctions that we could get lost in, just like in a city. Also, we saw a lot more diversity in this part of Nepal.

Today brought an entirely new adventure for the class. Despite the fact that some of us were feeling under the weather, we powered through and held a discussion outside in the warmth of the afternoon about the high hopes we have for the future of various communities. Our journey in the afternoon took us to a local nunnery that we reached by foot. Its gates stood off to the side of one of the streets, and behind them they opened up to a beautiful campus. The buildings were constructed from red brick, and to the left through a small quad, there was a few worship rooms.

When we walked into the first floor, the nuns were in the middle of practicing some of the chants, and were playing the same instruments we were introduced to at the monastery in Pharping. The second floor housed another worship room where the nuns who go to school were practicing. The worship room on the third floor was unoccupied but was still decorated with various victory flags and held the same purpose and meaning as the other two. We learned about the system that they use for recycling, and they showed us the various ways that they reuse the plastics and bottles. The delicate crafts were meticulously made by hand and could pass as factory-made items in a store. Our day as a class ended with some hot masala tea and cookies, and some time to socialize with a couple of the younger nuns.