Bodh Gaya [Map]---------Vipassana Meditation---------June 28 | 29 | 30 |---------July 12---------Next
Bodh Gaya or Bodhgaya was the home of a large monastic settlement and is famous for being the place of Gautama Buddha's attainment of "nirvana" (Enlightenment). For Buddhists, it is the most important of the four main pilgrimage sites related to Gautama Buddha's life.
28 June 2008------Back
28 June 2008-----9:09 AM--------------Hello Goodbye Gaya! ...and on to Bodh Gaya
Muriel caught the delayed 16.25 Doon Express 3010 from Varnasi on Friday night arriving much later than the sheduled time of 21:40 in Gaya. There she checked into Hotel Akash near Gaya railway station. This hotel is reputed to have character, the rooms surrounding an Islamic-inspired inner courtyard with a nice open-air area upstairs for reading. The rooms have TVs, though there is no mention of Internet facilities. Muriel used the Hotel Akash just as a short stop-over, because she checked out at 9.09 AM, persumably bound for Bodhgaya where she will stay in the Bhutanese Monastery until Monday morning.
28 June 2008-----9:15 AM--------------From Varanasi to Gaya, a long long trip!
Gopal very kindly accompanied me to the end of old Varanasi and we separated with great emotion promising to keep in touch with each other. It is 2pm. My train leaves at 4.25 pm but I want to book my return and make some railway inquiries for my future travel from Katmandu to Munger which I want to be as safe as possible.
A rickshaw driven by Gopal's friend takes me to Varanasi station. I can see a cow in a silk sari shop....just near customers. It all looks so natural! You cannot say anything to a cow! Cows are just great and I do not know how they cope with the stress and extreme noise of the traffic in towns. I have seen happy and well fed cows in the rich Varanasi houses where they are kept on the ground floor in the middle of the house. Traditional Indian houses are built like the old Roman houses with an “atrium' in the middle so that there is a large open space in the house and members of family or different lodgers can see each other from one floor to another and also hang their washing.
I have seen those fat cows with garlands of flowers around their neck, but in the streets cows are often skinny and are so desperate that they eat anything in the garbage including plastic bags. Too sad!
My rickshaw man tells me about his family living 100 km from Varanasi and how life in villages is different and quieter. His parents are farmers and he came to Varanasi to make money but does not like the crazy life of the large Varanasi (3 millions inhabitants). I hope I will soon have another view of India and get away from the cities.
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Vegetable fields |
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I do find most people faces display hardness. Smiles are really rare when you do shopping. Life is so tough for people that they seem very withdrawn and do not know anything about “manners”. Perhaps I'll find more smiles and open faces later in my trip. Cities have disastrous effects on human beings. Being a traveller might not help either as you are thought of as a wallet!
My train from Varanasi to Gaya was my third Indian railway experience. I booked a non A/C sleeper place. While asking for my train platform, a young guy from Tcheck republic came to the same officer and we discovered we were heading in the same direction, Gaya. So we naturally decided to wait together. Zdenek is working for the Tcheck Embassy in Mumbai. He was my angel guardian because we waited together for 4 hours before the train was announced and we had to go to several platforms before finding the right one. A sacred cow was walking on the rails but nobody bothered. Zdenek helped me with my bagpack which was too heavy.
Travelling in non A/C is always a rough and difficult experience but we were together and I felt very safe. We called my hotel with his mobile (mine was still not working!) and decided to book another room for me. A good job as we arrived at 3am instead of 9.20 pm!.
Each of my trains up to now have been delayed for 4 or 5 hours. It makes me appreciate Europe and Western organization! On top of that, stations are never very nice places to be. Poverty is everywhere with beggars and Indians sleeping on the platforms. It smells terrible with the heat, and each monsoon rain is a benediction as it cleans up the atmosphere. In Indian stations there are usually no boards, and the announcements are done with the worst English accent.
Anyway, we arrived safely and had plenty of time to discuss. Zdenek is a lovely guy, husband and father of 2 small boys, and working in Mumbai (Bombay) for one year and a half as an accountant for the Tcheck Embassy. He told me about the “rich” city of Bombay and how Varanasi seems poor by comparison. Zdenek (it means Sidonis!) looks like a Buddhist monk with his shaved hair. He is a Buddhist, he has travelled a lot in his life (China) and is going to Bodhgaya to visit and meditate for the weekend. A pilgrimage. We will stay in the same monastery for the weekend.
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Bhutanese monastery |
Bhutanese monastery |
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Nice to have a reliable companion for few days before my retreat begins.
28 June 2008-----10:00 AM--------------Arrival at Bodhgaya
The night was short and hot. The Akash hotel, which looks very old and nice from outside, has pretty rudimentary rooms. We have to fill in long forms with our names and passport numbers before going to the rooms. A long cold shower helps me to recover from the journey. I cannot sleep. It is too hot and the ventilator is weak. I read Gandhi at 5am. A power cut. The generator is now making a terrible noise and I cannot close an eye. Finally at 5am I manage to sleep naked on one of my white dapatha transformed into an extra sheet (I don't have much trust in the cleanness of the sheet).
At 8am, Zdenek knocks on the door and we take a tuctuc to Bodhgaya. 100 rs for both of us. The landscape becomes very green and more luxuriant. There are many trees along the road, very green lawns and beautiful ponds with lotus flowers. The air from the tuctuc feels delicious and fresh on my skin devoured by mosquitos. We arrive at the Buthanese monastary. Such an atmosphere of calmness. Fabulous temple. Large garden. Singing birds. We have two different rooms. It is nice and clean. The price is very reasonable (250 rupees, the equivalent of 3 pounds). Zdenek asks if he can see the Reverend and go to some rituals. I will go with him tomorrow.
I decide first to get shed 4 kg from my bag, which is far too heavy to travel. I will give away what is not totally useful for my trip. I prepare a parcel addressed to England with the presents I bought for my relatives. Silk and perfume. A guy offers his help (they always appear from everywhere!) and we go to town. Only 15 minutes' walk through the village. It is good to be outside of big cities and I love seeing the kids playing in the field. Such a different feeling! I first pack my parcel in a box with the efficient help of Zdenek - but that it is not the Indian way. The guy who accompanied us takes us to a tailor! Indian people wrap their parcel in material which is sewed by the tailor so that nobody can open the packet! It takes a while and another 80 rupees. A very unusual parcel! I write the name of Ted who will receive my parcel (it might take up to 3/4weeks for it to arrive in England). It takes more than 2 hours just having the parcel sent.... The post office is antique and the scale too. Entering Bodhgaya post office was certainly a journey into the past. 155 tiger stamps are glued onto my beautiful parcel. I go and buy translucid cellotape. The postman sews the receipt. I send it as "special delivery" but have to wonder whether it will arrive. I pray both to the Buddha and the God of Post offices. The procedure is long but fun.
At last I am free and go to an internet cafe to update the blog and provide some news. Now it it is time to go and visit the main temple which is just behind the hotel.. I will first go to the very famous Bodhi (illumination) tree where Buddha received illumination.
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Bodhi (illumination) tree |
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Buddha literally means the one who is enlightened. Millions of Buddhists from all obediences and from all over the world travel to Bodhgaya to meditate. It is a place of pilgrimage like la Mecque, Varanasi or Jerusalem. It was hard work to arrive here but I now feel very happy!
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The main temple |
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28 June 2008-----2:55 PM--------------Visit to the Bodhgaya Maha Bodhi Temple
After I had successfully recharged my second phone, Ted and Veronique called me. I was just visiting the bodhgaya Maha Bodhi temple and meditating when Veronique called. It was good to hear them both after a week in Varanasi which was such an amazing and intense experience and an incursion into both The Middle Ages and the devotional and extremely ritualistic aspect of India.
I find that there is much more calm and introspection here. The visit to the Maha Bodhi Temple and its gardens was a real entry to paradise. I feel much closer to this religion/philosophy than to the Tantric magic Hinduism of Varanasi.
Not so many false devouts in Buddhism! In Buddhism, you're supposed to do the work and to transform yourself (hopefully for the best) by some real introspection and specific meditative practice. I went to rest under the famous Bodhi Tree and it was calming, refreshing and moving to be there and reflect on what Buddha might have felt and gone through 2500 years ago. Buddha is said to have obtained illumination after seeing the poverty and suffering of his country and reflecting on it.
There are a lot of interesting sculptures in the garden and a lovely Buddha in a pond. The Emperor Asoka erected a small shrine in the third century B.C. The quantities of flowers and beautiful green lawns everywhere give a feeling of abundance. What a lovely feeling of peace - well needed after these first 15 days!
The heat and humidity are extreme. No tourists. I am craving for a shower and I wish I could just go under the rain of the monsoon like Lady Chaterley playing naked in the English rain, but I contain my desires and will wait for my shower in the room of the Monastery!
There are a lot of monasteries here: Tibetan, Tai, Chinese, Burmane, Japanese.... I will return early to the Burmanse monastary and will probably meditate tomorrow in the monastary hoping to get some peace after experiencing the chaotic extremes of Indian.
Bodhgaya is like the rest of India. People do not always look friendly. Kids are always after you, trying to sell postcards and chanting the titles of cds, and there is quite a lot of begging. Roads are a bit hectic, but far less than in Delhi, Agra and Varanasi! I develop a very compassionate strategy in order to cope with the frequency of rudeness from some Indians.
The rains have been very heavy and I take opportunity to have lunch (my only meal of the day) consisting of rice, vegetables curry, dahl, chappatis and cucumber salad.
I have another 2 days to relax and to see more of Bodhgaya, the great statue of Buddha, the river Phalgu and I will try to reach Nirvana within the 12-day period of my Vipassana meditation, which begins next Tuesday 1st July! Many oms to all of you xxx Bodhi Mu
29 June 2008------Back
29 June 2008-----5:52 AM--------------A good night sleep at the Buthanese Monastary
I could not wait any longer at the Shiva Internet Cafe as it was getting late and dark and decided to walk in the rain. The rain was warm but it was still refreshing. No lights on the road but the traffic is not intense in Bodhgaya. It is only a little town.
I finally reached my room. It is a relief to have some calm and rest far from the town, although Bodhgaya is nothing like the busy and hectic Varanasi. I really need to rest. I go and see Zdeneck and we exchanged our day experiences. Tourists and Indians wanted to take picture of him in the Mahabodhi Temple while he was meditating. I am not surprised as he looks like Siddartha Gautama himself!
I woke up with a sciatica probably caused by the carrying of my heavy bag. After some yogic posture, my right leg is fine again and I walk properly. No need of osteopaths when you know yoga. It is one of the good things about yoga but certainly a minor benefit!
It is 6am. I meet Zdeneck in the corridor. We are both going to the early meditation in the Buthanese temple. I put my large red plastic poncho on. It has been raining all night and it is still raining although less heavily. I look like a ladybird and I wish I could send you photos of me. The temple is closed and Zdeneck has already disappeared. This strong man walks fast. I return to the main building and meet the Reverend Monk who welcomes me with a large smile. He is from Buthan and has a large calm and smiling face. So lovely just to look at him. I realise he is doing his morning prayers and soon leave listening to the sweet sound of his Buthanese prayers.
I decide to go and visit all the monastaries around. 7am. A good time. It is not too hot yet. I begin by the Japanese one and I learn that I could do zazen meditation tomorrow morning at 6am if I want.
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Japanese monastery |
Japanese monastery |
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The temple is sober and it is a nice feel. I feel at home in this elegant and simple temple. It engages my mind for meditation. The Buthanese, Tai and Tibetan temples are full of decorations, of gold and tankas and representations of Buddha under the famous tree, which certainly has its charm and appeal, but it is all too rich for me.
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Bhutanese monastery |
Bhutanese monastery |
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Thai monastery |
Thai monastery |
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Tibetan monastery |
Tibetan monastery |
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If India was poorer than now 25 centuries ago, I understand why Buddha meditated upon suffering and worked hard to find a way out of human misery and attained enlightement! The monastaries are rich and well kept and leave me peaceful for a while.
Some very small kids play in the street. Half naked and poor. They say "hello". They might be 4 or 5 years old. I answered back to their greetings and they immediately add "money!". It is 8 o'clock and those words in such young mouths fill me with an extreme sadness. English language in India can be an easy way to plea and beg even more. Those kids knew only two words "hello and money". Desastrous early conditioning.
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Three Boys |
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I arrive to the Great Buddha statue at the end of the Temple street. The Buddha is 25 meters high and has an enimagtic and peaceful expression. He is surrounded by his 10 disciples. There is a beautiful garden though it is a pity you cannot walk in it and sit and meditate. You cannot even go and sit in the Temples. You can only watch them from the door. The Great Buddha Statue was built in 1989 by a Japanese Buddhist Order in homage to the enlightment of Buddha in Bodhgaya. A very impressive view.
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Great Buddha |
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Leaving my great Buddha friend, I keep visiting other monastaries, the Daijokyo Temple, the Indosan Nipponji Temple and the Karma Temple. Rickshaws want to take me but I like walking and keep going to the town. A young body comes near me. I answer back to his hello trying not to be too defensive. The boy aged 19 explains that he is studying to become a Nepali Buddhist monk. He begins to follow me and very shortly speak about his social work. He is taking tourists to a place where there are handicapped people, in order to raise funds. I explain to him that I have no money and cannot help. This constant sollicitation is tiring. I am happy to be alone on the road and meet Zdeneck looking for his breakfast. I find a new cybercafe, the Vishnu internet cafe which is nicer than the Shiva Internet where I was yesterday. No power cut yet!
I now hope to have a light breakfast and take some good rest in the Mahabodhi Temple near the Bodhi Tree far from the turburlent world. You certainly need a lot of silence and space when you travel in India!
29 June 2008-----11:47 AM--------------A new day near the Bodhi tree!
After my early visit to the most beautiful Buddhist temples in the world, I meet Zdeneck on my way to the village of Bodhgaya and accompany him on his trip to the religious shops of Bodhgaya. Buddhas statues and malas (Buddhist rosaries) everywhere. The great market of spirituality! Zdeneck wants to buy some little statues of Gautama for himself and his friends. He is also looking for a small stupa (a cone like shaped monument erected to the glory of Buddha) and various Mahayana ritual objects as he is a practioner of Tibetan buddhism.
His way of bargaining is amazing. He has been in India for a while and knows the art of dealing with Indians. He never buys and always says he will come back. Sellers run after him in the street.... Prices fall down at an incredible speed. He is often offered a "morning price" for good karma!!! We have a laugh as, from one shop to another, prices can triple and we can get them down so quickly. A game. I am not sure I enjoy it, but it is certainly a game and unless you have a fair understanding of what you buy and the normal value of the objects, it is impossible to buy anything in India. I even bargain for my mangos now!
I observe and take lessons but I am not in a position to buy anything. Some statues of Buddha are stunning and have profund expressions. There are many representations of local Buddhas and Tibetan Buddhas. No prices are ever written on any item. Silk, perfume or religious items: no difference in dealing. I successfully offer 50 Rs ( 60 pence) for a tiny Buddha as big as my thumbnail, whereas the starting price was 250 Rs. That is enough to keep me happy for the day! Small enlightement in Bodhgaya!
I leave Zdeneck to take a light breakfast and order a pancake with honey, lemon and banana as well as a chai in the Shiva restaurant where I can also check my emails. It is a very handy place as the restaurant is in front of the Mahabodhi Mahvihara Temple with its famous Bodhi Tree. More power cuts. The Internet man explains that it has never been so bad and that the monsoon is very strong this year.
I decide to go back to the Mahabodhi park and temple. Some Indians and Japanese people are walking in the park. It is not too crowded. I am able to breathe quietly, and forget for a little while the usual misery and dirtiness of India.
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Meditation Garden |
Mahabodhi Temple |
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A very lovely little girl dressed in the European /Indian fashion with a blue glittery top and dark navy trousers says hello and asks me my name in English. She has short hair as many children do here for health reasons. She is five years old and already speaks very good English. I inquire about her parents and she tells me they are in Bodhgaya. I wonder why she is alone and why she wants me to take a photo of her. She is a charmer and even gives me a sweet with the most radiant smile. Finally she offers to give me a Bodhi Tree leaf for 10 Rs: very cunning and cute little girl! What did she want to buy with 10 rupees? More sweets at the market? Was she sent by her parents? She now stays with me under the Bodhi tree from which leaves fall like snowflakes in the wind. So many rupees and dreams for a little Indian girl!
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The Bodhi Tree |
Bodhi Tree Leaves |
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A Chinese or Burmanese monk dressed in yellow meditates under the tree and I copy him. His face is so pure and relaxed. It is lovely to watch him. It is also easy to meditate under this large and reassuring tree. The tree is not the original tree under which the Prince Gautama meditated. The original Bodhi tree was killed by Ashoka's wife, but a sample taken from it was carried to Shri Lanka by Ashoka's daughter and a cutting of this tree was carried back to Bodhgaya and planted where the original had stood. Ashoka placed the temple at the rear of the tree. It marks the spot of Buddha's Enlightenment. It is the Diamond Throne called the Vajrasan. Great history for all the Buddhists in the world!
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Mahabodhi Temple |
Mahabodhi Temple |
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All around this temple are gardens with roses, shrines, votive stupas, more and more Buddhas in various meditative postures and a meditative park which is unfortunately closed because it is the low season. Instead I go to meditate near the Muchalinda Lake, a lovely lotus pond, in the middle of which stands a triumphant and powerful cobra statue of Buddha. A legend says that six weeks after his enlightement, Buddha was protected from a violent storm by the God Cobra.
India is a country of legends and tales! Buddha was first of all a philosopher and reformer but Indians love to adapt and mystify his life. Buddha himself would not have been surprised by it. He knew the nature of men and how different people can live their spirituality at different levels, but I think he always encouraged people to think for themselves and to look for the "Truth" inside themselves rather than in mere external rituals. When he died, his disciples wanted to raise a huge Buddha in his commemoration but he refused this homage. Instead he asked people to remember him through the Budhi Tree. A man of integrity and great intelligence.
Walking in the gardens, I cannot help thinking that Gautama was a man like you or me and loved to think beyond conventional wisdom and schools of institutionalized thought. It is what makes him so unique and his philosophy still so modern. He was against the usual ascetism of the time and the many meaningless rites of religions. His philosophy has been mixed with various cultures and rites since he died. Some temples are so rich and the ceremonies sometimes so complex and ritualistic that I strongly doubt that Buddha would have liked it.
Buddhism is often an interpretation of Buddha's words but not necessarily his "real" precepts. I want to read again the Discourse on mindfulness and awareness (also called Vipassana in Pali) in the famous Satipathana Sutta. Buddha insisted on the importance of meditating and becoming fully aware. This is, according to Gautama, the most important thing in life. Vipassana meditation is a mental purification which allows people to find calmness and balance in life, and and is the ultimate way to eradicate suffering by eliminating the three causes of all unhappiness: craving, aversion and ignorance.
I am going to learn this very old technique of meditation for the next 10 days. Then it can be a life practice if you want to really transform yourself through this tool. My first yoga teacher, Maria-Paz Salas, who was also following a Tibetan Buddhist path, has taught me this technique called chine in Tibetan for the 10 years I studied yoga with her in Paris. I expect to go deeper in my retreat. Meditating 8 hours a day for 10 days will be very different from mediating just a few hours in the week in the midst of an active and busy life. I really do not know what to expect, but I am certainly very happy to have the extreme luxury of devoting 12 days of my life to Vipassana meditation in the legendary town of Bodhgaya. I have already learned some very similar techniques through my yoga, and I hope they will help me to survive the meditation course, which is reputed to be difficult.
I also love another discourse of the Buddha, the one on Loving Kindness and its inspiring meditations which develop compassion, a quality so important in life. Buddha's disciples transcribe many of his discourses with probably the same imperfections and inexactitudes that you can find in the Christian scriptures. Some of Buddha's discourses were addressed to monks and some to ordinary people. They show very different styles of teaching and a wonderful flexibility in adapting ideas and concepts. Buddha was certainly a great teacher although he didn't have his PGCE!
29 June 2008-----1:17 PM--------------Meeting the lovely Rupesh who loves yoga!
After my walk in the garden, I try to find a postcard for my yoga teacher Maria-Paz and on my way meet again Rupesh who sold 2 beautiful and ancient Buddha statues to Zdeneck. Rupesh has a very 'posh' shop, the Anand Sagar Handicraft Emporium, at the entry of the Mahabodhi Temple. We exchanged a few words and soon discover that we both love and practise yoga. He practises everyday and learned through a television programme. He tells me about the morning and evening programme with one India's most famous yoga gurus: Swami Ramdev gee Maharaj. This Swami gives 2 hours of teaching, morning and evening. I tell him how I wish I could watch the programme (I already tried without any success at the Puja Guest House in Varanasi) and he invites me to watch the program in his house at 5 am tomorrow morning. I will have to awake at 4am to be there. His brother is a guide who speaks fluent French and he wants to introduce him to me.
Indian guides study for 2 or 3 years and have a good job. He would like me to meet his brother who is resting in Bodhgaya as we're off season. Rupesh describes his yogic techniques and we speak about the postures using the sanskrit names. I feel very happy to have learnt them thanks to my new yoga teacher Sarita and the Satyananda yoga which she teaches.
Rupesh has adopted me. I am his friend and he orders chai. He does not try to sell me any statue but instead gives me a small mala for my wrist. A simple mala of Budhi tree seeds from Nepal. He would like to give me another one but I like the one he chose for me.
I am very interested to me in how Rupesh has learned yoga through the medium of televison. He practices in front of the TV like millions of other Indians. He would like to go and meet Swami Ramdev in Haridwar near Rishikesh where he has an ashram. This guru is a man of 45 apparently greatly loved and respected by Indians. He tells me he is a man of integrity and refuses to take a single rupee from the people visiting the ashram. I only hope it is true and that TV money is enough for this guru. I am looking forward to seeing this big star of Yoga and Indian television.
Rupesh tells me about his dream of living and working in another country. His family has a very good business where his dad and brothers all work at different times of the day. We are sitting crossed-legged in the shop, but he wants to see other horizons.
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Passport photos |
Local snack bar |
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His parents would like him to marry as he is 29, but he does not want to. Of course, this would be an arranged marriage, as is common everywhere in India. Naturally, he can refuse if he doesn't like the fiancee. He is the last child in the family. Some of his friends have married Japanese girls and moved to other countries. He is ready to work in a restaurant or open one abroad to fulfil his dream. I am clear about my age to avoid false hopes. He understands that yoga has helped me to keep my youth. His other dream would be to live in the Himalaya near Hardiwar where it is cool and where most of the great yogis have their ashrams. I begin to think that it was an excellent idea to come off-season and suffer the heat and the monsoon otherwise I would never have had the chance to know so many people who are free and happy to discuss with me.
30 June 2008------Back
30 June 2008-----7:39 AM--------------Yoga on Indian TV with Swami Ramdev at 5am!
Another peaceful night in the Buthanese Monastary. I am getting used to the mosqueto net and my legs which were devoured by the mosquito-vampires of Varanasi begin to look better. The alarm clock rings at 4am and it seems very natural to get up so early in India . The sciatica came back in the night, but again 'the forward dog position', some squatting and spine stretching restore my lower vertebra to its rightful place. This is an after-effect of my old 1986 sky accident which left this part of my body pretty weak. I should practise several time during the day to consolidate my lower back.
Quick cold shower. I wash up my last Salvar kumeez hanging on my 2 meter long thread (I am so happy of this purchase as well as my mechanic lightlamp but haven't yet used my 100 decibels whistle!). I am dashing to town and meet the principal monk in the Monastary gardens who wonders where I am going so early in the morning. "5 o'clock yoga program on television with Swami Ramdev!". Quick, I'm late. A bicyclette richshaw is at the corner of the street. Usual dealing. I am asked for 50 rupees whereas it should be only 10, but the guy is old and I give him 20. I arrive exactly at 5am in front of the Deep Guest House and Rupesh is waiting for me. We go directly to his house. A small and modest house. Picture of his Mum who left this world 2 years ago. The Om symbol is on the wall. A large bed is used as the main sitting furniture. Mattresses are extremely hard which make beds easy to sit on with crossed legs. I meet Rupesh's Dad and his brothers. His brother Ravikand stays with us and greets me in perfect and pure French. After only 2 years of French, his pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary are amazing. He studied for 2 years in Delhi' university and he is now a guide, a French and English escort, as it is written on this business card.
The TV program looks different from what Rupesh is used to. Swami Ramdev is given a special celebration and award by Indian television. Flowers. Discourses. Acknowledgments from different doctors. Witnesses to the good effects of their yogic practice. Swami is simply dressed in orange in the traditional way. Long black hair and beard. He looks very young and heathly with a perfect body and posture but I am told he is 55. A real advertisement for yoga. It is clear that he is a big star and a lot of very rich people are in a Delhi theatre to celebrate his achievements and to present him with a special award for helping so many people. There are a lot of speeches in Hindi but I have two translators both in French and English! Swami Ramdev smiles a lot and has a determined face. Sometimes his smile is very sweet, in a very "Indian" and romantic way. His smile seems to hang on his face for a micro second. His attitude is holistic and he is both a master in yoga and ayurveda medecine. He wants to help people to recover from &/or be free of disease, using natural medecine rather than allopathy whenever it is possible.
Rudesh gives me Swami Ramdev's website which I just visited. Swami Ramdeve Gee Maharaj. At first Ramdev appears like a saint in a sky of stars. His orange dress and long hair and beard makes him look like a real traditional guru. But soon this heavenly image gives space to a good and complete website with publications and cds and many explanations about pranayama (energy control through breathing exercises), mudras (fingers postures with energy chanels), asanas (impressive photos of postures). Not much about meditation but the emphasis is health. A lot of colours on the books to suit the popular Indian taste. Swami Ramdev after an hour of celebration finally speaks and demonstrates some pranayama. His nauli (stomach churning) is stunning. He is clear and direct in his explanation and I can see how he can help people by teaching simple but efficient practices like kapalbati or bastrika (bellow breathing) or Anuloma Viloma breathing (alternate nostril breathing for general balance and calm) and brahamari (bee sound beathing with fingers on eyes for introspection). This man has brought yoga to millions of Indians who can practice morning and evening thanks to his TV programme. 5am - 7.30am and 7pm -8 pm. He advocates half an hour a day to keep in good health, and of course half an hour out of 24 hours for such a benefit is excellent value. He also advises doing 10mn of vigorous physical exercises, and executes them with great energy and flexibility. The audience sitting in comfortable armchairs show very bad postures, and many bellies show than more than one of them could benefit from the lesson. Some participants come to testify to having lost weight or being cured from ailments. Ramdev is very charming, has a wide smile and encourages positive thinking. His position is very privileged as he can bring back yoga to where it belongs: India. Television has become a common item in people houses, so nearly everybody has the possibility to learn the basics of yoga. Rupesh tells me that normally the programme is shot in Ramdev's mandir in the Himalayas with thousands of people practising at the same time he is teaching. The spectators can also follow the program and practice. Modern technology is bringing back yoga to India and it is nice because it seems to me there is more yoga in Europe than in India. People are usually too poor to afford real lessons. Some like Rupesh would like to go to Hardiwar and follow a week course with Ramdev. The training is free. Of course there are a lot of people and I suppose that it is far from being a one to one lesson!
30 June 2008-----9:09 AM--------------Ravikand Kumar, a lovely French and English Escort.
Chai is served with a high level of hospitality and I read Ravikand' guide book, which he wrote himself in French. He translated into beautiful French the history of the main towns in Rajasthan, Jaipur, Jodhpur,Jaisalmer... and Delhi and Agra. I am very impressed by the linguistic qualities of this young man of 21, who is obviously intelligent, refined and had studied very hard to obtain such proficiency in French after only 2 years university study. Beautiful and clear writing. So nice to see handwriting when you are so used to typing all your essays on computer.
Ravikand explains that he is now a recognised guide working for an agent and accompanying French tourists on their trips around Rajasthan. His studies are exclusively language-based, and he used books to inform himself about the history of India. He is now in touch with the French Alliance. I am very impressed that he can speak so beautifully without ever having visited France.
The visit to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur can cost 400 euros per person with his agency (3 days trip). He organises the whole trip from taxi, buses to hotels. I do not think the rate I gave includes the 5 star hotel but I am not sure. Ravikand warns and protects tourists against all possible abuses (false local guides in contact with the maffia or taking commission on shops with non-authentic Indian goods). Of course I can see the charm and use of such trips but I know they would not suit my sense of adventure. I very much like to discover alone although it was very precious to have Pappu and Gopal to guide me for my first two weeks in India.
Having said that, I would be happy to visit Rajasthan with Ravikand because he is absolutely adorable, knowledgeable and discreet but I will keep my low budget hotels... I pray the great Buddha that I will be able to come and visit the Rajasthan, Rishikesh, Darhamsala and the Himalayas in a very near future! Rajasthan is one of the jewels of India and I regret I could not visit Jaipur 2 weeks ago because of politic troubles.
Ravikand would like to know if he could work in France. I tell him about the French economic situation. I do not want to be discouraging but I feel it is better to let him know how diffiicult it is even for French people to find a job. So unless he can give something very special and unique his possibilities of employment would not be easy. But he might contact the Indian Embassy and the University of "langues O (Oriental) to see if they need a teacher of Hindi. Being a translator and interpreter for French police dealing with Indian cases might be another route but it is then important to speak as many Indian dialects as possible. A visit to France as a tourist would anyway benefit the young and talented Ravikand and would expose him to another world. He would then be able to ask for himself about job possibilities as well as improving his level of spoken French and understanding of French culture. I wish I could help more and will forward him some website addresses which could be useful in his research.
I leave the house very happy to have met such a pure, honest and lovely family. It is a real relief to meet such nice Indian people after the stress of Varanasi.
30 June 2008-----9:51 AM--------------What beautiful gifts!
It is 8am and after exchanging addresses with Ravikand and promising to email each other in French, I leave the house and go to town with Rupesh who must open the shop. We have chai and discuss. The shop is absolutely empty as it is off season. I ask him about the monks and the monastaries. I tell him that I was surprised to find so many riches in them whereas Bihar was so poor. I also tell him that I regret that the access of the temple is closed for meditation although you can still give donation in the big box at the entry. I ask him if he knows how all these donations are distributed. He confirmed to me that the meditation inside the temples is reserved for the monks. Other people are only permitted to perform special rituals. I ask him how monks help the poor in Bihar. Although Rudesh doesn't engage in harsh criticism and is charitable and balanced in his comments, I understand that monks are not very generous. I cannot help thinking ot the hypocrisy of the Vatican and our Christian churches. Human beings are the same everywhere on the planet and Buddhists from all over the world are not excepted. Most of them are well fed and keep meditating inside their beautiful golden temple with no actions in the outside world or a minimum to justify their ego. Buddha himself who renounced his kingdom and fortune and led a poor life of wandering monk, living off begging, would not be pleased with such attitudes, but he wouldn't either be surprised. It is for me the ultimate example of very bad use of meditation for selfish motives.
30 June 2008-----3:18 PM--------------Afternoon in the meditation gardens of the Mahabodhi Temple
I follow Rupesh's advice and go to the Mahabodhi Temple Office to ask for a ticket for the access to the meditation gardens. 100 rupees, just for 2 hours. I fill in two forms before signing the right one, and giving name and passport number! On my way there, a very handicapped child walking on his fours comes to me and I give him some money. Then a very poor old man comes and my heart melts again. Finally a poor child is brought in front of my eyes.... What can one do? My help is a drop in an ocean of poverty and suffering.
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Bodh Gaya dwellings |
Shanty house |
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I go to the gardens and they are certainly worth the money. It is paradise on earth. I walk and think that it is a wonderful way to prepare for my 10 days' retreat. Flowers, nice trees, huge bells, a pond and little haven of meditation where I take refuge. My red poncho becomes my meditation mat and my Lonely planet guide of India my meditation cushion! It is heaven to have some rest and listen to the birds and meditate after visiting India, which can be a very hectic and loud experience. I am the only one in the Garden. Nobody else except few gardeners. The horns of mad rickshaws remind me there is still a crazy life not far away. I decide to sleep for half an hour and return to my meditation. Four friendly dogs come to greet me and I decide to go to the Bodhi Tree before leaving this magic place.
30 June 2008-----3:20 PM--------------Romantic India!
Pappu from Agra calls to tell me that his last sister just got engaged and he tells me how much he loves me. This morning Gopa from Varanasi was calling me to tell me how much Varanasi, himself and Sonu were missing me. Now Rupesh comes to the Internet café and greets me with a lot of tenderness. It feels good to have made such lovely connections with all the cities I have visited. Indians can be very romantic in expressing their feelings, and England (with a few exceptions) hasn't get me used to so many expressive declarations of love and friendship!
30 June 2008-----3:37 PM--------------Going to Vipassana retreat and no more news until 12 July.
I will go tomorrow to the Vipassana Centre which is 4 km from Bodhgaaya. Rupesh told me that it is a lovely place with very large halls. His brother told me that the retreat was hard. 9 hours meditation practice per day. But how could I think meditation is hard? The poverty and suffering I see in the streets is really hard: not taking care of oneself, not being fed and not having the luxury to meditate! I will make the most of these fabulous 10 days because time is precious. Such opportunities does not happen often in life. The retreat will be entirely silent. Only women. Getting up at 4am and going to bed at 9pm. No mobile, no internet, no email, no contact with the external world for 10 days. Some breaks for tea, lunch, dinner and walks.
I will send the Vipassana Centre number to my sister Veronique in case of emergency. I will leave Bodhgaya on the 12 July and will be in Katmandu on 13 July. Hopefully I will meet my cousin Carole and her Nepali husband Sagun there, unless there are floods in Bangladesh - in which case Carole will have to work for UNICEF. I cross my fingers and pray to the Great Buddha and all the precious stones around my neck. I hope that the sky will be nice to all of us, Bandagleshi, Tronchet and Jacquinet, and that I will be able to meet my lovely cousin!
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Village shrine |
Crossing the Falgu River |
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12 July 2008------Back
12 July 2008-----2:55 PM--------------I made it!
I made it and finished my 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat in Bodh Gaya and feel extremely happy. It was not always easy, far from it..... but what a beautiful teaching! What a beautiful technique of meditation which will stay with me forever! Probably the deepest and truest meditation I have ever met in my life. Buddha knew what he was speaking about. There are many many techniques of meditation and this one taught by Gautama has been lost in India and only kept alive in Burma where Goenka learned it and then transmitted it in India and in more than 150 centers in the whole world. My friend Ted just told me that Vipassana is even taught in prisons in the most successful way. There is a documentary called "Doing time, doing Vipassana" on this experience. See www.dhamma.org/en/av/dtdv.shtml.
I have not been serving time but Ted thinks I entirely deserved my retreat and I certainly dealt with few demons there.... The worst was my back and my hips. Sitting crossed legs for 10 hours a day can be an excrutiating experience. The back can collapse and it is really hard work even after 22 years of yoga and many more years of dance. So I discovered I was soft and I decided to deepen my yogic and meditative practice in the future.
But first let me tell you about the Dhamma Centre of Bodh Gaya. A haven of peace and quietness. Beautiful people welcoming us. Openness and smiles. The beautiful Priyan "Be Happy" always ready to serve and totally committed to Vipassana.
Only 9 women and around 40 men including 15 monks in orange and ocre dresses. Men and women stayed in separate accommodation and we only met in the Meditation Hall, meditating in separate parts of the hall. As we were very few women, I was lucky to have a room on my own with shower and toilets. Very clean. Blue. Mosquito net. Two beds. I put one on the wall to have a bit of space to practise yoga. The bed is only a piece of wood with a very thin mattress (2cm deep!). Cold showers but that is very welcome with the heat of the monsoon.
Getting up at 4am and silence were pretty easy. It was more difficult to keep attention focused at 4.30am for two hours. The 3 first days were certainly the toughest ones. We meditated all together for 10 hours and my recent lack of practice made it hard for my body. The technique was introduced very slowly. Breathing and sensations around the mouth and nose for 3 days. Instructions through tapes and Goenka discourse every night from 7 to 8.30 pm. I found it a bit weird but got used to it.... and I learned a lot!
I would like to tell you more about this Vipassana technique and will come back to it next time because the subject is too interesting not to tell you more. It is a life transforming experience! It is a psychophysiological work based on the simple idea that all sensations in the body are connected with emotions and breath. It is a cleansing process leading ultimately to liberation, the famous liberation of Buddha under the Buddhi Tree. A long process.... A process that I already approached in yoga which is also a purification process and aims at "liberation".
I managed to keep my sanity in spite of the hardness of the retreat. I do not think that it is a retreat for complete beginners and you certainly need to be balanced, motivated and determined to learn to go through with it. The physical pains you get through the posture is only one part of the process...
I am now happy to be out and to experiment true detachment and equanimity in real life when exposed to everyday emotions.... Heading now to Gaya with 3 other girls of the course, Caroline, Marie and Anka. We are all going to Varanasi with the 1am train. We should arrive at 6am in Varanasi tomorrow morning. I take a flight for Katmandu at noon and should arrive at 1pm. Sagun, the husband of my cousin Carole, will be waiting for me at the airport with a board "MURIEL". I am looking forward to my trip to Nepal... Will tell you more about Vipassana when I have a bit more time. Many oms from Bodh Gaya xxx Muriel
Voici le lien à mon stage de méditation vipassana à Bodhgaya avec tous les détails de la pratique et l'emploi du temps.
Vipassna Meditation------See video on what is Vipassana Meditation?------Back
See also web page on the documentary film Doing Time, Doing Vipassna about the use of this form of meditation in prison reform programmes.
THE TIMETABLE
The following timetable for the course has been designed to maintain the continuity of practice. For best results students are advised to follow it as closely as possible.
4:00 a.m.-----------------------Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 a.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 a.m.----------------Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 a.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 a.m.---------------Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon-------------Lunch break
12:00- 1:00 p.m.--------------Rest, and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 p.m.----------------Tea break
6:00-7:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 p.m.----------------Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 p.m.----------------Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.-----------------------Retire to your room; lights out.
Map of Gaya------Back
