While in Nepal

My time in Nepal truly touched my heart. I met wonderful people who extended such loving kindness and generosity toward me. May this generosity continue through my thoughts and actions.

Instead of living at the nunnery, which was outside of Boudha, and too far to travel from daily, I had the opportunity to live at the Odiyana Buddhist Center with Brandon and Andy, two Dharma practitioners, and Lopan Kelsang. The Lopan is a teaching monk who has his Ph.D equivalent in Buddhist philosophy. The Odiyana family opened their hearts and their living space to me; when I arrived in Boddha, my initial living arrangements changed and because of the re-enthronement ceremony, it was difficult to find a reasonably priced room to let. Knowing my situation, Andy, Brandon and the Lopan offered me a place to stay. What a blessing. The Lopan said to me with his loud gruff voice and broken English: "You did not know, but this was the best thing", with gratitude agreed.
Following the re-enthronement of Tulku Rinpoche, which was so incredible, (you'll see in the pictures), I spent my days receiving transmissions of the Buddhist teachings from both the Lopan and from Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Pakchack Rinpoche at the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery. Rinpoche means precious one and it is a title that refers to an incarnate of the lineage. I am studying within the Niygma lineage. There are four lineages of Buddhist thought: The Nygma, the Sakya, the Kagyu and the Galuk.
The Ka-Nying-Shedrub Ling Monastery is affiliated with the Kathmandu University where many Western students are studying Buddhism. I was able to attend a class at the university with a professor who is currently conducting research into the neurological affects of meditation. I spoke with him after class and explained my interest in this project in regards to the cognitive benefits of implementing meditation in the classroom. He agreed to provide me with his research and additional resources. Further, I met a friend who is studying at the Shedrub and she is a student of another professor who is spearheading the Mind life Project; this project has similar goals and is sponsored by the Dalai Lama. These contacts are important as I continue to pursue my professional goals in Education.
I visited two important Buddhist pilgrimage sites: Sankhu and Parping. Sankhu is a Newari village and is home to the Vajrayogini temple, a tantric goddess that represents sthe powerful female aspects of the Buddha. The Vajrayogini is also a pilgrimage site for Hindus as the incarnation of the protector goddess, Durga. The temple was beautiful, and the Varrayogini was dressed in gold and red cloth and draped in silver. The temple is ornately decorated with hand carved, stone statues. I went with two Russian friends, one I met on the bus from Varanasi to Kathmandu, and her friend who was also attending the teachings at the Shedrub. We were lead around Sankhu by an old LLama who lived in a small house near the temple. In addition to the temple, he walked us to view the meditation caves used by four Buddhist Yogis: Tilopa and Naropa and Marpa and Milarepa. These Yogis meditated for several years in these caves, completely isolated from the rest of the world. The Yogis attempted to reach states of enlightenment through both the meditative practice and Tibetan Yoga. The Lopan is trained in Tibetan yoga, and he showed us this ancient and highly demanding practice. The practice was designed to dissolve karma as well as generate heat in the body and keep the body healthy. These caves are amazing- they are not tall enough to stand upright in and are wide enough for me to lie down in, in one direction. Silent and isolated retreat are still a major part of the Buddhist tradition. The Llama also walked us to a rare statue of Nagarjun, an Indian poet who became a Buddhist monk and traveled across India to lead many political awakenings before and after India's independence.
Parping is also situated in a Newari village outside of Kathmandu and is home to one of the meditation caves used by Padmasambhava (Lotus born). Padmasambhava is responsible for bringing Buddhism to Tibet from India. He is highly revered and is referred to as Guru Rinpoche. It was here in this cave that Guru Rinpoche attained enlightenment. I went with the Odiyana family and we sat in Guru Rinpoche's cave and meditated. I could feel the sacredness of this cave and the lingering power of peacefulness.

I left Boudha for one week to trek through Pokhara. Pokhara is beautiful; situated on what remains of Fewa lake, surrounded by the Annapurna Himalaya mountain range. Initially, I was going to hike part of the Annapurna circuit, which is part of the Annapurna Conservation area. The full circuit takes between 16-21 days, but htere are portions one can hike in 10 days. Because I only had one week, I opted to hike a small loop trail around Pokhara called Panchase Danda. The hike covered about forty miles and ascended and descended through Nepalese villages and offered spectacular vies of the Annapurna's and the Pokhara valley. It was so beautiful and provided an opportunity for me to digest much of what I had learned as well as process much of what was surfacing as part of the process of dissolution. The Lopan always said that in meditation, whatever comes to the surface, whether thought or emotion, has come rushing, like a waterfall, in order to be dissolved. I had the opportunity to practice detachment when I realized I had lost my camera! My guide and I were preparing for a steep ascent and I was quite tired. I set mt backpack down and my camera next to it and organized what I would need for the next hour. I was so focused on only the essentials, that I packed my backpack, drank some water and forgot to pick up my camera. It is interesting how at the time, it did not seem essential, otherwise I would have remembered it, but how essential it became as soon as I realized I had lost it. I recognized my frustration at loosing the pictures I had taken of the Himalayas, my friends and of Boudha, and of the money lost, and let go. It was only material and I didn't lose all of my pictures, and here I met an important lesson about attachment.

I learned so much from my time in Nepal. I now have a strong foundation for practicing Buddhism. Rather, it feels like I found the memory of something I had always known, and found myself in a kinship with the Dharma and feel that I have found the beginning and the continuation of something so innate and inherently transformational. I am so grateful.