During the first night I spent at Samye Ling, somebody using a hair dryer set off the fire alarm at 05:45. The alarm is very sensitive, and painfully loud. Anyway as a result of this I got up in time for the optional prayers. I did not attend these, as it had been made clear the previous evening, that the view of the monastry was that this service was for those who had sought refuge (the taking of vows to abide by the Buddhist way of life). However it did set the pattern for me, and I was up early for each day of the course.
The meals were all vegatarian, and superb. Breakfast was fruit, porridge, and toast (except Thursdays for some reason - a vegetarian fry up); Lunch was the main meal, with very substantial portions available - a main dish and a sweet - all fabulous; the evening meal (not taken by most of the monks and nuns) was soup and toast - usually a proper soup - ie one in which a spoon would stand up.
The meditiation practice sessions proved to be a lot more interesting than I had anticipated. I have always regarded my Tai Ji as a form of meditation, and as a result that I was fairly well practiced in meditation. I was unprepared for how physically tough I found it; the meditation itself did have correspondances with my Tai Ji - particularly those moments of Tai Ji (very rare) when I am totally in the moment, focussed, yet open and aware and my Tai Ji is just no effort. I did find the Buddhist seated meditation had moments like that. I also found, over the course of the week that I was doing more regular practice of my Tai Ji than earlier this year, and that the Buddhist meditation was a very good preparation for my Tai Ji. Doing the meditation put me in a appropriate state of mind, relaxation, and focus; all of which enhanced my Tai Ji.
The teaching sessions were interesting, though I had gone to the week determined to live the experience rather than gather information. This was based on a couple of lessons I have learned from my Tai Ji. The first is this sort of training and development can only be learnt by repetitively doing it. The second is that during the development of my Tai Ji, I have taken lots of notes (books and books of notes) but rarely referred back to them. As a result I took no notes; and concentrated on what was being conveyed. Some of the information was familiar - I have had a passing interest in Buddhism for some time. More significant was the delivery of the material. All the teachers, had the feel of teaching from real personal experience in depth and a great personal understanding of that experience. (There was one exception to this - at least for me.) Their transmission of experience was invaluable.
The whole of the course conveyed what I think of as what a monastic life SHOULD be. It suggested to me a Christian monastry devoted to the teachings of Christ, rather than the precepts of Christianity. (I was not aware at the time I formed this view; that Christ's teachings contained any prohibitions at all; I have since learned that they do contain one prohibition - on divorce). The teachers, organisers of the course, and the monastic population all were focussed on the precepts of Buddhism, and provided plenty of evidence that this focus was derived from the experience of Buddhist practices. There was one comment, in the middle of general conversation, that summarised this for me. The monk I was working with during the work sessions said that if he had a clash with another of the monastic community, he made a point of working with and for that person as soon as possible.
The contrast between this and my perception of Christianity was marked. Christianity is obviously theist (a concept that has no meaning for me); it is based on the starting point that man is born sinful, cannot earn salvation, which is only available by grace, and is a mass of prohibitions, injunctions, and proscriptions. By contrast Buddhism came over to me as non-theist; based on the starting point that all sentient life has within it, Buddha mind, the ground state of the entire universe; and is not based on any equivalent set of imperatives. This is not to say that Buddhism does not have rules; but they appear to be training rules that individuals undertake voluntarily to facilitate practice. The basic precepts are:
1. To refrain from taking life (non-violence towards sentient life forms)
2. To refrain from taking that which is not given (not committing theft)
3. To refrain from sensual (including sexual) misconduct
4. To refrain from lying (speaking truth always)
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness (specifically, drugs and alcohol)
Again my take on these are that if one adopts these rules personally, then the only person who will be let down by failure to abide by the precepts is the individual who took vows to abide by them.
Altogether a much more rational approach to life than that of any of the theist approaches.
The other activities on the course included details of the construction of the Stupa; a tour of the grounds; a presentation by ROKPA (the charity that I am in touch with regarding volunteering in Tibet); and general get togethers for those on the course.
The one thing I haven't touched on was the Chenrezig puja instruction. I will probably come back to this later.
All in all a very impressive week. I am glad I booked to go on the course, even though I thought I was doing so only to get in touch with ROKPA. It proved to be valuable, interesting, and enjoyable.
Buddhist Experience Week
Early this year I decided that I would try to spend a considerable amount of time in Tibet. I started investigating volunteering opportunities and came up with a couple of possible organisations who had operations in places of interest, and who had jobs that looked as if they could use my skills and experience. One of these was an American based charity which had posts in Kham, but the other was ROKPA - the charity associated with Samye Ling. This charity's work is based on supplying food, and providing education to orphans and the children of single parent families, in Nepal, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Tibetan areas of China. While its objectives are less well matched to my skills than the American charity; they do have the overwhelming advantage of being UK based, and thus far more accessible than the other one.
My motivation for going to Samye Ling was sparked by this investigation, and a general interest in all affairs Tibetan, and some interest in Buddhism. I booked the course up convinced that this was my only motivation. However, I got more out of the week than I anticipated, and it made me realise that my motivations were much more extensive than I thought when I booked the course.
The timetable for the course was:
06:00-07:00 Green Tara Puja (prayers) - optional
07:00-08:00 Breakfast
08:00-09:00 Guided meditation practices
09:00-11:00 Work period
11:00-11:30 Tea break
11:30-12:30 Teaching
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:00 Activity/teaching
15:00-17:00 Free time
17:00-18:00 Teaching
18:00-19:00 Soup
19:00-20:00 Chenrezig puja & instruction
20:00-21:00 Cafe (some activities and some nights)
On the first evening we were all given a choice of work assignments - with the option of changing these every couple of days. I opted for maintenance, as likely to be the hardest physical work on offer. I wanted something that would leave me physically tired, as it is easier to switch off the mental racetrack I sometimes get on as I try to go to sleep. In the event I enjoyed the work so much that I opted for this work for the whole of the week.
The jobs I ended up doing during the work period included helping shift sheet steel and scaffolding poles, going with the monk who is the caretaker and health and safety officer for the site to feed the (pet) yaks they have at the monastry, helping him lay out an iron gate that he is making for Holy Island (where the long term retreats are held), clearing up scrap metal, putting boxes of files and papers up into one of their attics, collected a band finisher from one of the monastry's other sites, used the band finisher to take the sharp corners off the metal work on the gate, shifted some waste timber from their camp site, erected a safety fence to keep the public from an earth and rock dump, and shifted various bits of timber. All in all an interesting set of jobs that fulfilled my aim in selecting that work.
I found the monk, to whom I was providing a small amount of unskilled labour, to be a very interesting character. Built like a brick outhouse (or something similar), he is heavily tatooed down both arms, which are visible when he is in his monk's robes, and a genuine artist with metal work. Metal that he was working just seemed to become what he wanted it to be, without effort. He has taken life long vows as a monk. He also has a great sense of mischief, and regaled me with stories of the funny situations he has been in, or created. A nice guy to meet and work with.
to be cont.
My motivation for going to Samye Ling was sparked by this investigation, and a general interest in all affairs Tibetan, and some interest in Buddhism. I booked the course up convinced that this was my only motivation. However, I got more out of the week than I anticipated, and it made me realise that my motivations were much more extensive than I thought when I booked the course.
The timetable for the course was:
06:00-07:00 Green Tara Puja (prayers) - optional
07:00-08:00 Breakfast
08:00-09:00 Guided meditation practices
09:00-11:00 Work period
11:00-11:30 Tea break
11:30-12:30 Teaching
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:00 Activity/teaching
15:00-17:00 Free time
17:00-18:00 Teaching
18:00-19:00 Soup
19:00-20:00 Chenrezig puja & instruction
20:00-21:00 Cafe (some activities and some nights)
On the first evening we were all given a choice of work assignments - with the option of changing these every couple of days. I opted for maintenance, as likely to be the hardest physical work on offer. I wanted something that would leave me physically tired, as it is easier to switch off the mental racetrack I sometimes get on as I try to go to sleep. In the event I enjoyed the work so much that I opted for this work for the whole of the week.
The jobs I ended up doing during the work period included helping shift sheet steel and scaffolding poles, going with the monk who is the caretaker and health and safety officer for the site to feed the (pet) yaks they have at the monastry, helping him lay out an iron gate that he is making for Holy Island (where the long term retreats are held), clearing up scrap metal, putting boxes of files and papers up into one of their attics, collected a band finisher from one of the monastry's other sites, used the band finisher to take the sharp corners off the metal work on the gate, shifted some waste timber from their camp site, erected a safety fence to keep the public from an earth and rock dump, and shifted various bits of timber. All in all an interesting set of jobs that fulfilled my aim in selecting that work.
I found the monk, to whom I was providing a small amount of unskilled labour, to be a very interesting character. Built like a brick outhouse (or something similar), he is heavily tatooed down both arms, which are visible when he is in his monk's robes, and a genuine artist with metal work. Metal that he was working just seemed to become what he wanted it to be, without effort. He has taken life long vows as a monk. He also has a great sense of mischief, and regaled me with stories of the funny situations he has been in, or created. A nice guy to meet and work with.
to be cont.
Samye Ling
I arrived at Samye Ling as described in my last post. I got my key, and went up to my room. The first thing that I saw when I entered the room was this delightful sight.
I took these photos before doing any unpacking or sorting myself out. When I had unpacked I did my usual thing in any new place. I went for a wander about the grounds of Samye Ling. It is a very extensive place, with the temple, a Stupa, a lamp house, dining and workshop block, building works as they build (slowly) phase two of the temple area, a formal gate, lake, vegetable garden, several houses, multiple cells for the permanent residents, a cafe, a Tibetan shop, at least two residential blocks, the original house - which now functions as administrative offices, charity offices, residence for some of the monks, library, and common room - a barn, multiple small workshops, a carpentry shop, and a metal workshop. The whole grounds are bounded by the river - a river along the boundary, with another river joining it at about the midpoint of the grounds.
The area the monastry is situated in is one of the biggest comercial pine forests in the country. It is in a hilly area, with quite large hills. The hills are heavily weathered, as a result of the site's proximity to the west coast of Scotland. As a result there are quite a number of temporary roads cut in the forest for the use of the lumber industry. As a result of all these factors, it is apparently quite easy to get lost in the area, when walking. I did not leave the main site for the duration of the week.
The information I had received before the week included the timetable for the week, and the monastic timetable. These made it clear that it was as was to be expected - a monastic timetable - prayers and meditation early - the main meal being at lunch time - work sessions in the morning - free time in the afternoon - and more prayers and meditation in the early evening and after the meal.
I picked up on this timetable at the evening meal, which represented the start of the week.
More on the actual week to follow.
I took these photos before doing any unpacking or sorting myself out. When I had unpacked I did my usual thing in any new place. I went for a wander about the grounds of Samye Ling. It is a very extensive place, with the temple, a Stupa, a lamp house, dining and workshop block, building works as they build (slowly) phase two of the temple area, a formal gate, lake, vegetable garden, several houses, multiple cells for the permanent residents, a cafe, a Tibetan shop, at least two residential blocks, the original house - which now functions as administrative offices, charity offices, residence for some of the monks, library, and common room - a barn, multiple small workshops, a carpentry shop, and a metal workshop. The whole grounds are bounded by the river - a river along the boundary, with another river joining it at about the midpoint of the grounds.
The area the monastry is situated in is one of the biggest comercial pine forests in the country. It is in a hilly area, with quite large hills. The hills are heavily weathered, as a result of the site's proximity to the west coast of Scotland. As a result there are quite a number of temporary roads cut in the forest for the use of the lumber industry. As a result of all these factors, it is apparently quite easy to get lost in the area, when walking. I did not leave the main site for the duration of the week.
The information I had received before the week included the timetable for the week, and the monastic timetable. These made it clear that it was as was to be expected - a monastic timetable - prayers and meditation early - the main meal being at lunch time - work sessions in the morning - free time in the afternoon - and more prayers and meditation in the early evening and after the meal.
I picked up on this timetable at the evening meal, which represented the start of the week.
More on the actual week to follow.
Lake District to Scotland
My travels up to Scotland were via Blackpool, for an ASL tournement, and then to the Lake District for a few days walking. Most of the photos I took in the Lake District were spoiled by something on the lens - probably a strand of material or similar. However one of the pictures I took was OK and it is attached below.
The descent from Hindscarth as seen from just above Buttermere.
On the Friday I departed from the Lake District, having packed my voluminous luggage. Because I was attending multiple types of events - an ASL tournement, a walking holiday, and a week's stay at Samye Ling, learning a little about Buddhism and meditation - I had had to pack a lot of gear. This included computer and photographic equipment, and walking kit. The journey was fairly uneventful, and took much less time than I had anticipated. As a result I got to Lockerbie at about midday, and found a truckers stop which provided fairly good food, at a ridiculously low price, and connectivity so I could get my emails and check out the route over the last few miles.
I finally rolled up at Samye Ling at about 14:30 and unpacked and started the week's stay there. This is the subject of my next post.
The descent from Hindscarth as seen from just above Buttermere.
On the Friday I departed from the Lake District, having packed my voluminous luggage. Because I was attending multiple types of events - an ASL tournement, a walking holiday, and a week's stay at Samye Ling, learning a little about Buddhism and meditation - I had had to pack a lot of gear. This included computer and photographic equipment, and walking kit. The journey was fairly uneventful, and took much less time than I had anticipated. As a result I got to Lockerbie at about midday, and found a truckers stop which provided fairly good food, at a ridiculously low price, and connectivity so I could get my emails and check out the route over the last few miles.
I finally rolled up at Samye Ling at about 14:30 and unpacked and started the week's stay there. This is the subject of my next post.