Dear Friends,I am on an Indian train slowly making my way back home after a short pilgrimage in India, with Dungse Jampal Norbu and some students. I had been yearning to return to India, after almost two decades: to sit in the shade of the Bodhi tree - a place vibrating with devotion and blessings, to visit Rajghir where the Buddha taught the Heart Sutra - the Perfection of Wisdom, to Sarnath, where the Buddha turned the Wheel of dharma for the first time, and Nalanda University, where his disciples studied the sutras and commentaries and engaged in debate. In Varanasi we made large public offerings of kichuri and witnessed the Aarti - light offerings - in the mornings and evenings. Although we engaged in continuous heart-felt generosity practice, I felt surrounded by a generosity of the human spirit. The culture is so expressive! Although there is much physical suffering here and a lot of hustling going on at all times, there is so much heart - so much character and aliveness in the people. Everyone has a philosophy. Everyone makes the ‘best’ tea or sells the ‘best’ fabric or is the ‘best’ jeweler, and they will tell you why… and somehow it is so charming! Sometimes the world seems grim, but during this trip I thought: “The human spirit is still thriving!” I also thought: Traveling around I find that things are much different on the ground than they are in the media, which I am beginning to trust less than I ever have. It just seems to cater to the tendency to reify and divide us. just some food for thought 😉 Sending 💗
Elizabeth
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