I knew next to nothing about Buddhism when I got to Thailand. In fact, all I ever knew (at least in this life) was based on reading Siddhartha in high school English class. I still know very little, but one of the most amazing things about living at the temple for 2 weeks was being constantly surrounded by monks and a myriad of practicing Buddhists.
So how did this blog post, seemingly on Buddhism, get the title 3:55 am? Well, the monks encouraged us to get involved in daily life at the monastery --- including waking up to meditate in the temple with them for an hour, to begin at 4:00 am. Determined to not miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience, I ignored the brief queasy feeling in my stomach at the thought of actually rising for the day at such a ridiculous hour, gulped, and set my alarm for 3:55.
The setting was surreal: completely dark except for the beautiful gold and red of the temple complemented by the saffron robes of the monks, the scent of incense burning, and the sound of a dozen voices chanting Sanskrit verses in unison for an hour straight.
So how did this blog post, seemingly on Buddhism, get the title 3:55 am? Well, the monks encouraged us to get involved in daily life at the monastery --- including waking up to meditate in the temple with them for an hour, to begin at 4:00 am. Determined to not miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience, I ignored the brief queasy feeling in my stomach at the thought of actually rising for the day at such a ridiculous hour, gulped, and set my alarm for 3:55.
The setting was surreal: completely dark except for the beautiful gold and red of the temple complemented by the saffron robes of the monks, the scent of incense burning, and the sound of a dozen voices chanting Sanskrit verses in unison for an hour straight.
Despite the perfect setting, having never attempted the feat of meditating before and with no guru to guide me, I spent the entirety of my first experience fidgeting and trying to get comfortable sitting cross-legged. Wiser on my second try, I asked the monk for some tips, brought a pillow to sit on, and borrowed some beads to count – this time I only spent 59 minutes fidgeting and found 1 minute of mental calm . . . so at this rate, I’m thinking somewhere around Christmas I should have this whole enlightenment thing down :-)
2 comments:
Wow, the jade statue is really beautiful. I love the description of the colors at the temple.
Seems appropriate to get the whole enlightenment thing down by Christmas.
Love ya, Mom
Rose,
I just finished a blog I wrote about how much I love Buddhism. My biggest question is how do I become involved in Buddhism as a white girl from Mt.Lebanon without being too much of a cliche.
I think that there is only one answer: You+me+India+our future= spiritual journey.
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