Englishman in Nepal

Monastery Photos from Lumbini

2008-02-16T17:25:00.001+05:30

When we were in Lumbini at the end of December, we visited different monasteries every day. The site at Lumbini is reserved for building monasteries, with Buddhist associations (and even governments) from around the world building their style of monastery and temple there.

http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini03TheMonasteries

A Hindu Funeral

2008-01-17T19:12:00.000+05:30

An interesting thing happened on Sunday, although it was not the happiest occasion. I was invited to a Hindu funeral.

A young woman who was very active in the Esperanto association in Nepal had died, and it was her funeral. Although I didn't know her, I was allowed to attend her funeral. It was obviously sad, but an honour to experience this part of the culture that most people don't get to see.

She was very young - in her mid-twenties - and had gone to America to do her PhD studies. At New Year she was with some other students from the Indian sub-continent and they had a car crash. Two of them died. May they rest in peace (Christian culture), or receive a very auspicious re-birth (Hindu culture)

The Hindu tradition is to burn the body on a funeral pyre (a big pile of wood.) In Kathmandu there is a very famous funeral site on the banks of the main river. Many tourists go there, but I didn't feel like a tourist on Sunday.

There are some photos on the website of the Esperanto group. If you are too sensitive, don't look at them: it might be a culture shock to see the photo of her lying there and her father setting light to the pyre.

http://nespa.saluton.dk/apsana/funebro/

Teachings 04 Basic Buddhism

2008-01-17T19:02:00.001+05:30

In the Teachings 03 post I mentioned a modern Bhutanese master. His name is Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. I am very inspired by the way he speaks and teaches and I want to recommend you a book he has written because it is a very good introduction to Buddhism (and I know a lot of you are very curious about this).

The book is called:
"What makes you not a Buddhist?"
and for the Germans among you:
"Weshalb Sie kein Buddhist sind?"

It's a very thin book (only 128 pages in the English edition) and it is easy to read, full of irony and humour, and full of very modern examples.

He bases the book on the "four seals" spoken by the Buddha himself. (Understand 'seal' here like the red wax people put on letters in the old days to confirm that the letter was authentic.)

1) All composite things are impermanent.
2) All emotions are pain.
3) All things have no inherent existence.
4) Nirvana is beyond concepts.

If we look at these, we see that they are simple statements of fact. They are not moral guidelines or commandments: they do not tell you what to do. They are simply statements of wisdom describing how Buddha saw the world after he gained enlightenment. Let's look at them in a little more detail:

1) A composite is something that is made of other things. A table is made of wood and nails. The tea you drink is made of leaves and water. You are made of flesh and bones. The view out of your window is made of light hitting the trees and then hitting the cells in your eyes which react and send a message to the cells in your brain. The feeling of happiness you have when you sit at your table and drink your tea while you look out of the window is made of all these things, plus a few hormones and some past experiences that made you happy.
But all of these things (table, tea, you, view, feeling) are impermanent: they will change. The table will break some day; the tea disappears when you drink it; you are changing all the time and eventually you will die; and the view out of your window is undoubtedly different depending on the time of day and the weather. Feelings are very impermanent, I'm sure you will agree.

2) In fact, Buddha went further on the subject of feelings: not only are they all impermanent, but they are all 'dukha'. This Sanskrit word is often translated as 'suffering' or 'pain'. You might think this is very depressing, but Buddha did not mean it in a depressing way. Buddha's path is a path to show you that all of your emotions are based on some cause and conditions: something made you happy, something made you sad. It might be a long chain of causes: you have good memories of the countryside from your childhood so you rent a flat with a view of the countryside from the window; many people were involved in producing, transporting and selling the tea, as well as building a modern water system that makes it possible to drink a cup of tea easily; imagine how unhappy you would be if you didn't have a table in your kitchen and had to work on the floor all the time. All these factors contribute to your 'happiness' as you drink your cup of tea: if any one of them were to change, perhaps you would no longer be as happy. So what Buddha means with 'dukha' is this: if your happiness is not 'pure' and independent of everything, then it will end. When happiness ends, you suffer. Of course, this suffering will also end, and you will be happy again. But that will end, and you will suffer again. This endless cycle of changing emotions is one way of looking at 'samsara': Buddha's word for the world as we normally see it. It is a 'cyclic existence', and the enlightenment that Buddha experienced was nothing other than a view of the way to get out of this cycle.

(I'll continue with the third and fourth seals in my next Teachings post.)

Teachings 03 Apology

2008-01-17T19:02:00.000+05:30

I never continued the series of 'Teachings' posts to this blog. Why was that? Well, to be quite honest, the philosophical class is so difficult to understand that I have no idea how I can explain it to you! A lot of the time I don't understand myself what is going on.

We have the "root text": the Madhyamakavatara (written in the seventh century). Then our Khenpo reads the author's commentary about the root text and then Khenpo explains things himself, too. But that isn't enough to fully understand. So I have two other commentaries: one written by a Tibetan scholar in the second half of the 19th century, and one from a very modern Bhutanese teacher who made this commentary about 8 years ago.

So if I have time to read all of them, I usually manage to understand something! But please forgive me if I can't find a way of telling you about it all.

Nepali Normality

2008-01-12T18:46:00.000+05:30

I've been here long enough now to get used to many things. So it is beginning to feel 'normal' to be here and live this life, sometimes 'too normal'!

What do I mean? Well, on a positive side, I have got used to those things which are a little strange for foreigners, but quite normal in Nepal: power cuts every day (now for 3 hours, twice a day); travelling in overcrowded minibuses where there is no room to stand, but still more people get in; drinking milky tea and eating dhal baat (rice and lentil soup); people spitting and clearing their noses in the middle of the street (and almost hitting your shoes). And walking or cycling through streets with no pavements, no street signs, and crazy traffic rules (see my first post to this blog back in November).

On a negative side, I noticed this week that my daily routine here in the Institute had become as 'normal' as my routine at home in Germany: in other words, I had found too much to do, was getting into stress, and always decided that other things were so important that 'I can't meditate just now, maybe later'!

I don't want to sound too negative, because all the things I'm doing are interesting. So any stress is just the side-effect of too much positive! But I realised that this was not the reason I came here. I came here for peace and quiet and time away from stress and deadlines.

So I've been trying to cut down on extra things this week, and concentrate on the important things. But as I was trying that, the others in the group decided to buy the Matrix Trilogy on DVD and watch one film every evening . . . I couldn't miss out on Matrix, so once again, life became very 'normal' and less 'Buddhist studies'!!!

We went to Bhaktapur last Sunday: a town about 19km east of Kathmandu, which was the centre of one of the four kingdoms in the Kathmandu valley that were united in the 18th century to form modern Nepal. The town has a very well preserved old centre. In fact, Germany gave a lot of money to help restore the city and clean it up. Our guide told us this and told us about Chancellor Kohl's visit here (I forget when). Actually I knew a bit about this anyway because of the woman I met on the plane here, Sarah, who is doing an internship with GTZ, a German development organisation. GTZ was very active in managing the restoration of Bhaktapur.

The photos will appear sometime when the internet is working for long enough between power cuts!

OK, that's enough for now, I'm off to do my homework for Tibetan class. We've learnt enough now to make simple sentences in the present and future tenses!! (The past tenses seem to be more complicated, and the verbs for 'to be' are still beyond us.)

Lumbini Impressions

2008-01-04T22:43:00.001+05:30

Our ten days in Lumbini were very enjoyable. It was our half-term break, but Lama Sam Ten offered to give us some bonus teachings (while our Khenpo was busy teaching the nuns). So we learnt a lot about meditation and heard a lot of Buddhist stories, some of them are very funny.

Usually we walked a couple of kilometres each day from one monastery to another. Lumbini is the birthplace of the historical Buddha (known as Gautama Buddha or Sakyamuni Buddha). At that time (around 560 BC) it was an Indian kingdom, now it is in Nepal, only a few kilometres from the Indian border. You can't get a visa at the border for India; otherwise I would have been tempted to 'go to India for the day'.

We had a lot of time for meditation practice and reading. Two of the group also decided to practice their Tibetan language by annoying the nuns! In short, it was a relaxing and enjoyable time.

I've put up some photos:

The journey there and back: Lumbini is in central southern Nepal, in the flatlands, a lot warmer than here in the mid-range hills. It's about 300km there: at Nepali speeds that's about 9-10 hours drive.
::
http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini00TheRoadFromAndToKathmandu

Some colourful photos from the market we stopped at to buy provisions before we arrived in Lumbini village.
::
http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini01MarketScenes

Miscellaneous photos from the ten days in Lumbini. Glimpses into our relaxed 'holiday'.
::
http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini02Impressions

The photos of the monasteries themselves will appear in a few days.

A Foggy Morning to Start the New Year

2008-01-04T22:43:00.000+05:30

On our first morning back after returning from Lumbini, as I opened the door to go to breakfast I was surprised to see the mist swirling past my door: it was so thick that I could hardly see the monastery walls a few metres in front of me!

When I came back from breakfast I looked out from my balcony and thought I was dreaming: it was as if I was standing on the clouds. Below me there was nothing but white: not a glimpse of the city! However, I could still hear the incessant horns of the cars stuck in the early morning traffic jams.

It inspired me to take a photo panorama. I've put the photos up on my photo website, together with photos taken of the same view at different times: on a clear day, and at sunset. Enjoy the comparisons.

http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/KathmanduValleyViews

Christmas in Lumbini

2007-12-20T22:02:00.000+05:30

Tomorrow, Friday, we're all heading to Lumbini – about 6-9 hours drive away in south-western Nepal. We'll be spending ten days there at our lineage's monastery / nunnery.

It's quite poetic, because Lumbini is the birthplace of Gautama Buddha (the founder of Buddhism, 'the Buddha'), and of course Christmas is the festival to celebrate the birth of Christ.

It is a popular place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world, and a large part of the small town is dedicated to monasteries – nothing else can be built in that part of town. There are monasteries which have been built by Buddhist orders from all over the world.

For us it will be a bit of a change, since life in rural Nepal is a lot simpler and more basic than here on the edge of the capital. And the climate there is also a bit different – it is in the plains area of Nepal, lower than here, a little warmer and a bit wetter, I think.

Not sure what the internet access is like there, so you might have to wait for the New Year before I can post photos. In case I don't get chance to post there, I'll wish you a happy Winter Solstice, Christmas and New Year now !!

Stomach Bug and Half-time Thoughts

2007-12-20T22:01:00.000+05:30

Well, last week I proudly posted about my successful culinary creation – herby cheese (or Kraeuterquark), and it proved so popular that my fellow students requested it again this week. The chef here had watched carefully last week so it would be no problem for him to prepare it. I was looking forward to it, but the evening before I started to feel ill, and on that day I felt really bad – vomiting and fever. Yes, the inevitable had happened: I got my first stomach bug. I think I drank some water that hadn't been boiled properly – the water in Nepal is not drinkable: you have to filter and boil it, or buy bottled water.

Anyway, my homeopathic medicines, a day in bed sweating out the fever, and drinking lots of water all helped, and within 24 hours the worst was over. The next day my appetite slowly returned – too late for the herb cheese, though!

We're now halfway through the course. At times it is quite difficult to bring together the highly philosophical teachings with the simple practice of meditation, and it's also difficult to separate my impressions of Buddhism from my impressions of the simple life of the monks and nuns here, or even from the impressions of life in Nepal (or Tibet or India). All of these factors play a role when you are exploring a new religion that developed in a time and culture different from your own.

Our teachers are all very good, though, telling us tales of life in Tibet, for instance, to help us understand the cultural influences present in the teachings.

Buddhism is a very diverse religion, just like Christianity. If you compare Catholics and Protestants, you find a lot of very significant differences, and it is the same when you compare different orders within Buddhism. So I've been reading a simple book called "What the Buddha taught", which summarises the earliest teachings of 'the Buddha', before most of the developments into different schools of Buddhism. His message is indeed very simple (on one level). For example, the instructions in his 'precepts' are not very different from the 'Ten Commandments' in Christianity (don't kill, don't steal, don't commit sexual misconduct, don't lie, and don't drink alcohol).

I'd be very interested to hear if anyone knows of any books or websites that compare the teachings of Buddha and Jesus.

We're taking a half-time break and heading to rural Nepal and some Buddhist pilgrimage sites. And after that I'm looking forward to coming back and continuing the program here. The first three or four weeks went really quickly, and a lot of the time I was just trying to get used to all the 'new' or 'different' things about the way of life on a course like this. Now I've got used to it and can just concentrate on, well, 'meditative concentration' – that's what we need to develop :-)

Comments Welcome!

2007-12-19T02:03:00.000+05:30

This is just a quick post to remind readers that you can leave comments if you want! Just click on the Comments link under each post and you'll see the other comments and get a chance to enter yours. I love to get feedback from you, either by comment or direct by e-mail.

Perfect Day in Patan

2007-12-16T20:51:00.000+05:30

Today was Sunday, our free day, and I used the bicycle Jakob had lent me for the first time to explore Patan - the part of Kathmandu nearest to the town where we are staying.

It was a perfect day - lots of coincidences and friendly people, and lots of deep feelings of mindfulness at the stupas and Buddhist temples we visited.

I don't want to use too many words, instead, let the pictures give you an idea:

http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/APerfectDayInPatan

Spelling Songs and Kräuterquark

2007-12-14T03:17:00.000+05:30

Did you ever sing the 'Alphabet Song'? (If you're one of my beginner students, I probably forced you to sing it at least a couple of times!!) Well, in Tibetan class I was reminded of that! Spelling out a Tibetan word is not as simple as in English. To spell the word 'three' in English we just say "tee-aitch-ar-ee-ee". But in Tibetan it's like a song. And there are letters stacked on top of each other which change the name of the letter and its sound and all have to be detailed. So the word for three, which is pronounced "soom" and is written (converted into Latin letters) "gsum" gets spelt as follows: "gau--sa-shab-kyu-su--meh--soom". And that's a fairly simple word!

Our teacher makes us do a lot of spelling, since it helps us to learn to "decode the strange symbols" – the Tibetan alphabet and way of constructing words is very different to European languages and for that reason it is very hard to read out a word or sentence.

The philosophy class is now in a very profound phase. We are trying to understand the discussions between the main schools of Buddhism about the subject of existence: what exists, what is interdependent existence, what is self, what is selflessness. It's very difficult sometimes, but every now and again there's an "Aha"-effect that keeps us all happy.

Last week and this week we have an extra class each day with the head of this Buddhist tradition in Nepal, the Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche. The class is called the "Seven Points of Mind Training". It is a nicely structured way of developing loving kindness and compassion for all people and all beings, based around a type of mediation called "tong-len". This is Tibetan for "send-receive", and the meditation is a way of taking the suffering away from others and replacing it with your own happiness. Think of your own heart as a type of hi-speed compost bin, taking in the suffering from other people, composting it and turning it into fertiliser – or happiness – which you then send back out into the world!

This afternoon I also helped to make some people happy by cooking! Each week we all sit together to write the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the coming week. At the end it's a good mix of international, Nepali and Tibetan cuisine. The cook here is very skilled at cooking all sorts of different things. He asked me to think of something German, and the first vegetarian thing I could think of was "Pellkartoffel mit Kräuterquark" (boiled unpeeled potatoes with herby soft cheese) - a typical light German meal. The main problem was that you can't buy 'Quark' here! I asked the cook to buy soft cheese, but it wasn't really what I was thinking of (it was very firm!). So I improvised, cutting it up into pieces and putting it in a blender, mixing with yoghurt and blending until it had the consistency of Quark! Some fresh parsley, the greens of spring onions (there are no chives here), salt and pepper, and voilà! We made a 'Krautsalat' (cabbage salad) to go with it, and it proved to be a success.

Teachings 02

2007-12-05T02:54:00.000+05:30

In the first entry I left you with a hint of where the "Middle Way" teachings lead to: a pretty radical concept of emptiness. But before we get to Chapter 6, which is about that, we of course have the first chapters to read!

The text we are studying is part of the traditional Buddhist philosophy. You can call it philosophy, because it is, but you can also call it an "inner science". What Lord Buddha and the other buddhas and wise men that came after him have done is, in my opinion, very scientific. They researched and made a map of the path to enlightenment. And we are studying one description of that map.

The founder of the religion, "the Buddha" (there have been many), did not claim to be God or the son of God, or any type of god. He also didn't claim to have been inspired by a god. He was simply a human being that achieved the ultimate goal of human beings: enlightenment. And he chose to stay amongst non-enlightened people and show them the way. For this he drew a map, and many people who came after him have added many details to this map.

The text we are studying in this course describes the final stages of that path: the end of the map. The final parts of the journey are known as the Ten Bhumis (bhumi means 'field', 'ground', or, here, 'stage') and the people who have come this far are known as 'bodhisattvas'. In each chapter of the book, one bhumi is described, with the special qualities exhibited by the bodhisattvas at that stage of enlightenment, and the special things they focus on to progress even further.

I'll tell you about the individual stages in later posts. Today I'll finish with one important other point that I misunderstood until I came here, namely the word "karma".

The Sanskrit word "karma" means something like "do" or "action". And in Buddhist usage, it means everything you do that has an effect on others. If you help others, if you do something with compassion in your heart, this is good karma. If you hurt others or are angry towards others, these are examples of bad karma.

In future, even in future lives (re-birth, or more accurately, reincarnation, is also a topic you might have questions about?), you will experience the effects of any karma you performed. So if you performed a lot of bad karma, the effects may be that you are incarnated in a situation that is unpleasant.

In the West we often use the word "karma" to mean these "effects". Which is wrong. The karma is the actions you performed: your life situation, good or bad, is a reflection of this. So if you have good fortune you shouldn't say "That's good karma", but you should say "That's the result of your good karma". A subtle but important difference.

Second Week Over

2007-12-05T02:28:00.000+05:30

I'm really settling in now. After the second week, the daily routine has established itself, we've all got to know each other a little better, and the amount we want to read and study has increased.

In the Tibetan class we've started to write 'real sentences'! Nothing longer than "the head of the yak is big" or "she is writing a letter". But that's complicated enough when the letters of the alphabet all still look like strange little pictures and you really have no idea how to speak them out loud. Another thing also complicates matters: polite forms or as they call them here "honorific forms". In German it is relatively simple: "Sie" is the polite form of "you" and "du" is the informal form. So you have different endings for the verb: "you make = Sie machen / du machst", and different pronouns: "your bread = Ihr Brot / dein Brot".

In Tibetan you have polite forms of each verb and each noun!! So you have to learn two words for "he", two words for "make", and two words for "bread" before you know which way to say "he is making bread", depending on whether "he" is your friend or your grandfather / teacher . ..

And if any of you laughed when I tried to pronounce the German vowels "u" and "ü" (with umlaut), you would laugh even louder if you heard us trying to hear and repeat the difference between about 6 different sounds that are all somewhere between "t" and "d" (high tone, low tone, tongue forward between teeth, tongue on palate, aspirated and un-aspirated).

At the weekend I went into the city again. I went to a little stationery shop owned by one of the Esperanto speakers I had met, and when I arrived there were two others from the group there so we chatted and drank the sweet milky tea so common here. I bought the paper and pencil leads I needed, and then he left his son in charge of the shop and came with me to help me buy a little kettle. What an adventure! In the fourth shop we tried, the man went into the back of his shop and came out with a kettle, or should I say, a kettle body. Then he went to another shelf in the front of the shop and fetched a heating element, and fixed this into the body. He put some water in and showed us that it didn't leak. His assistant went into the back of the shop and came out with a cable and plug. They plugged the kettle in and wanted to show us that it worked, but it didn't. So the assistant started to put together another cable, and the owner tried to repair the first one. Eventually we had a working kettle, and my friend negotiated a hundred rupees or so off of the price for me. (The kettle cost 1200 rupees, about EUR 13).

Then I had arranged to meet up with Jakob and Anne-Merte again. She had a guest, a famous journalist from Denmark who was visiting projects run by the development organisation, and we went together to Boudanath. That's the part of town where a lot of Tibetans live, and it has the biggest 'stupa': a type of Buddhist 'building' used as a place of worship. I'll tell you more about that another time: it has a very good feeling there, similar to the feeling in some very special churches you find in Europe.

Teachings 01

2007-12-01T20:45:00.000+05:30

There are two main parts to the course I am taking. To use the explanation of our 'Khenpo' (Khenpo is a word meaning something similar to 'professor-teacher'): There are two aspects, just like a bird has two wings. If one wing is much stronger than the other, the bird can't fly. For us, the two wings are: practice and teachings. If we read and learn a lot of the Buddhist philosophy and religious teachings, this is good, but if our practice (meditation) is too weak, the teachings won't help us 'fly'. On the other hand, if we just meditate but don't learn anything about the effects, then this isn't good either.

Our teachings in this course are based on a text called the Madhyamakavatara – Entering the Middle Way. Now and again I will write a blog entry to tell you about the things we are learning – I will title these entries "Teachings".

What is the Middle Way? It is the path between two extremes. To understand it, you need to understand the extreme views first. Let's take a look at them:
1) Things exist.
2) Things don't exist.
Easy, isn't it ? No ? Perhaps we should take a closer look.
1) This means that the objects which you see and touch have a definite existence, independent of you, and unique to itself. A table exists as "table", a jacket as "jacket".
2) Things have no independent existence. Let's take the example of a jacket. Think of your favourite jacket. Maybe it's made of leather, has a zip and a collar, a fur lining etc. Picture it: you see "jacket". But I see a few pieces of leather and some bits of metal, together with some fur, all held together by thread or glue. Where is a "jacket"? Does "jacket" still exist if I cut off the arms and put them 50 cm away from the rest of the leather? Does "jacket" still exist if I cut off the collar and rip out the fur? If I tear off the zip? Hopefully you can see that the idea of "jacket" does not really have an existence of itself, independent of other things or someone who sees it.

The Middle Way as described by Buddha is to take both of these statements and accept them as true. And since they both can't be true at the same time, then we accept that neither is true.

European philosophy usually wants something to be true or false. But Indian philosophy has always accepted that something can also be "true and false", or "neither true nor false". And the Buddhist Middle Way goes one step further by pointing out that actually, all four options can be correct at the same time, or incorrect :-)

Confused? So am I. So I am looking forward to the Teachings on Chapter 6 of the book. Then I can tell you more!

A Day Full of Emptiness

2007-11-26T02:56:00.000+05:30

So now I've completed the first week of the course, and everything is just the way I wanted it to be: I have lots of time for meditation, a relaxed schedule and nice people in the group. The teacher is both funny and wise, the food is good, the rooms are fine (although a bit cold), and the location is wonderful. The institute is on top of a hill overlooking the capital, Kathmandu. From my room I look north across the city to the small mountains at the top of the valley, and behind them I can see the snow-capped peaks of the Himalaya.

Even though this is what I wanted and expected, it is still sometimes a little difficult. What do I mean? Well, to be honest, it is sometimes a bit boring!! There is no hectic rushing from one appointment to the next. I don't have to fit in work between appointments and mealtimes. There are no clients ringing me with contracts, there are no e-mails to answer. It seems that my body and mind actually enjoyed all that stress !! And it is missing here. So sometimes I want some more stress and hectic activity.

But it is only week 1. In a couple of weeks I won't want that anymore!!

Here is an idea of my daily schedule, from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is our free day, with no teaching. So Sunday will always be the day I have the chance to go into Kathmandu or to a tourist site nearby, or to meet up with my new friends.

(small writing = time for individual choices)
(CAPITALS = fixed course program)

6.00 get up, brush teeth, get dressed
6.30 GROUP YOGA AND MEDITATION
7.30 BREAKFAST
8.00 shower, wash clothes, other chores
8.45 meditation
9.30 PHILOSOPHY TEACHING
11.00 reading, sorting notes from teaching sessions
12.00 LUNCH
12.45 afternoon nap
1.30 meditation
2.00 TIBETAN LANGUAGE CLASS
3.00 TEA BREAK
3.30 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SESSION
5.00 individual meditation / reading
6.00 GROUP MEDITATION
7.00 DINNER
7.45 sitting outside under the stars, informal discussion with teacher
8.30 Tibetan homework / reading
9.30 meditation
10.15 bedtime

So you see, the day is relaxed, but quite full. (As our khenpo/teacher would say, 'full of emptiness'.)

Photos from Kathmandu

2007-11-20T02:16:00.000+05:30

Just a quick post today to say that I've uploaded some photos from the first few days of my stay, where I was in Kathmandu. You can see them at the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/KathmanduTheFirstDays

I'm now in the institute and the course is starting, but I want to wait until the end of the first week until I write about it, since everything is still very new for me.

Friendly People, Friendly Language

2007-11-17T20:45:00.000+05:30

Today was an exciting day. Firstly, it was exciting because I had to brave the streets of Kathmandu on a bicycle! If you read my description of driving in this city yesterday, you'll appreciate how 'nerve-wracking' it can be on the streets here on a bicycle (or as a pedestrian - there are no pavements). But I survived. It was a good day to try this, since Saturday is the day of rest in Nepal, when most offices and many shops are closed, and there is a lot less traffic in the streets.

The bicycle trip was through the tourist area of Thamel to the offices of the local Esperanto association. After meeting some of the members there, we went back to Jakob's house, and about a dozen of the Esperantists came, too, since he had invited them to a little party.

I really don't understand why the world never chose Esperanto as an international language! It is so easy to learn in comparison with English, and it is so friendly to speak a language that is a neutral language - it is not the mother tongue of any of the conversation participants.

The Esperanto speakers in Nepal are very friendly people (see the photo), and we had a great time chatting, eating, eating, drinking, eating and eating some more. I had bought some English specialities (After Eight mint chocolates and butter shortbread), and we ate Nepalese specialities, too: 'momo' - little parcels of meat in dough, a bit like ravioli, and 'pakoras', which many people will know from Indian restaurants, and rice pudding with Indian spices.

I can only say, I'm very happy to be able to speak Esperanto - it enables a direct contact to people which is not always possible with English.

Tomorrow my course starts. I'm really looking forward to it.

First Day in Nepal

2007-11-17T03:47:00.000+05:30

Yesterday after arriving we went for a walk, but I was too tired to go on a big trip through town! Today Jakob could use the 'company car' from his wife's NGO (she works for a Danish development organisation, MS), so we drove out of Kathmandu to the institute where I will study. There was no-one there for me to complete the booking process, but we talked to one of the monks who teaches the course and had a look through the window of the temple and saw the very big Buddha inside. The institute is on a hill-top and there is a very good view in all directions over Kathmandu valley. I think it will be an inspiring place to study.

Then we drove back through the crazy streets to fetch his oldest child from the kindergarten. Driving in Kathmandu is very simple. There seems to be only a few rules. Drive in the middle of the street, unless something is coming in the opposite direction, then drive on the left. You can overtake on the left or the right, it doesn't matter. You only have to look forwards - don't worry about what is behind you. If you are behind someone, sound your horn to let them know. In fact, sound your horn every 60 seconds anyway - everybody does this. If there is space on the road that is as wide as your car plus 2 centimetres, drive into it. If the space is not as wide as your car, sound your horn and drive into it - the other people will move to the side. If they don't move to the side, sound your horn again!

Since there are so many cars, nothing moves faster than the official speed limit, which is 20 km/h!! So accidents are not too serious. If there is an accident, there are no problems deciding whose fault it was: the largest vehicle is always guilty.

The funniest thing about the traffic: all of the taxis are little white Suzuki cars that look exactly like my little old red car I had in Germany!

I saw the Parliament buildings from the car, and we drove from one side of the city to the other, so I have a very good impression of what it is like here. We also went to the offices of the Danish development organisation and to the most luxurious supermarket, where you can buy everything, including lots of European specialities (Ritter Sport, baked beans, German sausage etc) and then we bought fruit and vegetables from small roadside sellers - a great contrast! Did you know that bananas grow in Nepal? I didn't. They are quite small and taste very good.

For lunch both days we have eaten the typical Nepalese food of rice and dhal (lentil soup/sauce), but in the evenings we have eaten European style. Today we went to an organic restaurant, and I ate burgers made from wild boar (for my German friends, Wildschweinbuletten !) I'm sure I will write a lot more about Nepalese food in future blog entries.

The Nepalese people seem very friendly. The first thing that struck me is the diversity - the people you see in the street are very very different from each other. And that is a fact about this country - there are many different cultures living in different valleys, often they have their own languages. And all of them send some people to the capital city, of course!

Arrival in Kathmandu

2007-11-17T03:46:00.000+05:30

I wrote my last entry in Berlin, and now I'm writing from Kathmandu a few days later. Very full days - travelling, waiting, new people, new impressions .. ..

The flight was fine.

It started with a few little problems, but improved rapidly. The traffic in Berlin was terrible, but we had left in plenty of time and arrived in time. Then came the security check ! First I had to convince the security guard not to x-ray my homeopathic medicines: he took them around the outside of the machine but carefully checked every packet to see if it was really a bottle of medicine inside. Then I walked through the metal detector and it beeped very loudly: I don't know why, but the guard with the hand-detector then checked me and I had to take off my fleece jacket and shirt (metal buttons) and my money belt (credit cards), then I had to take off my walking boots (metal eyelets) and even my socks beeped (nothing metal at all!!) Finally he seemed happy and let me through, then the other guard wanted me to take my laptop out of its case, open it, turn it over .. But I guess that it is all worth it - I'd rather re-pack my bag and get dressed again than have the risk of someone blowing up the plane!

The whole journey was accompanied by friendly seat-neighbours. First, there was Henrik in the waiting room at Tegel. He was travelling to Singapore to meet friends and then he plans to travel on with them together to Australia where he is taking part in a special meditation course. In the plane to Doha, Qatar, my neighbour was from Kreuzberg, and she was travelling to Colombo, Sri Lanka, for an Ayurveda retreat. She had been to Nepal several times to go trekking, and could tell me some interesting stories. When we arrived in Qatar, we said goodbye to each other with the words "Halfway there!", and a woman who had been sitting in the row behind us asked "Halfway where?" We told her our destinations and it turns out she was also travelling to Kathmandu (to work for the German development organisation GTZ on an 8-month internship).

So now I had someone with whom I could spend the 8 hours at the airport together!! She (Sarah) and I were heading to the café for an orange juice (no coffee, because we wanted to nap a little, too), when I saw Henrik (from Tegel), so we were three (he also had to wait, but only 5 hours!).

The 'quiet room' at the airport, where we tried to catch some sleep after saying goodbye to Henrik, was right next to the room where the airport's air conditioning plant is situated. So it was actually noisier than on a plane!

On the plane I sat next to a woman from Italy who was flying to Nepal for ten days to visit friends. Unfortunately I only speak about two sentences of Italian, but he spoke good English. Across the aisle was a couple from France, and they had some problems filling out the disembarkation cards, so I had a chance to practice my French a little. Which meant that today I spoke all the languages that I can!!

The flight was fine, and when we got off the plane and entered the arrivals hall I found Sarah again, so we waited for our baggage together. (And I could help her fill out the disembarkation form, too! It was a bit strange.) We promised to keep in touch as we walked towards the doors. Outside we could already see her colleague from the GTZ, and my friend Jakob waiting for me. I hadn't seen him for over ten years - he's an old friend from the time when I went to a lot of youth gatherings for people who speak Esperanto, the international language. So from here on it was the fourth main language of the day for me!! We drank a coffee together, and then he successfully haggled with the taxi drivers and got a 'local price' (cheaper than the price for tourists!) to take us through the very very crowded streets to his home.

Getting Ready for Take-off

2007-11-13T23:47:00.000+05:30

I'm writing this entry from my friend's flat in Berlin: it's the evening before I depart.

Everything is packed, I went to the Nepalese embassy in Berlin yesterday and today to get my visa - it looks very official in my passport!! I didn't have to get the visa in advance - you can get a tourist visa at the airport in Kathmandu - but I want to avoid the queues there.

I have a long journey: there are two flights of about 5-6 hours, but the connection isn't very good and I will have to wait 8 hours in Doha airport. The second flight from Doha to Kathmandu leaves very early in the morning (4 am local time!!).

So when I arrive I will be very tired.

My father said that there is a very good view of the Himalaya mountains from the plane as it approaches Kathmandu, so I hope I get a good seat at the window!

Today I met one of my spiritual teachers in Berlin and he gave me some good practical advice for the trip: he has been to Nepal and Tibet a few times. Among other things, he advised me to carry my own spoon and knife with me all the time - you never know how well the restaurants wash their cutlery!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes to schedule tomorrow with the flights - maybe the next blog entry will be from Nepal, or maybe I'll pass the time in Doha airport with some internet surfing ...

Thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes for the trip.

Buddhist Teachings

2007-10-07T00:35:00.000+05:30

Some of you may be asking, what is Craig really going to do in Nepal? What does it mean, "study Buddhism"?

Well, like many religions, Buddhism has a very simple message at its heart. But we humans are not simple beings, and we like to think a lot and talk a lot about things like this. Which is why thousands of different teachers have written thousands of different books, and some of them contain very helpful messages to help us understand the simple message at the heart of the religion.

Here is a description from the institute where I will study, (and a photo from an institute in Germany, just to give you a taste of how I will spend the next ten weeks):
::
Shangpa Rinpoche envisioned and designed this course to meet the needs of students from all over the world to gain an in-depth understanding of the Dharma. This course is based on an integrated and systematic approach that incorporates study with lots of opportunities for discussion and meditation on what one has learned.
Taught by fully-qualified Khenpos (teachers) with translation into English by an experienced translator.
::

The main subject of this course is "The Madhyamika Avatara Prajna" - an important Buddhist text. Also there will be study of Buddhist History, and Tibetan Language.

As a preparation I read the "Jewel Ornament of Liberation" by Lord Gampopa. Well, actually I didn't read the full text, which is very difficult, but I read a book of teachings designed to help 'normal people' understand the text. I can really recommend the book. It's called "Path to Buddhahood", by Ringu Tulku. He describes the teachings from the "Jewel Ornament" in a way that makes sense to a Western mind.

Where am I going?

2007-09-09T03:32:00.002+05:30

Here's a picture of the institute I'll be studying at:

Well, that's the temple in the grounds of the institute, I think. It's an institute in the Kagyu lineage - one of the main Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It's one of the traditions that has done a lot to explain Buddhism to Westerners - for example, the school of Buddhism known as "Diamond Way Buddhism" is part of this lineage.

You can find more information about the institute at
http://www.kirtipur.org/index.html

Getting Ready

2007-09-08T19:51:00.001+05:30

So now I've finished setting up the blog, all I have to do for your enjoyment is to find an old digital camera and set up a photo album, then you'll be able to share my experiences in picture as well as word.

Welcome to my blog! Namaste!

2007-09-07T19:56:00.001+05:30

I've set up this blog to document my trip to Nepal in 2007-8. Hopefully, it'll prove an interesting way to share my impressions and experiences with you all.