NEPAL 040212 Pashupatinath, the Varanasi of Nepal

Dear Everyone

This afternoon we made a trip into one of the most sacred places in the Hindu world, Pashupatinath, a complex of temples, shrines, cremation ghats, and a "Hospice House" on the Bagmati River.  Non-Hindus cannot visit the temples, but we could peek into the many Shiva shrines and watch from across the river the families caring for the dying and the rituals for the dead.  Not my usual Monday afternoon.

Mourners gather to wait together near the small shrines below the Hospice House and on the steps along the sacred Bagmati River in Pashupatinath

 The first picture in "Read More," shows more about what's happening on the right of this image

NEPAL 040112 Shopping in Patan: A Prayer Wheel for Claire

Dear Friends, 

My writing group teacher, Claire Braz-Valentine, asked that, in lieu of tuition while I was absent raveling in Nepal, that I find a prayer wheel for her.  This is an account of that shopping trip.

My introduction to prayer wheels was at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California.  There the wooden prayer wheel is at the gate to the retreat area.  It’s a cylinder about two feet high and a bit over one foot in diameter with eight handles at the bottom of the wheel, one for each of the steps in the noble eightfold path.  Prayers left at the nearby Spirit Rock gratitude hut are placed inside the wheel and the prayers are sent out into the universe each time the wheel is spun by grabbing the handle next to your "favorite" step :-) and giving the wheel a friendly whirl.

On our first evening in Nepal this March, I first saw another sort of prayer wheel as Dick and I joined dozens of Tibetan Buddhist devotees walking clockwise around the Great Stupa at Bodhnath.  Many of the worshipers were spinning prayer wheels.  Some held their small prayer wheels mounted on handles in one hand and spun them clockwise as they walked.  Others reached into the niches adorned with the red curtains -- seen below -- to spin the prayer wheels there as they walked past.Nearby prayer wheels in a room attached to the Bodhnath stupa were twelve feet high and eight feet in diameter – big enough to hold the whole world’s prayers for peace and terrifically hard to spin alone (not that one is often alone in this sacred place!).

The Great Stupa at Bodhnath showing its rectangular prayer wheel niches sheltered by red curtains and devotees circumnavigating the stupa at street level, perhaps spinning  the prayer wheels as they walked.

NEPAL 040112 A Rinpoche Teaches and a Puja in Patan

Dear Friends

Well I didn't think anything could be more amazing than yesterday, but little did I know that today I would learn that I was heading for Buddhist Hell and that performing a Hindu puja (offering and prayer observance) to an elephant-headed God could move me very deeply.

Our day began at breakfast in the Hotel Ngudrup in the company of an international cohort of guests who are here to assist with [translating Tibetan into English, for example] or attend the teachings by Drupon Rinpoche.  The teachings are given at a school for children from the Himalayas who would not otherwise have an education and is funded by donations made to Trungpa Rinpoche for his charitable works.  This means that to go to the teachings we can walk through the playground of the school with is between the dormitory and the classroom building.  I stopped in a corner to take a picture and was engaged in conversation by a charming 7-year old boy who told me in his clear, pan-pipe bright young voice that I was very beautiful.  Not a bad start to the day.

Students, monks, and nuns listen to the teaching of Drupon Rinpoche at Thrangu Rinphche's school, Shree Mangal Dvip,  in Boudha

NEPAL 0331120 Chaitra Dasain in Bhaktapur

Hello Dear Friends WARNING:  NOT MEALTIME READING

Well, I was going to further your enlightenment by telling you about the teachings we heard this morning from Drupon Rinpoche, but this afternoon was so vivid and amazing that it will take precedence for now.

In the "Events Calendar" of the Lonely Planet Guide to Nepal there is mention under "MARCH-APRIL" of something called Chaitra Dasain that is described, "Small Dasain, this festival takes place exactly six months prior to the more important Dasain celebration.  Both Dasains are dedicated to Durga and . . . goats and buffaloes are sacrificed early in the morning . . . The autumn celebration of ['Big']  Dasain "Lasts for 15 days and celebrates the victory of the goddess Durga over the forces of evil (personified in the buffalo demon Mahisasura) . . .hundreds of thousands of animals are sacrificed . . ."

Now from the guidebook to our afternoon adventure.

We went to visit Bhaktapur because it has a fabulously interesting, very well-preserved medieval center of three squares with royal palaces and temples that date from the 13th to 17th centuries when the city was one of three prosperous and powerful city-states in the Kathmandu Valley. We were taken there by our guide Jawane, Karma's friend, and started with lunch at tourist restaurant overlooking Durbar Square (palace square = every big city has one). We were chatting away when Donna said, "Hey, look, what's that red stuff down there in the square?"

NEPAL 033012 A Day of Errands in Downtown Kathmandu

Dear Friends

It was lovely to be back in Boudha among the many monks from the dozen or so monasteries in the area.  One such fellow is in the picture below caught exiting the stupa.  Our hotel is full of monks and western guests who seem to be here for the classes that begin tomorrow on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa.  Maybe I'll tell you about one per day :-)

 

NEPAL 032912 A Day of "B's"

Dear Everyone,

Today we returned to Boudha.

Breakfast on the deck at the Hotel Park Side began our last day at Chitwan National Park.  With our trusty Starbucks Via packs -- Colombian and Italian Roast -- or "milk tea" (for me), we savored our last day on the breezy second floor dining room deck.  Breakfast was accompanied by a great variety of bird songs and the sound and bright colors of traffic on the adjacent village road.

Baby elephants were the main attraction at the Elephant Breeding Center, our last field trip stop with Gopal. The smaller baby in the picture was born only eight days ago and was still learning how to use all FOUR!! of his brand new legs. The larger baby was sort of the center's mascot and chief pest.  We saw him snatch a bundle of specially prepared "nutritionally correct" elephant snack food from a pile next to the mahout who was making them just outside the enclosure's fence. We also saw a pair of spotted owlets in the stable where twin male "babies" of one year of age were with their mom still and chafing at their new chained up status.

NEPAL 032812 More Elephants and a Whole Lot More Water

Hello All, 

This morning started with a refreshing, open-air ride in the back of a small pickup through the “really downtown” area of Sauraha – restaurants, shops, hotels, bars, etc. – to the outdoor “embarkation lounge” for elephant rides through the jungle.  There were several towers like the one pictured below that eager tourists climbed to sit in what was essentially a big wooden box on the back of a willing elephant.  

Each of us straddled a corner post of the box for a gently rocking ride through a stream and onward into the jungle.