public transportation in Delhi

Delhi is a rediculously enormous sprawling city. It covers almost 600 square miles. My hometown of Cable, in comparison, covers about 5. My bus from the north dropped me off right at one edge and I had a plane to catch 4 hours later at the other edge. I thought to myself, "sounds like a good opportunity to put public transportation to the test." To start things off, I had to cheat a bit and take a 3-wheeled "auto rickshaw" to the center of town called "Connaught Place."



Then I hopped on a subway, which was only introduced/completed earlier this year! Naturally, the line that goes to the airport is still very much under construction. I got some advice from a local policeman and hopped on a train to a stop about 12 miles from the airport (by Delhi standards, this is "close.")



I then walked over to a nearby road and found a local man who worked at the airport to serve as my guide. I hopped on a bus with him and literally about 80 people, 50 of whom were standing. I had a big trekking pack on my back and a daypack in the front, which made for a tight squeeze in a smushed-in bus. After about 40 minutes, we hopped off the moving bus (it never really stops, only slows down) and got on another one, which looked like it was built in the early 1960's.



This time, I was not able to fit in the bus, so stood on the stairs, hanging on for dear life as my backpack protruded into the chaotic streets. As my hands became numb from supporting my weight on a railing, we reached the next transfer point.



After negotiating a few wandering cows, dump trucks and motor cycles, we crossed to the median to catch our next bus--this one actually headed to the airport!

I arrived right on time to check in for my flight. It was not the easiest way to get to the airport, but certainly more memorable than a boring old taxi ride. And I made a friend along the way.

Blessings from great Buddhist masters

I am in Dharamsala now, in North India, which is home to the Dalai Lama. I am doing research on a couple of topics, including a biography of Padmasambhava, founder of Tibetan Buddhism, drawing from multiple sources. A unique Buddhist master with a direct connection to Padmasambhava is the Nechung Oracle. He is a 52 year old Tibetan man with extraordinary kindness and wisdom and undeniable clairvoyance. From time to time (he knows it's coming), a spirit enters his body and he becomes a medium for that spirit to give some advice to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. That spirit is a form of Pehar Gyalpo, whom Padmasambhava converted to protect and serve Tibetan Buddhism. Because of this, the Nechung Oracle has a close connection with Padmasambhava. He is one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. I interviewed him about a sectarian spirit whose name I can't mention (worship of it was banned by the Dalai Lama and some of its followers brutally murdered the head of the Dalai Lama's university and his 2 attendants in 1997 in Dharamsala). The reason I can't mention the name, is that some followers of this spirit are not stable and I am not looking to attract their negative energy. Anyway, he gave me a fascinating interview in Tibetan. At the end of our meeting, he touched his head to mine which is a sign of respect and camaraderie in Tibetan culture but extremely rare for a master like this to do to a Westerner he didn't previously know. It was quite a blessing. I made a money offering to him, but he said at the end of the meeting, "you're going to need this later on in your trip" and gave it back to me.



After lunch, I came outside and noticed people were lining up along the road. It turns out the Dalai Lama was going to come by soon in his vehicle, on his way to the airport. I joined the greeting party and the Dalai Lama smiled at me and waved from about 3 feet away through his truck window. Another special blessing.



That day, something rather miraculous happened. In August, I had sold a book to a store in Minneapolis for $25. It was a rhyming dictionary used and signed by Yip Harburg, who wrote the Wizard of Oz songs, "Brother can you spare a dime" and more, using this dictionary. Selling it for this low amount without consulting the owner was a foolish thing to do and the owner was quite upset when she found out in September. I called her to check in a few days ago, and she yelled at me for about 10 minutes for having sold this book for $25 (apparently holding this anger in since September). To her, it was a priceless family heirloom, which I wasn't aware of. So, after receiving blessings from these two great masters, I contacted the bookstore. They wrote back to say that they still had the book and they would sell it back to me for only $35. This is a tiny fraction of what they had the book listed for. I bought it back and mailed it to the original owner as a Christmas present. Blessings all around.

Tomorrow evening, I am doing an event to promote my book Compassionate Action: The Teachings of Chatral Rinpoche at an American-owned restaurant. A member of Tibetan parliament named Geshe Thupten Phelgye will be there to read the chapter he translated. I'll try to take some pictures.

meditation retreat in the mountains of a sacred land

Can you imagine a whole month:

--without checking your e-mail
--without answering the phone
--without watching TV
--without reading the news
--preparing all your meals without a gas/electric range, microwave or fridge?
--sleeping in a room that is 40 degrees
--taking a shower with water from an icy mountain stream?

Well, these are some of the features of going on a Buddhist meditation retreat in the mountains of Nepal, which I did the whole month of November. And it was wonderful!

One of the main objectives of a Buddhist mountain retreat is to transcend attachment & aversion-- the likes and dislikes that lead to perpetual mental suffering. When I lived in New York City, this became evident for me at my job, as many of my friends left and I was mostly surrounded by people I didn't get along with. I left that job and NYC with it and this mountain retreat was a way for me to move beyond those memories and transform my basic outlook to handle adversity with more skill the next time it arises. One of the main practices of the retreat was equanimity meditation--extending the same kindness and care to all without the labels of "friend" and "enemy" and thereby dissipating the conflicting emotions that arise from such labels.

I did four sessions of practice a day--before and after all meals. I followed a prayer sequence called "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse Preliminaries" composed in the 18th century by Jigme Lingpa, a Tibetan Buddhist saint. The famous book "Words of My Perfect Teacher" is a commentary on this practice.

I first studied it with a master named Changling Rinpoche at Shechen Monastery in Kathmandu during my study abroad program in 1999/2000. I received the transmission from Lama Wangdu Rinpoche in 2000 and again from Shyalpa Rinpoche in 2007. This past month was the first time in all these years where I had an opportunity to engage in the practice intently for an extended period of time.

The practice begins with an overview of basic Buddhist philosophy in the form of a prayer to one's teacher. Impermanence, karma, the suffering of cyclic existence, and the precious opportunity we have to practice spirituality are all covered. Next, one takes refuge in the teacher, the Buddha, the teachings and the spiritual community by saying a prayer and doing prostrations. These consist of placing folded hands to one's head, throat and heart (showing loyalty with and purifying one's body, speech and mind) and then touching both knees, both hands and one's forehead to the ground, which transforms one's anger, attachment, ignorance, envy and arrogance into their enlightened counterparts. I did 1,000 to 2,500 of these prostrations per day during the retreat.

The next practice consists of meditating on boundless equanimity, love, compassion and sympathetic joy while activating one's altruistic motivation to attain enlightenment to effectively help others. Third is a visualization of the Buddha of purification giving you an internal shower to purify your sins while you recite his mantra. This practice concludes with equanimity meditation. Next is the visualization of offering everything good in the universe, in the form of a mandala, to the teacher, the Buddha, those who protect the teachings, those you have harmed and all beings in general. This helps to earn the merit necessary to sustain the practice while also letting go of attachments.

Next is a series of prayers and visualizations which culminates in a trance-like state where you mentally reside in oneness with the wisdom mind of the Buddha for a brief period. Lastly, you dedicate the merits of the practice to the benefit of all.

I prepared all my meals over a primitive wood-burning stove with no door. My diet consisted of potatoes, rice, carrots, greens and lots and lots of lentils. Needless to say, I had to take some hits of meth from time to time--simethicone anti-gas medicine that is! I also occasionally enjoyed soup from packets, peanut butter and candy. I used loads of ginger, garlic and onions and spices in all my cooking and sometimes a hot pepper called "fireball." One time my meditation neighbor brought me some fresh Tibetan steamed dumplings filled with spinach and garlic with a tomato/hot pepper dipping sauce. This was the culinary highlight of the retreat.

My cabin had 2 small rooms--one for the stove, one for the bed. I had a lovely yard that overlooked the valley, where I spent my breaks. My water came via hose directly from a mountain stream. I received large chunks of firewood from a local and chopped it up with my axe or khukari, a curved Nepali sword/knife that all locals have. Per rules of the retreat, I was not allowed to leave the vicinity of my cabin, though neighbors would sometimes visit me on breaks.

The retreat center is also a sanctuary for goats rescued from slaughter by Chatral Rinpoche, the 98-year-old master whom I compiled a book on. There are 160 goats and every afternoon, they are taken out to graze and fed leaves from cut branches. The meditators at the center had to do some "goat duty" for most of the time I was there, the some professional goat herders were hired at the end to relieve them of this. On one occasion, a goat herder accidentally cut his leg with a khukari and I was called up with my first aid kit to help. He had severed some muscle tissue with lots of bleeding. I offered to do stitches, but he declined so I cleaned it and wrapped it up tight. The next morning, after I re-treated the wound with plenty of Neosporin and gave him some Advil, he limped 4 hours to the nearest town with a road and took a bus to Kathmandu to visit the hospital. Minor surgery was required, but he will be fine.

On the 2nd day of the retreat during my evening study session, I leaned over to tend the fire and my sweatpants caught fire from the candle! I patted it out with my hand, but not before a four-inch hole was created and the back of my leg was scorched! Through the power of prayer and aloe treatment, the burn was healed within a few days.

Along the 8 hour uphill hike to the retreat center, I saw Missing Persons signs for a girl from Colorado that disappeared in the area last spring. Theories are that she was either assaulted and killed or that she simply fell to her death in the steep mountains.

Some hooligans broke open a Buddhist monument (stupa) on the hill directly above the retreat center where I stayed, but found no valuables. In my tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, we would say that this type of criminal behavior at a sacred site is a sign of a "degenerate age."

People in this area are a combination of wild/fearless--with large knives connected to their belts like pirates--and kind/generous. It is my kind of place.

My late mother appeared in my dreams numerous times. I felt her spirit was in this particular songbird that would come by my courtyard and sing sweet songs from time to time.

Some bats lived in the eaves of my roof and one time a large one flew directly into my face at full speed! My most frequent visitors were large mountain ravens who enjoyed munching on any leftovers I might have.

About retreats, Jigme Lingpa said, "never leave them as ordinary as you were before." By that standard, I consider it to be a true success.

Below are some photos from the retreat:

The objects of my devotion and prayers during the retreat (and every day for that matter), HH Chatral Rinpoche and HE Shyalpa Rinpoche


This is where I slept and did my practice.


There is a goat sanctuary with 160 goats below my cabin (saved from the butcher).


Day one of retreat.


One of my neighbors


My cabin.


The moon.


My kitchen.


What I looked like half way through the retreat.


My courtyard, where I ate and relaxed


My water tap with its icy water.


I woke at sunrise each day.


I used this knife to cut my wood and this rosary to count my mantras. (This picture taken at end of retreat).


This man gets all the wood for the residents of the meditation center.


On the last day of my retreat

Birthday/Halloween party in Nepal

After a fun day of spending time with friends, I went to a Halloween party for my birthday.



Here is one of the party's hosts, dressed as a Hindu monkey god.


Here is a local teacher dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali.


Here is a group I was hanging out with. (The photographer took creative liberties with the zoom).


Here is the DJ, dressed as the Hindu god Shiva.


Here are the merry people dancing.


Here is my friend Chris and I the day before, going by motorcycle to visit Chatral Rinpoche's house.

wildlife scenes from Nepal

Red duck on Phewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal



Woodpecker at Chitwan National Park



Water bird at Chitwan National Park



Crocodile called "marsh mugger" at Chitwan National Park



Cat at the bar at Chitwan National Park



Crane flying at Chitwan National Park



Cranes at Chitwan National Park



Wild Buffalo at Chitwan National Park



White and red-headed water birds at Chitwan National Park



Red-headed water bird at Chitwan National Park



Mother and baby elephants at Chitwan National Park



A langur monkey at Chitwan National Park



Two goat pals near the Tibetan border with Nepal



Rebecca feeding elephants at Chitwan National Park

Adventures in Nepal

Have you ever had one of those falling dreams where you are dropping to the ground below from a high-up perch, exhilarated yet terrified? Wel, Nepal is a land where "if you can dream it, you can do it." Rebecca and I took a bus from Kathmandu to the Tibetan border to a place called The Last Resort. They feature one of Nepal's highest and longest metal suspension bridges--a perfect place for bungee jumping and an even more wild activity--"canyon swinging." This involves a seven second free fall, followed by a graceful swing above a raging river at 90 miles per hour. As my harness was fastened, my heart began to race. I stepped onto the launching plank and my rope was connected to the harness. Without delay, the instructor counted down, "3, 2, 1...jump!" I leaped off into the chasm below and yelled in frightful delight as I dropped. The rope tightened and I swung past waterfalls and back again. That was scary! Rebecca jumped several minutes later and had a blast as well.




The next day started with a mountain sport called "canyoning." It involves repelling down waterfalls with climbing ropes. We started our descent with some natural water slides, splashing into the pools below. Then came the hard part--walking down a sheer vertical cliff with water splashing in your face. You are encouraged to lean back as far as possible as if in a sitting position while you lower yourself down with a rope attached to your waist with a clip. The dramatic conclusion was canyoning down a 120-foot waterfall as it crashed on top of me.




The final day of the adventure package was the funnest--white water rafting. The deluge of Himalayan Mountain snow melt gushes down the deep gorges south through Nepal and into India. Our raft had 8 people and a guide and I served as front paddler along with a burly Englishman. We bounced and flowed and got soaking wet. On a class 3 rapid, one of my smaller raftmates was catapulted out and had to be rescued by a kayaker. We survived the class 4 rapid with the crew intact, though took on a lot of water. To celebrate, we all jumped out and swam during a calm stretch.

Kathmandu adventures

On our first full day in Kathmandu, we hiked up Kopan Hill where I taught English to monks and lived on and off from November 2009 to this past March. It was a joy to see my old friends there and we joined them for a delicious lunch. I then took Rebecca on a hike to some nearby mountainous villages and monasteries. In Nepal, it is advisable to watch where you step. Unfortunately, Rebecca learned this the hard way when she found herself ankle-deep in an open sewer that creeped near our trail! We joked that flesh-eating bacteria might munch on her foot, making her nickname "Shit Stepping Stumpy."

(protective image at monastery)

The crowded chaos of Kathmandu had been overwhelming for Rebecca, who had not previously been out of the country. To decompress from that experience, our hike culminated high above the swirling city on a serene grassy ridge with the gentle breeze providing the only sounds. That night, we would not be so lucky. The noises started around 1 a.m. A homeless man sleeping in the street below began an unprecedented series of earth-shaking snores. As that died down, a chorus of yapping street dogs filled the air. An ambulance chimed in, followed by the crashing of a gong to wake the monks. A concert emerged from the prayer hall, setting the stage for the featured attraction--a full-on marching band! Rebecca and I laughed and rose from our beds to acknowledge the concert's dramatic conclusion. I checked my watch. It was 4:58 a.m.



That afternoon, we hiked to the land of monks and holy men known as Pashupatinath (above). We hired a local guide to make sense of this most unusual place, where sites like the below are a daily occurrence. Several funerals were going on, with families cremating their loved ones in a pile of wood and scattering the ashes in the river below. Hindu holy men sat around with elaborate make-up to pay homage to their chosen god, Shiva. We toured a Mother Theresa project on the premises, a home for the disabled and elderly with several Western volunteers helping out.



The next day, we set out to climb one of the highest mountains in the valley-Nagarjun. It is home to jaguars, "barking deer", bears, and thousands of tropical birds. Hundreds of rhesus monkeys had recently been released here after an animal rights group successfully prevented an American primate researcher from taking them from his Nepal breeding center to research labs in the U.S. We saw a few of those freed monkeys joyfully swinging from tree to tree above our heads as we hiked.

We made our way to Patan, where we stayed with my friend Gautumn the Buddhist statue maker. The highlight of staying with him is flying kites with his children. It is a fierce competition, however, as kite-flying rivals try to cut the other's string with their own (which is often abrasive like sandpaper.) I am not too good at it, but it is fun to try!



Patan's residents are generally 5 feet tall or so. Therefore, doors are a maximum of 5'2" high. Needless to say, I bump my head a lot! Below, I am posing in front of a typical Patan door.



Yesterday, we went to Nagarkot to catch a glimpse of the Himalaya. We woke up at 4:30 a.m. and walked up to the viewing tour for the sunrise. It was too cloudy to see the full range (which includes Everest to the east), but we got a good luck at the nearby peaks. Tomorrow, we head to the Tibet border for some rafting, canyoning, and a death-defying 6 second free fall called the "canyon swing." Wish me luck.