The month of October brought many shifts to the quiet routine that had been established in our monastic community. I returned from my long stay in the States, PhD at long last complete and very much ready to move forward to life beside my Dharma sisters in India. The four of us renewed the bonds of affection that connect us, exchanging tales of our time apart and drinking deeply of the joy of the spiritual life that we share as women on this monastic path.
Here are a few snippets from our community blog, which henceforth will be the main site for new updates...
Within days of returning, any hopes of resting after the long and intense period of writing and defending my dissertation were dashed, as a series of translation jobs came tumbling in, one after the other. While I stayed at home working on texts to be used during the upcoming Kagyu Monlam prayer festival in Bodhgaya, the other nuns had the great privilege of attending teaching after teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his home monastery in Dharamsala...
This month we also had the opportunity to meet privately with the Gyalwang Karmapa, our spiritual guide, reporting to him on our activities over the past months, and seeking his counsel for what lies ahead. In particular, we presented our aspirations for a study program that would meet our needs as Westerners in whom Buddhism needs to be actively inculcated. As we articulated our wish for a program that could combine the best of Western pedagogy and more traditional Tibetan methods of transmitting knowledge. His Holiness responded to our request by expressing his own strong interest in developing such a program, and we now plan to work to have a working curriculum in place for when Dapel, Nangpel and Drolma return from their study program in Nepal.
Later in the month, a solemn ceremony was held down the road from our house to formally release a biography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that had been long in the making. With HHDL himself in attendance, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa officiated at the proceedings, with a multitude of Tibetans gathering to express their deep appreciation for the Dalai Lama’s extensive activities. The ceremony took place close on the heels of a series of executions of Tibetan protesters by the Chinese government, and at the close of the ceremony, His Holiness the Dalai Lama commented that prayers are stronger when made on the basis of a shared relationship with the one for whom we are praying – such as family relationships, relationships that come from sharing experiences or belongings, or the relationships that link spiritual teachers and disciples. Therefore, His Holiness said, it would be good for us to pray together for those who have been executed, and for happiness and peace throughout the world. Seated before these two exceptional beings, joining them and the rest of the Tibetan community in prayers, it hit home just how exceptional it is to have a culture fundamentally saturated with the wish to ease the suffering of others, and headed by leaders whose own commitment to the well-being of others is unequivocal. Even if those aspirations prove challenging to implement or even sustain, simply setting them at the notional center of a society is already a great deal.
Read more on our activities for this month here.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
in 350 words or less
since i left for india shortly after the phd defense, my friend sangeeta did the honors (and considerably gnarly administrative chore) of taking the final copy for final review and depositing it in the library in madison, thereby officially ending my time as a grad student. my degree was granted on friday, october 16, and a new life has begun.
i know over the years, a few people have asked and if anyone is interested in actually reading it, let me know now and i can send a pdf copy. for those with some interest but no time to wade through 455 pages, here is the 350-words-or-less version i was required to produce as part of the finalizing of the degree:
Abstract
This dissertation explores the ethics that Buddha and his monastic followers practiced, as imagined in the narrative world of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (MSV). The MSV is a multi-volume canonical text that has governed various Indian and Tibetan Buddhist monastic communities for nearly two millennia, and it is also hailed as a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature. Through close readings of the MSV’s many narratives, this dissertation is principally concerned to understand in what ways and to what extent its ethics is gendered.
The MSV regulates historical monastic communities, often addressing those communities through narratives. The text thus demands reading practices that reflect its status as both authoritative and multivocal. Deploying such practices, we note that Buddha’s practice of ethics in the MSV is marked by an intense attentiveness to human particularity and difference. In the ethics of the MSV, many features combine to constitute a person: caste, family, gender and other markers of social location, their relationships with particular others, as well as individual disposition and karma. Within Buddhist monasticism, gender emerges as one of the single most important determinants of social location and personal identity, profoundly impacting what is and is not possible for persons at any given moment. Buddhist monasticism’s interventions in prevailing constructions of female gender benefited women greatly, even though those mainstream constructions repeatedly re-inscribed themselves on monastic women’s lives, bodies and institutions.
With its intense focus on the body as a site for ethical cultivation, Buddhist monasticism offers women an alternate model of female embodiment. When gender is institutionalized within monastic communities, we note moments of parity between the male and female monastic orders, along with the hierarchy that generally prevails between them. The hierarchical relationship between the monks and nuns’ orders is characterized by asymmetrical reciprocity, with each encouraged to offer different forms of care to the other.
Throughout, the dissertation assesses the constructions of gender imagined in the MSV’s narratives, asking to what degree and in what ways Buddhist monasticism succeeds or fails to enable women to engage in the work of self-fashioning that is its overall ethical project.
i know over the years, a few people have asked and if anyone is interested in actually reading it, let me know now and i can send a pdf copy. for those with some interest but no time to wade through 455 pages, here is the 350-words-or-less version i was required to produce as part of the finalizing of the degree:
Abstract
This dissertation explores the ethics that Buddha and his monastic followers practiced, as imagined in the narrative world of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (MSV). The MSV is a multi-volume canonical text that has governed various Indian and Tibetan Buddhist monastic communities for nearly two millennia, and it is also hailed as a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature. Through close readings of the MSV’s many narratives, this dissertation is principally concerned to understand in what ways and to what extent its ethics is gendered.
The MSV regulates historical monastic communities, often addressing those communities through narratives. The text thus demands reading practices that reflect its status as both authoritative and multivocal. Deploying such practices, we note that Buddha’s practice of ethics in the MSV is marked by an intense attentiveness to human particularity and difference. In the ethics of the MSV, many features combine to constitute a person: caste, family, gender and other markers of social location, their relationships with particular others, as well as individual disposition and karma. Within Buddhist monasticism, gender emerges as one of the single most important determinants of social location and personal identity, profoundly impacting what is and is not possible for persons at any given moment. Buddhist monasticism’s interventions in prevailing constructions of female gender benefited women greatly, even though those mainstream constructions repeatedly re-inscribed themselves on monastic women’s lives, bodies and institutions.
With its intense focus on the body as a site for ethical cultivation, Buddhist monasticism offers women an alternate model of female embodiment. When gender is institutionalized within monastic communities, we note moments of parity between the male and female monastic orders, along with the hierarchy that generally prevails between them. The hierarchical relationship between the monks and nuns’ orders is characterized by asymmetrical reciprocity, with each encouraged to offer different forms of care to the other.
Throughout, the dissertation assesses the constructions of gender imagined in the MSV’s narratives, asking to what degree and in what ways Buddhist monasticism succeeds or fails to enable women to engage in the work of self-fashioning that is its overall ethical project.
Friday, September 25, 2009
over the edge
a dissertation entitled:
"For the Sake of Women, Too":
Ethics and Gender in the Narratives of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya
was successfully defended and signed off on at 3pm today, as you can see.
(please forgive the brevity of this post. i'm fresh out of words at the moment!)
"For the Sake of Women, Too":
Ethics and Gender in the Narratives of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya
was successfully defended and signed off on at 3pm today, as you can see.
(please forgive the brevity of this post. i'm fresh out of words at the moment!)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
on the brink of dissertation
friday, september 25.
1pm to 3 pm, madison, wisconsin time, in a room on campus i recall most vividly for its lack of air, i will take a seat before the five professors who make up my doctoral committee.
it will be time to defend my thesis.
1pm to 3 pm, madison, wisconsin time, in a room on campus i recall most vividly for its lack of air, i will take a seat before the five professors who make up my doctoral committee.
it will be time to defend my thesis.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
first you submit, then you defend.
i submitted my completed thesis to my doctoral review committee a week ago, and in just over two weeks have my formal defense.
academia really is a pretty curious beast. although we may be familiar enough with them that they seem quite natural, academic practices, rituals and language are easily as odd as the tibetan buddhist rituals that are often branded as bizarre, or more generously perhaps, exotic. one clear example of this is the very process of completing the phd requirements. in the humanities at least, one usually thinks of a phd as consisting of some years of formal study, a year or so spent researching something or other, followed by a final period - a year or two usually - spent writing up the actual dissertation thesis. but this overlooks the very last, and very combative, portion of the process: submission and defense. the odd thing, certainly odd in military terms at least, is that first you submit and then you defend. this is not merely a question of odd use of language. like two animals positioning themselves to determine which will be alpha, there is a carving out of territory, a series of challenges, displays of [here, intellectual] power, and throughout, a process of submitting to a known genre of authority marking and making. in the end, the grad student leaves their dissertation thesis in the ring and withdraws, to allow the committee their time to see what they make of the offering. meanwhile, the process of defending the doctoral theses is the culmination of years of study and research, and, for many graduate students, months or years of nail-biting and teeth-gnashing during the write-up stage. yet given how tightly defined most thesis topics are, and given the strong preference for students to undertake research on topics or questions no one else has explored before, or in the same way, by the time phd candidate have completed the writing of the thesis, in many cases literally no one else in academia knows as much as the phd candidate on their topic.
yet first you submit. and if my doctoral defense is anything like my masters defense, i fully expect that the next entry i post here will be a report of my survival of the encounter, and perhaps even a display of the wounds i sustained in attaining the right to print three tiny letters after my name - a right in all likelihood i will not exercise.
academia really is a pretty curious beast. although we may be familiar enough with them that they seem quite natural, academic practices, rituals and language are easily as odd as the tibetan buddhist rituals that are often branded as bizarre, or more generously perhaps, exotic. one clear example of this is the very process of completing the phd requirements. in the humanities at least, one usually thinks of a phd as consisting of some years of formal study, a year or so spent researching something or other, followed by a final period - a year or two usually - spent writing up the actual dissertation thesis. but this overlooks the very last, and very combative, portion of the process: submission and defense. the odd thing, certainly odd in military terms at least, is that first you submit and then you defend. this is not merely a question of odd use of language. like two animals positioning themselves to determine which will be alpha, there is a carving out of territory, a series of challenges, displays of [here, intellectual] power, and throughout, a process of submitting to a known genre of authority marking and making. in the end, the grad student leaves their dissertation thesis in the ring and withdraws, to allow the committee their time to see what they make of the offering. meanwhile, the process of defending the doctoral theses is the culmination of years of study and research, and, for many graduate students, months or years of nail-biting and teeth-gnashing during the write-up stage. yet given how tightly defined most thesis topics are, and given the strong preference for students to undertake research on topics or questions no one else has explored before, or in the same way, by the time phd candidate have completed the writing of the thesis, in many cases literally no one else in academia knows as much as the phd candidate on their topic.
yet first you submit. and if my doctoral defense is anything like my masters defense, i fully expect that the next entry i post here will be a report of my survival of the encounter, and perhaps even a display of the wounds i sustained in attaining the right to print three tiny letters after my name - a right in all likelihood i will not exercise.
Monday, August 31, 2009
news from the front
this photo depicts the mountains visible from redlands, the southern californian town i am writing from. over these past two months i have been in semi-retreat writing here, no doubt all sorts of difficult situations and painful experiences have taken place in the world outside this house. but until they penetrate this self-induced bubble, they remain vague 'suffering and causes of suffering.' even now, when serious disaster nears, my head somehow must remain firmly turned to my screen and on that screen Word and not an internet browser must be open.
in the past few months i have written five chapters, and now have the conclusions left. my deadline for handing this to my phd committee is friday, which means thursday afternoon must be spent at kinkos making copies to send them overnight. this is excellent news. except that having offered all the mental and physical energy i had over the past two months, i am running low. and it is 109 degrees, the AC has chosen this summer to become in operative, which has actually been largely manageable because being near the desert, temperatures drop dramatically at night and a well-shaded house like this can be kept fairly cool in the days as long as it gets well cooled at night. but ... at the moment we cannot open the windows at night to let the house cool down because forest fires are devouring the nearby hills. here and in a number of other fires raging across southern california, thousands of home have been evacuated, and already two forest-fighters have given their lives. a crew of prison inmates was enlisted in the struggle to bring this raging force of nature under control, and when the fire began to engulf their campsite, the two firefighters who fell had been trying to find a safe route out for them. one of the two leaves a wife pregnant with their first child, due to be born in the next few weeks. some people refuse to evacuate, thinking they can defend their homes or wait it out, but by the time they are willing to be rescued, the towering flames of fire make it impossible to reach them. men die, children are orphaned, countless animals will be trapped in flames, humans become homeless and fearful for their lives' investments and shelters and dreams. all this only comes to my attention because the air we invisibly share has become dangerous to breathe. so the windows stay shut at night, leaving the house no chance to release its heat out into the night air, and so this house is indirectly warmed by the fire.
today for literally the first time in weeks, i left our yard and looked out and up at the mountains. i last paid them any attention when i was selecting a photo to upload on a past blog entry, in the early phase of this writing. though obviously they have been there this whole time, until they burst into flames their presence appeared utterly irrelevant, one of the million background details our brain processes and doesn't bother us about because it does not matter. we can focus on our little corner of the large world as narrowly as we like, it seems, and even if we can lose sight of it at times, our connectedness to it does not disappear. not even for a moment.
Monday, August 17, 2009
one small bump from china...
chinese authorities apparently permitted the wide publication of an article advocating taking steps towards the break-up of india. echoing darkly the rhetoric used to justify its invasion and occupation of tibet, the article points to india's tremendous internal diversity as evidence that "the 'so-called' Indian nation cannot be considered as one having existed in history."
a china-centered asia would be so much better for everyone involved, the chinese authors of the article concluded.
from an english summary of that article: Adding that Hinduism is a decadent religion as it allows caste exploitation and is unhelpful to the country's modernisation, it described the Indian government as one in a dilemma with regard to eradication of the caste system as it realises that the process to do away with castes may shake the foundation of the consciousness of the Indian nation.
The writer has argued that in view of the above, China in its own interest and the progress of Asia, should join forces with different nationalities like the Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support the latter in establishing independent nation-States of their own, out of India. In particular, the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) in Assam, a territory neighboring China, can be helped by China so that Assam realises its national independence.
continue reading the rest of the article.
for those who read chinese,here is the original article. (the connection is sporadic)
h
a china-centered asia would be so much better for everyone involved, the chinese authors of the article concluded.
from an english summary of that article: Adding that Hinduism is a decadent religion as it allows caste exploitation and is unhelpful to the country's modernisation, it described the Indian government as one in a dilemma with regard to eradication of the caste system as it realises that the process to do away with castes may shake the foundation of the consciousness of the Indian nation.
The writer has argued that in view of the above, China in its own interest and the progress of Asia, should join forces with different nationalities like the Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support the latter in establishing independent nation-States of their own, out of India. In particular, the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) in Assam, a territory neighboring China, can be helped by China so that Assam realises its national independence.
continue reading the rest of the article.
for those who read chinese,here is the original article. (the connection is sporadic)
h
Saturday, August 08, 2009
chapter headings
as i now near the close of the fifth and final chapter of my dissertation, i thought i'd share some quotes that i am placing at the beginning of each chapter, as an epigraph. each chapter itself in part constitutes a sort of reflection on the epigraph, so i will not try to comment on them here. with the exception of the first - a tibetan proverb - the rest all come from the mulasarvastivada vinaya."scriptural texts are like soft clay."
"Venerable Nandaka thought, 'Women have little wisdom,' and thinking that, he taught the Dharma [to a group of bhikṣuṇīs] with meanings, sentences and words that were abridged. Because they were wise, they asked him progressively difficult questions, to which Venerable Nandaka replied."
"In saṃsāra, without needing to direct efforts to it,
A body is extremely easy to attain.
In ten thousand million eons,
A worthy place to offer it is extremely hard to attain."
- Mahāsenā, after she had cut out a piece of her thigh to make a medicinal broth for an ailing bhikṣu. (Buddha compares her act to his own deeds as a bodhisattva, and then immediately thereafter bans monks from accepting human meat!)
"All girls are material to be sold by their parents; if my arm or legs are broken by my jumping up or falling down, who will ask for me? Instead, my whole life I would surely become something my parents had to take care of."
- Viśākhā, a young unmarried girl explains why she does not hop and skip like her friends.
"Dharmadattā said to her retinue, 'Sisters, the fact that the Lord has permitted bhikṣuṇīs to go forth, take full ordination and engage in bhikṣuṇīhood: This is all due to Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī.'"
Sunday, July 12, 2009
can i go to india to become a buddha?
settled well in to dissertation writing here in my hideout in southern california (in the town from which this photo here was taken). my hosts have a four-year-old daughter, for whom my robes, shaved head and life in general are a source of ongoing fascination. my first day here, unsolicited and out of the blue, she looked at me quietly for a moment and said, "i want to go to india to become a buddha. can i go to india and become a buddha?" this, despite the fact that i had told her nothing of life in india, and certainly nothing of buddhist theories of enlightenment.she later peppered me with other questions - are there little girls like her in india with those kind of clothes, indicating my robes? do they go to school? would she have to cut off her hair?
i told her she could definitely become a buddha if she wanted to, but maybe better to try when she was a little bigger... what i did not say, but might have, was that i too want to go to india to see about becoming a buddha, but first have to finish this dissertation ...
and a little PS for anyone wondering, southern california is indeed rather warm in the summer.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
saying my reluctant goodbyes
it is a bit more than three years since i first came to india for what was to have been a year of dissertation research. this extended period in 'the field' has been fruitful beyond what i could have imagined when it began, and has been fruitful in unanticipated ways.these fruits grew slowly, in gardens that were initially harsh and sometimes lonely, but always lush in their rewards: reading vinaya narratives in sanskrit five to six hours a day, month after month, in visakhapatnam with the magnificent prabhakara shastri garu whose kindness to me far outweighs his not inconsiderable gruffness. later, reading in tibetan with lobsang norbu shastri, tashi tsering and geshe rinchen ngodrub in dharamsala and in varanasi with shrikant bahulkar-ji; their erudition, humility and gentleness of spirit were a rare and deeply inspiring combination. what i received from them are not small gifts.
i do not think it an exaggeration to say that i really learnt sanskrit and tibetan during this time in india, although on the day i first landed here, i had already completed five years of sanskrit and some eight years of tibetan language study. some years ago i attended a summer seminar in sanskrit regional literatures in jerusalem, led by some of the finest western scholars of sanskrit literature, and at that time i became aware that those scholars whose depth of knowledge of sanskrit culture and language most inspired my respect and admiration had all spent long periods of time reading in india with indian pandits and scholars. most had been years in completing their dissertations. on some partly-conscious level, their example was a partial inspiration for my willingness to open up this large swathe of time to read in india. that example itself was a gift i have savored slowly over these three years.
these years themselves were funded by grants from fulbright, american institute of indian studies and woodrow wilson foundations. truly, their support has been no small gift.
during the past two years, two dear dharma sisters from mexico came at different points to stay with me, and each received her ordination vows during that time. these are great, great gifts.
however, perhaps the greatest gift of all was the bond discovered and deepened during these three years with my lama, his holiness the 17th karmapa. within days of my arrival in sarnath in 2006 for this research period, his holiness happened to turn up in sarnath as well. although i had already met his holiness in 2000, when he first arrived in dharamsala from tibet, this time he gave a short talk for western students that overwhelmingly alerted me to his depth as a teacher. a month later i found myself in a private audience translating his talks into spanish for a group of pilgrims from puerto rico and mexico. in the three years since, those auspicious beginnings have ripened in many ways, too many to even begin to document here.although my connection to his holiness is without doubt the towering centerpiece of the luxuriant and generous garden that has taken shape through my time in india, alongside that steady and protective presence there now grows the nuns' community i have so long yearned to be part of. my two dear mexican dharma sisters opted to remain in india and a fourth nun has joined us, and somehow together we have found the conditions for a harmonious and joyful monastic life.
i leave india now, to finish the phd requirements that led me here in the first place. but many seeds have been planted, and are being nurtured beautifully by the warm, moist compassion of this lama and of our community's commitment and care for one another. a new research project awaits me here as well - but that is a whole other story, and perhaps an other blog. so just as soon as the dissertation is done and defended, i will be back. i will return to share with my dharma sisters the fruits of life in monastic community, and to explore whatever other opportunities to grow and serve together might happen to crop up.
until that hopeful day of return, i will let our community blog speak for me. what words may find their way onto this site in the future, we shall have to wait and see.
to read more, follow this link.
* first photo in this entry taken in sarnath in 2007, where this dazzling time in india began, second during teachings by hh karmapa at root institute in bodhgaya in 2008, and third at our home in dharamsala in 2009.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
bound for sherabling
my time left in india can be counted now in weeks, but one of those weeks - or eight days, to be precise - will be spent in sherabling monastery, translating teachings on mahamudra from tai situ rinpoche for a group of spanish-speakers from a dharma center in barcelona. i had the great fortune of translating for them last year rather unexpectedly after the translator they had arranged was unable to come, and we made warm and lasting connections with one another. as you read this, i will be reconnecting with my dear catalunyan friends, and offline altogether until at least april 23.photo above was taken at last year's transmission, and is posted here courtesy of www.palpung.org. i am that fuzzy little figure in the bottom right corner!
Thursday, April 09, 2009
provisioning for life in india
my friend beata just left for london after a week of intense (and joyful) work here on a polish translation of the prayers used in the annual kagyu monlam prayer festival. beata left, but hopefully not for too long, as she hopes to return to complete this rather hefty project before the upcoming monlam. i too will be bringing this 'year' in india to a close soon, for an intensive dissertation-writing period in a semi-retreat in the states. so it seems to be a time for departures and aspirations to return.
in the time we spent together here, somehow she left without going over as we had planned some suggestions for things to bring from europe for life in india. i am sharing here a list i compiled for another friend who came to india for a long term stay my first year here, so it is oriented towards a stay in sarnath where i then lived. it is also much more cautious and thorough than i would be now if provisioning anew, but these are all things i use regularly. i also add some comments here and there to reflect life in dharamsala - better power supply, greater extremes in weather.
i would also like to request those of you who have spent time here in india to add your observations and suggestions, so we can co-create a sort of open resource for those bound for india long term.
Lighting - Bring some flashlights, because of the frequent power outages. I got one called a Petzl headlamp that you put on your head and then wherever you look, it lights there. I can read and study with it. Others bring ones yo ucan stand up that light the whole room. You will also want another small one to hold by hand and take with you when you are out walking. Street lights are a rare commodity here.
Mosquito net. It is hard to even sleep without one in Sarnath at times, and they are sometimes hard to find here and always of lesser quality than is readily found in the States or Europe. Best to get one that only needs to be hung from one string,usually called Spider style I think. I got one for about $10 from ebay. It works fine.
Rope and clothespins - It is helpful to have some nylon cord and a few plastic clothespin so you can hang your clothes to dry inside during the monsoon. You will also need the cord for the mosquito net. You can get both rope and clothespin here, but again it takes some running around, and you may have some already that you can just bring.
Locks. Bring a good padlock to put on your door. Your computer will be pretty much irreplaceable here, even with everything extensively backed up. I have seen people take a crowbar and open the Indian locks when they had lost their key. You can buy locks here but it is hard to find good quality ones with multiple locks (I live now in a community of four, and we had to wait for a trip to Delhi to find a lock that had more than three keys). Good combination locks are helpful too if you share spaces. A lock with a chain is also good for train rides, so you can chain down your bags. Luggage is routinely stolen from train compartments., especially if you travel sleeper class. A friend of mine found a bookbag that can be locked to anything in your room, and cannot be slashed open. Very handy to have, especially for train rides and staying in dodgy hotels! It is called Pacsafe and you can find it online. Just Google 'Pacsafe.' Again kind of expensive and perhaps overkill, but a lot less than replacing your valuables.
Umbrella. A good raincoat or sturdy umbrella is a good idea. Think monsoon. The ones you get here have very short lifespans. One good gust and they can turn inside out on you, and during the monsoon there are many excellent gusts.
Pens - Nice pens make good gifts. Boxed or unboxed.
Battery recharger. If you have time in Delhi, I suggest getting a battery recharger so you can recharge AA batteries. The batteries you buy in India seem to get used up in a few hours, and there is nowhere to deposit your used batteries where they will be recycled responsibly, so bringing many batteries from abroad is not a great solution either!
Vitamins. Staying healthy is a bit of a challenge. Bring vitamins - especially B- complex and other supplements specifically recommended for vegetarians (assuming you are vegetarian). But I particularly urge you to bring one of the acidopholus-type supplements that basically allow your stomach to stay healthy, by replacing the healthy intenstinal flora. I took it regularly my first two years here and had virtually no stomach problems. Here is the one I use, Jarro-Dophilus. If you bring echinacea, you may also have moments of great self-gratitude.
Water purifier. I am using my own water purifier, and think that it has been an important condition for my staying as healthy as I have. MSR or Katadyn are reliable brands. You will also need to buy and bring along replacement cartridges. I only found I needed to replace the cartridge every 9 months or so, but I proba bly do not drink as much water as I should. This might seem expensive, but so is buying water - even at 12 rupees a liter, that is about $15 a month! Apart from the expense, when you note that most plastics are disposed of here by burning or being tossed into landfill, it is a bit horrifying to think what imprint you leave behind in a year of drinking form water bottles. Boiling is not enough to purify the strains of water-borne diseases here. Here is the one I use. Best prices in the US are at www.campmor.com. You can also get flashlights here.
Abode Acrobat or other pdf creator. I had a lot of difficulty printing files in Sarnath. Not all computer places had USB ports, and the one near my room that did not even have Word! Even if you find one with Word etc they are unlikely to have the fonts you use if you work in other languages. They usually do have Abode reader, so the only way I could print was by saving files as pdf files and then printing them like that. So if you don't already, you might want to install a pdf file generator loaded on your computer.
ATM card. If possible, make sure your ATM card does not expire during the time you expect to be in India. You can call and ask them to send one with a longer expiration date if you explain the situation. There is an ATM even in Sarnath these days, and that is by far the easiest way to access your overseas account. and also gives by far the best exchange rate. Some travelers checks and cash are fine to start with, but mainly you can get cash from the ATM every few months as needed.
mp3 recorder. For those coming ot India for research, I highly recommend a small mp3 recorder for when you read with people, especially if you do so in Tibetan or other language of which you are not a native speaker. Also for Dharma practitioners, it is wonderful to be able to record teachings to review later. I got one from iriver (www.iriver.com) with 1GB memory that holds 50 hours and runs on a single AA battery.
Memory sticks (USB sticks). For file transfer and as backup. Get two, the more memory, the better. I had one wiped out when trying to download files another student sent me. (Many computer shops here do not have good virus protection.)
Vegan Sandals. Although you can easily get plastic sandals here too, if you have them, you might want to bring any waterproof sandals (ie not leather), so you can rinse them when they get dirty, which is constantly, and also for all those times when you get caught in the rain. Crocs work will in this climate, and if you have time in Delhi they can be bought there for much less than in the West.
Checkups before you go. If you have insurance, get your teeth checked and ask for a complete checkup soon, so you can take care of anything they might find. Tell them you will be in India for a year, and ask them to do your blood work. It is a very bad idea to arrive here with your health impaired in any way. (That said, now in my third year here I finally found a really solid health clinic and dentist in Delhi that can do excellent overall checkups and medical care. But it will mean a trip (and stay) in Delhi. Here is the number of the dentist 011 26152999 and I will try to dig up contact details for the clinic and add it later to this post:
If you wear glasses, you should bring along a copy of the prescription for your glasses, in case they get lost or if you want to make some new ones quickly here. Glasses are cheap to make here but personally I think you might get a more thorough eye exam in the States. (I think I may have related once the story of my appointment with an ophthalmologist in Visakhapatnam whom I found, when I entered his examining room, reading a large illustrated book entitled 'The Eye'. (I had to travel twice some distance to make and then get the appointment, and it is a sign of the state of indifference that I reached after a year here that I went ahead with the appointment. and even as I type here I am peering at the monitor through the lenses he prescribed for me. I should point out that he was not holding the book upside down; I am sure I would have gone elsewhere if he had been.)
Some basic medicine. When I was staying with my Sanskrit teacher in South India, he and his wife both fell sick from colds, and were really delighted to have some cold medicine. In fact, they used all my supply in the matter of two weeks. So when thinking about what to bring, though you might prefer not to take it, it is good to have even to share with others. If there is anything you use, for colds, or headache or stomach upset or anything, definitely bring it with you. The quality here of medicine can be iffy (and in any case meds are seldom stored in refrigerators and even if they are, the electricity supply will be uneven.) Herbal cough drops are very good to have, as our throats seem to get irritated easily by the dust and pollution. It is good also to just have one hand a basic antiseptic cream for cuts. Infections happen easily in this climate.
My friend tsultrim-la adds these excellent suggestions and her explanations why:
earplugs. countless nights of sleep saved due to them and at times i had to wear them continuously for weeks, depending on where i was staying.
ginger tablets for travel sickness. even if you don't usually get car sick in the west, i found the roads (and driving!) in india are usually another story.
in the time we spent together here, somehow she left without going over as we had planned some suggestions for things to bring from europe for life in india. i am sharing here a list i compiled for another friend who came to india for a long term stay my first year here, so it is oriented towards a stay in sarnath where i then lived. it is also much more cautious and thorough than i would be now if provisioning anew, but these are all things i use regularly. i also add some comments here and there to reflect life in dharamsala - better power supply, greater extremes in weather.
i would also like to request those of you who have spent time here in india to add your observations and suggestions, so we can co-create a sort of open resource for those bound for india long term.
Lighting - Bring some flashlights, because of the frequent power outages. I got one called a Petzl headlamp that you put on your head and then wherever you look, it lights there. I can read and study with it. Others bring ones yo ucan stand up that light the whole room. You will also want another small one to hold by hand and take with you when you are out walking. Street lights are a rare commodity here.
Mosquito net. It is hard to even sleep without one in Sarnath at times, and they are sometimes hard to find here and always of lesser quality than is readily found in the States or Europe. Best to get one that only needs to be hung from one string,usually called Spider style I think. I got one for about $10 from ebay. It works fine.
Rope and clothespins - It is helpful to have some nylon cord and a few plastic clothespin so you can hang your clothes to dry inside during the monsoon. You will also need the cord for the mosquito net. You can get both rope and clothespin here, but again it takes some running around, and you may have some already that you can just bring.
Locks. Bring a good padlock to put on your door. Your computer will be pretty much irreplaceable here, even with everything extensively backed up. I have seen people take a crowbar and open the Indian locks when they had lost their key. You can buy locks here but it is hard to find good quality ones with multiple locks (I live now in a community of four, and we had to wait for a trip to Delhi to find a lock that had more than three keys). Good combination locks are helpful too if you share spaces. A lock with a chain is also good for train rides, so you can chain down your bags. Luggage is routinely stolen from train compartments., especially if you travel sleeper class. A friend of mine found a bookbag that can be locked to anything in your room, and cannot be slashed open. Very handy to have, especially for train rides and staying in dodgy hotels! It is called Pacsafe and you can find it online. Just Google 'Pacsafe.' Again kind of expensive and perhaps overkill, but a lot less than replacing your valuables.
Umbrella. A good raincoat or sturdy umbrella is a good idea. Think monsoon. The ones you get here have very short lifespans. One good gust and they can turn inside out on you, and during the monsoon there are many excellent gusts.
Pens - Nice pens make good gifts. Boxed or unboxed.
Battery recharger. If you have time in Delhi, I suggest getting a battery recharger so you can recharge AA batteries. The batteries you buy in India seem to get used up in a few hours, and there is nowhere to deposit your used batteries where they will be recycled responsibly, so bringing many batteries from abroad is not a great solution either!
Vitamins. Staying healthy is a bit of a challenge. Bring vitamins - especially B- complex and other supplements specifically recommended for vegetarians (assuming you are vegetarian). But I particularly urge you to bring one of the acidopholus-type supplements that basically allow your stomach to stay healthy, by replacing the healthy intenstinal flora. I took it regularly my first two years here and had virtually no stomach problems. Here is the one I use, Jarro-Dophilus. If you bring echinacea, you may also have moments of great self-gratitude.
Water purifier. I am using my own water purifier, and think that it has been an important condition for my staying as healthy as I have. MSR or Katadyn are reliable brands. You will also need to buy and bring along replacement cartridges. I only found I needed to replace the cartridge every 9 months or so, but I proba bly do not drink as much water as I should. This might seem expensive, but so is buying water - even at 12 rupees a liter, that is about $15 a month! Apart from the expense, when you note that most plastics are disposed of here by burning or being tossed into landfill, it is a bit horrifying to think what imprint you leave behind in a year of drinking form water bottles. Boiling is not enough to purify the strains of water-borne diseases here. Here is the one I use. Best prices in the US are at www.campmor.com. You can also get flashlights here.
Abode Acrobat or other pdf creator. I had a lot of difficulty printing files in Sarnath. Not all computer places had USB ports, and the one near my room that did not even have Word! Even if you find one with Word etc they are unlikely to have the fonts you use if you work in other languages. They usually do have Abode reader, so the only way I could print was by saving files as pdf files and then printing them like that. So if you don't already, you might want to install a pdf file generator loaded on your computer.
ATM card. If possible, make sure your ATM card does not expire during the time you expect to be in India. You can call and ask them to send one with a longer expiration date if you explain the situation. There is an ATM even in Sarnath these days, and that is by far the easiest way to access your overseas account. and also gives by far the best exchange rate. Some travelers checks and cash are fine to start with, but mainly you can get cash from the ATM every few months as needed.
mp3 recorder. For those coming ot India for research, I highly recommend a small mp3 recorder for when you read with people, especially if you do so in Tibetan or other language of which you are not a native speaker. Also for Dharma practitioners, it is wonderful to be able to record teachings to review later. I got one from iriver (www.iriver.com) with 1GB memory that holds 50 hours and runs on a single AA battery.
Memory sticks (USB sticks). For file transfer and as backup. Get two, the more memory, the better. I had one wiped out when trying to download files another student sent me. (Many computer shops here do not have good virus protection.)
Vegan Sandals. Although you can easily get plastic sandals here too, if you have them, you might want to bring any waterproof sandals (ie not leather), so you can rinse them when they get dirty, which is constantly, and also for all those times when you get caught in the rain. Crocs work will in this climate, and if you have time in Delhi they can be bought there for much less than in the West.
Checkups before you go. If you have insurance, get your teeth checked and ask for a complete checkup soon, so you can take care of anything they might find. Tell them you will be in India for a year, and ask them to do your blood work. It is a very bad idea to arrive here with your health impaired in any way. (That said, now in my third year here I finally found a really solid health clinic and dentist in Delhi that can do excellent overall checkups and medical care. But it will mean a trip (and stay) in Delhi. Here is the number of the dentist 011 26152999 and I will try to dig up contact details for the clinic and add it later to this post:
If you wear glasses, you should bring along a copy of the prescription for your glasses, in case they get lost or if you want to make some new ones quickly here. Glasses are cheap to make here but personally I think you might get a more thorough eye exam in the States. (I think I may have related once the story of my appointment with an ophthalmologist in Visakhapatnam whom I found, when I entered his examining room, reading a large illustrated book entitled 'The Eye'. (I had to travel twice some distance to make and then get the appointment, and it is a sign of the state of indifference that I reached after a year here that I went ahead with the appointment. and even as I type here I am peering at the monitor through the lenses he prescribed for me. I should point out that he was not holding the book upside down; I am sure I would have gone elsewhere if he had been.)
Some basic medicine. When I was staying with my Sanskrit teacher in South India, he and his wife both fell sick from colds, and were really delighted to have some cold medicine. In fact, they used all my supply in the matter of two weeks. So when thinking about what to bring, though you might prefer not to take it, it is good to have even to share with others. If there is anything you use, for colds, or headache or stomach upset or anything, definitely bring it with you. The quality here of medicine can be iffy (and in any case meds are seldom stored in refrigerators and even if they are, the electricity supply will be uneven.) Herbal cough drops are very good to have, as our throats seem to get irritated easily by the dust and pollution. It is good also to just have one hand a basic antiseptic cream for cuts. Infections happen easily in this climate.
My friend tsultrim-la adds these excellent suggestions and her explanations why:
earplugs. countless nights of sleep saved due to them and at times i had to wear them continuously for weeks, depending on where i was staying.
ginger tablets for travel sickness. even if you don't usually get car sick in the west, i found the roads (and driving!) in india are usually another story.
Monday, March 09, 2009
fifty years
tomorrow is the fiftieth anniversary of the lhasa uprising, a day when tibetans' efforts to protect his holiness the dalai lama from perceived threats to his life by chinese communist army officials rapidly turned to bloodshed. the dalai lama had been summoned invitation to a 'theatrical performance' at the headquarters of the chinese army encamped outside lhasa, a performance to which his bodyguards and other escorts were specifically not invited. perceiving this as a thinly veiled attempt to imprison their beloved spiritual leaders. thousands of tibetans (by some accounts as many as 300,000) began camping around the grounds of his residence, offering their physical presence as a sort of human wall to encircle and protect him. chinese soldiers swiftly moved into position, with artillery placed in range of the dalai lama's residence. the bloodshed began soon thereafter. although he himself had escaped for the long and perilous trek into exile in india at night, 800 shells struck the dalai lama's residence. within a week, some 86,000 tibetans lost their life, and all tibetans had lost their country, their self-determination and their spiritual, moral and political leader.
this is why there was no new year this year. and it is why, after 50 years of occupation, some tibetans have taken drastic steps that move far beyond the main path of non-violent resistance, including an instance of self-immolation that has shocked all the tibetans i have heard speak of it (always in hushed tones). [technically, the attempt at self-immolation failed because chinese soldiers shot and killed him before the flames could end his life.]
it is also why this morning, at the temple of his holiness the dalai lama here in dharamsala, many many people gathered to pray for the long life of his holiness the dalai lama, and it is also why, at the same event, the oracle who is consulted on crucial moments on matters of import to the entire tibetan people was called out and entered trance in public. at a highly charged public event, his holiness the dalai lama held the oracle's medium by one arm while his holiness the karmapa held the other, as the oracle pronounced on the future of tibet at this critical juncture. the prognosis and advice indicated by the oracle were not made public.
but what was very much on public display was the intimate connection between these two leaders of tibetan buddhism, his holiness the dalai lama and his holiness the karmapa. to indicate the extra-ordinary trance state in which the oracle's medium has entered, a massively heavy hat is placed on his head. although while in trance he is able to bear the weight, once the trance ends, his head must be sustained lest his neck break. the sight of the two 'his holinesses' literally sharing the burden of the future of tibet serves as a vivid indication of the role that lies ahead for his holiness the karmapa.
equally clear is this video, in which his holiness the dalai lama tells his holiness the karmapa that he expects him to carry on his responsibilities once he is gone. hh karmapa's response makes it clear he has an idea just what that might mean.
a great deal could be said about the complexities involved in a spiritual leader's accepting a basically political role as leader of a people. but tibetans look to those they consider their moral authorities to set the course for them, and tibetan buddhist leaders consider it their responsibility to offer any guidance and assistance they can to those who ask.
in any case, it seems separation of church and state may be a luxury that those without a state can ill afford.
this is why there was no new year this year. and it is why, after 50 years of occupation, some tibetans have taken drastic steps that move far beyond the main path of non-violent resistance, including an instance of self-immolation that has shocked all the tibetans i have heard speak of it (always in hushed tones). [technically, the attempt at self-immolation failed because chinese soldiers shot and killed him before the flames could end his life.]
it is also why this morning, at the temple of his holiness the dalai lama here in dharamsala, many many people gathered to pray for the long life of his holiness the dalai lama, and it is also why, at the same event, the oracle who is consulted on crucial moments on matters of import to the entire tibetan people was called out and entered trance in public. at a highly charged public event, his holiness the dalai lama held the oracle's medium by one arm while his holiness the karmapa held the other, as the oracle pronounced on the future of tibet at this critical juncture. the prognosis and advice indicated by the oracle were not made public.
but what was very much on public display was the intimate connection between these two leaders of tibetan buddhism, his holiness the dalai lama and his holiness the karmapa. to indicate the extra-ordinary trance state in which the oracle's medium has entered, a massively heavy hat is placed on his head. although while in trance he is able to bear the weight, once the trance ends, his head must be sustained lest his neck break. the sight of the two 'his holinesses' literally sharing the burden of the future of tibet serves as a vivid indication of the role that lies ahead for his holiness the karmapa.
equally clear is this video, in which his holiness the dalai lama tells his holiness the karmapa that he expects him to carry on his responsibilities once he is gone. hh karmapa's response makes it clear he has an idea just what that might mean.
a great deal could be said about the complexities involved in a spiritual leader's accepting a basically political role as leader of a people. but tibetans look to those they consider their moral authorities to set the course for them, and tibetan buddhist leaders consider it their responsibility to offer any guidance and assistance they can to those who ask.
in any case, it seems separation of church and state may be a luxury that those without a state can ill afford.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
news flash
Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times.
that is literally the headline of this ny times article.
oh dear.
that is literally the headline of this ny times article.
oh dear.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
raising the world
listening this morning again to teachings that were given by his holiness the karmapa in bodhgaya... this series of teachings was given specifically for western students this past january while i was in bodhgaya, and i was swept up in a rather strange confluence of conditions - not least of which was the presence of 60 poles hungry for dharma teachings but quite a few lacking enough english language to follow the teachings. anyway somehow i ended up co-translating the teachings into polish with my friend and dharma sister beata stepień. although i had been quite fluent when living in poland in the mid-80s, polish is not exactly a language i use daily. after a year of living with spanish as a daily language, sharing as home as i do with two mexicans, attempting to translate simultaneously from tibetan - a language i am struggling to become fluent in, into a language that was struggling to arise from the murky depths of my linguistic memory made for a very disorienting cognitive experience. as i translated the words seemed to be skipping over the english part of my brain - the part where most actual thought takes place, and much of the meaning also seemed to have leapt over with the words. so there was much new to be heard when listening now a second time.one bit of advice that his holiness offered for parents with a commitment to a spiritual practice struck me as potentially useful to … well, to people with children. in a style that i am coming to recognizing as vintage hh karmapa, the advice he gave is deeply buddhist in one sense, but potentially relevant to virtually any spiritual practitioner.
in short, his advice is to raise your children in a loving way, with the thought that you are doing so in order that they come to be of benefit to the world.
simple, right? in fact, it may sound so simple that one fails to see how much effort it will take to really live by - or how transformative it might really be if one is able to do so.
actually, his holiness cautioned, to do so as a spiritual practice, one will have to make a deliberate point of bringing this wider purpose to mind, again and again. the objective has to be made clear, as if one were setting a policy for oneself. otherwise one can end up being vague and inconsistent about what exactly one is doing in one's child-rearing. so when parents are engaged in any activity to care for and raise their children, they can intentionally cultivate the thought that they are seeking to give their child a good upbringing with the aim of making a contribution to the well-being of the larger society, and ultimately of all the world.
although he did not say so, it seems to me that this attitude shifts the emphasis from simply one's own offspring (or one's nieces and nephews, in my own experience), whom we can often end up treating as extensions of our own egos, to a vast and inclusive wish to contribute to well-being and goodness in the world at large. for most parents, it may not materially change their external behavior, but internally, it seems to me cultivating this vast intention could shift something subtle but important.
not having children, it is hard to say how this might work, and i would be extremely interested to hear from anyone who experiments with this practice. but i will say, i have found his holiness' advice to be devastatingly powerful, if put into practice.
anyway, for those parents inclined to read advice on child-rearing posted on a nun's blog, there you go!
...photo is taken during those teachings. beata is the one looking happy to my right, i'm the one beside her straining to hold her brain's language centers together.
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