Changed perspectives and Happy New Year

pictures: Looking up and down the Ganges from our guesthouse


Greetings all,
It is New Years Eve day here in Varanasi. We arrived yesterday by air from Delhi. I cannot begin to explain what it is like to travel the streets of India. I have traveled so far by tour bus, small 3-wheeled taxi (you'd have to have been to India to understand. This is not a western version of taxi), rickshaw, a taxi that is like a land rover, and by foot (with 1 piece of my luggage in tow). On the roads are every possible kind of human transportation: pedestrians, cars, trucks, military vehicles, rickshaws, bicycles, cows, horse drawn carts (fairly rare) and others all sharing the same roadway. Lanes are not considered the "law" like they are in the west; here they are more of a suggestion: routinely ignored; and many types of conveyances ride side by side in 2-3 given lanes. Traffic flows and weaves in and out like a river. Somehow the people manage to avoid accidents (which I find absolutely amazing). I would find it chaotic and frightening and if I had to drive here, I would soon have a heart attack. However, as I have ridden along, I was amazed to discover that with someone else at the helm - an experienced person - I have come to relax more into the ebb and flow of the movement and it is no longer so nerve racking. So perhaps, I would adapt.

In places we have seen monkeys scampering and swinging around like squirrels scamper around back home. At home we see monkeys in zoos. Here they are common animals in the environment. It struck me what the Buddha meant when he referred to the "monkey mind".

In our guest house in Varanasi, Drichab and I share one of the few rooms with a bathroom and it even has a shower (don't think this is like a shower back home. It is not). And it seems like we lucked out. We have the luxury room). To consider this luxury, we have clearly had a shift in perspective. We have opened our bathroom and shower to others on this pilgrimage so they can also shower.

This evening, we will gather together at 11: 30 pm, and Rinpoche will lead us in prayers for World Peace. Here we are in a holy Hindu city at a guest house on the Ganges river - a Buddhist group joined by friends from other religions and we will be praying peace prayers from many lands. Talk about eclectic! Tomorrow we will travel to Sarnath, the place of the first turning of the wheel of dharma, where the Buddha taught the 4 Noble Truths. Rinpoche will teach there - I am sure it will be on the 4 Noble truths. Then on to Bohgaya.

This afternoon Changchub will arrive. I rejoice that she will join us at last.

See you all
May there be a rain of dharma