My Preaching

The Buddha first began teaching at Sarnath, near Varanasi. This image was in the temple there, one of the best Buddha images I have ever seen. His face. His joy. His knowing.

On the banks of the sacred Ganges River before dawn, pilgrims quietly shuffle about. Small circles of women drip oil and flower petals over images of gods they have just made out of the clay.

Today we went to Vulture Peak, the place where the Buddha first taught about emptiness: All things come to be in dependence upon other things.

Pilgrims passing
so many open hearts.
Open minds,
searching.
Smiles,
bows to the place
where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

Arriving in Bodh Gaya we come to the place where the Sidhartha Gautama became the Buddha (the enlightened one). I have many, many thoughts, and no thoughts as well. Just experiences.

On a train, on the way to Bodh Gaya, the place where the Buddha was enlightened.

I am back home in Boudhanath. Funny how quickly a place can become home. I have been gone a week, but it felt much longer. It is good to be back and see my family and friends here.

On the way back from Pokhara, Greg and I stop to visit his friend. Maila Praja is his name. He is Chepang.

In the back of a monastery behind the main shrine room in a Tibetan refugee camp in Chorepatan, Nepal, an old woman attends the butter lamps.

Most of Nepal is still very rural, and village life seems to dominates the collective imagination, even of those who now live in large cities such as Kathmandu.

Dashain is the time in Nepal for families to come together, sharing food, and gifts, and all sorts of traditional activities. One of these is swinging on huge bamboo swings.

Though I have been here for only a month, it seemed time for a road trip.