The next day we woke up at 5am. At 5:30 we went to the second floor for our dhamma talk. When we walked in there were cushions laid out on the floor for us to sit on. We all took a seat in front of four Buddha statues and an empty mat, which i presumed was for the monk. We all sat there in silence, waiting. A moment later a backdoor opened up and a very happy and calm monk walked out. He sat down facing the Buddha statue. The monk and everyone else began to bow to the floor. Ryan and I observed everyone and followed suit. We clasped our hands together in a praying fashion and raised our hands first to our chest, second to our forehead, and then we bowed with our hands stretched out on the ground. We did this three times. The monk then turned around, smiled, and greeted us. He began telling us about the importance of being connected with yourself and being at peace with yourself internally. He said that 90% of the importance of life comes from knowing yourself internally, and %10 was what was on the outside, meaning any external factors. He then told us a long story of man who viewed life with the motto "let it be". The story was one that Ryan and I recently heard in the Dan Millman book as well as the Eckhart Tolle book. After the story he told us of a few personal stories, all of which had the same moral; take things as they come, and dont look at any situation as good or bad, just accept it the way it is, and do not keep unhappiness in your heart. After his stories, we ended with three more bows to the Buddha, and left. From here we went to the cafeteria where we were served breakfast; a vegetarian noodle soup in a clear broth. We all sat in silence eating our food. After breakfast we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. I sat in my room and did both rounds. It was a challenge to clear my mind. I could keep it clear for a while, but no longer than a minute or so before thoughts began to stream through. After a few attempts of meditating, I walked around the grounds. I ran into Ryan on the nature path, and him and i walked together for a while. We then decided to grab our bamboo mat and meditate outside. We meditated for fifteen minutes, but his farts were interrupting my focus. At 11am we went back to the kitchen were we were served lunch. On a table was a huge pot of white rice,noodles, and two different mystery looking objects. The food was all vegetarian, and was a little bland. I scooped some white rice and noodles on my plate, keeping my portions small. As I walked back to my table I saw a woman sitting by herself at a table eating her food, with her leg up over her shoulder and her foot resting by her ear. She sat there eating, the entire time with her leg like this, as if it were the most normal thing to do at the dinner table. I wanted to laugh at first sight, but held it in. Everyone that walked past her had a similar quizzical expression. Because it was 11am and it was the last meal of the day, many people were stockpiling food on their plates. Some plates were overflowing in mountainous heaps. In the kitchen was a small room that sold a few items; ice cream cones, chips, candy, soda, and juice. We were allowed to buy anything from the store between 10am -11:45am , but must consume it before 12. I was amused to see the same guys with overflowing plates of food, polish off their lunch, and go into the store and buy icecream and chips. After we ate we brought our dishes to an outdoor patio with four sinks. We all washed our own dishes and left for our individual meditation sessions. I wen to my room and meditated for a while and then decided to walk around outside. I walked along the nature path where I met Ryan and him and I sat in the jungle and observed nature. The jungle had some amazing wildlife. We saw the most beautiful butterflies I had ever seen. We saw some as large as my hand. Some were yellow, purple, red. Others had spots and moved slowly, while a few flew in a synchronized dancing formation. We were in such a beautiful area, except for one thing; trash. I was really surprised and sad to see so much trash piled up along the path. I didnt understand how you could be in such a beautiful place, among people who "respected all life", yet they threw their trash on the floors of the forest. The rest of the day was broken up with meditation and walking around. At 2pm we reported to the third floor of the building where we briefly did individual meetings with the monk to discuss our progress of meditating and any problems we had. After our meeting we resumed our walking around and meditating. At 6pm we met on the third floor to chant. Everyone gathered around on their cushions and waited for the monk to enter. I felt like he was the great and powerful Oz, popping out from behind his curtain. A moment later he came out from his secret door, and we all bowed three times to the buddha statue and began our chant. The chant was very long. We were each given a booklet with about fifteen pages of transliteration of the ancient chant into a pronounceable English for. Some of it was almost impossible to read. It looked similar to this. "Ani wa tee tryitrantroyee yan thai rai shanyjumaikitawaniraitaiwanytangtot to ani wa to to wai yanhoyawadi" . We chanted this for forty five minutes. It was very redundant and my legs were fell asleep multiple times. I would often loose track of where we were and start mumbling gibberish sounds to mimic those around me. At the end of our strange hour long chant, we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. On the walk back I bumped into Ryan who was holding a stick bug. It was the coolest stick bug i had ever seen, in fact it was the only one i had ever seen. It was about 8 inches long and looked freakishly identical to a stick , except for the fact that it had four legs. After our fun nature encounter, I went to my room and did a few sessions of meditation and went to bed.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Day 46 Meditation 2/15/14
2/15/14
The next day we woke up at 5am. At 5:30 we went to the second floor for our dhamma talk. When we walked in there were cushions laid out on the floor for us to sit on. We all took a seat in front of four Buddha statues and an empty mat, which i presumed was for the monk. We all sat there in silence, waiting. A moment later a backdoor opened up and a very happy and calm monk walked out. He sat down facing the Buddha statue. The monk and everyone else began to bow to the floor. Ryan and I observed everyone and followed suit. We clasped our hands together in a praying fashion and raised our hands first to our chest, second to our forehead, and then we bowed with our hands stretched out on the ground. We did this three times. The monk then turned around, smiled, and greeted us. He began telling us about the importance of being connected with yourself and being at peace with yourself internally. He said that 90% of the importance of life comes from knowing yourself internally, and %10 was what was on the outside, meaning any external factors. He then told us a long story of man who viewed life with the motto "let it be". The story was one that Ryan and I recently heard in the Dan Millman book as well as the Eckhart Tolle book. After the story he told us of a few personal stories, all of which had the same moral; take things as they come, and dont look at any situation as good or bad, just accept it the way it is, and do not keep unhappiness in your heart. After his stories, we ended with three more bows to the Buddha, and left. From here we went to the cafeteria where we were served breakfast; a vegetarian noodle soup in a clear broth. We all sat in silence eating our food. After breakfast we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. I sat in my room and did both rounds. It was a challenge to clear my mind. I could keep it clear for a while, but no longer than a minute or so before thoughts began to stream through. After a few attempts of meditating, I walked around the grounds. I ran into Ryan on the nature path, and him and i walked together for a while. We then decided to grab our bamboo mat and meditate outside. We meditated for fifteen minutes, but his farts were interrupting my focus. At 11am we went back to the kitchen were we were served lunch. On a table was a huge pot of white rice,noodles, and two different mystery looking objects. The food was all vegetarian, and was a little bland. I scooped some white rice and noodles on my plate, keeping my portions small. As I walked back to my table I saw a woman sitting by herself at a table eating her food, with her leg up over her shoulder and her foot resting by her ear. She sat there eating, the entire time with her leg like this, as if it were the most normal thing to do at the dinner table. I wanted to laugh at first sight, but held it in. Everyone that walked past her had a similar quizzical expression. Because it was 11am and it was the last meal of the day, many people were stockpiling food on their plates. Some plates were overflowing in mountainous heaps. In the kitchen was a small room that sold a few items; ice cream cones, chips, candy, soda, and juice. We were allowed to buy anything from the store between 10am -11:45am , but must consume it before 12. I was amused to see the same guys with overflowing plates of food, polish off their lunch, and go into the store and buy icecream and chips. After we ate we brought our dishes to an outdoor patio with four sinks. We all washed our own dishes and left for our individual meditation sessions. I wen to my room and meditated for a while and then decided to walk around outside. I walked along the nature path where I met Ryan and him and I sat in the jungle and observed nature. The jungle had some amazing wildlife. We saw the most beautiful butterflies I had ever seen. We saw some as large as my hand. Some were yellow, purple, red. Others had spots and moved slowly, while a few flew in a synchronized dancing formation. We were in such a beautiful area, except for one thing; trash. I was really surprised and sad to see so much trash piled up along the path. I didnt understand how you could be in such a beautiful place, among people who "respected all life", yet they threw their trash on the floors of the forest. The rest of the day was broken up with meditation and walking around. At 2pm we reported to the third floor of the building where we briefly did individual meetings with the monk to discuss our progress of meditating and any problems we had. After our meeting we resumed our walking around and meditating. At 6pm we met on the third floor to chant. Everyone gathered around on their cushions and waited for the monk to enter. I felt like he was the great and powerful Oz, popping out from behind his curtain. A moment later he came out from his secret door, and we all bowed three times to the buddha statue and began our chant. The chant was very long. We were each given a booklet with about fifteen pages of transliteration of the ancient chant into a pronounceable English for. Some of it was almost impossible to read. It looked similar to this. "Ani wa tee tryitrantroyee yan thai rai shanyjumaikitawaniraitaiwanytangtot to ani wa to to wai yanhoyawadi" . We chanted this for forty five minutes. It was very redundant and my legs were fell asleep multiple times. I would often loose track of where we were and start mumbling gibberish sounds to mimic those around me. At the end of our strange hour long chant, we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. On the walk back I bumped into Ryan who was holding a stick bug. It was the coolest stick bug i had ever seen, in fact it was the only one i had ever seen. It was about 8 inches long and looked freakishly identical to a stick , except for the fact that it had four legs. After our fun nature encounter, I went to my room and did a few sessions of meditation and went to bed.
The next day we woke up at 5am. At 5:30 we went to the second floor for our dhamma talk. When we walked in there were cushions laid out on the floor for us to sit on. We all took a seat in front of four Buddha statues and an empty mat, which i presumed was for the monk. We all sat there in silence, waiting. A moment later a backdoor opened up and a very happy and calm monk walked out. He sat down facing the Buddha statue. The monk and everyone else began to bow to the floor. Ryan and I observed everyone and followed suit. We clasped our hands together in a praying fashion and raised our hands first to our chest, second to our forehead, and then we bowed with our hands stretched out on the ground. We did this three times. The monk then turned around, smiled, and greeted us. He began telling us about the importance of being connected with yourself and being at peace with yourself internally. He said that 90% of the importance of life comes from knowing yourself internally, and %10 was what was on the outside, meaning any external factors. He then told us a long story of man who viewed life with the motto "let it be". The story was one that Ryan and I recently heard in the Dan Millman book as well as the Eckhart Tolle book. After the story he told us of a few personal stories, all of which had the same moral; take things as they come, and dont look at any situation as good or bad, just accept it the way it is, and do not keep unhappiness in your heart. After his stories, we ended with three more bows to the Buddha, and left. From here we went to the cafeteria where we were served breakfast; a vegetarian noodle soup in a clear broth. We all sat in silence eating our food. After breakfast we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. I sat in my room and did both rounds. It was a challenge to clear my mind. I could keep it clear for a while, but no longer than a minute or so before thoughts began to stream through. After a few attempts of meditating, I walked around the grounds. I ran into Ryan on the nature path, and him and i walked together for a while. We then decided to grab our bamboo mat and meditate outside. We meditated for fifteen minutes, but his farts were interrupting my focus. At 11am we went back to the kitchen were we were served lunch. On a table was a huge pot of white rice,noodles, and two different mystery looking objects. The food was all vegetarian, and was a little bland. I scooped some white rice and noodles on my plate, keeping my portions small. As I walked back to my table I saw a woman sitting by herself at a table eating her food, with her leg up over her shoulder and her foot resting by her ear. She sat there eating, the entire time with her leg like this, as if it were the most normal thing to do at the dinner table. I wanted to laugh at first sight, but held it in. Everyone that walked past her had a similar quizzical expression. Because it was 11am and it was the last meal of the day, many people were stockpiling food on their plates. Some plates were overflowing in mountainous heaps. In the kitchen was a small room that sold a few items; ice cream cones, chips, candy, soda, and juice. We were allowed to buy anything from the store between 10am -11:45am , but must consume it before 12. I was amused to see the same guys with overflowing plates of food, polish off their lunch, and go into the store and buy icecream and chips. After we ate we brought our dishes to an outdoor patio with four sinks. We all washed our own dishes and left for our individual meditation sessions. I wen to my room and meditated for a while and then decided to walk around outside. I walked along the nature path where I met Ryan and him and I sat in the jungle and observed nature. The jungle had some amazing wildlife. We saw the most beautiful butterflies I had ever seen. We saw some as large as my hand. Some were yellow, purple, red. Others had spots and moved slowly, while a few flew in a synchronized dancing formation. We were in such a beautiful area, except for one thing; trash. I was really surprised and sad to see so much trash piled up along the path. I didnt understand how you could be in such a beautiful place, among people who "respected all life", yet they threw their trash on the floors of the forest. The rest of the day was broken up with meditation and walking around. At 2pm we reported to the third floor of the building where we briefly did individual meetings with the monk to discuss our progress of meditating and any problems we had. After our meeting we resumed our walking around and meditating. At 6pm we met on the third floor to chant. Everyone gathered around on their cushions and waited for the monk to enter. I felt like he was the great and powerful Oz, popping out from behind his curtain. A moment later he came out from his secret door, and we all bowed three times to the buddha statue and began our chant. The chant was very long. We were each given a booklet with about fifteen pages of transliteration of the ancient chant into a pronounceable English for. Some of it was almost impossible to read. It looked similar to this. "Ani wa tee tryitrantroyee yan thai rai shanyjumaikitawaniraitaiwanytangtot to ani wa to to wai yanhoyawadi" . We chanted this for forty five minutes. It was very redundant and my legs were fell asleep multiple times. I would often loose track of where we were and start mumbling gibberish sounds to mimic those around me. At the end of our strange hour long chant, we were dismissed to do our individual meditation. On the walk back I bumped into Ryan who was holding a stick bug. It was the coolest stick bug i had ever seen, in fact it was the only one i had ever seen. It was about 8 inches long and looked freakishly identical to a stick , except for the fact that it had four legs. After our fun nature encounter, I went to my room and did a few sessions of meditation and went to bed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment