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October 10, 2019

Reading Mandalay’s Newspapers

A research report by Siew Han Yeo, doctoral student in the Department of History

In June-July 2019, thanks to the generosity of the Robert H. N Ho Center for Buddhist Studies Student Travel award, I was fortunate to travel to Mandalay for a research trip, I left for Mandalay on July 11 and spent three weeks in Mandalay reading the collections at the Ludu Library. While there, I was able to consult many primary source materials, both in Burmese and English, including twentieth-century published books, colonial reports, journals, books, and newspapers published in Mandalay that I have not otherwise seen at the Yangon University Central Library or the National Archives Department in Yangon, my other two research sites in Myanmar.

Back in Yangon, I have began to translate select sections of these materials with the help of Su Htwe, my Burmese teacher. Su Htwe and I have translated numerous newspaper reports from the Burmah Herald, Thuriya Magazine (Mandalay edition), Burma Journal, and the Hanthawaddy Weekly Review – mostly on topics related to the Chinese community in Burma. My focus on newspaper reports have allowed me to familiarize myself with the Burmese literary scene of the late nineteenth and twentieth-century Burma. Burma/Myanmar has a particularly exciting literary history – but there is little English-language scholarship that discusses the vibrant history of colonial Burma’s literary scenes. I will be leaving Yangon to return to Canada in early October.

Scenes from downtown Yangon at Pansodan and Merchant St.

January 14, 2019

Sacred Geography in the Himalaya

By Damien Boltauzer

In the summer of 2018 I set out to the Himalayan regions of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in north-west India. My aim was to investigate spaces and geographies sacred to the Buddhists of those regions. My approach was to be comparative: I would visit Rewalsar in central Himachal Pradesh, Keylong in the far north of that state, and Leh/Choglamsar in Ladakh.

village and large mountain range — Keylong

prayer flags and village in arid mountain valley — Ladakh

Dharamshala and Tso Pema

The highway emptied out of Delhi and soon began to graduate into higher territories winding up to Dharamshala in the foothills Himachal, whilst I was dozing on a sleeper bus storming through the night. To start off my trip, I wanted to visit the seat of the Tibetan government in exile – a sacred space of its own within field of the 14^th Dalai Lama. That week he was giving a teaching and a tantric empowerment of the Bodhisattva of wisdom and learning, Manjushri. Being a student and much in need such power, I took the empowerment before heading deeper into the mountains.

My next stop was the village of Rewalsar, a place that I read about in a travel guide for Ladakh which was described as “an interesting detour”[i] about an hour away from the large town of Mandi. I took the bus out from Dharamshala in the early morning and was in Mandi by mid-afternoon; there I got on a smaller bus which went down a bumpy dirt road into the hills for one more hour. I really had no idea what I would find, but it turned about to be most fulfilling. For a student of religion, Rewalsar is a magnificent place: a village surrounding a small green lake which is sacred within Vajrayana Buddhist, Sikh, and Saiva traditions. Another name for the place is Trisangam, meaning “three holy communities”[ii].

rewalsar-1 — Rewalsar village surrounding the sacred lake.

Each of the traditions have their own texts and narratives in which the sanctity of the lake can be found. For Vajrayana Buddhists, this history takes place in the life story of Padmasambhava, the tantric master responsible for spreading the Dharma through the Himalaya and Tibet. In that text, Padmasambhava has recently met his consort Mandarava who is the daughter of Arshadhara, the king of the Sahor country. He and Mandarava go to the city to beg for alms:

While doing that the people became envious and said, “This is the stray foreign mendicant, who in the past killed the males and coupled with the females. He has carried off the king’s daughter and adulterated the royal caste. Again, he will create havoc; he must be corrected!”.

Saying this, the people gathered sandalwood with a dray of oil for each load of wood. After that, they burned Master Padma and his consort in the center of a village.

Normally, when people were burned, the smoke would cease after three days, but now even after nine days the smoke did not stop. As people came for a closer look, the fire blazed up, burning the entire royal palace. The oil had turned into a lake, with the inner part covered by lotus flowers. Upon an open lotus, in the middle of the lake, Master Padma and his consort sat fresh and cool. [iii]

‘Tso Pema’ (Lotus Lake) is the Tibetan name of the lake. It is an important site of pilgrimage for pious Buddhists, especially those of the Nyingma lineages. I was told that especially in the winter months pilgrims converge there in large numbers, waiting out the cold winter in the north. Presently there are at least five Buddhist monasteries around the lake, and the most dominating presence in the village is a gigantic statue of Padmasambhava which looms over the village. The lake is also sacred to Saiva Hindus, it is mentioned (along with many other Himalayan regions) in the Skandha Purana. That text also speaks of the visitation to the lake by the holy man Lomas. Similarly, the region was visited by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhism, and for that reason it is a pilgrimage site for those of certain Sikh traditions.

As soon as I arrived in Rewalsar I found a simple room at one of the Buddhist monasteries, and I began to absorb the multiple cultural layers and processes which thrived around the lake. The narrative elements of Rewalsar were one aspect of the site and its culture; there is also that which is not articulated in words but which endures within built and natural environment there. This material dimension of the site is practiced with the body and senses, as well as through iterations of stories; it murmurs in images and sounds. It might be said that the lake constitutes the ritual (as well as historical and mythological) center of the village: all day, pilgrims, tourists, and local people can be seen doing ‘kora’ – circumambulations around the lake. There are numerous religious structures: gompas (Buddhist monasteries), mandirs (Hindu temples), a large gurdwara (a Sikh space of worship), and a Jain temple built around the lake. Looming above the all the surrounding temples and residences is a gigantic statue of Padmasambhava. A rich conversation can be read in the multiple structures and their relationships to each other, speaking the story of the sacred space in an architectural code.

Part of my research was to do kora and speak with the circumambulators. To some, these walks were a form of religious engagement with the lake. One or two pious Tibetans were doing full prostrations in their kora. Part of the kora process involves visiting shrines and making offerings, or turning prayer wheels and releasing mantras into the wind. Other people were simply ‘going for an evening walk’. An especially engaging element of the environment is what could be described as the ritual soundscape. Doing kora, one can hear a constant parade of hymns, bells, chimes, gongs, and the rich aural dimensions of Vajrayana liturgy. Bellow my room at the monastery were three large mani-wheels, the turning of which caused a bells to resound at variated intervals, creating interesting rhythms which can be heard here:

Garsha

My next stop was in the far northern reaches of Himachal, in the high mountain region of Lahaul, a day and a half’s journey upon government busses from Rewalsar.

I wanted to investigate an annual circumambulation event of a holy mountain near the village of Keylong. According to an article written in the 1990’s, this event occurred in June; it turned out that this year it was to happen in September and by then I would be elsewhere. Fortunately, I was able to interview the organizers of the annual circumambulation, the Young Drukpa Association, and to learn about the kora event which is publicised as an Eco Pad Yatra.

This kind of event follows in the tradition of those organized by H.H. Gyalwang Drukpa, the head of the Drukpa lineage, who has been leading these kinds of ecological pilgrimage events for over ten years[iv]. The event held in Keylong was led by Kunga Rinpoche, who travelled with a group of monastic and lay Buddhists on a kora of the Holy mountain of Dribu Ri. This modest but holy mountain is revered as an abode of the tantric deity Chakrasamvara. There are many caves in which old masters and tantric heroes practiced, such as Nagarjuna and the Siddha Orgyenpa[v]. The mountain itself is named after the Mahasiddha Vajra-Ghantapa, who is Dorje-Drilbupa in Tibetan. It is said that Drilbupa meditated upon the mountaintop and reached the highest enlightenment there. The peak is now considered to be his “eternal residence” (26)[vi].

My days in Keylong were spent investigating the numerous places described in a book published by the Young Drukpa Association, entitled Garsha: Heartland of the Dakinis (2011). Pilgrimage guidebooks in Tibetan Buddhism are an old tradition; this particular book might be considered as part of this tradition – now in glossy coloured print form. The text provides detailed descriptions of the many sacred caves, relief sculptures, charnel grounds, and important ancient monasteries, shrines, and stupas in the region, as well as historical information on the whole sacred geography known colloquially as Garsha.

garsha-carved-images — Relief sculptures along the path in Keylong

The area is thought to be a potent land of spiritual power, an earthly locus of the sambhogakaya Heruka, and home to numerous Dakinis. The land is charged with the tantric practices of many old masters, and one’s own practice here can be accelerated by such presences. One morning I rose early and, with a local guide, performed a circumambulation of the mountain. We passed through magnificent and stark terrain, rising higher and higher to the peak upon which was a shrine and many prayer flags.

sacred site atop mountain covered in prayer flags and scarves

After spending some time there eating sandwiches, we descended again, diagonally across the mountain so as to reach important mediation caves and a gompa on the other side. Another day I visited the Guru Ghantal Gompa, named after Mahasidda Ghantapa, in which one can find a unique shrine with ancient images. To get there, it is necessary to hitchhike on the highway south of Keylong back toward Manali for about 15 minutes until crossing the Bhagi river. Then you can walk ten minutes up the mountain to Tupchilling monastery at which you can ask a resident monk for the key to Guru Ghantal which is another hour up the mountain. When I was there, a local man had already taken the key and was up at the mysterious little gompa on the mountainside. He showed me around and explained his family’s tradition of visiting the shrine at times of confusion.

Ladakh

Journeying further north for one full day upon the grimy Himachal government bus, I finally reached the administrative center and tourist hub of Leh in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The road passed through vast, rugged beauty of the Himalayas and into the arid otherworld of Ladakh.

My plan was to study Tibetan whilst staying in community of Choglamsar, about 10 kilometers down the road, during which I would continue to investigate sacred places and landscapes around there. Choglamsar is home to native Ladakhis as well as many Tibetan refugees and Kashmiris. Around that town it was particularly interesting to observe the formations of a Buddhist environment in the gnarled desert landscape.

Ladakhi and Tibetan Buddhists articulate their religious culture on a geographical level with no ambiguity: from any high point above the town, one can see multiple golden roofs of the monasteries, prayer flags like cobwebs binding the structures, and stupas dotting the environment in every direction.

In Ladakh, a notable presence is that of ‘mani stones’ – large rocks or cliff faces with the carving and painting of a mantra, usually that of Om Mani Padme Hum, the mantra of Avalokitesvara. There are ‘mani walls’, which are long stone walls, three or four meters wide which might be described as monuments rather than walls. The tops of these structures serve as a platform for hundreds of small, hand carved mani stones which are often left as offerings. I was told by one informant that mani stones and walls are constructed with the hope that the souls of the dead will encounter the inscription of the mantra, thereby influencing them and neutralizing any potential harm upon the lives of the living. Just outside of Choglamsar there are hundreds of such carvings in the vicinity of a scraggly rock where the dead are cremated on platforms on the hill side.

mani stones at base of rocky hill — Mani Stones

Perhaps the most dominant cultural element of the Ladakhi landscape is the stupa which is truly ubiquitous in Ladakh. On will see small stupas dotting the landscape, such as the vast field of them near the old palace of Shey, just south of Leh and Choglamsar. Stupas were originally built as monumental reliquaries for the bodily remains of the Buddha after his paranirvana. Since then, they have taken on various functions. Many of the stupas around Ladakh are votive stupas built in honour of the dead, or they might have been built by convicted criminals as part of their punishment. Stupas are erected at the entrances of any town or village for apotropaic purposes, and there are also many within the confines of settlements. In the midst of the town of Leh one will find several large stupas, the ritual engagement with which is a matter of daily life: the pious will pass them always on the right, or perform a few circumambulations as they go about their daily activities. In this sense, ‘sacred space’ is interwoven with that of the profane, prompting interesting theoretical speculation about the organization and nature of space in these cultural contexts. For pious Buddhists, stupas are objects of devotion to which prayers are offered; it is not uncommon to see people gazing with deep intent upon these presences.

stupas with mountain range in the distance

They are also important fields of merit. Circumambulation for purposes of merit making is a normative element of daily Buddhist practice in Ladakh. In the park next to the Dalai Lama’s residence in Choglamsar, a friend of mine told me that if it were possible to do 108 koras around the stupa, then I might secure an auspicious re-birth. It is very common to see Ladakhis and Tibetans do exactly this, especially in morning and evening times, and often whilst reciting mantras and counting the beads upon a mala. Small stones are placed on the corner of the stupa to keep the count of passes. The stupa was described to me by this informant as ‘god’ – going around them, then, was an act of encircling god. They are commonly described as representations of the Buddha’s enlightened mind.

My trip to India in the summer of 2018 was a fantastic journey into the spaces of the Buddhists (and other religions) of that area. Through a comparative approach, I was able to notice the nuanced differences and similarities in manifestations of religious culture upon spatial terms as I travelled from site to site. I was also able to develop a deeper understanding of what ‘sacred space’ is: something expressed in multiple voices and material manifestations. The trip as enabled me to go deeper into this most rich of topics and to identify at least three sites which would be excellent for future research.

I would like to thank the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the generous 2018 Excellence Award and to Frances Garrett for making the trip possible. Also, big thanks to Frances and Matt and the Himalayan Borderlands project for funds and support.

Damien Boltauzer is a fourth year Religion studies and Anthropology major. All photos and audio recordings in this article are his own.

[i] Partha S Banerjee. Ladakh, Kashmir, Manali: The Essential Guide. Calcutta: Milestone Books, 2014. 21,

[ii] http://www.rewalsar.com/

[iii] Yeshe Tsogyal. The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava. Boston: Shambhala, 1999. 54-6.

[iv] See http://www.padyatra.org/

[v] Garsha Young Drukpa Association. Garsha, Heart Land of the Dakinis. Keylong: YDA, 2011. 29.

[vi] Ibid., 26.

November 9, 2018

Welcoming Naresh Man Bajracharya

By Amber Marie Moore and Austin Simoes-Gomes, University of Toronto

In May 2018, we welcomed Rev. Professor Naresh Man Bajracharya, Vice-Chancellor of Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal to the University of Toronto Department for the Study of Religion and the Greater Toronto Area to deliver five action-packed days of workshops and teachings centered around Newar Vajrayāna Buddhism. This series of events was an impressive united effort on part of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, The Institute of Traditional Medicine, three local community organizations; The Nepalese Canadian Heritage Centre, the Canadian Newah Guthi, and the Pashupatinath Mandir of Brampton along with key U of T faculty members, namely; Professor Christoph Emmrich, Professor Frances Garrett, and Professor Ajay Rao. Present at his second visit to Toronto in just ten months were individuals from the Newar community, academics and Buddhist practitioners alike, engaged in the study of Sanskrit texts, Vajrayāna Buddhism and Newar culture, many of whom attended the full program from the 13^th until 16^thof the month.

fb_img_1526729330105 — Professor Bajracharya with participants after his lecture on the Sanskrit Gurumaṇḍalārcanapūjā at the Jackman Humanities Building, University of Toronto. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rikesh Shrestha.

Many of us know that Newar Buddhism has preserved both textual and living elements of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism in its Sanskrit forms. As one of the main students of the late Rev. Paṇḍit Badri Ratna Bajracarya, Dr. Naresh Guruju is recognized as a highly qualified ritual specialist who is responsible for Newar Buddhist communities in all three cities of the greater Kathmandu Valley area. As founding chair and distinguished first professor of the Buddhist Studies Program at Tribhuvan University, he has played a crucial role in introducing the academic study of Buddhism to Nepal. Over the past decade, Professor Bajracharya has established and recently consecrated the first traditional Newar Buddhist Monastery located outside of the Kathmandu Valley; The Nepal Vajrayāna Mahāvihār of Lumbini. He has also published widely on a variety of Buddhist topics in English, Nepali, and Newar.

In short, a combination of conducive conditions came together which resulted in participants being fully immersed in a rigorous study of both ritual and academic aspects of this unique form of Sanskritic Buddhism seldom encountered in North America and which one is rarely permitted to participate in, in Nepal. Every minute of these events were recorded by Pushpa Acharya, a Ph.D. candidate and talented videographer who volunteered his time and energy for filming in collaboration with the Munk School of Global Affairs.

fb_img_1526729260425 — Professor Bajracharya presiding over and commenting on the Tārā Maṇḍala Pūjā at the Pashupatinath Mandir of Brampton. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rikesh Shrestha.

The first event, on May 13^th, was a lively Green Tārā Maṇḍala Pūjā followed by a lecture and Q and A session. The day-long event included a delicious vegetarian meal organized jointly with participating members of local Newar and Nepalese communities. Before lunch, the maṇḍala of the female Buddha Tārā was materially and ritually constructed in approximately two and a half hours. With the help of around ten assistants from U of T and the local community, Dr. Bajracharya simultaneously directed the volunteers and acted on our behalf, leading us through the preliminaries, the invocation of Green Tārā, the making of offerings and the performance of all required rituals and recitations. In his afternoon lecture delivered in Nepali, Dr. Bajracharya explained the historiography and meaning of Green Tārā in the Vajrayāna Buddhist context; her origin from the tear of Avaloketiśvara and the significance of her green-hued manifestation related to elemental forms of prāṇa and enlightened activity. He also included some pertinent comments on the meaning of co-existence and interdependence in response to a question from the audience. Although it was the first time that this Brampton area Nepalese Mandir had ever hosted a Vajrayāna Buddhist pūjā, the local Hindu priest who stayed for the duration, and many of the more than 50 participants agreed—true to the spirit of Nepalese religion—that it was indeed an ideal venue to hold a Buddhist pūjā.

fb_img_1526729187517 — Professor Bajracharya displays his century old Sanskrit text after giving a lecture on dhāraṇīs. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rikesh Shrestha.

On Monday evening at the Institute for Traditional Medicine, Dr. Bajracharya introduced us to the meaning and practical functions of the dhāraṇī: Sanskrit syllables or sounds strung together which he explained possess more than a mere semantic meaning. Somewhat longer than the further encapsulated mantra, we learned that the dhāraṇī can either contain the pith meaning of an important text or effectively embody the essence of a deity. Dr. Bajracharya discussed how dhāraṇīs have been traditionally engaged, and even imbibed, through all five modes of sensory perception. After a preliminary commentary on the saptavidhānuttarapūjā a.k.a the samantabhadracaryāpraṇidhānam, he instructed us on several popular dhāraṇīs to be utilized at the time of death, healing, and even for the the generation of empathy; the durgatipariṡodhana dhāraṇī, the aparimitāyu dhāraṇī and the āryāvalokiteśvara dhāraṇī to name a few.

fb_img_1526729140339 — Participants and U of T students at the dhāraṇī event generously co-hosted by The Institute for Traditional Medicine. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rikesh Shrestha.

On Tuesday, the first day of our formal Newar Buddhism Workshop at the St. George Campus, we all arrived ready to engage on a more intellectual level. Dr. Bajracharya gave a Power Point presentation along with many lucid descriptions and even utilized melodious traditional chants and gestures to explain the matter at hand, the Mañjuśrīnāmasangīti, in his trademark style. He conveyed how the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition of the Mañjuśrīnāmasangīti was historically conceived of; as providing complex textual correlates, and how it currently continues to persist as a living tradition in the Kathmandu Valley. More broadly, he discussed the trend of revitalization of this and other Newar Vajrayāna traditions as a whole and the role of the recent Nāmasangīti festivals and public initiations in that process. Not only did he explain the place of this crucial text in the history of Vajrayāna, we were also introduced to the future of this vibrant tradition which has currently evolved to incorporate significant concerns about inclusion and social activism as well as the preservation of oral transmission on a large-scale public platform. A certain highlight of this session was the gratitude shown to his wife, Rev. Nita Gurumaju, whom he mentioned had to work much harder than himself for the duration of the festival since she was called upon to initiate all of the female participants who happened to be the greater percentage of the more than 4000 festival attendees.

new-pic — A photo from Professor Bajracharyas’ presentation at U of T on the revival of the Nāmasangīti Festival in the Kathmandu Valley. Professor Bajracharya’s wife, Mrs. Gurumaju Nita Bajracharya granted the Mañjuśrīnāmasanggīti initiation to more than 2000 female participants at that three day event.

On Wednesday, the final day of the workshop, Dr. Bajracharya delivered an in-depth commentary and conferred some of his original research on the Sanskrit ritual text; the Gurumaṇḍalārcanapūjā, edited by the late Amoghabajra Bajracharya. Together with Professor Ajay Rao, who helped students with many difficult points throughout the Sanskrit reading, Dr. Bajracharya managed to cover the entire text and its artistic expression as maṇḍala art in scarcely three hours, making the meaning accessible even to those with basic knowledge of Sanskrit. As he took the audience through the text word by word, and the ritual, action by action, many questions were addressed regarding how the text can be dually performed and appreciated as a condensed philosophical treatise. Notable, was his explanation of the concise definitions given by the text for how to practice the Six Perfections; the perfection of giving, Dr. Bajracharya described, is likened to a person who can let go of the results of virtuous actions like a cow letting go of its own dung. Understandably, this passage also tied into his clarification of how to interpret obscure content that often requires the lineage of oral transmission in order to be comprehensible. Dr. Bajracharya then went on to explain how this text, in its material representation as maṇḍala art, seeks not only to express the gurumaṇḍala ritual, but it also incorporates the balyārcana offering which is depicted in several cryptic variations in a local, artistic sense; and carried out literally, as offering the five senses and sense faculties. Dr. Bajracharya noted it as an antecedent to the Tibetan gchod praxis. The dual purpose of text and artistic representation as both gurumaṇḍala and balyārcana was a crucial point that Dr. Bajracharya felt had not been appreciated by scholars in the past.

new-pic2 — An example provided by Professor Bajracharya of how Lalitpur gurumaṇḍala art (lower) also incorporates a depiction of the balyārcana offering (upper). Photo courtesy of Naresh Bajracharya.

After completing the reading, Professor Bajracharya concluded a very animated lecture on a more serious note with some methodological advice to fellow academics in the beginning stages of their research. He encouraged researchers to constantly reflect upon and rethink their methodologies in order to acknowledge diverse cultural approaches to study and research, noting that we need to remain sensitive to such issues, especially while engaging with our interlocutors and local customs in the field. As someone with more than 40 years of experience at the top of his field and at home in Newar culture and language, Dr. Bajracharya stressed that the complex and multifaceted aspects of Newar traditions cannot be easily grasped in a few months or even a few years of fieldwork; namely by us! With this advice, we all became quite aware of the can of worms we had each opened, and many agreed, as Dr. Bajracharya had suggested, that patience and resolve might be the only sure keys to successful dissertations that do not result in hasty hypotheses in this, the unique and understudied field of Newar Buddhism.

The events ended on a positive note with those present expressing their gratitude. We found Dr. Bajracharya to be a very accessible teacher from whom we all learned a great deal. Thanks went to the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto and especially The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies for supporting, advertising and organizing all events, and finally to Dr. Bajracharya, who took time out from his demanding schedule in Nepal to come all the way to Toronto, Canada after delivering a lecture at Harvard.

new-pic3 — Professor Bajracharya at the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto. Photo courtesy of Mr. Rikesh Shrestha.

Recordings of the events

Chanting Samantabhadracarya Pranidhana-- Nareshman Bajracharya

Commentary on Samantabhadracharya Pranidhana -- Nareshman Bajracharya

Mantra, Dharani, Tantra -- Nareshman Bajracharya

Green Tara Mandala Puja -- Nareshman Bajracharya — We wish to extend a sincere thanks to Pushpa Acharya, a Ph.D. student and film maker from University of Toronto who produced and edited all of the video footage.

Reposted with permission from the Canadian Journal for Buddhist Studies Blog: https://cjbuddhist.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/tara-dhara%e1%b9%87i-the-manjusrinamasangiti-and-a-sanskrit-reading-with-rev-professor-naresh-man-bajracharya-of-lumbini-buddhist-university/.

March 15, 2018

Visiting Taiwan

Buddhist Studies graduate Justin Stein is now in Japan on a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. He is working on language study and writing. Justin recently went to Taiwan to visit his friend Erik Schicketanz, currently at Academica Sinica, and as they visited religious sites carried their HCBS bags. Here they are in Wulai, Taiwan.

February 1, 2018

Our days began at sunrise

By Sasha Manu

I had the privilege of living in a Chan Buddhist monastery in Southern China for one month. Nestled deep in a bamboo forest, the Jin’e Temple became the home of eighty-five participants from around the globe. The Woodenfish program, founded by Venerable Yifa, is an experimental education program occurring once per year, giving anyone the opportunity to experience the joys and rigors of life in a monastery. This was by no means an easy experience, but, paradoxically, I found freedom through the restrictions of daily monastic life.

Our days began at sunrise and were filled with Tai Chi, Buddhist lectures, chanting and many kinds of meditation. At first, the schedule was difficult to adjust to. We had very little free time, and much of it was spent napping and doing laundry. Our days were formulaic and filled with regulations such as silence in certain areas, mealtime etiquette, and uniforms. We also kept the four postures of Zen wherever we went: walk like the wind, stand like a pine tree, sleep like a bow and sit like a bell. Despite the initial mental resistance, once these habits were well formed, I felt liberated and my mind began to calm. Throughout the program, we were visited by masters of all kinds, including Shaolin Monks, painters, calligraphers and musicians. Oftentimes, I felt as if I was in the middle of a Zen fable, as one day, the painting teacher, midway through one of his pieces said: “This painting is already finished, you just can’t see it.”

Meditation wasn’t confined to the cushion; every moment was seen as an opportunity to cultivate awareness, whether walking, eating, drinking tea or resting. An attitude we were made to adopt from the start was: “If you like it, it’s a blessing. If you don’t, it’s a cultivation.” Whether it relates to the strict protocols of mealtime, chanting, or evening Vespers, this mantra was a useful tool throughout. The daily routine of the monastery was adjusted as we entered a 7-day silent meditation retreat. I emerged with a renewed sense of purpose and some incredible insights into myself, and the world. The majority of my peers had similar experiences, while some carry mystical stories they won’t soon forget. After the retreat we set out to Mount Putuo, a sacred Buddhist mountain where we performed a truly transformative “three steps one prostration pilgrimage.” Over the course of the month, I met unique people, from diverse backgrounds, living all over the world. Yet, we all gathered in a small Chinese monastery for a singular purpose: to better ourselves. This common purpose created bonds of friendship that I’m certain will stand the test of time. Together, we developed habits and practices that will help us lead peaceful, joyous and compassionate lives.