South Asia '08, part four:
Varanasi to Bodhgaya
We left Varanasi for Gaya in the early, early hours of January 22. When the plan for this trip changed from a solo excursion to a trip for two (and then three) in December, I insisted that one way or another -- coming from or going toward Kathmandu -- I wanted to be in Bodhgaya in time for the Full Moon.
Not that I had an intention of participating in ceremony, or because I thought that there'd be some special manifestation or inspiration to experience (well, OK, that was part of it). I simply wanted to make a time-lapse photo of the Moon above the Bodhi Tree at Mahabodhi Temple.
As it happened, of course, it was overcast on that afternoon and evening. But that didn't matter at all by that time, since I was so emotionally wound up and laid out because of the mass prayer event that was underway at Mahabodhi that day.
Back in December, I'd read that one of two Tibetan Buddhist sects (the Nyingma or the Kagyu) was going to have its several-days-long prayer festival at Bodhgaya during the time of our visit. Exiled and resettled monks and nuns from around India, as well as "professional" practitioners from Japanese, Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese and other countries' monastics institutions, typically gather in Bodhgaya during the late winter. This gathering coincides with the lunar new year and other Buddhist holidays. It also provides a warm-weather retreat for those who live in northwestern India and Nepal.
Anyhow, I thought that it would be the Nyingma who'd have their monlam ("wish path") when we arrived on January 22. In fact, it was the Kagyu, which was touching for me since I'd practiced and studied under that sect when I was first introduced to Tibetan Buddhism in '99 and 2000. Seeing and hearing and walking among so many people focused on the sadhana, as well as being overwhlemed by the size of the temple and earnestness, intense feeling that circulated around the complex... It was a trip, to say the least. I was moved (to tears) and just walked around and around for a couple of hours. It seemed, so much more than the return to Sedona in June, like a culminating event for my life (or an even longer duration of time and experience).
Obviously, these few photos aren't all that I produced that afternoon. We've been on the move again, and I'll get to the rest from Bodhgaya in due time.
Part three ... Part five
Not that I had an intention of participating in ceremony, or because I thought that there'd be some special manifestation or inspiration to experience (well, OK, that was part of it). I simply wanted to make a time-lapse photo of the Moon above the Bodhi Tree at Mahabodhi Temple.
As it happened, of course, it was overcast on that afternoon and evening. But that didn't matter at all by that time, since I was so emotionally wound up and laid out because of the mass prayer event that was underway at Mahabodhi that day.
Back in December, I'd read that one of two Tibetan Buddhist sects (the Nyingma or the Kagyu) was going to have its several-days-long prayer festival at Bodhgaya during the time of our visit. Exiled and resettled monks and nuns from around India, as well as "professional" practitioners from Japanese, Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese and other countries' monastics institutions, typically gather in Bodhgaya during the late winter. This gathering coincides with the lunar new year and other Buddhist holidays. It also provides a warm-weather retreat for those who live in northwestern India and Nepal.
Anyhow, I thought that it would be the Nyingma who'd have their monlam ("wish path") when we arrived on January 22. In fact, it was the Kagyu, which was touching for me since I'd practiced and studied under that sect when I was first introduced to Tibetan Buddhism in '99 and 2000. Seeing and hearing and walking among so many people focused on the sadhana, as well as being overwhlemed by the size of the temple and earnestness, intense feeling that circulated around the complex... It was a trip, to say the least. I was moved (to tears) and just walked around and around for a couple of hours. It seemed, so much more than the return to Sedona in June, like a culminating event for my life (or an even longer duration of time and experience).
Obviously, these few photos aren't all that I produced that afternoon. We've been on the move again, and I'll get to the rest from Bodhgaya in due time.
Part three ... Part five
South Asia '08, part four:
Varanasi to Bodhgaya
mr damon, 23:07
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