This is the Jains, the amazing Servas family that we stayed with in Sarnath, India. They run an impressive educational project for the rural children in the villages surrounding their town. Gini, the lady standing in the middle, is from France and was helping with the project while we were there.
Sarnath is the place where the Buddha spun the Wheel of Dhamma by giving his first sermon, and therefore why there is a Vipassana center just outside the town. This is the beautiful countryside that surrounded the center where we did our Vipassana meditation retreat.
We, of course, never saw the countryside because we were not allowed to leave the compound. In our retreat there were us four women and maybe ten or so men. The men and women slept in separate buildings and even had separate paths for walking from the meditation hall to the dining hall (where the men and women ate in separate rooms). There truly was no talking. This picture is from the last day when we talked to the other girls for the first time.
The two of us had really different experiences in the retreat, but it was incredibly intense for both of us and we would both say it was the most physically painful experience of our lives. Being silent and avoiding eye contact was actually quite nice and relaxing. The actual meditation -- sitting cross-legged and trying to maintain continuous concentration for 10 days straight -- is what was really difficult. It was a weird experience, as well, in that you had no idea how what you were feeling compared to what others were feeling. You could tell that other people were in pain though because everyone would stretch like they were about to run a marathon before sitting down. I think we all still thought that no one else could possibly be feeling as much pain as we were.
The object of Vipassana is not to calm the mind, but to concentrate the mind. At the beginning of every session we would listen to a recording from a cassette tape to learn how we ought to do this. In the beginning, it was really funny (read: really hard and confusing) because the quality of the tape was so poor that we couldn't actually understand any of the directions. Luckily the quality improved a little during Day 2 and so we were able to gather that we were supposed to be focusing on our breath (for the first day Alisa thought we were supposed to be focusing on "bread"). More specifically, we were supposed to focus all of our attention on the triangular area between the upper lip and the tip of the nose and try to notice all of the sensations in that area. Of course, the overwhelming sensation in that area was sweat because it was incredibly hot and the electricity kept going out.
As the days went by, we began spreading our area of concentration to the rest of the body, trying to notice as many obvious and subtle sensations as possible. The object is to observe these sensations and have neither a positive nor a negative reaction to them. One is making progress when one is so focused and attentive that the obvious and painful sensations transform into subtle sensations.
This probably sounds confusing, and we're not even sure we understand it ourselves, but we'd love to talk with you about it if we see you in person. There's lots of Vipassana centers all over the world, so if you're interested in trying it out for yourself, there's probably a center nearby your home.
When Day 10 came and we knew that we would be able to talk to each other in a few hours, we both began falling apart. As soon as we we're allowed to speak, we immediately began laughing and crying at the same time. Neither of us have eve experienced such a feeling a pure relief and release.
After the retreat, we discussed our experience with an Israeli-Australian monk who had also been on the retreat. He took us to the Tibetan monastery to meet these wonderful Tibetan novices who are receiving their monastic schooling in Sarnath.
On our last day in Sarnath, we went with Dr. Jain to visit his education projects. This is one of many preschools Dr. Jain has started to prepare children under 5 years old for school. He hires local woman to teach in the preschools. The women only need a 5th grade education to teach and so it is also a great way to give opportunities to women who might not have many otherwise.
Some of the children from the preschools get to attend a primary school that Dr. Jain and his oganization have just built themselves. The primary school uses an alternative education model. Children in the surrounding villages who are not able to attend the alternative school, or who are too old, can be sponsored through the organization to attend private schools in the area. It pretty much goes without saying that the children's other option of going to a government school is not a very good one. Dr. Jain said that some parents feel that a government school education is so worthless that they choose to keep their child at home rather than send them.
This child is hard at work in his preschool class.
Preschool's over for the day! The kids do lots of singing in their classes and so Alisa and I had to teach them our standby: the chicken dance.
Also, if anyone is interested in sponsoring a child for a year of private school education, or simply interested in donating to the organization, let us know. We have more information about the organization and more information about how to donate.
After Sarnath, we took the train to Bodh Gaya where we stayed in a Burmese monastery with Julie Arcaro. Julie had just arrived with a study abroad program to learn about and practice Buddhist meditation. Alisa and I were graciously invited to participate in a number of the program's activities. We sat in on meditation, philosophy, and yoga classes and we ate meals with the group. It seems our camera was out of batteries or something at the time because we have hardly any photos to capture what a great stay we had. This is a photo of us with Julie outside the Mahabodhi Temple where it is believed that the Buddha sat under a Bodhi tree and attained enlightenment over 2500 years ago. The temple was beautiful and it was really nice to see the large groups of pilgrims that come from all over the world to pay their respects to The Enlightened One.
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