January 13-14, 2010

January 13-14, 2010

“Letting Go”

The next step in my path is “letting go” - letting go of the dread of a 14 hour flight halfway around the world; letting go of the discomfort of sitting in a seat that is not made for a person my size, with no leg room, for 14 hours; letting go of the fears of how I will handle myself for this long time. Well, here I am almost 9 hours into the flight (1 AM), somewhere over Europe, Poland maybe, and I’m doing fine. And the main reason? Tamika, the ticket agent at JFK who took the time to make a call for us to get seats on the exit row, Row 30, Seats A and B. So thank you (dhanyabad), Tamika, for the extra effort to make us more comfortable. What a nice thing to do and we really appreciate it. She followed Buddha’s main teaching, at least to lay people - she showed us compassion. Concentrating on my breathing and just letting go of the discomfort in a seat that is too narrow, even for me, also helps. If I move, the overhead light comes on because I hit the button on the remote with my hip. And of course, Bay and Shovona know it too, we’re that close together. Like sleeping in a twin bed with your wife and dog. One moves - we all move. So I have relaxed now and I know I will make it. It’s all under control.

Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree

When we last left Gotama, he had “gone forth” and had become an ascetic, fasting, living in the woods and basically just making himself miserable and destroying his health. He concluded that this was not the way to enlightenment so he had a good meal. thereby losing his 5 fellow ascetics who felt he had betrayed them. He recalled a childhood experience under a rose-apple tree when he experienced a moment of pure joy when his babysitters left him sitting in the shade of a rose-apple tree and he gazed at the carnage of the torn up field being plowed and saw all the insects and baby shoots had been destroyed. As he sat there in the shade of the tree, the shade moved from under other trees but not under this tree - he sat in the asana position and the sun did not move, recognizing his spiritual potential. If he could reach this stage as a young child, then he certainly ought to be able to do better as a trained adult. So, while on the way toward Urevela, he reached an agreeable place beside a river, and he sat beneath a bodhi tree in the asana position and vowed to stay until he attained enlightenment. And there welled up in him the Four Noble Truths; first, that life is full of suffering; second, that the cause of this suffering is desire; third, that Nibbana (aka Nirvana) is a way out of suffering, and fourth, that he had an Eightfold Path to enlightenment. As you can see there are a lot of numbers in Buddhism. The eight are right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, mindfulness, concentration, right understanding and right resolve. And no, I have not memorized these - I’m copying them out of the book. And now Gotama attained Nibbana and became the Buddha. What he had learned was that to live properly, he had to live for others, with compassion, and he had to teach his way, his Eightfold Path to others. And this he did. It did not mean that he would be free from suffering. It meant that he would accept the suffering and not be ruled by it. And in the end, he died as we all must. And Ananda, his trusty disciple who had not been able to attain enlightenment, wept. I believe we will hear more about the Bodhi Tree much later in our trip.
And when we last left Janet and me, we were 9 hours into our flight. Both of us had a great flight, Bay due in part to two sleeping pills, and me due to accepting what was and letting it go. This included even the four hours it took to go through customs, meet our guide, take the bus to our beautiful hotel (Lalit Hotel on Connaught Place in Delhi), wait in the four-story high lobby for our passports back from photocopying, getting our keys finally and getting at last to our room. And compassion toward all? According to our guide, Shanker (“as in Ravi Shankar but without the guitar”), when we are met by the “hawkers and vendors” tomorrow at the sites we visit, we are to totally ignore them, We can’t say “No, thank you.” “I don’t like that.” Absolutely nothing - not even eye contact. Just walk slowly and talk only amongst ourselves.
But what about the Bodhi Tree and compassion for all sentient beings?
And on the bus ride to the hotel, Shanker explained how in the Hindu religion, a guest is like a god. So to him and Friendly Planet in India, we are like gods. Listening up, Robyn?

It is now 9:50 PM here, about 11:20 AM your time, and after the three meals on the plane and two beers at the bar in the hotel, we’re turning in for a busy day tomorrow - tour of Delhi and a dinner at a fancy Indian restaurant (the only dinner included in our tour). Good night to you all. And I wish you and all sentient beings freedom from suffering, even the “hawkers and vendors.” We’ll see how I do tomorrow. Love, Nat