Padma Ling Day 1

Laughing Buddha hiding in the trees. 

Padma Ling

I woke up this morning with a headache, but after breakfast and a few tylenol I was just fine. We had oatmeal, I had a shower, and we were ready to begin our day. The practice we would be doing was a little advanced for Ruben so he spent the time I was in the shrine room reading "Gates to Buddhist Practice" which is a book by my root lama. It's kinda like Buddhism 101. I figured if he ever wants to become Buddhist (Ru says he's atheist), it would be a good foundation, and if he doesn't, at least he'll know more about what his parents believe. 

So at 9am I went to the shrine room, and learned a new, challenging, practice. It involves playing a bell in your left hand, a drum in your right hand, chanting lines in Sanscrit, and doing a complicated visualization. There are different parts to the practice which take place at different times of the day. 

About the practice: 

According to Mahayana Buddhists, emptiness is the ultimate wisdom of understanding that all things lack inherent existence. Chöd combines prajñāpāramitā philosophy with specific meditation methods. 

After the first practice I found Ru sleeping. I can't blame him, I spent almost the entire time I was here two years ago sleeping when I wasn't in the shrine room. It's just so peaceful. Even with bells, drums, and chanting. 

So I went back to practicing. When I finished the mid morning practice, Ru had rolled over. 

He woke up just before the noon practice, and read for a while. Then we went to lunch together at Huckleberries. It's a fancy market with a deli like Roths or Market of Choice. They had such big rolled sandwiches we couldn't finish ours, and we ordered potato salad and pasta salad (the foodie varieties with whole baby potatoes and sun dried tomatoes and pesto) to take back to Padma Ling for supper. 

There was some time in between practices, so I did a different practice, one I've been meaning to get started on but haven't really. 

The rest of the day was practice, breaks, then dinner. We ate cold dinner (salads, leftovers, German beer) with Lama Inge (who is from Germany) and one of the other guests whose name I don't remember but who is from Germany, lives in Costa Rica, and speaks fluent English. And she teaches Yoga. 

More about Lama Inge. She is turning 80 this year, but does 50 full prostrations every day. She is clear, intelligent, has an beautiful singing voice, and is a strong teacher. She is small and strong, with blond hair turned grey that she wears sort of long and in a ponytail. Her eyes are expressive, and you know what she thinks when she looks at you. She is a good teacher, knowing when to be compassionate and when to be hard. 

She has two feral cats, and one house cat. They are all overfed and content. (maybe except the one with the broken tail who is losing his hair) She has a green thumb, and there are houseplants in every window. The yard is lush because she waters for an hour every morning. She has food crops and flowers mixed together in beds. She conserves and recycles nearly everything, including the water used to wash the dishes. She has a mousetrap that catches mice alive, and every day she empties the mice into the compost pile outside. She is a believer that we all need to plant a lot more trees, to save the environment. She is doing her part!

I met her before Ruben was born, Jeff (Ruben's dad) introduced her to me. I took my refuge vows from her, and have always considered her my root lama. 

After dinner Ru and I played a game of bananagrams on the patio, then did a few circumambulations  before we came in to veg out. 

Definition of Stupa:

A stūpa (Sanskrit: स्तूप, "heap") is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as śarīra – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.^[2] A related architectural term is a chaitya, which is a prayer hall or temple containing a stupa.
In Buddhism, circumambulation or pradakhshina has been an important ritual and devotional practice since the earliest times, and stupas always have a pradakhshina path around them.

We ignored the pee suitcase today. Perhaps tomorrow we will deal with it.