Bodhgaya 2008. 5:30 AM at the Thai monastary. The Temple loudspeakers begin to greet the the dawn with reminding us to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Almost 30 secondes later, as if planned, the quadruple minaret mosque a block away annonces Allah is great and Muhamad is his messanger. And as if trying to remind me i'm still in India, a little chai shop starts its day with loud playing of a poppy "Om Nama Shivaya" tune. All of them tying to point to the direction of a reality larger than ourselves, something beyond the mind's capacity to grasp, but each in it's unique way, modified by centuries of religoious thinking. The sun starts to flood the green gardens and glittering gold temple, and the bells start going off and another day of silence and meditation begins.
Originally, a cluster of small mud houses on the banks of a big dry riverbed, the village of Bodhgaya in the poor state of Bihar has turned into the Jerusalem of the Buddhist world. The word Bihar (or vihar in sanskrit) means place of learning, and functioned as the ground for the development of one of the most profound and revolutionary schools of thought 2,500 years ago - Buddhism. Today, while the local Biharis are living in the poorest and simplest conditions, cooking in clay stoves fed by cow manure outside their small houses, living the lives of Dalits, the lowests of the untouchable casts in India, forced to live at the edge of the village, outside of the system and deprived of any real rights to work in dignity (although by law they are equal), across the road a fancy 2008 Toyota minivan filled with Japanese pilgrims cruises to the fancy 5 story hotel where they can be far enough from the smell of burning garbage and sewage and easily reach the object for which they came - the glorious Mahabodhi Temple, at the site of the tree where the Buddha reached full awakening. For 3 months out of the year, the village gets packed with pilgrims from all Buddhists countries: Japan, Thailand, Sri lanka, Burma, Tibet and many more and provide the local population (who is mostly muslim) with a bit of tourist money to help them get by the rest of the year, which is just too hot and humid for any foreigner to bare.
In the past year, the government of Bihar, notorious for being one of the most corrupt administrations in India, has formulted a master plan to "improve" the site of the holy temple. This includes wiping out the entire commercial and residential area of the town and surrounding the temple with gardens and a small number of luxurious hotels which will cater to rich tourists. If the life of the locals was hard, then this was the last blow that would make their lives complete misery, depriving them of any kind of decent livelihood and relocating them to places where they will not be able to find any work or even have a small rice field to feed from. There has been some protest, but they feel so powerless in front of the government officials, especially because they believe that they themselves are powerless, after years of accepting the caste system into their society and treating themselves as outcasts of society.
But with all the hardships of this town, there has been a steady group of people, numbering in about 150 each year, from all different countries in Europe and America, Israel and India, who spend almost 3 weeks together, in silence, to practice what may be what the Buddha had originaly taught and bringing more clarity and understanding into their lives. Ironically, it is the western, non-buddhists who are actually practicing meditation, while the rest of the Buddhist tourists are satisfied with a short pilgrimage to the Holy sites, where famous scenes from the Buddhas life took place. This is an active group, and our presence in Bodhgaya provides a great support for the local villagers and shopkeepers, as well as some of the money donated for the retreats going to Charity organizations helping the locals get an education and bring themeselves out of poverty.
Originally, a cluster of small mud houses on the banks of a big dry riverbed, the village of Bodhgaya in the poor state of Bihar has turned into the Jerusalem of the Buddhist world. The word Bihar (or vihar in sanskrit) means place of learning, and functioned as the ground for the development of one of the most profound and revolutionary schools of thought 2,500 years ago - Buddhism. Today, while the local Biharis are living in the poorest and simplest conditions, cooking in clay stoves fed by cow manure outside their small houses, living the lives of Dalits, the lowests of the untouchable casts in India, forced to live at the edge of the village, outside of the system and deprived of any real rights to work in dignity (although by law they are equal), across the road a fancy 2008 Toyota minivan filled with Japanese pilgrims cruises to the fancy 5 story hotel where they can be far enough from the smell of burning garbage and sewage and easily reach the object for which they came - the glorious Mahabodhi Temple, at the site of the tree where the Buddha reached full awakening. For 3 months out of the year, the village gets packed with pilgrims from all Buddhists countries: Japan, Thailand, Sri lanka, Burma, Tibet and many more and provide the local population (who is mostly muslim) with a bit of tourist money to help them get by the rest of the year, which is just too hot and humid for any foreigner to bare.
In the past year, the government of Bihar, notorious for being one of the most corrupt administrations in India, has formulted a master plan to "improve" the site of the holy temple. This includes wiping out the entire commercial and residential area of the town and surrounding the temple with gardens and a small number of luxurious hotels which will cater to rich tourists. If the life of the locals was hard, then this was the last blow that would make their lives complete misery, depriving them of any kind of decent livelihood and relocating them to places where they will not be able to find any work or even have a small rice field to feed from. There has been some protest, but they feel so powerless in front of the government officials, especially because they believe that they themselves are powerless, after years of accepting the caste system into their society and treating themselves as outcasts of society.
But with all the hardships of this town, there has been a steady group of people, numbering in about 150 each year, from all different countries in Europe and America, Israel and India, who spend almost 3 weeks together, in silence, to practice what may be what the Buddha had originaly taught and bringing more clarity and understanding into their lives. Ironically, it is the western, non-buddhists who are actually practicing meditation, while the rest of the Buddhist tourists are satisfied with a short pilgrimage to the Holy sites, where famous scenes from the Buddhas life took place. This is an active group, and our presence in Bodhgaya provides a great support for the local villagers and shopkeepers, as well as some of the money donated for the retreats going to Charity organizations helping the locals get an education and bring themeselves out of poverty.
I had the privelage of accompanying a group led by Sister Mary, a catholic Indian nun from Pune, to a small village nearby, where she decided to find ways in which women of the untouchable cast can feel better about themselves in their families and in society and empower them to get an education and open small businesses by using the micro-loan system (small loans with low interest managed within the community). It was heartbreaking to listen to these women tell their stories, of how they are treated not only as members of the untouchable caste, but as women, who'se place indian society is very low, and are often deprived of education and even of the right to leave the house and socialize with other women. With this initiative, they suddenly realized they have power as a group of women supporting eachother and being able to transcend the constrictions of caste and society and realize themsleves as human beings. They open small workshops where they make clothes and artifacts they can later sell in the town, and shops where they can sell their local produce. This all sounds simple to us westerners, but you should see how these people live; in the simplest conditions, beautiful mud houses with no electricity and not buying anything they don't actually need and does not come directly from their own village. It was inspiring to see such simplicity of living, and that the human capacity to find hapiness and new sources of power in such conditions is possible. All it needs is a shift of awareness, a freedom from what we have always thought life and reality was like and a fresh way of looking at our future, boundless and free from conditioning.
It is always strange for me to see that 3rd world countries who are deeply stuck in their social and religious structures, often need the intervention of people from the west to help them be free from it. not that we do not have our own social and economic problems, but there is more freedom to act and move around in the west, more freedom to investigate and question our own reality, and that is something I am learning to really appreciate in my life and in the society which I come from. The huge movement of a new kind of awareness taking place mainly in the western world today can happen as a result of this freedom to move around, travel to places like India and the east and see that there are other ways we can live and empower oursleves to make the most out of our lives and be free from social and psychological conditioning.
I've just finished reading a fascintating book named "The Buddha and the Sahibs" by Charles Allen. It tells the story of the first Englishmen who were stationed in India during the 1700's and 1800's as scientists and soldiers working for the Royal court and the East India Company. It was the more eccentric of these people who were actually the first westrners to ever have a fascinations with Indian culture and mysticsm and with amazingly patient detective work, started uncovering the history of Buddhism in India. It wasn't an easy task, the folks back home were very conservative and treated the local Indian culture as barbaric and dangerous to white people. But these people were determined. They were seen living in remote places in the indian planes, wearing Kurtas and sarwals, amoking chillum and translating ancient Sanskrit texts. These were truely the first India-wallas!! They had a passion and saw the magic and the revolutionary thought and practice that was the cultural foundation of India for centuries. It's thanks to their persistence that these profound doctrines reached the west eventualy and influenced our society and thought of several generations, including the beatniks in the 40's, the hippies in the 60's, who renewed the contact with India with the oveland "hippie trail" from Europe to the east, and the rediscovery of spirituality taking place in the present, not to mention the profound changes in the outlook of psychology and psychotherapy today.
My love and passion for this country are increasing as my days here go by.
Namaste.
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