Getting Ready to Go
Preparations are now seriously underway for my upcoming trip to South Africa where I’ll be spending the month of January on retreat with Kittisaro and Thanissara at their Dharmagiri Hermitage in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu Natal. (!)
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
* I’ve got my plane tickets. (I fly from St. Louis to Atlanta then directly to Johannesburg, where I’ll spend two nights, then fly to Durban, where a bus will pick me up and take me to the Hermitage…which will take 3 hours.)
* I’ve reserved my hotel. I’ll be staying in a very nice Western-style hotel in the Rosebank neighborhood (recommended by the office manager at the Hermitage). It’s about 20 miles from the airport, so transportation will need to be arranged.
* I’ve emailed the hotel and they have arranged for a car to pick me up at the airport. (whew)
* I’ve made sure my passport is current and that there’s an empty page for the on-site VISA that, apparently, will be issued once I land at the Jo’burg airport.
* I’ve purchased traveler health insurance. (Recommended by the Hermitage)
* I’ve purchased TSA luggage locks. (Recommended by my travel-savey teacher and friend, Lila)
* I’ve purchased a universal plug adapter for my iPhone and iPad. The one I have is for Europe, but I checked, and it won’t work in S. Africa. (I don’t have to worry about a power converter because I’m not going to bring my hairdryer — I’ll be on retreat, and it’ll be hot there, and I won’t need be worried about fluffing up my hair!)
* I’ve checked into getting a short-term phone plan to cover service in S. Africa, but since I won’t be using the phone while I’m on retreat, and since it costs $30 and it only reduces the cost of calls from $2.00/minute to $1.00/per minute — I’ve decided it’s not worth it.
* I’ve called my credit card company, and my special international debit card bank account, to let them know when and where I’ll be traveling.
* I’ve Skyped my friend, Jill, who lives in Singapore and who travels regularly to S. Africa (where her husband is from) and she said I’d be able to find ATM machines I can use at the airports….and other places….so no need to bring a lot of cash.
* I’ve checked to make sure I don’t need any shots. And that I won’t need malaria pills.
* I’ve started making a list of travel meds. Which includes lots of Pepto-Bismol tablets, sunscreen and the antibiotics I didn’t use when I went to Burma last year.
* I’ve arranged for someone to stay at my house and I’ve made an “Important Stuff” folder for her, which includes a copy of my passport, my itinerary and information about how to get in touch with me at the Hermitage if there’s an emergency.
* I’ve started thinking about what clothes I’ll need to take: things that will be comfortable for a lot of sitting and walking; that I can do yoga in; that I can hand wash and will dry on a line; boots for walking on trails, socks, and slippers for in-between times; a rain jacket and things that will layer because it’s summer there, but we’ll be in the mountains (6,000 ft), so it will get cool, even chilly, at night; P.J.s for both hot and cold weather; a robe, since there will surely be shared shower facilities; a shawl for the mediation room; a hat for the sun; etc.
Hmmm. That’s about it. But I’m sure there’ll be more.
Stay tuned.
Magical Mystery Spice Mix
For Christmas this year, I’m giving the foodies in my family hand-mixed batches of Jan’s Magical Mystery Spice Mix (a.k.a. Peggy’s Spice Rub, from The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison). It’s fabulous on winter squash, roast carrots, sweet potato fries, grilled eggplant and even avocados. Also just the thing to add a “mystery finish” to soups that seem to need a little something extra. (Also excellent, I’m told, as a dry rub for pork…if you’re into that sort of thing.)
1 tsp. black peppercorns
2 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbs. coriander seeds
5 whole star anise
1 Tbs. fennel seeds
1 Tbs. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbs. five-spice powder
3 Tbs. organic brown or coconut sugar
Crush the peppercorns in a motar and pestle, add the salt and whole spices, then grind until everything is broken up and well blended. (A little texture is good.) Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
Yum!
***
(illustration by Kate Pocrass, from En Route Notecards, published by Chronicle Books)
Dressed Up
I’m feeling in the mood for a little Mary Oliver today:
Poem (the spirit likes to dress up)
The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,
shoulders, and all the rest
at night
in the black branches,
in the morning
in the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would rather
plumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,
lime and appetite,
the ocean’s fluids;
it needs the body’s world,
instinct
and imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,
to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is —
so it enters us —
in the morning
shines from the brute comfort
like a stick of lightning;
and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body
like a star.
***
(photo by Jen Gotch, from Polaroid Notes, published by Chronicle Books)
Don’t Be Fooled
“Within itself, the mind is already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. It becomes agitated because moods deceive it. The untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into unhappiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but the mind’s true nature is none of these things.
“Gladness and sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things. It forgets itself, then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever. But really this mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful, really peaceful.
“So we must train the mind to know these sense impressions and not get lost in them. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.”
— Ajahn Chaa, A Taste of Freedom, Buddhist Publication Society Wheel Publications
***
(illustration by Maira Kalman: Food is a Costly Antidepressant — from Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual)
If You Only Knew
The Buddha said:
If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift.
***
(photo by Amanda Gilligan, from Polaroid Notes published by Chronicle Books)
In Order to Arrive
I’m not sure why, but I feel like quoting a little T.S. Eliot today. Here’s what speaks to me now, from The Four Quartets:
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.
***
(photo by Nichole Robertson, from Paris in Color Notes, published by Chronicle Books)
What Do I Really Need?
Today’s post from the Kindness Handbook, by Sharon Salzberg:
“What do I really need right now, in this moment, to be happy? The world offers us many answers to that question: You need a new car and a new house and a new relationship and… But do we really?
“What do I lack right now? Does anything need to change in order for me to be happy? What do I really need?
“….As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life–delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay–I hold this question as a guiding light: ‘What do I really need right now to be happy?’
“What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection, and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way.”
***
(photo by Jenifer Altman, from For the Love of Light, published by Chronicle Books
Imagine
One of the reasons I decided to go to the retreat in South Africa next month is that in addition to two weeks of regular vipassana (insight meditation) practice, we’ll also be doing two weeks of chanting/bowing/visualization practices, which are from the Mahayana schools of Buddhism.
The focus of these practices will be directed to the archetype of Infinite Compassion, personified by Kuan Yin (also spelled Guanyin). I’m interested in this practice, at least partly, because of the gorgeous Guanyin statue we have at the St. Louis Art Museum. (I find it mesmerizing.)
I don’t know a lot about these practices, but I’m learning. Here’s something of what Kittisaro and Thanissara have to say about it in their online Dharmagiri course:
“Calling the name Kuan Shr Yin Bodhisattva invokes and embodies her energetic expression. While doing the recitation, focus your mind on the qualities of compassion and the attributes of Kuan Yin, and imagine yourself as a conduit for these qualities as they flow out into the world. As we become more proficient in holding the mantra along with the visualization of Kuan Yin’s wonderful qualities, little by little we unite with the vast mysterious and universal body of compassion, enabling us to heal, transform and understand the many states of suffering, while in service to the whole.”
Attributes of Kuan Yin
Wise Compassion
Swift Protection
Creative Wisdom
Impeccable Virtue
All Victorious
Sublime Intelligence
Worthy of Honor
Invincible Courage
Destroyer of Negativity
True Refuge
Joy and Laughter
Distribution of Wealth
Auspicious Beauty
Irresistible Truth
Ferocious Compassion
Serene Peace
Destroyer of Attachment
Bliss and Joy
Transformer of Poison
Remover of Sorrow
Radiant Health
Complete Enlightenment
***
Wow. Imagine what it would like to be a conduit for just one of these!
Red & Green …and Pink!
Here’s an easy “holiday” recipe from one of the December menus in the Garrison Institute Kitchen Cookbook:
Roasted Beets with Pink Grapefruit and Watercress
(serves 6-8)
3 beets, roasted, sliced or cut into bite-size chunks
2 pink grapefruits, peeled and cut into sections
1 bunch watercress
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. your favorite vinegar
1 tsp. freshly ground coriander seeds
salt & pepper
Toss and serve!
Let It Be A Mystery
I listened to an excellent talk the other night by Winnie Nazarko given during the 3-month retreat that’s finishing up right now at IMS. The talk is called Second Guessing the Universe, and in it she discusses the problem of delusion — basically, that we don’t know when we’re deluded because, well, that’s the nature of delusion: we think we know, but we don’t.
As this relates to our “progress” in the practice, this means that we can’t know “how far along” we are on the path — what kinds of insights/experiences we should be having — because it’s impossible to know the twists and turns of the path until we’ve actually walked it through to the end.
We can know that we are on the path. And we can look back and see, over the long run, that we are experiencing (and causing) much less suffering than in the past. But as to how “close” we are to the “end” (to some kind of “breakthrough” or “enlightenment”)….we can’t know that because at this point we don’t — we can’t — really understand the unfolding of the path.
We can know the direction we’re heading — toward less suffering. But we can’t really know exactly where we “are” in terms of “progress,” because the fruit of the path is not something that can be described in words or concepts. It can be pointed to, but ultimately it’s beyond explanation…it’s something that has to be experienced.
Like the taste of a mango. You can hear/read/think about it all you want, but until you actually take a bite — you can’t know the taste.
So: Let the path be a mystery. Keep practicing. Keep noticing whether or not — over the long run — there is less suffering in our lives. Stay attentive. Respond, as necessary. Relax. And let the path unfold in its own way.
***
image: Scherzo di Follia (Game of Madness), by Pierre-Louis Pierson