"Originally there is nothing..." Venerable Hsin Pao

After close to 30 hours of travel I have made it! Taiwan is a beautiful country, filled with lush greenery EVERYWHERE. I may just stay here until the Californian drought is over haha. Anyway, the experience is pretty much what I expected although the monastery is completely different then anything I could have imagined. It is HUGE. There is two of the most giant Buddha statues I have ever seen, as well as a shrine (the Main Shrine) housing nearly 10,000 images of the Buddha. It is also much more developed then I had pictured with many tourists and pilgrims around everyday. The Monks and Nuns are all very nice though quiet and I think they get a kick out of us kids trying our best to imitate them. I landed in Taipei near 6 a.m. and as soon as I stepped outside I was wet and sticky. Man the humidity here is tough but luckily much of the time spent at the monastery is inside in nicely air conditioned rooms. My first culture shock was walking into a 7/11. Man the smells! It was more like a street food market then a 7/11 with bubbling cauldrons of oil (and who knows what else) containing corn, meat, rice balls, fish, desserts and many other suspect (though delicious looking) objects. The high speed rail was cool after a nice girl helped me get into the station LOL. One of the trains was Adventure Time themed (it was a giant Jake the Dog) and another was Cartoon Network themed although I got the snicklefritz train which was plain. Riding the rail was awesome! I traveled from Taipei in the north to Kaohsiung in the south so got to see much of the island. I also sat by a nice Taiwanese guy living in California who taught me a lot about Taiwan and Taiwanese culture. Most of the island seems to be vegetable farms with cities dotting the landscape. There seemed to be a major lack of roads. I've met a lot of \people so far, and everyone in the program seems to be really nice and for the most part cool. Yesterday (first day of retreat) consisted mostly of orientation and the rules for both the program and monastic etiquette. We did do some walking meditation as well as chanting which was a great experience and made me feel really, really good. Can't wait until we start some serious meditation. We were also blessed have an opening ceremony conducted by the Abbot of the monastery Venerable Hsin Pao. First time I have met someone who I could feel their presence in the room. What an experience! We learned how to eat in the monastic way which is actually pretty tough. It is conducted in complete silence other than chanting before and after the meal. The difficulty comes from communicating with the servers what you do or don't want. To make it easy I accept whatever they give me and don't ask for seconds. The food is good though all this white rice is starting to bog me down if you know what I mean. It is also tough because monastics are expected to eat everything which includes the leftover juices and tiny flecks of food which is pretty difficult to do with chopsticks while maintaining manners. The monastics also eat pretty fast so it is a little nerve wracking to try to keep up. I am enjoying each meal more and more now that I am getting the hang of things and learning how to eat with chopsticks. It is cool because they treat eating (in fact they treat everything) as meditation. It is much different then the way we eat in America. Today we started with a short sitting meditation at a beautiful spot of the monastery and then had classes mostly on the Buddha and his life. We will be following this format for about 12 more days but we do have a one day break which will be much needed. I am really looking forward to the 1 week silent meditation retreat. The schedule here is pretty strict and we don't get a lot of time to ourselves. In fact I am writing this in one of our few breaks that last longer then 15 minutes. Apparently they don't have computers for us to use, (like I was told) but luckily the homie and my room mate Sam is letting me use his computer. I wrote this in haste (though mindfully of course) so please forgive any mistakes or confusions. It is 11:53 here and I have to be lined up ready for class (and meditating) at 12:15. I miss all my friends and family and really wish they could be here to experience this with me. I also miss my main man/dog Roo! And Wilson, I could never forget about you. I hope everyone is doing well, you are all in my thoughts! I must go and continue the path to becoming and ascended master. I will try to post more soon. Peace!

"The truth is always one, but the ways that sentient beings may approach that truth are many." -Master Hsing Yun (founder of Fo Guang Shan)

Venerable Master Hsing Yun founded Fo Guang Shan in 1967. According to the Fo Guang Shan website, "Since then it has evolved from a mountaintop bamboo forest to the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan." Fo Guang Shan is an amalgamation of all eight schools of Chinese Buddhism, seeming to focus mostly on Cha'an (more commonly known as Zen) and Pure Land Buddhism. As Master Hsing Yun writes in his book, Only a Great Rain, "Though China historically produced eight major schools of Buddhism, and though these schools were quite distinct from each other at one time, it is important to understand that there is no fundamental difference between them... For this reason, modern Chinese Buddhists generally practice a mixture of techniques from two or more of the eight schools. One of the most effective forms of Buddhist practice is to mix Zen practice with Pure land Practice." As a part of the Buddhist monastic experience I will be required to adhere to the basic Buddhist ethics for living in a monastery:


     1) No taking of life

     2) No taking what is not given (i.e. no stealing)

     3) No lying

     4) No sexual activity

     5) No intoxicants

And according to the pre-departure guide they're pretty strict about these, "Breaking any of these rules will result in immediate expulsion from the program. While participants will not be required to formally take any sort of vows, the standard for the program is basically equivalent to that for monastics in training." These are the same five precepts all Buddhists take (including lay persons) with "no sexual activity" replacing "no sexual misconduct." No intoxicants includes all legal and illegal drugs (my entire Chico State education will be a waste) although tea and coffee are allowed. In conjunction with monastic tradition I will also be shaving my head. This is not a requirement of the program but as I said in a previous post I think it will help me make the transition to daily monastic life. According to buddhanet.net, "When the prince who was to become the Buddha left his palace to seek a way beyond ageing, sickness and death, it is said that one of the first things that he did was to shave off his hair and beard and put on the yellow cloth. Buddhist monks always completely shave their head and beard, showing their commitment to the Holy Life (Brahmacariya) of one gone forth into the homeless life (In India some ascetics tear out their hair, while others never touch it so that it becomes a tangled mass)." Though this will be a big change for me (because I am attached to my long locks) it's important to remember that shaving the head is not all important. A Japanese proverb reads, "Atama soru yori kokor wo sore" or "Better to shave the heart than to shave the head."

My flight departs San Diego International Airport at 8:30 pm, taking me on a one hour flight to San Francisco. After a three hour layover I will begin my 13 hour trek across the Pacific. Until then I will be watching the World Cup, eating my last non-vegetarian meals, and packing any last minute things I will need. Next time we talk I'll be on Taiwan time!! Namaste.

     

"It's like the gourmet the Chink told me about who gave up everything, traveled thousands of miles and spent his last dime to get to the highest lamasery in the Himalayas to taste the dish he'd longed for his whole life, Tibetan Peach Pie. When he got there, frostbitten, exhausted and ruined, the lamas said they were all out of peach. 'Okay,' said the gourmet, 'make it apple.'" -Jellybean Bonanza

Well, I leave tomorrow and as I write this I'm realizing I'm totally unprepared. In fact, I really don't know how I feel about going. Is it nervous excitement bubbling in my belly, or anxious fear. Or is the Buddha-mind in the heart of all preparing to blossom through my physical form in a dazzling display of chanting, prayer and meditation. Regardless, the precipice is before me, and the horse can't be stopped, and whether I fly or fall, the great chasm dividing right and wrong will be breached. Some things to keep in mind:

          -"Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds."

          -"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

         -"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."
           

         -"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle              will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

Well that's it for the Buddha quotes, I'm off to American sleep for the last time for a while... Tomorrow I will research and post some fundamentals of Buddhism to enlighten you readers as well as myself. Peace!

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.” -Lewis Carroll 

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” - Aldous Huxley


The time has almost come for me to depart on an epic journey, spanning the globe and the depths of myself. I am truly blessed to be able to participate in the 2014 Fo Guang Buddhist Monastic Retreat where I will live like a buddhist monk for one month. The program takes place June 26th through July 24th at Fo Guang Shan Temple in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I would like to take this time to thank both of my parents, Chico State University, and everyone involved at Fo Guang Shan for making this a possibility. I would also like to send the deepest regards and respect to Professor Jason Clower (and his Shi Tzu Snoot) for not only encouraging me to apply (and being there for support every step of the way) but also for writing me an awesome letter of recommendation that I'm sure got me in! Now to the fun stuff, the retreat is designed to mimic the schedule and lifestyle of a Chan Buddhist monk, culminating in a four day youth seminar designed to facilitate communication between young Buddhists as well as three days of traveling Taiwan, seeing the sights and staying at various temples along the way. The first two weeks will be spent introducing students to the monastic lifestyle consisting mostly of vegetarian meals (yum), meditation, community service, evening chanting (awesome!), and classes about Buddhist preachings and monastic activities. After this intensive two weeks we will put the practice to the test in a one week silent meditation retreat. I am not sure if this means total silence, or just periods of elongated silence but either way I am excited to have a week to practice meditation and expand my thoughts. I've heard there is a bit of an "intensity factor" which includes the switch to vegetarian meals and waking up at 5:30 am. The vegetarian meals will be easy as I have eaten vegetarian off and on for the last couple of years but the 5:30 wake up call will be a bit of a learning curve. I am all set to arrive by plane then train then shuttle the morning of the 25th where I will find my lodging and get acquainted with the sacred spaces I will be calling home for the next month. Now to answer the BIG question I keep getting asked, yes I will be shaving my head. This is not a requirement of the program but something I think will help propel me into my new environment. In other words when I go under the razor, I will (in a sense) be shedding my personal, social and societal identity and become something new. I will try to update this blog with words, images and love as often as I can. Laugh with me as I travel across the globe to travel inwards to my deepest self. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments and I will answer them in my next post or check out https://www.fgs.org.tw/events/fgmonasticretreat/ for more information including the schedule we will be following. Infinite love!