Apply for the Spring Retreat

While I'm traveling on the pilgrimage, I've been managing the Dzogchen Spring Retreat. I'm the Retreat Director again this year. This will be the 5th year that the San Francisco Bay Area organization, the Dzogchen Buddha Institute will have organized the spring retreat, that's pretty cool.

As long as some of you who will be attending are reading this, I'll request that if you have not registered and plan to attend the Dzogchen Spring Retreat with teachings on te Six Bardo Instructions given by Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, then please apply today. The link to the online form is on this page:
http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/2008_spring_retreat/

If you have been accepted into the retreat and have not yet paid, then please post your check as soon as possible. The mailing instructions are on this page:
http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/2008_spring_retreat/payment_options.html

I spent the day yesterday in Patan, an ancient town with narrow streets and many buildings that are 100 to 400 years old. It is kind of quaint in a Nepal sense, and is strongly identified with Nepali history. Justin and I were dropped off near Patan and took a cab together to get to the shopping area where many of the statues are. We went from shop to shop and studied endless statues. I'm looking for a nice quality, yet affordable statue of Guru Rinpoche to give to Khenpo-la during the opening ceremony of the Dzogchen Spring retreat. I'm also shopping for a nice mandala offering set, pecha, and crystal. These are the four traditional offerings.

After a couple hours of shopping, Justin and I found a place to eat outside. It was called UK Restaurant and had some Chinese dishes we ordered. A old man came by begging and I gave him a small coin and he actually left us alone after that. Justin called him the first professional beggar we have run into. There is no way to give offerings to all the countless beggars one encounters, and nearly always when you give, they ask for more. Sometimes people are grateful, but not always. There are are many people who actually beg professionally, including boys we saw in Bohd Gaya who used yoga to bend their legs into awkward positions and dragged their bodies along the ground using their arms. They were not actually injured. You also see quite a number of beggars with birth defects and it seems they tend to get more income than more-abled people just holding out a hand.

Justin called Khenpo and Khenpo asked him to return to Godawari, so we found him a cab and negotiated an NRS.400 fare to get back. I donated NRS.100 to help defray his expense to make the 25km ride back solo.

After he left, I walked another block forward and came to the Patan Durbar Square, an amazing complex of royal palaces and Hindu and Buddhist stupas and shrines. Patan is the oldest city in the Kathmandu valley and most of the buildings of the Palace Complex date from the 1600s. I discovered the Patan Museum and was convinced to purchase an NRS.250 entry ticket, which included unlimited photography inside. It was well worth it. I took photos of many of the wonderful antique artworks, mainly devotional statuary. I also shot the well written descriptions. I can't wait to spend more time studying my photos of the museum later on. I actually ran out of time, the museum closed before I finished one of the Buddhist galleries.

I took a NRS.120 taxi to Thamal district and located a decent hotel, the Marco Polo for only NRS.500... less than $10USD. The room had a queen bed, bathroom with warm water, and TV. I didn't use the TV, but the warm water felt good after only cold water at the retreat center. This morning the water was nearly hot since the power was back on overnight. The rolling blackouts are seemingly random (if you don't know the published schedule), and at night you need to get candles from the front desk if you don't have a flashlight.

I had purchased a bamboo flute in Thamil from a street vendor a couple days before. In the van that day I asked Chris about the embouchure (lip position) for a flute, since I'd never played a wind instrument without a reed before. He clued me in that my lower lip needed to feel the hole. In my hotel room last night I was able to finally get a tone and now I'm off and running with that instrument. I practiced a bit more today.

This morning I contacted Kunchok who is with Khenpo and was able to connect with Chris and Sveta as well, who are staying at the Hotel Tradition a couple blocks from me. I decided not to join Khenpo today as he toured Patan, Swambu and Boudhanath with his mom, who arrived safely yesterday. I figure this is the last chance for me to get the rest of the offerings for the Spring Retreat. Chris agreed to help look for a pecha of the Bardo Thodol, the source text written by Guru Rinpoche for the Six Bardo Instructions that Khenpo will be teaching on.

I better grab a cab to Patan and see if I can purchase one of the Guru Rinpoche statues I liked. I'm going to come back to Thamil to meet Chris, Sveta and Susie for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we visit one of the holy sites of Guru Rinpoche near Khathmandu with Khenpo.