Preparing and then Traveling

by Haylie Gray and Sadie Ugoretz

Welcome to our exploration of Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal! We are writing this during our 6 hour layover at the Doha airport in Qatar. We just got off a 15 hour flight from San Francisco. The next flight will be 4 hours long and we will land in Kathmandu.

This is the tree sculpture we saw upon arrival to the Doha Airport in Qatar.

Photo Credit: Sadie Ugoretz

Here are Richard, Avery, and Soren in the North Gardens at the airport!

Photo Credit: Sadie Ugoretz

Dharmata Foundation

Before leaving the United States, though, we started our exploration of Tibetan Buddhism by visiting the Dharmata Foundation in Richmond. When we first arrived we were surrounded by a beautiful, greenery-filled courtyard, and immediately noticed the overwhelming presence of community. As we entered the building, there were paintings on the walls and high, wooden, arched ceilings. We then removed our shoes and went upstairs where we received a prayer card before beginning a guided meditation, centering around connecting to thoughts but letting them pass, opening your heart, and being kind to yourself. We found this meditation very relatable, but also challenging to stay present and let thoughts pass for the entirety. The meditation was followed by a Dharma talk by Anam Thubten Rinpoche who was born in Tibet and trained in a Tibetan monastery. The talk focused on the “ultimate vs. relative truth” and “Dharmadhātu.” Dharmadhātu refers to the mind’s natural state; we are born as pure spirits and everything else is learned. We are asked to pay attention to the relative truth and to remove the veil of consciousness in order to heal our hearts. It was interesting to see how this contributed to an intention for meditation.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche meeting with us after his dharma talk.

Photo credit: Dale Crandall-Bear

Nyingma Institute

The next Buddhist Center we visited was the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley. We visited in two separate groups. I, Haylie, will be writing about the experience of the first group. We began by taking a tour of the building and the garden, as well as listening to a brief talk about the history of the Institute. We then engaged in a guided meditation followed by a talk on cultivating joy by Olivia Hurd. The guide explained that the Tibetan Buddhist lama Tarthang Tulku bought this house and wanted to preserve Tibetan Buddhist traditions, but he had to modify them for western students. For example, he integrated a type of yoga that involves bodily touch in order for his students to get in touch with their bodies before meditation.

After learning about the history of the Institute, Hurd led us in a brief meditation. In this meditation we were called to think of our most joyous memory. This was surprisingly emotional for me because I had not thought about my happiest memory before. This meditation was also a unique experience for me because we were called to think; I am more familiar with meditations in which we try to focus on something simple and not engage with other thoughts. The meditation ended by standing up and following yoga instructions. We sat back down and listened to her talk on cultivating joy. The speaker shared that there are “4 Immeasurable” aspects of life: 1) love, 2) compassion, 3) joy, and 4) equanimity. We learned that the mind has thinking and awareness, but the body has a knowing quality. We were told to use breath to tune into the sensations on our bodies. This stood out to me because learning to take time to breath is something I have been working on. At the end, we all shared words that we associate with joy. Some of these included: nourishing, connection, expansive, and available to everyone. We were called to cultivate a deeper sensitivity to ourselves through meditation. This visit inspired me to pay more attention to the role joy plays in my life and to engage in more self reflection by meditating.

The second group had a guided meditation and Dharma talk by Santosh Philip on “Beyond Kum Nye; What is Possible?” Philip taught that if we open our hearts then our minds become more clear, and we can see the value of teachings and practices that can help us. This group also learned about the “Four Foundations of Mindfulness” and how these ideas are interconnected.

This is Jonathan at the front entrance to the Nyingma Institute!

Photo Credit: Lillian La Salle

This is a larger prayer wheel which we saw in the garden area.

Photo Credit: Lillian La Salle

This is the meditation room with prayer wheels and tangkas, similar to what we'll see soon in Nepal!

Photo Credit: Lillian La Salle

San Francisco Zen Center

The last Bay Area Buddhist Center we attended was the Zen Center of San Francisco. This was also done in two groups. I, Sadie, was a part of the first group. Our visit here consisted of a brief guided meditation, followed by a brief Dharma talk, and a more formal Dharma talk by Shinchi Linda Galijan. The second group received a Dharma talk by Zenshin Greg Fain. In the initial meditation we were advised to find a comfortable position, feel the ground, feel breath, and proceed with an idea of “open spaciousness,” meaning to let thoughts come but then pass away. This concept was something a lot of us, including myself, Sadie, noticed with all three of our Buddhist center visits. In the accompanying talk, we learned about different procedures for meditation in this particular form of Buddhism. One aspect of this that stood out to several of us was the fact that eyes are kept open, with a soft gaze, for meditation. This idea comes from the “un-relying attention of zazen,” and having engagement through the visual system, but differed from the previous two centers we visited. I preferred meditating with my eyes open, as I felt it easier to let my thoughts pass and be present, but others actually thought the opposite.

During the next, more formal, Dharma talk, the story of Buddha and the “Flower Sermon”, that we heard at the Dharmata Foundation, was repeated. We then learned about the “Full Moon Ceremony” and its focus of purification, in terms of seeing no separation as opposed to getting rid of something. Another connection I found between this dharma talk and the previous ones, was the relationship between self and others. At the Zen Center it was discussed that we all have a sense of self that we want to protect at all costs, but most of our body and brain is actually connected to others. I also found it really insightful how the lama commented on people’s personal experiences and internal conflicts. After the talk, we gathered in a courtyard for lunch and discussed our experiences.

Overall, we found it interesting to see how sittings, practices, and the Dharma talk were similar too and also differed from the two Tibetan Buddhist Centers and to discuss which practices we preferred.

This is a picture of the courtyard at the Zen Center where we ate lunch and reflected on our experiences.

Photo Credit: Lillian La Salle

We are excited to start our adventures in Nepal and see how the practices compare to those we experienced in the Bay Area!

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