Kopan Monastery retreat

Hi keti, keta,

On Sunday, I was on my way to the Kopan-Monastery, where I met Lama Lhundrup in 2008. And I wanted to meet him again. It was time....

There was a bandh (general strike) going on, so I had to go on foot, no taxi's, no transport what so ever.

So the 15 miles, with a temperature of 30 degrees, carrying a heavy rug-sac with several liters of water, were painful to my feet, resulting in blisters on arrival. Who cares, pilgrimage is suffering, I'm told by the books. Ask people who do Santiago de Compostella. The thing is, you take it slow, and you can observe the cultural life nearby.

On the way I saw this Buddhistic stupa. The smaller version of Boudhanath. This was time to rest, and drink a lot.

The monastery is situated on a steep hill-side, like you see on the pic above.It's a buddhistic monastery, residenting about 400 monks, age 6 until 80 years. For westerners, meditation courses are offered, and also Buddhistic teachings about the Darhma. In the beautiful garden, there is a thousand Buddha-stupa, always go clock-wise to honor the Lord Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, God of Compassion.

Also the statue of Maitryea is worshiped in the garden. He is the next Buddha, to descend on earth, and teach the people compassion and consciousness . To be honest, and I do not know if I can mention it, he is already on earth, living in the Pakistani community in East-London. He appeared a few times among people, on religious gatherings of all kind over the world. You can google it, if you want, if you want to see some pictures of him.

I stayed there for four full days, in the calm surroundings of the Monastery, eating veggie food, no smoking (not inside anyway)..
Outside the reception is a big board saying : no killing, no stealing, no sexual conduct, no drugs, no lying..
So I did, and it was easy hahaha...
I slept a lot, during day-light, because of the energy that expands the whole mountain. I saw some great rituals, praying, and teaching, chantings...very good discipline...

On Thursday, I went of for Kathmandu again , and shared a taxi with a Lama. Off course he didn't pay, what was I thinking...