Lumbini Impressions

Our ten days in Lumbini were very enjoyable. It was our half-term break, but Lama Sam Ten offered to give us some bonus teachings (while our Khenpo was busy teaching the nuns). So we learnt a lot about meditation and heard a lot of Buddhist stories, some of them are very funny.

Usually we walked a couple of kilometres each day from one monastery to another. Lumbini is the birthplace of the historical Buddha (known as Gautama Buddha or Sakyamuni Buddha). At that time (around 560 BC) it was an Indian kingdom, now it is in Nepal, only a few kilometres from the Indian border. You can't get a visa at the border for India; otherwise I would have been tempted to 'go to India for the day'.

We had a lot of time for meditation practice and reading. Two of the group also decided to practice their Tibetan language by annoying the nuns! In short, it was a relaxing and enjoyable time.

I've put up some photos:

The journey there and back: Lumbini is in central southern Nepal, in the flatlands, a lot warmer than here in the mid-range hills. It's about 300km there: at Nepali speeds that's about 9-10 hours drive.
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http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini00TheRoadFromAndToKathmandu

Some colourful photos from the market we stopped at to buy provisions before we arrived in Lumbini village.
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http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini01MarketScenes

Miscellaneous photos from the ten days in Lumbini. Glimpses into our relaxed 'holiday'.
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http://picasaweb.google.de/craigmeulen/Lumbini02Impressions

The photos of the monasteries themselves will appear in a few days.