In and Out of Retreat
I'm glad to be heading to Bodhivana monastery tomorrow, it's just too shocking to come out of retreat like this and into the world of a directionless tourist. Being able to speak again and participating in monastic life will be like a bit of a halfway house.
Talking with my family today was interesting; since none of them are meditators all I could tell them was about the trees, the animals, the day we spent at Wat Buddha Dhamma exploring the rocks for aboriginal petroglyphs - stuff I actually paid practically no attention to over the last three months. But could I really just say "I spent hours and hours watching the body and mind interact in strange and unusual ways, paying particular attention to features that have no appropriate translation in English, but are expressed very precisely in Pali (the Buddhist scriptural language)"?
They had some good news about their lives though: my dad has lost 50 pounds, and my brother is working hard at the Newmarket Theatre. My sister, who has a contract position that ends in March, attempted to purchase a $26 000 car yesterday, but unfortunately (?) for her my mom wouldn't co-sign!
Jeff
Talking with my family today was interesting; since none of them are meditators all I could tell them was about the trees, the animals, the day we spent at Wat Buddha Dhamma exploring the rocks for aboriginal petroglyphs - stuff I actually paid practically no attention to over the last three months. But could I really just say "I spent hours and hours watching the body and mind interact in strange and unusual ways, paying particular attention to features that have no appropriate translation in English, but are expressed very precisely in Pali (the Buddhist scriptural language)"?
They had some good news about their lives though: my dad has lost 50 pounds, and my brother is working hard at the Newmarket Theatre. My sister, who has a contract position that ends in March, attempted to purchase a $26 000 car yesterday, but unfortunately (?) for her my mom wouldn't co-sign!
Jeff