Bellerophon symbol, variation 7 jonath.co.uk
Saturday 22nd Nov 2014 21:58:23
 Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery, Day 2
IMG_20141122_074750.jpgThat picture on the right was taken at about 07:47. Ani had informed us that breakfast is served at 7am and the general rule with meals: get there early, otherwise all the good stuff would be gone. So I probably got there just before 7am. Took my boots off, joined the queue. Breakfast was this: wheat biscuit like things, various other grain-based breakfast cereals . . . sunflower seeds, mixed dried fruit, chopped dates, milk . . . loads of fresh fruit. My kind of breakfast, basically . . . but just missing one vital ingredient: coffee. Where the hell was the coffee?! There was other stuff I wasn't really interested in: a vat of porridge and some strange biscuit things that I didn't understand. See, I had managed to get through Friday evening thinking that the lack of coffee (but prevalence of tea) could be some kind of . . . anomaly, mistake, omission or something. An exception, basically. Whilst the tea drinkers were gathering their tea bags and paying homage to the dispenser of boiling water I spotted it: a cafetiere with about a mug's worth of coffee in it, sat on the table, ignored and lonely. I think the people who got in my way at that point have largely recovered and have gone on to lead relatively normal lives (apparently) . . . christ, lacking so much in iron and protein they could scarcely put up much of a fight anyway, but I digress . . . I reached the cafetiere, grabbed a mug from the shelf below and was just about to pour when a voice inside said, "Check the temperature." The cafetiere was stone cold. Stone cold. How long had it been there? I hurled the cafetiere in rage at . . . no, of course I didn't. I put it down slowly and deliberately, my heart pounding. I stepped over the prone, tea-drinking hippies and vegetarians, put my boots on, tucked the laces into my socks and got the hell out of there. Times like this you realise: physiological addictions . . . if I have any, it's caffeine and sugar and that's it.
P1020453.JPGP1020454.JPGP1020455.JPGP1020457.JPGP1020458.JPG So anyway, back to the course . . . Today was the main day for the "Introduction to Meditation Course" It all kicked off at 10am. So after breakfast, I had the opportunity for a shower and a wander around the site, to get my bearings and stuff. Back in the temple . . . I think I sat in the same place, or near enough. Ani acknowledged that there were a lot of us, more than they were expecting, so they had had to move the partition in order to turn the two rooms into one. The temple essentially has three main rooms, but two of these could be split into a single room, as was the case here. We were shown into the third room on Sunday. P1020459.JPG So yeah . . . we started with several 'breathing exercises' which were basically warm-ups for the meditation proper. There was an exercise involving breathing in for the count of five, pausing for five and then breathing out for a count of five. Ani explained that five was an arbitrary number. Maybe four, maybe six. Also . . . a lot of explanation was required as to our posture. All very important. I'm trying to think what the other breathing exercises were . . . something to do with negativity and a gate in deep space representing a place to transform bad things into the 'golden light of . . . erm . . . good things.' I dunno. Perhaps I wasn't paying too much attention, but I neglected to understand the point / benefit of these breathing exercises. More fool me.
P1020460.JPGP1020462.JPG When we got onto the topic of meditation proper, Ani summarised it thus: "Not dwelling on the past, not inviting in the future . . . but not thinking about the present either." But how to achieve this? I think during the afternoon Ani went over various meditations to facilitate this, primarily by maintaining concentration on a single object, be it an inane pebble, the sensation of breath going in and out or whatever. The point was: you think about nothing but the object that you've fixated upon and if you get distracted . . . you gently escort the mind back to your fixation object. And that was it, really.
IMG_20141122_135156.jpgP1020463.JPGDuring the two and a half hours over lunch I was like, "Yeah, let's wander over to Eskdalemuir, it being barely 1.25 miles away." I spotted all these signs for some kind of 'prehistoric trail', which was kind of collaborated by stuff on my phone-based OS map, but nothing could be found of interest. On the way, I passed some kind of 'community café' thing in Eskdalemuir and made a mental note. I popped in on the way back, hoping I could grab a quick coffee and cake before heading back for the afternoon session. What I stepped into, though, was a bit more . . . well, like a restaurant, really. All the tables were decked out in wine glasses and napkins. When the 14 year old boy asked if I would like a table, I was a bit taken a-back . . . "Erm. Could I just have a coffee, if that's okay?" He sat me down and asked if I would like a menu. Yeah, why the hell not?! 10 minutes later, my coffee turned up, during which time I had assessed: I had walked in effect 15 minutes (if that) to get here, there was a dinner menu (featuring meat!) and this place was licensed. Cogs were beginning to turn in my head. "What time are you open till tonight?" I asked. "Our first reservations are for 8pm but we'll be open until about 10pm . . . 11pm. Whatever, really. But I better just check. Just bear with me." Anyway . . . time was getting on. When the waiter returned with the facts, I paid my bill and headed back.
P1020464.JPGYeah . . . so anyway. Something struck me: the ordinary person staying at a Buddhist / Tibetan retreat to learn about meditation might be very interested in a meat-serving, licensed restaurant located about 15 minutes walk from their place of abode, but more on that later . . .
The afternoon session involved some more meditation exercises . . . I forget exactly what, which is a bit annoying. I noticed this dude in front of me was taking notes which, in hindsight, was probably a damn fine idea. Something to add to the list: pen and paper for note taking. Anyway, yeah . . . due to the fantastically good weather, Ani suggested some 'walking meditation'. We went outside and Ani explained how this works: you basically clasp your hands together across your stomach and walk as slower as you are able, balancing on one foot for as long as possible or as feels appropriate. The key thing is, as before, we're just thinking about the walking, the moving and nothing else. I guess anything becomes a form of meditation when the mind is resting, not dwelling on the past, not inviting in the future and not thinking about the present. That was the recurring theme. At the end of it all, Ani announced, "So, go out there. You've earned whatever indulgences you have planned tonight," or something to that effect. She mentioned indulgence and and the sense of these indulgences having been earned on account of all our meditation done today. Well, I don't know . . . that's how I understood it anyway.
I didn't bother with supper. At about 18:40 (or thereabouts), I wandered back to the Eskdalemuir community café thing for some dinner. I used my phone in such a manner that I was barely illuminating the ground two or three metres in front, thereby minimising battery usage. I managed to get down to 2% battery usage for a 15 minute walk in near pitch black conditions. I thought that was pretty good going. So I got there and it was a bit weird. The café was open in the sense that one could walk into the building and wander around but the main restaurant area . . . well, all the chairs were on the tables and the shutter was down in the 'window' separating seating area from kitchen. The chef and his assistant were busy cleaning up in the kitchen. I kinda thought, "Well, this is weird . . . " I tried wandering around, opening and shutting doors, trying to get attention . . . all to no avail. I stood for a little bit by the glass door leading into the kitchen, hoping to get someone's attention but . . . again, nothing. However, there was a part of me thinking, "I don't wanna look too desperate here." So yeah . . . bit weird. I took a note of their phone number and vaguely headed back towards the retreat. Five minutes into my journey I rang them. Ironically, the phone was answered after one or two rings. I arranged for a table at about 19:45 and . . . well, long story short . . . eventually enjoyed a fantastic meal of some kind of game terrine thing for starter, roe deer steak for main, all washed down by cider and wine and a Cointreau coffee thing. Sadly, I was only joined there by a party of four, who I think may have also been at the retreat, doing the same course (couldn't say for sure). It was a quiet night, and it was a Saturday night. Close to the point where I was leaving, the waitress told me that two blokes were in the bar area who were also staying at the retreat. I thought, "Yeah, why the hell not?" and thought I would say hello. When I got there . . . gone. They were gone. Ah well . . . and so I wandered back.

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