rainy Hanoi

Arriving in Hanoi. Its gray, so gray. And it will be gray for the next three days I"m in this city. After the calmness and the peace of my retreat is the city like a shock therapy in any sense: noises, people, rudeness and fraud and cheating. So to survive I had to wake up and face this madness. Its difficult and I ended up being cheated two times by taxi driver. Now I've learned. First ask the price and never ever trust the meter! Well, it is much more fun to take the bus, anyway. The bus is conducted by a dream trio: the driver, the girl who sells the tickets and number three the DJ. He is responsible for changing the music according to the wishes of the passengers or is own mood, I;m not so sure about that. Anyway the bus ens up being a jolly good ride. Also fun is taking a motor bike. You get a dented old helmed and just jump on and then you pull out into the traffic and ride along. I love it. some breeze, some speed ....

I had good food, saw a water puppet show, which was quite boring, listed to classical Vietnames music, which was difficult to understand. Went to the ethnology museum to learn a lot about all the different tribes in Vietnam.So, I started my Vietnam cultural understanding program. ;)


HO Chi Minh Mausoleum

I saw him! I saw HO Chi Minh. Lying there in his sagrophag smiling. I was lucky to see him because within the year for three months he goes of to Europe to the people of Madame Tussuad to get a refreshment. After quoting for about 1 hour and moving along with hundreds of Vietnamese I had about 30 seconds to see the old man. There were lots of guards who were very keen that you keep on moving. With me there were two old ladies in wheel chairs who got sooo emotional, they started to cry and wave their hands in prayer. I wish I had known what connection they have with Mr. Ho Chi Minh....

See things as they really are

I did an 10 day silent retreat. The place was the most beautiful place I could imagine. in the mountains close to Phitsanulok. It was pure nature everywhere and if I had not been busy with learning how to meditate I could have done a study on wild creatures in Thailand because they were all there: birds, butterflys, frogs, snails, geckos, grasshoper, spiders and lizards. And pretty big because nature is just very generous. And then sometimes it was very nice to just watch nature because I was so tired of meditation.

Here is our time table:

4:00 am Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
1:00-12:00 noon Lunch break
12noon-1:00 pm Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm Question time in the hall
9:30 pm Retire to your own room--Lights out

So the day was basically dived between 12 hours meditation and remaining 12 hours for sleep, eat and personal hygiene including doing your laundry. And all the time Noble silence was to be maintained. This also meant that you should not get in contact with the other mediators neither by voice, look or even touch. Not to have to talk was a great great relief because it actually helped me to get into the whole business of meditation and it was such a relief - not to communicate. I mean I love to communicate but here this was different. Not to communicate opens up a whole new world of closer observation of more attentiveness towards yourself and others. So in this coherence I was a little sad as on the last, the 10. day, we were allowed to speak again.


Vipassana Mediation

I've learned Vipassan Mediation, which is one of India's most ancient meditation techniques.Long lost to humanity, it was rediscovered by Gotama the Buddha more than 2500 years ago. The word Vipassana means seeing things as they really are. It is the process of self- purification by self-observation. One begins by observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind. With a sharpened awareness one proceeds to observe the changing nature of body and mind and experiences the universal truths of impermanence, suffering and egolessness. This truth-realization by direct experience is the process of purification. The entire path (Dhamma) is a universal remedy for universal problems and has nothing to do with any organized religion or sectarianism. For this reason, it can be freely practiced by everyone, at any time, in any place, without conflict due to race, community or religion, and will prove equally beneficial to one and all.
If you like to learn more, please click here.

In my words, I found a key to happiness and contentment and I hope that my life will become characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace. I am really happy to have found the answer to several questions that troubled my mind during many years.....the experience itself cannot be put into words because, it is true, we all paint our own canvas with many different colors in life, to share in detail my experience would probably create false expectations...

And tomorrow I shall leave for Hanoi ______