Dhamma thali

On October 30 I finished the 30 day meditation course in Jaipur. It was an inspiring experience in a beautiful place. I'll forego the opportunity to harangue you all about how great my meditation technique is. Let's just say it's a technique that works as a science of mind and matter to purify the mind of negative habit patterns that cause problems for us and those around us. It's free from sectarianism and dogma and anyone is free to reject any part of the theory until they prove it to themselves through their own meditation experience. If that's attractive to you, check out more info at www.dhamma.org.

What I remember best about the course, aside from the meditation, is the peacocks, which live in large number in the dry forestland around the meditation center. They are big, goofy, beautiful birds, which I only saw a few times due to the meditation discipline of keeping one's eyes downcast, not due to their shyness. On the contrary, they hung out right next to the meditation hall or near the residences, making their loud and outlandish noises. As a meditator, one disadvantage I have is that I'm easily distracted by sounds, so having a whole new set of birdsongs took some time to put aside. I tend to analyze birdsong musically, being a musician with some understanding of music theory. Peacocks, when they get in a tizzy about something, often make a kvetching sound like very large kitty cats meowing to come inside. When more contented (at least, this is how I'm interpreting it), they make a sound like a low pitched blast on a truck horn or a trombone or saxophone, followed immediately by a second tone more than an octave higher (for you musicians, it's usually a 9th or a minor 3rd above the octave). I had no idea what this was when I first heard it.

The meditation center hosts a bunch of other wild or semi-wild things including many other, less flashy birds and numerous insects. Black ants lived in my toilet bowl while the meditators calmly shared the outside drinking water taps with bees busily sucking up water. Occasionally this last thing gave me the willies. I also saw salamanders and a 6 inch lizard in my room a few times. Then there were the monkeys, which I didn't even realize were there until halfway through the course when I glanced up and saw some (William is feeding one next door at the Hindu temple after the course). Later I walked past some families on the stone path and they barely moved aside.

The Center is a beautiful place, with stone pathways and low trencadis walls made with ceramic pieces (like Parc Guell in Barcelona), and a lovely pagoda building with Burmese bell (see photo below). It's in a little bowl-shaped valley formed by the dry hills surrounding it.
After the course I came to the city of Jaipur, an absolute contrast. But more on that later, if and when I have time.