On the road again

This morning we are preparing to leave. There's a long day ahead, 6 hr drive via a tantric college near mysore (i think). We leave by 11am and need to be at Bangalore by 9pm, ready for the flight which leaves at 5 past midnight. Hopefully we can get some sleep on the 5 hr flight, and land in singapore around 7am when we have the day there. if i can't sleep on my flight to sydney i'll be well and truly shattered.
sharon

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The 26th and 27th have both been filled with pujas, an empowerment and blessings like i've never imagined! The generosity and kindness of the monks and teachers is also unbelievable. They are constantly teaching, hosting meals, and providing blessings and gifts. As i write, I realise that these are the qualities we always experience in Venerable Chris; but experiencing this on such a scale, surrounded on all sides you can't miss it! Today (27th) has been particularly full because i couldn't resist the last 2am chanting session, and it's been a roll ever since. I have been filming and photographing to my heart's content and have had the opportunity to participate in a ringside position - extremely fortunate experience. Tomorrow is a 'rest day' before we begin the journey home.
sharon
http://shazzaparf.blogspot.com

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Just finished watching the opening ceremony of this prayer hall. Quite incredible.
sharon
http://shazzaparf.blogspot.com

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Chanting

Zoe: not sure you got an earlier email - see: http://shazzaparf.blogspot.com
Got up at 2am to go to the main hall for chanting over the last two mornings. Quite an experience. The hall has 1000 monks all lined up in rows perpendicular to the stage and the hall itself is filled with hangings and thangkas. There's a chantmaster who sits on a higher chair leading the chants. All the monks give a card to administrators as they go in so they can mark off a roll. Throughout the chanting there are two very large monks who are the disciplinarians who walk up and down the rows. If there's a monk who's gone to sleep, he bends downs and pushes their heads to make them sit up again. We were sitting near all the little monks. One had a cup to his ear playing around and singing. The disciplinarian went and stood near the little fellow, who didn't notice at first. He got a bit of a start and quickly put the cup down and sat up. This puja goes for 6 days and it's amazing how even the very young monks sit there all that time. They're not expected to be perfectly still and so they wriggle and giggle a bit but i can't imagine that Venus or Chanel would stay in their seats for such a long time.
The other thing is that they serve butter tea and a chapati at about 3.30am. All of a sudden, about 20 monks jump up and sprint for the door just like a flock of bird taking off. Then when they return, they sprint to the front of each row to serve the tea. Apparently this is a tradition particular to Sera.
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas tomorrow morning, I'll be thinking of everyone. We have the opening ceremony for the new prayer hall tomorrow so it's a busy day. Mum, thanks for the emails let me know the landline number of where you will be about lunchtime, I'll see if i can get a quick call through. Also, as it's christmas i'll splurge and post a photo.
Love
sharon

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The italian job

We went to one of the nearby Indian towns today to see what india is like! We have had a very soft experience as the whole Mysore/Kanakartha area seems to be relatively well off with good roads and a fairly moderate level of poverty. In addition the monastry area is a different land again, very Tibetan of course. We went to one of the tibetan settlements today also, so my photography today is from the tuk tuk as we zip around the countryside and the drivers keep overtaking each other. Quite reminiscent of the minis in the italian job.
I think the best thing about being here is feeling part of the bigger picture. Our spiritual director who resides in Sydney for part of the year also arrived at his house here, after some travels. It is so nice to see his home as well as other familar faces from home. It makes a lovely connection between our usual lives in sydney and being a part of this grand tradition. The temples here are amazing, the main temple houses 1000 medicine buddhas and also the mandala which depicts what medicine buddhas residence looks like. We have only imagined these things for such a long time!

sharon

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Learning

I can't believe we've only been here for one day! We are going to the monastry to eat each of our meals which the monks cook for us (it should be the other way round) We eat in a little courtyard and see all the young monks going to and fro, usually reciting their homework through a play string telephone or singing their prayers. The youngest little fellow is five and you see the eight year olds picking him up to set him on a ledge or give a piggyback. This afternoon they were playing duck duck goose, the same game i played with children as a teacher! We also saw the top five scholars of the monastry taking their final exams: the temple had about 200 monks all watching, whilst each of the scholars participated in a debate with the examiner who would fire off a question and then snap his hands at the respondent. Under such conditions most people i know would be tense and nervous but here there a lot of laughter and joking as they were vying to out-debate the examiner. The monks are happy and unafraid and i could see how tense we are by comparison. Bernard pls email me or text to my usual number whether these posts are going through.
sharon

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The longest night

After a 30 hr transit beginning with a 5 hr qantas delay, we finally made it! We are at a Tibetan settlement which IS in the middle of nowhere, heaps of farmland around just like google earth suggested. It's so cool to see monks everywhere you turn and I can't wait to really give that camera a workout. When we stopped for lunch we ate at a little roadside restaurant -(so many restaurants here feature being vegetarian) which served the food on banana leaves. So it was going to be either very good or very bad. The food was delicious and our stomachs seem to have survived too. But definitely ready for my first sleep horizontal and in a bed since i left!sharon ps. Data sim doesn't seem to work will try it again tomorrow.

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Where will I be?

B Y L A K U P P E
a tibetan settlement located in Southern India, approx 200 km from Bangalore.

Blog on the run

In preparation for India, i'm testing to see how well i can blog from my phone, including phone photos. If i can use data in india, this will be the easiest way to update everyone regularly. My test photo is of my new bicycle. It's a real girl's bike, comfortable and upright with the big handlebars, can get on with a skirt and the gears are hub gears.they're good because they're easy to change, you can even change them when you're stationary! And there's a minimal amount of grease to dirty the skirt! Ok, here goes.sharon
http:shazzaparf.blogspot.com

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about Shazza

I came across dictionary definitions for Shazza this morning at Urban Dictionary. I'm sure you'd agree that they decribe me to a tee:

1)The australian word for trailer trash/white trash unclassy women. On rare occassions used as a condensed nickname for someone named Sharon, but most of the time, its a descriptive term, to warn others of trashy women in the vicinity.
guy: this chick, she would've been a good catch except for one thing...

friend: she was a bit of a Shazza?

guy: yeh.

*The masculine version of this name is Bazza- obviously a nick name for Barry, but more commonly used for describing Shazza's inbred partner
[particularly funny given my father's name is Barry....]

2) likes drinking, smoking and being loud in public places. Sex is almost compulsory by the age of 14 and a baby is this girls favourite toy by the time she gets to 19.

3)A nickname given to Australian women with the forename Sharon. Though can refer to Bogan woman or woman of poor breeding in general.
Shazzas are typified by a penchant for winfield blue cigarettes and low grade alcohol. Other indicators are a broad australian accent with poor english, and excessive use of expletives especially when addressing their children Rayelene and Craig at the supermarket