Mission : learning happiness

Last post

2008-06-21T13:01:00.002+05:30

The time has come now to redefine my mission

MISSION : SHARING HAPPINESS

The best way to enjoy one's life - La meilleure manière de jouir de sa vie

2008-06-20T18:22:00.007+05:30

As I have come to the end of this long journey, the time has come to share what I have learned about happiness. For that purpose, I will examine the following question: ‘What is the best way to enjoy one's life?’ We all have our own idea about it, and we usually take it for granted. We almost never try to rationalize it. I will attempt here a rational exploration of the subject.

Platon pointed out that in every action I take, I aim at my own absolute happiness. Let me examine what I am actually doing to get this happiness. I am constantly trying to be happy in many different ways. I think it is easy to notice that the common denominator of these various attempts is that they are directed outward. I always try to gather the conditions that will make me happy by manipulating the reality outside. I will set up a meeting with people I like, I will go back home and sit down in my sofa listening to some music or watching TV, I will buy a bottle of wine or some new fashioned clothes, or whatever according to each one’s habits… Thus doing, I sometimes do feel contented, but never fully, and only for a short while. Sooner or later, unwanted things happen or wanted things don’t happen and again I feel unhappy. I never come to a stage where I become absolutely happy for ever. That means either I have not achieved yet whatever will get me that happiness, or such happiness does not exist, or I have been using the wrong means to get it.

That said, there is a little logical game, very easy to understand, and yet very difficult to apply in one's life. The following assertions might seem superficial, but from my own experience they are absolutely not. Suppose that, by one mean or the other, I finally get what I've been desperately looking for: complete happiness. Then I wouldn't feel any need for anything, since I would be perfectly satisfied in everything. That means, I wouldn't have any desire to get anything or to get rid of anything any more. Reciprocally, I can conclude from this remark that any desire is the expression of unhappiness, taken as what-is-not-happiness. That means it is mathematically impossible to become really happy as long as I have even one little unfulfilled desire (from now onwards whenever I write ‘desire’, this word can always be indistinctly replaced by ‘aversion’, which is exactly like the other side of the coin, the desire to get rid of something). I must therefore either fulfil them all or destroy them all.

So far, the strategy I have unconsciously used (as long as I never cared to reflect consciously on that point, my behaviour about it was automatic, thoughtless) was mostly to try to fulfil them as one went along. But it is obvious to the conscious mind that this is not possible. The same desires keep coming, being fulfilled, and then coming back again after some time, slightly stronger, being fulfilled or not, and so on. This is not solving the problem at all. I don’t only keep my desires, I increase them each time I fulfil them. Let me examine the other option. Most western minds, while hearing about destroying their desires feel like running away. What if I can’t fulfil my desires? I will feel frustrated! That was my reaction a few months ago. It is nowadays deeply rooted in the western culture. The consumer society erects the fulfilment of desires as the ultimate experience in one's life, the reason why people get up in the morning to go to work. They are what make the whole capitalist world move. Any novelty is based on the creation of a new desire. We don’t see anything wrong in multiplying our desires. And yet, we don’t really understand how, we time and again feel so unhappy, so irritated, so agitated.

The untrained human mind doesn’t want to get rid of its desires because it has a tendency to develop strong attachment towards them, because it is even more strongly attached to the objects of these desires. Giving up the desire implies giving up the object of the desire, which means giving up the feeling I get while fulfilling it. How can I enjoy my life if I have to give up everything I like?

But let me keep on my analysis rationally. If I examine the facts carefully, I will notice very easily that desire and frustration are very intimately related. And yet, I like to play with the former while hating being associated with the latter. I never take into consideration that frustration is the unavoidable consequence of the creation of any desire, because it is impossible, even for the richest or the most powerful man on earth, to get all his desires instantly fulfilled all the time. Frustration is the very nature of suffering due to the arising of any desire. Certainly, this is the cause of my misery.

Now this doesn’t mean that while trying not to follow my desires I should frustrate myself. The purpose is to gain happiness, so eradicate frustration, which is my misery, by eradicating my desires, which are the cause of my misery. Coming to that point, I guess the intellectual mind can easily understand this conclusion, but still the deeper mind, which is not intelligent yet, is strongly attached and addicted to the objects of its desire, because mere words can’t change its habit pattern. And it is this deeper blind mind which is ruling my whole entity, so that even if the surface level of my mind acknowledges these facts, I will keep on behaving as before.

That is why mere discourses, sermons, reading of books etc. are useless to the true seeker of happiness. I must take a further step in order to really change myself and become happier. It will consist of convincing the deeper mind of these facts. It is time now to stop focusing on the outer world and to start looking inside. The best technique I found during this journey, which is successfully helping me to achieve this transformation, is the vipassana meditation.

But before tackling this matter, it will be useful to examine further what desire is and how it arises. It seems that I always desire something pertaining to the outer world, like eating an ice-cream, meeting someone I like, or whatever. But when I look closer, I notice that I am actually not craving as much for this external object as for the sensations I will get in my inner world at the time of contact with it. For instance, sweet and cold sensations on my tongue and in my mouth in the case of the ice-cream. According to Goenkaji, the great vipassana teacher, this understanding, which is so simple it might seem pretty obvious, is the very contribution of the Buddha to the mankind. None else had taught this: I never desire anything outside, I never desire anything else than particular sensations inside, which I will try to get by manipulating the world outside, because I am always focused outward and never care to observe what is happening inside. Thus, the nature of desire is the wish to prolong or renew a pleasant sensation inside, and the nature of aversion is the wish to get rid of an unpleasant sensation inside. These sensations can be gross, subtle, principally related to the body structure, or principally related to the mental structure.

According to Goenkaji, the deepest level of the mind is constantly in contact with bodily sensations and blindly keeps on reacting to them. When they are pleasant it will try to prolong them, and when they are unpleasant, it will try to get rid of them, by one mean or the other. As for myself, I don't know what the deepest level of the mind is, but it is clear that I am currently letting the sensations I feel in the various situations I am confronted to rule almost completely my psychic life. I am constantly trying to avoid unpleasant situations (during which I feel unpleasant sensations inside, whether I am aware of it or not) and looking for pleasant situations (during which I feel pleasant sensations). Certainly, if I train my mind not to react to the sensations I get inside, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, I will transform my habit pattern at a deep level, and this will be the mean to destroy my desires at the deep level of my sensations.

This is the purpose of the vipassana meditation. It is the meditation originally taught by the Buddha 2500 years ago. But as the Buddha didn’t want to create any organized sect or religion, this technique is taught in an universal form, so that it is successfully practised by Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, Atheists, and not only lay people but also monks, Jesuit priests, brahmins, sanyasis, hermits, tourists and hippies of all origins and all walks of life. There is no matter of converting anyone from one organized religion to another organized religion, everyone remains with his own creeds and beliefs, and no dogma has to be accepted. Everyone is asked to trust nothing but his own experience. To learn this technique, one has to join a camp during ten days, abiding by all the rules and time table. One has to respect a basic code of conduct (abstain from killing [even mosquitoes], stealing, lying, any sexual activity, and taking any intoxicant), not to speak a single word for the entire duration of the course, and to sit for meditation about ten hours a day. There is no room for laziness. The course is free of charge. The meditator can make a donation which is suitable for him before leaving.

During the first three days, the meditators train to concentrate their mind one-pointedly on the breath and the sensations due to the movement of the air in the area below the nostrils above the upper lip, which is called Anapana meditation. On the fourth day, the meditators learn how to scan the surface level of their body methodically, feeling the sensations arising in every part of the body without reacting to them in any way, even if they carry pleasure or severe pain. Three times a day, the meditators sit cross-legged for one complete hour without moving arms, legs nor opening eyes, whatever sensations they feel. This can be slightly arduous at the beginning, but it soon becomes easier and easier. Goenkji says that it is like a deep surgical operation of the mind without anaesthesia. Every time a pleasant sensation arises, the deeper level of the mind automatically expresses its tendency to react with craving, but the meditator consciously makes the effort not to react. Similarly, every time an unpleasant sensation arises, the deeper level of the mind automatically expresses its habit to react with aversion, but the meditator consciously makes the effort not to react, which actually means making the effort of doing nothing! This is the way the behaviour pattern can be changed at the deeper level of the mind. People who are very much addicted to food, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, anger, anxiety, pornography, feeling of superiority, depression, stress and who practise seriously all come out from their misery.

By observing themselves, all the different levels of the mind start to understand how they function, how desire and aversion start because of the sensations, what is the deadly consequence of increasing desire and aversion, what is the liberating consequence of diminishing them. Everything becomes limpid. Scenes of the past years or even from early childhood appear in the mind very precisely in sudden flashes. While the meditator stops reacting, remaining as perfectly equanimous as possible, the automatic behaviour patterns of reacting to the sensations loose their strength and slowly but surely get eradicated, which makes the future meditation easier, but above all relieves the meditator from the agitation, the irritation and the suffering due to his accumulated past habits. After ten days, according to the amount of effort one has been able to furnish, one feels so light. The feeling is comparable to the relief one feels when somebody is using a very noisy machine in the street just bellow the window for a while and suddenly puts the motor off.

On the tenth day, the Metta meditation is taught. It consists in training the mind to generate love, compassion and good will for others, by sharing one’s peace and harmony with all existing beings. It brings a much deeper feeling of tranquillity and an opening to others with the vibration of pure love, that means a love which consists only in giving, without expecting anything in return. Then the meditator begins to experience what is real happiness. Far from the agitation of desire fulfilment, it is full of serenity and love for all without any obstacle. He also begins to understand that what he used to believe to be happiness and was desperately looking for outside was actually a deep state of suffering. True happiness can never be found by gathering outward conditions, can never depend on anything outside. It arises naturally from inside, as I am destroying my desires, the only hindrances separating me from it, and it only depends on my ability to remain peaceful and filled with the vibrations of (cosmic) love whatever the situation is. This is certainly the best way to enjoy my life.

VERSION FRANCAISE

Maintenant je suis parvenu à la conclusion de ce voyage, le temps est venu de partager ce que j’ai appris sur le bonheur. Je vais examiner la question suivante : ‘Quel est le meilleur moyen de jouir de sa vie ?’ Nous avons tous notre idée à ce propos, et on la prend généralement pour acquise. On n’essaie presque jamais de la rationaliser. Je vais tenter ici une exploration rationnelle du sujet.

Platon a remarqué qu’à travers chaque action que j’effectue, je poursuis mon propre absolu bonheur. Examinons ce que je fais pour effectivement devenir heureux. J’essaie constamment de me rendre heureux par de très divers moyens. Je pense qu’il est aisé de remarquer que le dénominateur commun de toutes ces différentes tentatives est qu’elles sont dirigées vers l’extérieur. J’essaie toujours de réunir les conditions qui me rendront heureux en manipulant la réalité externe. Je vais rencontrer des gens que j’aime bien, je rentre chez moi et m’assois dans mon canapé pour écouter de la musique ou regarder la télé, je vais m’acheter une bouteille de vin ou une robe à la mode, ou quoi que ce soit en fonction de mes habitudes… En agissant ainsi, je me sens parfois satisfait, mais jamais pleinement, et toujours pour une courte durée. Tôt ou tard, des évènements non souhaités se produisent, ou des évènements souhaités ne se produisent pas et une fois encore je me sens malheureux. Je ne parviens jamais à un stade où je deviens absolument heureux pour toujours. Cela signifie soit que je n’ai pas encore réalisé ce qui me rendra heureux, soit qu’un tel bonheur n’existe pas, soit que j’ai usé des mauvais moyens pour l’obtenir.

Ceci dit, il y a un petit jeu logique, très facile à comprendre, et pourtant tellement difficile à appliquer dans sa vie. Les assertions suivantes peuvent sembler superficielles, mais d’après mon expérience, elles ne le sont pas du tout. Supposons que, par un moyen ou un autre, j’obtienne finalement ce que je recherchais désespérément : le bonheur parfait. Alors je ne ressentirais plus le besoin de quoi que ce soit, puisque je serais parfaitement satisfait en tout. Cela signifie que je ne désirerais plus obtenir quoi que ce soit ou me débarrasser de quoi que ce soit. Réciproquement, je peux conclure de cette remarque que tout désir est l’expression du malheur, considéré comme ce-qui-n’est-pas-le-bonheur. Cela signifie qu’il est mathématiquement impossible de devenir vraiment heureux tant qu’il me reste ne serais-ce qu’un petit désir non satisfait (à partir de maintenant, à chaque fois que j’écris ‘désir’, ce mot peut être remplacé indistinctement par ‘aversion’, qui représente exactement l’autre face de la pièce, le désir de se débarrasser de quelque chose). Je dois donc les satisfaire tous ou les détruire tous.

Jusqu’à présent, la stratégie que j’ai inconsciemment utilisée (tant que je ne me suis jamais préoccupé de réfléchir consciemment sur ce point, mon comportement à son sujet était automatique, irréfléchi) était principalement d’essayer de les satisfaire au fur et à mesure qu’ils apparaissaient. Mais il est évident pour la partie consciente de l’esprit que ça n’est pas possible. Les mêmes désirs continuent à apparaître, à être satisfaits, et ensuite à réapparaître encore plus tard, légèrement plus fort etc. Ca ne résout pas du tout le problème. Non seulement je conserve mes désirs, mais je les augmente à chaque fois que je les satisfais. Examinons l’autre possibilité. La plupart des esprits occidentaux, en entendant parler de destruction des désirs, ont envie de s’enfuir en courant. Qu’est-ce qui va m’arriver si je ne peux pas satisfaire mes désirs ? Je vais être frustré ! C’était ma réaction il y a quelques mois. Elle est de nos jours profondément enracinée dans la culture occidentale. La société de consommation érige la satisfaction des désirs comme la meilleur expérience de notre vie, la raison pour laquelle les gens se lèvent le matin pour aller travailler. Ils sont ce qui fait bouger le monde capitaliste tout entier. Toute nouveauté est basée sur la création d’un nouveau désir. On ne voit rien de mal à multiplier ses désirs. Et pourtant, on ne comprend pas vraiment comment, on se sent régulièrement si malheureux, si irrité, si agité.

Un esprit humain non entraîné ne veut pas se débarrasser de ses désirs par ce qu’il développe un profond attachement envers eux, parce qu’il est encore plus profondément attaché aux objets de ces désirs. Abandonner le désir implique abandonner l’objet du désir, ce qui signifie abandonner le sentiment qu’on obtient lorsqu’on le satisfait. Comment puis-je jouir de ma vie si je dois abandonner tout ce qui me plaît ?

Mais continuons cette analyse rationnellement. Si j’examine les faits attentivement, je vais remarquer très facilement que désir et frustration sont très intimement liés. Et pourtant, j’aime jouer avec le premier alors que j’abhorre le second. Je ne prends jamais en considération le fait que la frustration est la conséquence inévitable de la création de n’importe quel désir, puisqu’il est impossible, même pour le plus riche ou le plus puissant homme sur terre, de voir tous ses désirs instantanément satisfaits tout le temps. La frustration est la nature même de la souffrance due à l’apparition de quelque désir que ce soit. Certainement, c’est la cause de mon malheur.

Maintenant, cela ne signifie pas qu’en essayant de ne pas poursuivre mes désirs je doivent me frustrer. Le but c’est de devenir heureux, donc éradiquer la frustration, qui est mon malheur, en éradiquant mes désirs, qui sont la cause de mon malheur. Arrivé à ce point, j’imagine qu’il est facile pour la partir intellectuelle de l’esprit de comprendre cette conclusion, mais l’esprit plus profond, qui n’est pas encore intelligent, est toujours profondément attaché et dépendant des objets de son désir, parce que de simples mots ne peuvent pas changer ses habitudes. Et c’est cet esprit plus profond, aveugle, qui dirige mon entité, de telle manière que même si le niveau de surface de mon esprit reconnaît ces faits, je continuerai à me comporter comme avant.

C’est pourquoi de simples discours, sermons, lecture de livres etc. sont inutiles pour le véritable chercheur de bonheur. Je dois faire un pas supplémentaire pour me transformer et devenir plus heureux. Cela consistera à convaincre le niveau plus profond de l’esprit de ces faits. Il est maintenant temps d’arrêter de se concentrer sur le monde extérieur et de commencer à regarder à l’intérieur. La meilleure technique que j’aie trouvé durant ce voyage, qui m’aide efficacement à réaliser cette transformation, est la méditation vipassana.

Mais avant d’aborder ce sujet, il sera utile d’examiner plus en détail ce qu’est le désir et comment il survient. Il semble que je désire toujours quelque chose appartenant au monde externe, comme une glace en été, rencontrer quelqu’un que j’aime bien etc. Mais en y regardant de plus près, je remarque que je ne désire pas tant cet objet externe que les sensations que j’obtiendrai dans mon monde intérieur lors du contact avec lui. Par exemple, des sensations sucrées et froides sur ma langue et dans ma bouche dans le cas d’une glace. D’après Goenkaji, le grand professeur de vipassana, cette compréhension, qui est tellement simple qu’elle pourrait paraître évidente, est la contribution même du Bouddha à l’humanité. Personne d’autre n’avait enseigné cela : je ne désire jamais rien à l’extérieur, je ne désire jamais rien que des sensations particulières à l’intérieur, que j’essaie d’obtenir en manipulant le monde externe, parce que je suis toujours concentré vers l’extérieur et ne m’intéresse jamais à ce qui se produit à l’intérieur. Ainsi, la nature du désir est le souhait de prolonger ou renouveler une sensation plaisante à l’intérieur, et la nature de l’aversion est le souhait de me débarrasser d’une sensation déplaisante à l’intérieur. Ces sensations peuvent être grossières, subtiles, reliées principalement à la structure physique, ou reliées principalement à la structure mentale.

D’après Goenkaji, le niveau le plus profond de l’esprit est constamment en contact avec les sensations corporelles et passe son temps à y réagir aveuglément. Lorsqu’elles sont plaisantes, il essaie de les prolonger, et lorsqu’elles sont déplaisantes, il essaie de s’en débarrasser, par un moyen ou un autre. Pour moi-même, je ne sais pas ce qu’est le niveau le plus profond de l’esprit, mais il est clair que pour le moment je laisse les sensations que je ressens dans les différentes situations auxquelles je suis confronté gouverner presque totalement ma vie psychique. J’essaie constamment d’éviter les situations déplaisantes (durant lesquelles je ressens des sensations déplaisantes à l’intérieur, que j’en sois conscient ou non) et je recherche les situations plaisantes (pendant lesquelles je ressens des sensations plaisantes). Certainement, si j’entraîne mon esprit à ne pas réagir aux sensations que j’obtiens à l’intérieur, qu’elles soient plaisantes, déplaisantes ou neutres, je vais transformer mes habitudes à un niveau profond, et ce sera le moyen de détruire mes désirs au profond niveau de mes sensations.

C’est le but même de la méditation vipassana. Il s’agit de la méditation originelle enseignée par le Bouddha il y a 2500 ans. Mais de même que le Bouddha ne voulait pas créer de secte organisée ou de religion, cette technique est enseignée dans une forme universelle, de telle manière qu’elle est efficacement pratiquée par des musulmans, des hindous, des chrétiens, des sikhs, des juifs, des bouddhistes, des jains, des athées, et pas seulement des laïques, mais aussi des moines, des prêtres jésuites qui en disent le plus grand bien, des brahmanes, des sanyasis, des ermites, des touristes, des hippies de toutes origines et de tous styles de vie. Il n’est pas question de convertir qui que ce soit d’une religion organisée à une autre religion organisée, chacun conserve sa foi et ses croyances, et aucun dogme n’a à être accepté. Chacun ne doit faire confiance qu’en sa propre expérience. Pour apprendre cette technique, il faut se joindre à un cours de dix jours, en acceptant toutes les règles et horaires. Il faut accepter un code de conduite basique (s’abstenir de tuer [même les moustiques], voler, mentir, de toute activité sexuelle et de la prise de tout intoxiquant), ne pas émettre un seul mot pendant toute la durée du cours, et méditer pendant environs dix heures par jour. Il n’y a pas de place pour la paresse. Il n’y a pas coût lié à l’enseignement. Les méditants peuvent faire la donation qui lui convient avant de partir.

Pendant les trois premiers jours, les méditants s’entraînent à concentrer leur esprit sur un objet unique, leur respiration et les sensations dues au mouvement de l’air dans la zone en dessous des narines et au dessus de la lèvre supérieure, ce qui est appelé la méditation Anapana. Pendant le quatrième jour, les méditants apprennent à parcourir méthodiquement la surface de leur corps, en sentant les sensations qui apparaissent dans chaque partie, sans y réagir en aucune manière, même si elles apportent plaisirs ou sévères douleurs. Trois fois par jour, les méditants s’assoient jambes croisées pendant une heure complète sans bouger leurs bras, leurs jambes, ni ouvrir leurs yeux, quelques soient les sensations qu’ils ressentent. Cela peut être légèrement ardu au début, mais ça devient très vite de plus en plus facile. Goenkaji dit que c’est comme une opération chirurgicale profonde de l’esprit, sans anesthésie. Chaque fois qu’une sensation plaisante apparaît, l’esprit plus profond exprime automatiquement sa tendance à réagir avec désir, mais le méditant fait consciemment l’effort de ne pas réagir. Similairement, chaque fois qu’une sensation déplaisante apparaît, le niveau plus profond de l’esprit exprime automatiquement sa tendance à réagir avec aversion, mais le méditant fait consciemment l’effort de ne pas réagir, ce qui signifie en fait faire l’effort de ne rien faire ! C’est le moyen par lequel les habitudes peuvent être changées au niveau plus profond de l’esprit. Les gens qui sont complètement dépendants à la nourriture, aux drogues, au tabac, à l’alcool, au jeu, à la colère, à l’anxiété, la pornographie, au sentiment de supériorité, à la dépression, au stress et qui pratiquent sérieusement finissent tous par se libérer de leurs malheurs.

En s’observant eux-mêmes, tous les différents niveaux de l’esprit commencent à comprendre comment ils fonctionnent, comment désir et aversion sont générés à cause des sensations, quelles sont les malheureuses conséquences de l’augmentation du désir et de l’aversion, et la libération qui consiste à les diminuer. Tout devient limpide. Des scènes des années précédentes, ou même de la petite enfance apparaissent dans l’esprit de manière très précise dans des flashs soudains. Lorsque le méditant s’arrête de réagir, demeurant aussi équanime que possible, les habitudes automatiques de réaction aux sensations perdent leur force et sont lentement mais sûrement éradiquées, ce qui rend la méditation future plus aisée, mais surtout soulage le méditant de l’agitation, l’irritation et la souffrance dues à ses habitudes accumulées dans le passé. Après dix jours, selon la quantité d’effort qu’on a été capable de fournir, on se sent si léger. Le sentiment qu’on a est comparable au soulagement qu’on ressent lorsque quelqu’un utilise une machine très bruyante dans la rue juste en dessous de la fenêtre pendant quelques temps, puis soudainement éteint le moteur.

Le dixième jour, la méditation Metta est enseignée. Cela consiste à entraîner l’esprit à générer amour, compassion et bonne volonté pour les autres, en partageant sa paix et son harmonie avec tous les êtres existants. Ca apporte un encore plus profond sentiment de tranquillité et une ouverture aux autres avec une vibration d’amour pur, ce qui signifie un amour qui consiste seulement à donner, sans attendre rien en retour. Le méditant commence alors à ressentir ce qu’est le réel bonheur. Loin de l’agitation de la satisfaction des désirs, le réel bonheur est plein de sérénité et d’amour pour tous sans aucun obstacle. Il commence aussi à comprendre que ce qu’il croyait être le bonheur et qu’il recherchait désespérément à l’extérieur était en réalité un état de profonde souffrance. Le vrai bonheur ne peut jamais se être trouvé en réunissant des conditions extérieures, ne peut jamais dépendre de rien à l’extérieur. Il apparaît naturellement de l’intérieur, autant que je détruis mes désirs, les seules barrières qui m’en séparent, et il ne dépend que de ma capacité à rester paisible et rempli de vibrations d’amour quelque soit la situation. C’est certainement le meilleur moyen de jouir de ma vie.

Review of the past year in pictures

2008-06-18T14:53:00.009+05:30

Last time I got up in the morning to go to work was in June 2007. At that time I was living between Camopi and Vila Brasil, on the border between French Guiana and Brazil. I can consider myself as a traveller since that day. Here is a sum up of what I did in pictures.

View of Camopi from my classroom. Jun 07

Pupils in the classroom. Jun 07

Vila Brasil. Jun 07

I first went on a trip in Brazil with Alex. Here he is walking on the equator line in Macapa. Jul 07

We travelled by boat on the Amazon river. Jul 07

Sunset on the Tapajos river, in Alter do Chao. Jul 07

The waterfall Vale do Paraiso. Jul 07

With Indios at his place in Alter do Chao. Jul 07

Alex playing in the water in Presidente Figuereiro, near Manaus. Jul 07

This was my last walk in the amazonian jungle. Jul 07

Then I flew to NYC. This is Brooklyn bridge. Aug 07

Manhattan. Aug 07

Back to France, there was a family gathering for my nephew's baptism. Aug 07

Strasbourg. Aug 07

Indios came in France. We met in the Cevennes. He is drinking ayahuasca. Sept 07

We visited, along with other friends, some kind of hippie communities. Sept 07

Back to NYC, I had the opportunity to see John Scoffield playing at the Blue note. Oct 07

And Alex Grey's Hall of mirrors. Oct 07

Mumbai. Arrival in India. Oct 07

Nashik. Nov 08

Ellora caves. Nov 08

Diwali in Bhopal. Nov 08

Sanchi's stupa. Nov 08

Khajuraho. Nov 07

Chitrakoot. Nov O7

Eye camp in Blodhgaya. Nov 07

I stayed about 2 months in Bodhgaya, which is the buddha's enlightenment place. I took my first and second vipassana course there in December and January.

The Bodhi tree, Bodhgaya. Jan 08

Tibetan pooja at the Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya. Jan 08

Huge Japanese buddha, Bodhgaya. Jan 08

Friends from Bodhgaya. Jan 08

Village area near Bodhgaya. Jan 08

Mother Teresa's center, Kolkata. Feb 08

Victoria memorial, Kolkata. Feb 08

Meeting Mieko again. The first time was on the Titicaca lake in April 2007. Feb 08

Meditators in Kolkata's vipassana center. Feb 08

Boudda's huge stupa. Feb 08

Kathmandu's valley from the vipassana center. Mar 08

Burning ghat, Pashupatinath, Kathmandu. Mar 08

Main pagoda at Igatpuri's Vipassana International Academy. Mar 08

Lotus flower, Igatpuri. Mar 08

Arunacaleswarar temple, Tiruvannamalai. Mar 08

Gotama's compassion. Mar 08

Matrimandir, Auroville near Pondicherry. Mar 08

From Pondicherry, I flew to Nepal again.

Pokhara's lake. Apr 08

Bhaktapur. Apr 08

Ashokan Pillar, Lumbini. Apr 08

Kushinagar, the buddha's death place. Apr 08

The place where the buddha used to meditate and give teachings, Rajgir. Apr 08

Ruins of Nalanda's university. Apr 08

Mahavir's cremation place, Pawapuri. Mahavir was the foundator of Jain religion. Apr 08

Come back to Bodhgaya. Apr 08

Sarnath's stupa. This is the place where the buddha gaver his first teaching.

Morning holy bath, Varanasi. May 08

Jain temple, Khajuraho. May 08

Sonagir. May 08

Sikh temple, Gwalior. May 08

Saddhus in Rishikesh. May 08

Jama Masjid, Delhi. May 08

Shatrunjaya, Palitana. May 08

Paris. Jun 08

Paris !

2008-06-18T01:53:00.001+05:30

Notre Dame, the very center of Paris

Le Louvres

Last shots from Mumbai

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This was just a few hours before taking off for Paris. Jagadish (on the left) was sitting just behind me in the meditation hall

Atapi sampajanno satima

2008-06-18T01:46:00.003+05:30

I've been back to the vipassana international academy in Igatpuri for a last ten day course.

The monsoon got on at the same time as the course.

Main pagoda

There are more than 300 cells in it

This is a meditation cell inside the pagoda

:)

Global Pagoda

2008-06-18T01:23:00.003+05:30

The global pagoda is a project initiated by Goenkaji. It will be "an ideal bridge for peace, tolerence and harmony across all the communal and regional devides splintering India as well as the world today. The Global Pagoda will be a vehicle for the spread of the Buddha's true teaching that emphatically opposes any dogma based on sect, cast and religion".

It is located in Esselworld, in front of Borivali, north Mumbai

This is the town of Borivali

8000 meditators will be able to sit together under this dome. It is twice as large as the previous largest dome structure in the world.

Each sound has about ten echoes under the dome. It creates a very strange atmosphere, as if being in the fourth dimension.

Small side pagoda

This is what it will look like

Shatrunjaya, Palitana

2008-05-27T12:59:00.002+05:30

The hill of Shatrunjaya in Palitana, state of Gujarat, North-West India, is the main Jain pilgrim place. It is an amazing place. One of the best I visited during this whole trip. To reach there, one has to climb the hill, which is 600 m high (about 1800 ft). Prepare for a flood of temple pictures. There are 108 main temples and more than 800 smaller shrines. It's a city of temples.

Jain temple in the city of Palitana.

Ok, I really begin to look like an Indian. It's time to go back home.

I had to climb these stairs between 11 and 12 am. it was quite hot, and there was nearly no shadow on the way.

Hilltop

It was possible to get on the top of the main temple, where renovation works were being done.

View from there

Pictures from inside the temples were not allowed. There were a few wonders there as well.

Mount Abu - Jain temples

2008-05-26T20:12:00.001+05:30

I went to mount Abu to see these temples. But because of the fresher air and of the summer vacations at the moment, it was full of people there. And Indian people are not very quiet, never in the temples ! I wanted to do some meditation there, but it was impossible. And cameras were forbidden inside, but it was really amazing, so that I had to find these pictures on the net.

Jain devotees. Little bit scary uh?

Shige and Azusa

2008-05-26T19:47:00.004+05:30

This is a picture taken with two Japanese friends, Shige and Azusa, in Varanasi. We met in a Japanese temple in Sarnath and spent some time together during a few days. The other Japanese guy in the back was just there at that moment.

They just did a trek around Pokara, in Nepal, to the Annapurna base camp. This is Azusa.

Mount Abu

2008-05-26T19:18:00.004+05:30

Mount Abu is a touristic spot in Rajasthan, near the border with Gujarat.

The lake

This used to be the summer palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur

I laughed at the name of that guest house. In hindi, it means "difficult (yoga) asana" Well my friend Vinod from Bhopal explained me that "asan" indeed means asana, but asaan means easy. The meaning would rather be "difficult made easy".

This is Shiva in the deepest samadhi on top of Mount Kaylash. The snakes represent the tamed passions of the mind.

Delhi - other spots

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Very old jain temple. No pictures were allowed inside, but it was very beautiful

Entrance of Lal Qila (red fort)

Lal Qila from Jama Masjid's left tower

Old Delhi from the same place

Enfin un hotel qui ne cache pas la mediocrite de ses services !

This is the greatest of Indian temples. It is called central secretariat. It is dedicated to the Goddess Corruption

This is the residency of the Indian president

The India gate is on the horizon

Delhi - Jama Masjid

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It was possible to get upside the left tower

Welcome to Delhi

2008-05-23T13:45:00.001+05:30

Sadhana Kendra - Chandra Swami's ashram

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I heard about this ashram in Desjardins' ashram last October. I went there, but the swami was on a tour in Jammu. Anyway, I enjoyed the ashram's life : 4 sessions of one hour each are daily dedicated to meditation.

There was a bee nest just outside the window of my room. I had never seen them so closely.

Hymalayan foothills from the ashram

Surroundings

This is the ashram

This is Chandra Swami

Rishikesh

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Ghats of Swargashram from Ram Jhula (bridge over the Ganga river)

Other side of the bridge

Down Swargashram

Ram Jhula in the back

Saddhus and cows on the ghat

This is the ashram where I stayed : the Ved Niketan Dhan

Saddhus

Morning bath

Breakfast in the ashram

Rishikesh - I am that

2008-05-13T13:31:00.007+05:30

I am now in Rishikesh, another central spot in my trip. I would have liked to stay here for two or three weeks, but I don't have so much time left, so I'll have to learn a maximum within a few days only. Fortunately, I found a very good ashram among all those who have been created here. The guru is very simple, considering himself as nothing more than a teacher of spiritual science, he is almost proud to say that he doesn't have and will never have lots of adepts and that other local people from Rishikesh don't like him. Today he told a story which I liked very much.

It's about a yogi monk living in a cave in the forest. A lady comes to visit him and they talk together. After a while, as they come out o f the cave, the lady asks him : "Don't you feel lonely in this remote place, far from other humans?" He replies : "When I am with somebody else, I feel alone. Whenever I am on my own, I never feel lonely." Although sightly disappointed by this answer, she tells him that she has been very pleased to meet him and that if he wants to come to London, where she lives, she will show him around. Here the monk smiles gently and tells her : "Thank you madam, but I am London."

Gwalior - fort and palace

2008-05-11T12:08:00.002+05:30

The batteries of my camera got empty while I was visiting the fort, so there are a few pictures from the web.

it looked dryer than this

Gwalior - Sikh temple

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This temple has been built inside the fort to commemorate an event in the life of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, about 400 years ago. The local king was muslim, and as many muslim kings he was very harsh towards hindus and wanted to convert them all. He managed to capture 40 minor hindu kings and put them in his jail, in Gwalior's fort. They were supposed to be killed soon after, but it so happened that Guru Nanak was among them in the jail, and that the sultan of Delhi got sick. His wife asked what to do to a muslim saint, who replied her that unless Nanak was liberated from the jail in Gwalior, the sultan of Delhi would die. So it was requested to Gwalior's king to liberate him. But Nanak refused to get out of the jail alone, so that all the kings had to be liberated. After this, lots of people converted to Sikhism. I guess this religion was created to reconciliate hindus and muslims, for that it is a monotheist religion in which God cannot be represented, and at the same time Sikhs believe in reincarnation and that they can be liberated from the cycles by reciting the name of their God. Faithful to their reputation of hospitality, they offered me a breakfast and be accomodated in a room if I wanted.

Inside, it looks almost like a mosque

I had to cover my head to be allowed inside the temple.

Gwalior - Jain carvings

2008-05-11T11:45:00.003+05:30

Gwalior is a small city between Bhopal and Delhi, rich in history. I was not supposed to be there, but it so happened that I had to wait for my train in this city. This train was finally more than 10 hours late ! So I had the time to visit the city, as I had nothing better to do.

As usual, they all have been partly broken by the muslims (sometimes it was merely a "castration"...). Some of them have been done up though.

Sonagir

2008-05-11T11:31:00.002+05:30

Sonagir is a small village lost somewhere in Madhya Pradesh, between Jhansi and Gwalior. It's a Jain pilgrim place. There is a hill with lots of temples. In this hot season, there is nearly nobody around.

Inside a temple, in the village

Gate leading to the temples

Main temple, on the hilltop

The surroundings. Maybe you can imagine the heat.

Inside the main temple

The village

Khajuraho - Jain temples

2008-05-11T08:47:00.003+05:30

I went back to Khajuraho to meet Amit and Golu, with whom I went to Chitrakoot in November. I visited a Jain temple I had neglected last time because I was not very curious about Jain religion at that time.

Tirthankars (bridge builders, that means enlightenend beings who build the bridge between common and ultimate reality). Like the buddhas, a new one appears from time to time, beginning a new cycle of teachings. Between two cycles (21000 years), the religion gets lost.

Typical jain monk.

Left to right : Golu, me, Amit.

Le temoignage d'Aurelien

2008-05-09T11:09:00.004+05:30

Aurelien c'est le garcon a gauche. C'est un ancien thesard en sociologie qui s'interesse aux mouvements alternatifs. En Septembre dernier, il nous a guides, avec Indios et quelques autres amis, dans des communautes alternatives. Il a voulu essayer vipassana dans le centre Francais et voici son temoignage :

Début avril, j'ai fait un nouveau type de voyage, intérieur cette fois, en participant à un stage de 10 jours de Vipassana. C'est une technique de méditation qui vient d'Inde, et date paraît-il du temps de Bouddha, il y a 2500 ans. Elle est transmise aujourd'hui dans le monde entier, de manière gratuite (nourri, logé et servi gratuitement par des bénévoles) et non-sectaire, par le mouvement Vipassana et son maître indien Goenka. Pendant 10 jours, suivant ses instructions, j'ai appris à concentrer mon esprit sur les sensations physiques à la surface de mon corps. Cela est sensé "purifier l'esprit". 12 heures par jour, assis en position de yogi, les yeux fermés, en silence, dans la salle de méditation, avec une soixantaine d'autres méditants et méditantes. 6 heures de sommeil par nuit, réveil au gong à 4h du matin, bouffe végétarienne macrobiotique, interdiction des intoxicants (tabac, café, alcool, drogue...) et de toute forme de distraction (lecture, écriture, musique, sport, etc.), aucune communication - même visuelle - entre les méditants, ségrégation stricte des hommes et des femmes pendant toute la durée du stage... Pour moi, ce stage était une véritable expérience chamanique ! je suis fier d'avoir tenu le coup jusq'au bout, malgré la douleur physique (dos, genoux) et la difficulté psychologique (coupure du monde, difficultés de concentration...). Chaque jour, je passais par un moment de doute, de découragement et d'envie de me barrer. Mais ça valait le coup de rester : cela m'a fait du bien de me vider la tête, d'apprendre à me recentrer sur moi. Et surtout les effets psychanalytiques de la méditation sont surprenants : retour du refoulé sous forme de rêves la nuit et de visions pendant la méditation, souvenirs d'enfance, prises de conscience sur moi et ma vie... c'est fou ! Maintenant, je vais essayer de pratiquer Vipassana le plus régulièrement possible, 1 heure par jour idéalement, pour progresser dans la technique et la
concentration, et me préparer à un nouveau stage intensif de 10 jours dès que j'en aurais à nouveau le courage.

Si cela vous intrigue ou vous intéresse, n'hésitez pas à me poser des questions, à en discuter la prochaine fois qu'on se verra, il y aurait encore plein de choses à raconter. Et puis si vous voulez, essayez vous-même. "Tu verras, c'est super !" www.french.dhamma.org

Varanasi - Evening pooja

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Ma Anandamyi ashram

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Ma Anandamayi was a very great holy woman. Her life was very special. She seemed to come from another plane of existence.

Here you can find all informations about her.

This is part of a movie from Arnaud Desjardins (the one who founded the ashram where I went in early October), normally shot in this place. This movie moved me very deeply and I knew I absolutely had to go to India when I saw it.

There's nothing very special to see, it's just the place where she used to live, but there's a very good energy there. I did some very good meditation.

Varanasi - wandering in the streets

2008-05-07T15:08:00.010+05:30

They have to dig deep to get water

Indian people are very fond of this kind of theories

Modern art or dire straits? Only God knows

Bazar

They were folding sheets to make boats. I showed them how to make planes

Varanasi - wandering on the river

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Morning bath

Varanasi - wandering on the ghats

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Morning pooja

Morning ritual bath

The saddhus are supposed to be awaken beings, but very often one finds them asleep.

This pond is supposed to be the holiest of all, dug by Vishnu for pleasing his brother Shiva. Hindus believe that by bathing in it they will get automatically the liberation. Buddhists say that very few humans get the liberation and that they work for that during hundreds of successive lives. Jains say it is so difficult to get the liberation that only one human being is able to get it every 21000 years. But Hindus are very fond of this kind of superstitious shortcuts.

Pilgrims performing a pooja.

Sarnath - Jain temple

2008-05-05T13:01:00.002+05:30

This the 11th of the 24 Jain Tirthankars. His status is not very clear to me. Some local people told me he is a god for them, whereas some further reading indicates that the Tirthankars have the same signification for jainas as the buddhas have for buddhism, that means only liberated humans showing the path. The statue is very similar to a buddha's statue, but the mudra (position of hands) is different and this one is naked whereas the buddha is always in dress.

This temple is supposed to be the birth place of this Tirthankar

I talked with this guy for a while. He explained me lots of things about jainism. It was very interesting. Basically, jainism and buddhism are 95% the same thing, but buddhism preaches 'the middle way' whereas jainism preaches the "hard way". For example, in one of the two main sects, the monks always remain naked, they eat only once a day and very few things (they don't look very skinny though), and they don't cut their hair nor shave, they rather snatch them every three months. This sect also emphazises the fact that it is essential to live naked to attain the liberation and that therefore women can't obtain it. They must wait to be reborn as a male.

Jain painting in the temple.

Sarnath - other buddhist temples

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Mahabodhi society's temple

Japanese temple

Inside

Chinese temple

Inside

Thai temple

Inside

Burmese temple

Inside

Sarnath - main site

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This is an edict of Asoka written in old Brahmin Mauryan script in which he warns the monks and nuns against creating schism in the sangha. Unfortunately that's what finally happened.

There are also lots of ruins of monasteries and temples.

Huge stupa on the place where the buddha gave his first teaching to his five friends he had left when he ate Sujata's rice pudding.

Decorations on the stupa

Pawapuri

2008-05-03T12:20:00.004+05:30

Pawapuri is a great Jain holy place. It is the place where Maharvira died and was incinerated.

This is the place where he was cremated. It is said that there were so many people wanting to keep a bit of his ashes that they dug this pond around the burning place.

Nalanda - Jain temple

2008-05-03T12:15:00.003+05:30

Buddhism and Jainism are very close. But whereas buddhism preaches the middle way, jainism preaches the ascetic way.

Mahavir. The last of the 24 Thirtankars and foundator of Jainism. He lived contemporarily to the buddha in the same area. That's why many Jain holy places are also Buddhist places.

It looks like a Hindu temple.

Nalanda

2008-05-03T12:07:00.003+05:30

This is a room in a monastery

A monk's couch

A monastery

The squares on the bottom were monasteries. The ones on the top were temples.

Rajgir - Japanese stupa

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Another Japanese stupa, built by the same people as in Pokhara and Lumbini.

For Leah

Rajgir - the buddha's place

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As often, it is both a Jain and Buddhist pilgrim place.

Here is the place where the buddha used to teach.

Idem from above

The team

Just a few steps down here is the place where it is said that Angulimal lived. This guy had made the vow to kill 1000 humans. He was keeping one finger of each in a garland around his neck. Out of compassion, the buddha taught him and he finally became an arhant, which means he also became a buddha.

Nowadays there are only a few Indian and French jerks in there.

Bodhgaya - Mahabodhi temple

2008-05-03T11:40:00.003+05:30

Here's again a heavy load of pictures from the temple.

The bodhi tree.

The golden throne placed here by Asoka in 343 BC. It is supposed to be the exact place where the buddha was sitting.

People meditating under the Bodhi tree. Not only physically on the buddha's footsetps, but more importantly spiritually also.

Inside the temple

Back to Bodhgaya - Sujata temple

2008-05-03T11:13:00.004+05:30

Bodhgaya is the place of the buddha's enlightenment. Here also Asoka built a temple and put a golden throne at the exact place where the buddha was siting. I met again my friends Bikki and Manoj.

The legend (difficult to know at which point it is accurate) says that buddha was meditating in this mountain, which is called Mahakala (the big black) by Hindus and Dungeshwari otherwise. He was with five friends performing very painful exercises and eating very few things.

I went there with Manoj last time. They spent a very long time in these caves. Suddenly Siddharta understood that this path of mortification was not successful. He decided to adopt the middle way, that means without looking for sensual pleasures nor painful ascetic exercises. But his friends didn't have the same understanding. They believed he was renouncing to their common quest. So he left them and walked alone.

He walked a few kilometers along the river and arrived at this spot.

This is the Dungeshwari hill from Sujata temple.

Siddharta had almost eaten nothing for several years. He was very skinny.

This is how looks nowadays the village where Sujata lived. No major change.

The surroundings.

After this light meal, Siddharta crossed the nearby river which separates Bodhgaya from Sujata's village. In order to find a proper place to meditate, he threw the bowl in which he had just eaten in the river, following its movement. But the bowl went at counter-current and came back to the edge nearby. Finding there a Bidhi tree, he sat with the very strong determination that he wouldn't change his posture until he got fully enlightened, which took about 40 days.

Kushinagar - other places

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Hindu temple

For Hindus, the buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu. So he was the God, but no one should follow his teaching. Indeed, among the first things the buddha said after his enlightenment was that one does not becone a brahmin by the birth but by his deeds. And philosophically, Hindu religion postulates the existence of the soul whereas the buddha stated that there is no soul for everything in this world is impermanent.

I didn't manage to figure out who built and decorated this temple

Japanese zen garden in front of the museum

Japan-India brotherhood's stupa

The Mahabhan stupa is also extremely old. It is perhaps the place where the buddha has been incinerated after his death.

Kushinagar - Thai temple

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Kushinagar - Sri Lanka / Japan temple

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Kushinagar - Vietnamese temple

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Kushinagar - Burmese temple

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This is the first representation of the buddha in his old age I have ever seen

Kushinagar - actual place

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This is the main place to visit in Kushinagar. The building on the left hosts the very old statue of the lying buddha. The one on the right is also a very old stupa.

This used to be a monastery about 2000 years ago

This local guy told me that this stupa is set on the very place where the buddha died

A young boy absolutely wanted to sell me these flowers, even though I wouldn't give him any money. So though I'm not used to these kinds of "poojas" but I finally bought these flowers and put them on the top of the stupa.

When he died, smilingly, the buddha reached the stage of parinibbana (or pariniravana in sanskrit). Nobody really knows what it is, but Goenka, who says he already reached the first of the four stages of enlightenment (which is a first contact with the nibbana), says that he experienced in his life what he is experiencing after his final death (that means without any following reincarnation).

His last words were perhaps his most beautiful words : "All component things in the world are impermanent and decaying. Work out your own salvation with diligence."

It is said that Ananda, the buddha's closest disciple, came here to get some water for him just before his last discourse.

Last shot from Kathmandu

2008-04-28T12:48:00.002+05:30

After Lumbini, I went back to Kathmandu, just to get my indian visa before crossing back the border. I was happy to go back to India and felt slightly sad about the ambiance between tourists and locals in Kathmandu, and generally in Nepal. Tourists have a very selfish behavior and look down on local people, implicitly considering them as inferiors. Thus local people feed anger towards them and the relations are very bad, even though the average tourists don't care about that and therefore don't really feel it.

Jeff on Henro

2008-04-27T10:18:00.003+05:30

Jeff and I met in Bodhgaya last December. We attended our first vipassana course together. Then we attended together a 10-days course in the Tibetan root institute also in Bodhgaya. Later on, we met again in Bodhnath, near Kathmandu :

Jeff was studying Thangka in a monastery nearby.

This is his former blog about Thangka

Here are a few pictures from there :

Sakura flowers season in Fukuoka

Now he's gone back to Fukuoka, Japan, where he lives and started a Henro. That is a pilgrim round the island of Shikoku. It is 1200 km long, and people make it by foot. It takes about seven weeks.

This is the location of Shikoku Island

Here are a few pictures from his blog he took on the way

Tilaurakot

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Archaeologists are pretty sure that this was the place were the buddha's family used to live and where is spent his youth.

There is nothing more than some ruins an local Nepalese boys :)

This is the ruins of the very door by which Gotama left his city and his worldly life

Lumbini - other places

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Most temples are still under construction. There were lots of problems in the area, during the civil war, and even recently there were some maoists attacks. They even killed some monks. I guess that's why the development has been so slow here.

This is what I found in the monastery of Sri Lanka. Strange...

Government of Myanmar's pagoda

There is also a Goenka vipassana center

Huge Korean temple, under construction

Korean monastery

Tibetan stupa under construction

Chinese monastery from the Korean temple

Dusk from the Korean temple

Lumbini - World peace Pagoda

2008-04-21T20:43:00.005+05:30

Local people call it 'sahnti stupa'. The builders are the same than the one in Pokhara. They were Japanese people horrified by the holocausts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They wanted to spread the message of peace and built a bunch of stupas a little everywhere.

This symbolizes the buddha just after is birth in Lumbini

This one symbolizes his enlightenment in Bodhgaya

This is his first discourse to his five companions in the Deer park of Sarnath, near Varanasi

This is buddha's death in Kushinagar. These are the four important moments of his life.

Lumbini - Thai monastery

2008-04-21T20:39:00.002+05:30

Lumbini - German temple

2008-04-21T20:27:00.004+05:30

There is no German buddhism. It is actually a Tibetan temple. The only thing coming from Germany is money.

It is said that for a given being, the chances to get a human life are the same than the ones a turtle entering in the water in Tokyo would have, by heading once to the surface of the ocean, to emerge inside a tyre left previously in the bay of Los Angeles.

There are very beautiful paintings on the outer walls of the temple

This is a representation of Swayambhunath, Kathmandu's monkey temple

It is said that in one of his previous human lives, the who would become the buddha, out of compassion, cut some pieces of his own flesh to feed young tigers.

Mandala on the ceiling

Lumbini - Vietnamese monastery

2008-04-21T20:26:00.002+05:30

Lumbini - the village

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Lumbini is perhaps among the tiniest villages in Nepal. There is only one street...

Lumbini - Chinese monastery

2008-04-21T20:16:00.003+05:30

Entrance

The temple

Guardian

Chinese fat buddha

Lumbini - Maya Devi temple

2008-04-21T19:59:00.003+05:30

While waiting for the Indian embassies to compute the data about my visa, I went to Lumbini, which is the birth place of the Buddha. There is a huge park surrounding the place, and a lot of monasteries are under construction there. A few of them are finished already.

So this is the place, at the heart of Maya Devi temple

The 'exact place'

Just above the 'exact place'

These are ruins of very old stupas (3rd century BC) surrounding the 'place'

There is also a 'sacred pond' and a beautiful tree

This pillar has been first raised by the great Indian buddhist emperor Ashoka during the 3rd century BC. Ashoka had also built the stupa I visited in Sanchi near Bhopal, and did so in Bodhgaya, as in many sites all over India.

Other pictures from Kathmandu

2008-04-16T12:09:00.001+05:30

Last sunday was the Nepalese new year

Changu Narayan

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It's a temple on a hilltop near Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur

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Main square

Astride

Back to Swayambhunath and Pashupatinath

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This is the famous monkey temple

Sunrise on Kathmandu

Main stupa

Big tree

Rush on the food

Overload of prayer flags

Pokhara

2008-04-16T11:29:00.002+05:30

Pokhara is one of the main touristic spots in Nepal

The lake

Rice fields on the way to World peace pagoda

Japanese world peace pagoda, standing on a hilltop

This is what we could have seen from there if there weather had been good

Nice light

Guess what it is!

Pokhara lake from Nagarkot

This is what we could have seen from Nagarkot if the weather had been nice

Sunset on Pokhara

Family gathering in Pondicherry

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Auroville

2008-04-03T18:23:00.004+05:30

A man by the name of Shri Aurobindo became well-known in Puducherry. He founded an ashram here. (to me he looks like an angry man)

A French woman known as 'the mother' associated with him. She began to provide the teachings when Aurobindo decided to retire from public life.

After he passed away, she decided 40 years ago to create Auroville, an utopic city.

This is the project they created to get the approval from the Indian government, but it has never been built.

Matrimandir, the central ufo-temple.

Astride. We first met in Paris through couchsurfing. I am hosted in her family in Puducherry. As local Indians, they explained me what all this has meant for them. For long, it actually looked like the apartheid they say. It was totally forbidden for local people to enter the ghetto, unless they would be working for Aurovillians.

On the right, local Tamil script. The concept is not bad, but the seed of the problem lies in what means "be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness". It's quite an awkward definition to decide whether one can live there or not. It finally turned to be totally sectarian and they almost accepted only western people giving all their fortune. They have created lots of hospitals and clinics but they don't share anything with local people, who are quite poor people. Conclusion : dreams of utopias are rotten from the base because they are totally selfish.

At least they have beautiful trees on their land

Pondicherry

2008-04-03T18:00:00.003+05:30

Pondicherry was French till the 50s. There still is a French presence. Nearly half of the colonial town is populated by white people.

Near Immaculate conception cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Renewed park. It used to be dirty as you can imagine it in India. The city now is very clean and there are lots of public works undertaken by the local government, which I have never seen anywhere else in India. I guess this is partly due to uncorrupted local officials doing what they are supposed to, which is extremely rare.

Church

Another church

Inside

Local hindu temple

Psychedelicoid though traditionnal ceilings

Los Angeles - Cayenne

2008-03-30T12:13:00.003+05:30

Gilles is a good friend living in Cayenne, French Guiana. We first met through couchsurfing. When I arrived in French Guiana, he made me discover the country by air. He has just conveyed a small plane from Los Angeles to Cayenne with two friends.

You can find his blog here

A few pictures from there :

The trip

Left : Guillaume. Right : Gilles. Guillaume flew me to Camopi the first time I went there from Cayenne

...

Gotama's compassion

2008-03-29T15:01:00.002+05:30

Tiruvannamalai - Ramanashram

2008-03-29T14:40:00.005+05:30

This ashram was advised to me at Arnaud Desjardins' ashram in France as a true spiritual place to visit. This ashram was founded by Ramana Maharshi. 'Maharshi' means great sage. He is very famous in India and also all over the world. He spent 20 years meditating in some caves on the Arunachala hill before opening his ashram. Now people worship in the ashram's temple, and mostly on his grave. They chant the vedas several times a day. There is a good energy there, that means for me I feel more equanimous there, and it is a place where my concentration in meditation is better. But nothing very interesting. There is a bunch of other ashrams in the area, and in one of them, twice a day during 15 minutes, the guru, who is a woman, comes, sits silently in front of the people coming there, then walks in the room and looks at the people. Most people are in a kind of meditation during that time. That was an interesting experience. The kind of experience I was expecting before coming to India.

Roof of the Ramanashram from Arunachala hill

This is Ramana maharshi.

Inside the ashram

Monkeys in the ashram

Lol

Local food. No spoon, of course :-)

Tiruvannamalai - Arunachaleswarar temple

2008-03-27T11:59:00.010+05:30

Monkeys on Arunachala hill

View from the hill

Mad fellow

2008-03-26T19:51:00.002+05:30

I spent a week serving in Igatpuri, in the vipassana center. On the second day of the course, one student, around 55 years old, began walking around talking to himself. Since perfect silence must be maintained, we quickly noticed something was wrong with him. At that time, students had only practiced breath awareness. But for the ones who have gross mental formations, some problems can already come up. He actually couldn't sleep the whole night. He was all the time asking the same questions, one after the other, without stopping : "are we in England?" "are we in Burma?" "are we in India?" "am I dreaming?" "are you a doctor" "am I a psychiatrist?" "are you my teacher?" "am I God?" "are there women around?" and so on... He was actually constantly trying to divert his attention from a problem he couldn't face. Sometimes he would bend down, take his face in his hands and shout for a few seconds and then straighten up saying : " everything is ok". I had never seen such a disturbed person. From what he told us it appears that he had taken lots of drugs, had been in jail for killing somebody, was used to sexual abuses on young boys and to steal money. The first thing is absolutely clear, the others are quite difficult to make sure. He ended in a police station, not without biting another server on the way...

Vipassana International Academy

2008-03-26T11:59:00.000+05:30

This is the last vipassana center I have been to, near Mumbai. It is also the biggest one in the world, and the most active.

The whole area around the center is desertic. But inside there are lots of trees. Every leaf of every plant in the center is so healthy. Full of the energy of the meditation - the energy of equanimity.

Burmese style bell.

Dhamma sevak

Lotus flower

One again :-)

The main pagoda

Long course area. There is another pagoda there (on the left). The academy is divided in mainly 4 areas. The first one is the vipassana research institute. There people try to understand the actual words of the Buddha, solving the problems of translation by using the definitions the Buddha himself gave of every word, which requires the help of computers because the litterature of his word is quite huge. There is the main center were are hold the 10 day courses and satipatthana courses. There is a long course center were people take 20, 30, 45 or 60 days courses. Another area is under construction, for very long courses : 90 and 120 days ! I guess when you come out of that you are almost a buddha :-)

View over Igatpuri

Back to Mumbai

2008-03-14T19:49:00.003+05:30

Yesterday morning I was in Kathmandu, I flew to Delhi. Today I'm back to my starting point in India. Strange impression. Tomorrow I'm going to Igatpuri internationnal vipassana center, 3 hours away by train. I'll take an advanced course there till the 23rd.

Cows in New Delhi.

Pashupatinath

2008-03-14T19:43:00.005+05:30

Ajit showed me this burning ghat.

These people pick up the remaining wood in the water after the family has gone.

Many people come here to die, if possible while bathing their feet in the holy water of this dirty river. The orange thing all the way down the stairs is actually a man in that case.

Kathmandu's vipassana center

2008-03-14T19:05:00.002+05:30

This center is really huge. This is only a small part. There are stairs everywhere. A maze.

There is a national park on the hills just above.

The Kathmandu valley under the clouds.

Top of the pagoda.

Resting area.

Morning in the center.

Anothe nice view of hte Kathmandu valley.

There were lots of monkeys coming from the forest.

This one didn't like my shooting. She almost tried to jump on me.

I also had the opportunity to see a loepard, but no picture of it.

Ajit is a permanent volunteer in this center, and a great meditator.

I would like to do one picture before and one after the course for several students. The change on their face is spectacular.

Guillaume's baptism

2008-02-29T14:17:00.003+05:30

Guillaume is Blandine's first son.

Left to right : Nicolas (Blandine's husband), my sister Blandine, my mom, on the back Denis the spy, Madeleine curly hair, Anne-Sophie, my uncle Alexis in the back, Clotilde holding Maxime and Leonie, my dad and Laurent (Clotilde's husband). This time the family picture is complete. Well, almost :-)

Kopan monastery

2008-02-29T14:01:00.003+05:30

This monastery is famous since the 70s.

Inside the main gompa

Shechen monastery

2008-02-29T13:59:00.003+05:30

Boudha

2008-02-29T13:48:00.005+05:30

It is a Tibetan neighborhood in Kathmandu's suburbs. The place is also known as Bodhnath

Thangka paintings (traditional religious Tibetan art)

Jeff is studying Thangka in Shechen monastery, a few minutes walk from the huge stupa. We met in Bodhgaya, during my first vipassana course.

Swayambhunath, the monkey temple

2008-02-29T13:42:00.003+05:30

Kathmandu

2008-02-29T13:21:00.002+05:30

Kathmandu is probably the most beautiful city I've ever visited.

Durbar square. Architectural center of the city.

Old royal palace.

Nicolas Sarkozy in Camopi !

2008-02-25T21:26:00.002+05:30

He doesn't look like being really comfortable

Having seen what systematically happens when an important person comes to Camopi, I can imagine that it must have been very funny for inhabitants.

Baromandir ghat

2008-02-25T09:33:00.004+05:30

It was in the neighborhood around the vipassana center.

India as we imagine it from our homes. It also really exists. There are not only overstressed, overpolluted and overpopulated cities :-)

It's the Ganga river on the background

The ghat itself

Neighborhood seen from the rooftop of the vipassana center

Dhamma Ganga meditation center

2008-02-25T09:02:00.004+05:30

This is the name of Kolkata's vipassana center. I just spent the last 10 days there.

Welcome to the vipassana prison :-)

Check out the time table

First steps inside

It's an excellent place for ornithology : maybe 20 different species of singers

And also a good place for entomology : lots of different species of mosquitoes :-) Some were really huge.

I have to confess that I didn't give full justice to the campus because there were some dirty looking corners in the compound.

My couch

On the 10th day the meditators are allowed to talk again

I met Emilia in the dormitory of my hotel. She decided to come along with me. She was so happy on the last day ! She was fulfilling her dream to wear a sari.

The entire group of meditators, on the last day

There were also a few monks

Drawing

2008-02-25T08:59:00.003+05:30

Sometimes when I have to wait for long and don't feel like meditating, i try to have a breath awareness while concentrating on a drawing. It comes little by little and it's actually the product of another kind of meditation.

Some indian people asked me whether it is a representation of my god :-)

The beach south Kolkata

2008-02-25T08:52:00.002+05:30

I tried to go to that place which name is Bakkhali to relax a little bit, but I got sick and had to come back to Kolkata.

This sight reminded me of Amazonia.

Third vipassana course

2008-02-13T09:12:00.002+05:30

These last days haven't been very interesting. After having tried unsuccessfully to retire on the seaside and having got quite sick for a few days, I'm heading today for another vipassana course, "a surgical operation without anesthesia" as says Goenka. I'm going to be out of there on the 24th and on 25th I'll be in the plane to Kathmandu.

Kolkata, the city of joy

2008-02-06T15:23:00.001+05:30

I did my last day of volunteering in Kalighat center today. Two patients I had taken care of died during the time I was there. The whole experience has been very strong for me and I don't even try to translate it in words. I think I'll volunteer again later in another city for the sisters.

Ganesh market, center of Kolkata

Corridor leading to vipassana's office in center Kolkata

Same place, or when dirtiness becomes almost beautiful

Volunteers preparing to go to work in front of mother's house

This is the first place where mother Teresa began to work. It used to be a hindu temple.

Inside the place (pictures were hardly allowed)

Tea break on the rooftop

Message making people feel guilty

Posing

Kalighat neighborhood, from the rooftop

The streets are rarely so empty. There was another general strike. Normally there are ten times more people and lots of vehicles everywhere.

People waiting in front of the door. The current sisters refuse new patients when all beds are full, which freaks up old volunteers who used to work with mother Teresa. Actually, most of them work now on their own, because they feel the original spirit is getting lost and replaced by quibbling behaviors. But I have to say that this is the fact of only one or two sisters. The other ones are really awesome.

Empty avenue

Unbelievable

2008-01-29T11:53:00.000+05:30

With Mieko and Omar, 12th April 2007 Isla del sol, Titicaca lake, Bolivia

With Mieko yesterday evening.

When I arrived at mother Teresa's house to begin my volunteer job, I had to make a registration. All new volunteers of the day would gather in a room and wait that a sister called them one by one. They made me sit on a chair and Mieko on the one next to mine. We talked together, but did not recognize. It's only two days later that we figured out that we had met in south America ! The world is so small...

In Kolkata with Bikki and Tinku

2008-01-29T11:42:00.000+05:30

Bikki and Tinku in front of Asoka's emblem in the Indian museum.

Victoria memorial

Mathematics of the universe

2008-01-28T18:22:00.001+05:30

I am volunteering in a mother Teresa's center here in Kolkata. I am in Kalighat, which is the very first place were she began to work. Some people are in very bad condition there, even though volunteers who come there since a few years (some of them knew mother Teresa) say that during the last years, the conditions in which the patients arrive have globally spectacularly improved. Which is by the way good news concerning the whole society. But still there was that guy. Today, he was staring at me, like calling me. I had never seen so much of tension in the eyes of a human being. Or only in horror movies when the guy is going to be cut in two. There was no verbal communication possible with him, so I started puting my hands on him, like reiki healers do. He was groaning of pain at each breathe. I wanted to let him know that he was not alone, at least for that time. So I got closer and closer and I was finally hugging him. I was in the state of mind of the Metta meditation, which puropose is to send happiness to everyone. He began more quiet after some time and stopped groaning. When this was over I was really shaken up. The whole experience has been very strong. I was already feeling the following mathematical result while practicing Metta, but this time it was more obvious to me than ever : if you give 10 (in terms of personnal energy) to the mankind, you get 20 from the universe (or God or whatever). I am so thankful to Goenka Ji and all the lineage of masters from Burma before him to have made me understand this. Don't keep your personnal energy for yourself ! Give it to everyone ! The universe will give you twice more, and not after the end of your life or in your next life, but right now !

First pictures from Kolkata

2008-01-27T10:01:00.000+05:30

In Prem Dan, a mother Theresa's center

Bikki is now in Kolkata for a few days with his friend Tinku

Last pictures from Bodhgaya

2008-01-27T09:57:00.000+05:30

In Bikki's house with Manoj

Near the tea shop, with Max, Manoj and Bikki

Motorcycle trip with Manoj

2008-01-22T19:12:00.000+05:30

Gautama is supposed to have spent 5 years in this exact cave before going to Bodhgaya and get enlightened. At that time, he was in an ascetic trip, that's why he's so skinny.

He almost looks like Jimi Hendrix

Last pictures from the ashram

2008-01-22T19:00:00.000+05:30

Chinta has been raised in this ashram. Now, she teaches there.

Alicia

Anika and the kids

Volunteer team

Anika and her Tibetan boyfriend Tenzin (he doesn't take drugs :)

Last picture all together. Lef to right : Karen, Bikki, Alicia, Anika, me, Tenzin

Bodhgaya again

2008-01-18T17:55:00.001+05:30

Today I took a train ticket for Kolkata. I'll leave monday in the night for the urban hell.

The Thai temple

Inside the Thai temple

Sujata temple's entry

Sujata temple

Inside Sujata temple

Enlightening

Wheel of dharma on the roof

Enlightened buddha on the walls of Sujata temple

Bikki and 80ft tall Japanese buddha

Buffalo

Busy Bikki

Japanese temple

Big bell

Inside Japanase temple

Buthamese temple

Tantric deity

Buthanese temple's entry

C'est bien vrai...

Meeting point : tea shop

The kids bathing

The kids bathing and Alicia (from Peru)

In Bodhgaya

2008-01-16T12:39:00.000+05:30

Beggers in the streets. They spend their whole days sit on the ground, waiting.

Bikki. Good local friend.

Mahabodhi temple

2008-01-16T12:26:00.001+05:30

This days there is a puja (ceremonies) for Nyingma monks (a Tibetan lineage) around the temple.

The Mahabodhi tree. The actual one is supposed to be an ancestor of this one.

A Tibetan friend told us that many of them are fake - paid to wear a monk's dress- in order to show up.

A very quiet Hindu cemetery

2008-01-16T12:22:00.001+05:30

It is quite big, just in front of Mahabodhi temple, but no one goes there, except Tibetan monks urinating between ceremonies...

New camera, new pictures of the ashram

2008-01-16T11:54:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I received a new camera sent to me from Paris by Astride, as a gift. Astride is a good friend I met through couchsurfing. She lives in Paris but was raised in Pondichery (south Madras) . Now I can take pictures again ! So today I send the first ones I made with that new camera.

Astride

Kids in the ashram

Small field within the ashram. On the left, a Hindu temple. In the back, the Mahabodhi temple.

Main building within the ashram

View of outside world from the ashram

Sipirits in the material world

2008-01-14T16:31:00.002+05:30

I came out of the vipassana center on 12th. This second course was way easier and deeper than the first one. It is difficult to put words on the experiences in vipassana, but I feel like this meditation is the universal remedy for all sufferings. To me it is the core of most of Asian philosophies and understanding myself and this technique makes me understand much more deeply what is India and the reasons behind the social facts and traditions. As time passes, I learn how to be in osmosis with the external world. I begin to loose my self in the crowds. Actually what is happening now fits exactly the glimpses I had from my future here while I was imagining this trip from France. It's like living a dream. At the beginning, I was feeling disappointed sometimes because what I was living here was not really fitting this idea I had about my trip. But now that I changed myself from within, this is finally happening. I have never felt so happy !

While I was in deep meditation, trying not to identify myself with all the objects coming in my mind, the lyrics of that song by Sting -which I absolutely never listen to, and I don't know how I manage to remember it- where coming all the time : "spirits in the mateeerial world..."

Tibetan Buddhism

2008-01-14T15:55:00.001+05:30

Nowadays the word buddhism has become almost inseparable from the adjective Tibetan. They spread their religion all around western countries. Everyone who finds himself interested in buddhism in general will easily find books about Tibetan buddhism, and will begin there. And most people get finally stucked there. Here in Bodhgaya I attended a 10 days course to know a little more about them. It was in a center founded by lama Zopa, the lama who is in charge of all non-Tibetan monks all over the world. I had the opportunity to see him and observe how this center is conducted. And some stories told by a British nun who is currently staying in the ashram and speaks Tibetan since about 15 years, helped me also to draw a picture of Tibetan buddhism, beside the fact that Bodhgaya has been full of Tibetan monks since one month and a half. The result is very deceiving compared to the idea I had from France. I don't think it is necessary to tell these stories, but basically Tibetan people are very good traders. They have been in need since their country was erased from the map, which maybe increased this tendency. Anyway, they are selling their religion in order to get some money they mostly waste in things that would appear to anyone who is connected to the normal level of reality as total nonsense. They look like being more preoccupied by very abstract concerns, without even apllying what they teach, in the most basical aspects. They also look more and more to me as being almost swindlers, selling things 30 times the price they really cost. So many people spend a lot of money in their centers while making very few progress in understanding themselves.

Their philosophy is : you are all ignorants. We have all the wisdom. When you will become wise, which means understand us, you will think like us. We will be your masters. You have to surrender to us, and the bad news is that our teachings are so complex that in your entire life you won't even be able to touch the core of them. You should have been born Tibetan. It would have been better karma. We are so sorry for you. The philosophy of vipassana as teached by Goenka is : you are ignorant. But all the wisdom is naturally in you. You are your own master. You don't depend on any one. You just have to learn how to develop your wisdom on your own, which is the purpose of that single and very simple technique of meditation.

In a few words, their colors are beautiful, their books are interesting, but this is definetely not for me and everyone should be careful.

Samanway ashram

2007-12-29T10:31:00.000+05:30

This is the ashram were I am volunteering at the moment. We are 4 volunteers. Anika is from Germany, Jennifer from Australia (I hardly understand her in English but she speaks Hindi very well), and Alicia from Peru. The kids living here belong only to the lowest and poorest cast. They get food and education, but they really lack hygiene. We are teaching them to shower and wash their clothes every day, because they catch very ugly skin diseases.

This is the man who created this ashram, about 50 years ago. People call him Bhai Ji, (brother Ji) as people were used to call Gandhi. He is 86 years old !

One of the older girls and Anika