10 days of Vipassana Meditation

It was an experience of challenges.

The evening of the first night following an orientation I took a vow of noble silence, that is, no speaking, no eye contact and no gestures. The next morning I woke to the reverberation of a gong at 4 am. The first morning we took a vow to follow the five basic precepts: not killing, not stealing, not making sexual misconduct, not telling lies, and abstaining from intoxicants.

Imagine spending 10 days:
...not talking at all...
...living with roommates with which you were not allowed to speak, make gestures or eye contact...
...sitting on a cushion with your legs crossed for 10+ hours a day...
...eating strictly vegetarian only twice a day...
...without a cell phone, Internet connection or TV...

None of the challenges when taken individually are that difficult but when taken as a whole it presents quite a challenge to the body and the mind. All in all, I would say it was an amazing experience.

10 Words to describe the 10 days:
Torture. Bliss. Daydreaming. Sore back. Eating slowly. Sitting. Respiration. Attention.

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY.

Mount Pousi HDR

Two images from the Wat on Mount Phousi. If you have been to Luang Prabang you know this temple because it is on top of a mountain in the middle of town, you can see it from everywhere.

The first image is an unprocessed image exposing on the landscape outside. What a view! The second image is a combination of 5 images created using HDR freeware. Although I am not totally happy with the flat, muddy HDR image, it is more interesting than the first image. UPDATE: second try with a little more local contrast gives better feeling of depth.

Tip of the hat to SanchoTramp for pointing me to the HDR freeware to create HDR images! Check out his blog: Sancho Goes Walkabout

Zenpo-ji

Everything is wooden in this shrine complex. Intricate, beautiful, weathered wood. I do not know the name of this obviously important sculpture nor the significance of the rope sandals hanging from the fence. [aunt ruth and grandpa jack would love this place]

Up the hill is the hall of 500? monks. Since it is an active monastery, many monks in black robes were watching me climb the steps. In my best Japanglish, I inquired if I could see the temple and speak with a monk. To learn more of the history of the place and about Buddhism... I was rather rudely told to leave. No doubt my curiosity was rude behavior that I did not understand. I quickly left giving my most sincere apologies... Sorry zenpo-ji.

On the other side of the hill is a pool famous for its purity and its carp with human faces on their heads. I struggled to take a picture of one for an hour, without success.