Leaving Boulder

I feel so busy I barely have time to write a tad here, but let me try! Really I have no one to blame but myself for being busy though, for I took my good time getting back involved in the worldly life since finishing the last Vipassana course. The more I get tastes of that clear disposition and see the lightness that can come in burning off sankharas, the world just seems to have less and less it can offer. Or, at least it is taking longer and longer for me to fall back into those older ways of enjoying the pleasures that come through the six sense doors.

So, school finished, I put the grades in, and readied myself for serving an upcoming ten day course. I was really excited to work hard during it, because I knew it’d be the last Vipassana I’d have until at least August, so I was hoping that some good work could keep the fuel burning as long as possible into my solo look ahead in summer. Even a couple days before going out to Camp Colorado, something inside me knew it was coming up, my sleep changed and that pre-course anxiety was anticipating that inner exploration again…

It was a great course (aren’t they all?). But a busy one. Every day seemed like a week, literally. For the first 5-6 days or so a new adventure kept presenting itself and having to be solved. The strangest one began when I saw a car drive on to the site and a man wearing shorts get out to adjust some meter. I pointed it out to the male manager and then forgot about it. Turned out he was from the State Health Department, and decided to dump in such an extreme amount of Chlorine into the water that no one could touch the water supply for days afterwards, and we had to have dozens of gallons of fresh drinking water brought in for a few days for students.

Not that we had an over-abundant supply of servers to go out and do such an errand leisurely. There were only four full time servers, leaving just Zach and I full time in the kitchen. There was part time help, though. With three of us in there it was extreme. I was fully aware of having no awareness during these times and also aware of trying to be aware and utterly failing. With four people it was pleasantly manageable, and though it still took a great effort, I could actually be aware of the sensations on my hand, say, when I was wiping a counter, and note that it too was anicca. The first few minutes of the sittings were always so wild and a super-monkey mind with the busy-ness that had followed me from the kitchen, and most of the time I was kind of ready to work and sit properly just as the end of the hour came up on me. Ah well. What complaints can anyone have who is so supremely lucky to get a chance to serve a parent for a full ten days? Below, a pic of the Salida folk...

The course finished and there was benefit for all. My mom had a great course, and the female Teacher told me that she was actually inspired and moved by how much courage she showed during it. Her two friends also had fantastic times. One, Cheryl, is the extended family of Paul, who I am now living with in Boulder. Paul and Vidya take their first course in Texas in September, and I hope I will be able to serve that as well. We’ll have to see with work. The other friend, Jane, owns a yoga studio in town which is now being used for weekly group sittings for the Salida folk. She is also looking to serve the upcoming CO course. Next week we are showing “DOING TIME DOING VIPASSANA” at the local library in town and I did a local radio interview to promote it-- was a little nervous!

After the course ended I came back to Boulder with Michelle, a friend I served with in Illinois and Massachusetts. I showed her around the Bubble and we attended a group sitting, and then had an informal one of our own after meeting a number of meditators fresh off the course and still glowing. We hiked around Nederland and went towards Lost Lake, but alas it remained lost and we didn’t find it. We had a great meal at a Nepali restaurant in town and met up with Mark, his mom, and girlfriend, all of whom were also at the course (and Zach’s mom is a very old student too, Colorado has some pretty awesome parent-kids connections!)

Ok, one other neat small story about the course and then I’ll stop this blissful ramble. A few days before it began, Vidya happened to have some Nepali friends over to our house. The grandmother, or Amma as she is called, happened to see my Vipassana videos. She had taken some courses in her country, and watched them, saying “I know these people! I know this place!” with joy. Vidya had to leave for work, but Amma said the vibrations were so wonderful in the house, she asked to stay and meditate. I came home from CU to hear all this and was astounded! I met with her at their family’s Nepali restaurant and informed Amma that there is indeed Vipassana activity nearby and she was welcome to come. Amma didn’t speak a word of English, but luckily the male Teacher lived in Nepal during the 1970s and spoke the language fluently. So she was driven by her granddaughter on Day 2 (the granddaughters she worried over for wearing revealing clothing, going out to danceclubs, and spending time with boys they weren’t due to marry). She wore beautiful saris at the course and bowed reverentially three times each to both Teachers, touching her head to the carpet each time. She also refused to turn her back towards them at any time, and walked out of room by taking backwards steps. She got so much benefit from it, and was a delight to watch during the checking sessions with the teacher, even though we couldn’t understand the exact words. Now her family wants to sign up for the next course in CO!

After Michelle left I made my way to the famous Memorial Day Bolder Boulder race that attracts a whopping 100,000 people. I met a Saudi female student on my way to the football stadium and helped her find her visiting mother lost somewhere in the stands, just as a half dozen Marines and Special Forces were falling out of the sky with huge parachutes and American flags flying in the wind, and 21 gun salutes and veterans speaking on podiums about how they escaped the insidious Japanese in the caves of Iwa Jima. I tried to translate what was happening for them and felt slightly confused myself. But being sensitive just coming out of a course, I also felt tears and goosebumps swelling out of the patriotic fervor being generated in that crowd, swelling in me as well as I absorbed it all. Below is a picture of my student Layal at a crowded CU stadium...

Now I leave the country again in a week, will land in Costa Rica just as they start the World Cup by taking on the host country, Germany, in a game that will be shown in every single _Movie Theater_ across the country and in which the government has declared a national holiday. Apparently Costa Rica has the tamest fans in South American football, so tame that they actually hired hooligans from Argentina a number of years ago to try and instill some good ol' mayhem. I just bought some Spanish books today. And as a result of my aversion to being worldly again, I now find myself with a seeming million things to do and I’m scrambling to get it completed in time and be sane while doing it.

Oh, if anyone is interested, I will be in Costa Rica for the summer, and my address is

MY NAME
EL INVU de Penas Blancas
Via San Carlos
Alajuela, Costa Rica

Here is a picture with Paul and Vidya just before leaving Boulder!!!