Monlam is a tibettan puja (offering) for world peace. In actual terms, its when large numbers of monks from each of the lineages get together and chant for hours. The first one ended yesterday, and now the mighty Kagyu and then the humongous Nyngma ones will take place. We expect 12000 monks. The town has already doubled in size, and Karmapa arrived today, looking totally like a rock star.


Yesterday, as part of Cho (literally 'to cut' the false-Self), we got given bags of food offerings and even some pepsi to sprinkle on our heads. Indians, it would have to be said, show very little respect for what other people are doing. Indian tourists are always walking the wrong way around the temple, just to show that they aren't buddhists. They walk right through the middle of the puja, hang out under the bodhi tree directly in front of the altar and 1000 monks, taking pictures and talking loudly.

The security guards are strutting around with big sticks and yelling very loudly at various people. I think they are being a bit too much, but after the food offering, there are dozens of people scrambling to make off with anything they can. They completely disrupt the chanting, couldn't care less about what anybody else thinks. These people aren't even the really poor. Its not like the hordes of beggars are desperate for handouts, these people have clean clothes and think its just a big game. The monks at the end are trying to give food out to the real beggars outside and its just goes animalistic. People are kicking and shoving each other, most of them having fun (since this is a perfectly normal way to make a living), and the monks are mostly turned around laughing at the whole thing. The security guards are hitting them with sticks, obviously also enjoying their jobs, though they aren't actually smiling.

Actually the animals are much easier to feed. When you toss a coin or package of food into one person's bowl, 10 people will start screaming at you and follow you around begging. They figure if you gave once, you will give again. I gave most of my food away, and it was difficult. You have to appear not to have anything, and then pop it out of nowhere into the bowl of some old falling apart person obviously homeless and experiencing extreme poverty and then make a quick get away because the kids start following you and howling and acting it up.

"no" or "achoo" (go away) doesn't work at all. I even have stopped, grabbed a kid by the shoulders and said "no no no no no no no no no no no" into his face, and he still follows me. I have taken to turning into a huge monster and bellowing "NO" at the top of my lungs which causes both the children and me to laugh. And then they go away.

I saw a woman totally lose it and start screaming at this crowd of 20 children that tailed her. She really broke down emotionally. They were all laughing and smiling "hello hello hello hello hello". That's when I figured it out: there's nothing else to do. This is the only amusing thing to do in town, so why take "no" for an answer ? Every once in a while somebody goes soft and you get that rupee.

friend frank asks some questions:

> I have been reading your site. Your new blogs are overwhelming.

it probably sounds like its all negative. myself, i'm doing quite well and there are many positive things happening here. there's probably more aid coming into this town then most places. nobody is starving to death. its the begging that's the problem, not the suffering. suffering is much worse elsewhere in the world.


>Do
> these children learn to farm? Surely they could learn hands on
> survival.

that's the thing. rather than do any of the things that people anywhere else do, they beg. because we are there, they beg. by giving them money, we make the problem worse. but they are in your face, and they are playing up the miserable aspects of their existence. which just makes it harder. because you are annoyed by them and pity them at the same time. and often we know they don't understand the situation at all like we do.

there is government land here that people are free to farm and there is a well here. instead, they throw trash on it. farming doesn't make money, and they don't really have a problem getting enough money to just buy vegetables. its shoes and medical care. they could probably afford a polio vaccine for a child, but instead they spend the money on something else. and besides, a polio child crawling on the ground probably can earn more than a healthy man.
I certainly give more to polio victims. It looks really extreme, they can crawl as fast as I can walk.




>Is there much crime? Do you have measures to protect each
> other.

no they don't try to steal. that would fuck everything up and there would be a big crack down. if the gov't wanted to, there would be no begging problem at all. but they don't care. bihar gov't is very corrupt.

> Well, You have lots of courage. Cheers, Felix..

its not that scary up close at all, its just weird. sometimes its hard when I just want to eat my Momos and there's 5 kids standing by me saying "hello hello hello hello hello hello..." like robots.

I think its also depressing that most of them aren't buddhists, which would help them. But most of the buddhists that come here are advanced, and so the simple messages that these people need aren't going to come across to well: "craving and aversion are sowing the seeds of your future sufferings." ÿes, whatever, give me rupee... "dwelling in equanimity, meditate to increase the thoroughly non-conceptual wisdom that can comprehend the coemergence of samsara and nirvana." uh ... what ?