Travel Day 649 – Kopan Monastery, NEPAL
After all the course participants had left yesterday, I could not believe how nice and quiet Kopan Monastery had become over night…
Big Stupa and the Monastery Garden
Since there was no class and no schedule at all today, it was really nice to use the time to relax and just simply enjoy myself. The day was perfect to sit in the nice monastery garden by the big stupa, talk to some of the remaining people and reflect on everything we had learned over the last couple of days. Also being able to relax the legs and give the knees a break after all the painful hours of sitting meditation, was quite a welcome relief…
Then it became quite clear that returning to Thamel, even if it was just for one night would be a big change again. After busy Thamel, I would move on to Bangkok and then Bali, which all would probably be interesting to deal with, after this sheltered and peaceful world of Kopan Monastery. It was funny but for the last two weeks I didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing something from me, cheating me or trying to get money from me. There were no beggars, no tiger balm sellers and no people yelling: “Rickshaw, sir? Sir, you want rickshaw?”…
Last Sunset over Kopan Monastery
On the other hand I had to think about what I would take with me from Kopan Monastery and apply in my day-to-day life. Not harming any living creatures and the awareness that true happiness only comes from compassion for others, sounded like a good start. Also an interest for other branches of Buddhism and the idea of possibly joining a Vipassana retreat were some new thoughts to follow-up on once I had a little bit more practice in meditation…
For now I was just more than happy that I had this really nice and relaxing day at Kopan Monastery…
Find all Kopan Monastery 2011 Photos here.
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