Twenty four Shambhalians arrived in Bodhgaya to practice Ngondro for a
month, joined by four more after two weeks. We had a guest house
arranged with breakfast and dinner provided and bicycles for the
intrepid who cycled into town past rice paddies and Vietnamese Temple and
increasingly crazy traffic. Five fearless French sangha had arrived a
week early to prepare the ground. They got permission for us to
practice at glorious Sechen monastery, home of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
Our guest house was in a small village on the outskirts of Bodhgaya, amidst water buffalo, rice paddies, baby goats and naked children, near the golden-roofed temple where HH Karmapa was in residence.
We occupied a charming four-storey pink house with plenty of space for all of us, and a family of staff who looked after us: cooking, fixing the bikes and running the little shop selling clothes, shawls, toilet paper and beer.
We started our retreat with a lhasang on the roof. We even found a way to hang
the Shambhala flag which proclaimed our presence here for the month, and attracted two other Shambhalians( who were here on their own pilgrimage) to join us for chai and chat.
We established a regular routine: Lujong on the rooftop followed by chai and breakfast, then individual practice at Main Temple until meeting at Sechen monastery for a day of Ngondro (with an hour and a half for lunch) The monastery was exquisite with paintings of the scenes from the life of the Buddha, bright gold all around and a peaceful Buddha statue in front. A lifesized portrait of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche is present on the throne
next to HH Dalai Lama, smiling down at us all. It was away from the noise of traffic (very unusual in Bodhgaya) with birds singing, dogs barking and a cool breeze of delight. Despite increasingly noisy renovation work going on outside we felt incredibly fortunate to have such a shrine hall, and the group bonded and grew through all the joys and sorrows of a month together.
