DHARMARAJIKA STUPA, GANGES AT SUNSET.

Long lines awaited our little group of 16 as we came to see a Buddhist ruin.

The Dharmarajika Stupa dominates the scene. Stupas were built to hold relics of Lord Buddha. King Ashoke The Great built it in the 3rd century B.C., one of seven. This is the only one to survive.


Inside the stupa, a green marble casket was found. Inside of it was a stone box. No one knows what the box held, but it is now in a Calcutta Museum. The casket was thrown in the River Ganges.


Layers of brick were laid over the old brick to enlarge the stupa. A set of stairs was built from four directions, meeting at the top so the guardians could climb up and enter the stupa.  The stair structure was torn down by order of King Banaras in 1794 A.D. to use as building materials.


In time, the same fate applied to the rest of the buildings on the site.

Today, a wide path around the stupa is used by the faithful to walk around clockwise, then counterclockwise. They still place flowers near or on the stupa. Signs encourage them not to place flowers, but they persist. Hugo and Kris made friends with a charming little boy on their walk around the stupa.


Archeologists dug up the ruins and discovered beautiful carvings on the faces of some of the brick work.

Buddha is carved in the circle on the right.

These little beauties survived in decent shape for over 2,000 years. Pretty amazing.

Before visiting the Stupa, we spent two  hours at Museum Sarnath where artifacts from the stupa site are housed, along with a photo section showing some of archeology  work and a history of Buddha. The beautiful and very special Buddha housed here has disappeared from my photo album. Due to human error. Human, that's me, I'm sad to say. Who can understand electronics? That's my excuse.

We packed into electric rickshaws and headed for the River Ganges to watch the ceremony at sunset. As you can see the streets are crowded.

The rickshaws are also limited in how close they can get to the river. Our guide, takes us through a short cut, that I mistakenly blogged as happening on yesterday's trip to the river.

The short cut was a crush. You could hardly take a picture for being jostled.

Street cooks were making dinner.

A be sure to miss event for such as we.

We again load into boats. This beautiful tourist boat sits high above the water, but it was not for us.

As the sun went down, we could see the fires on shore. I couldn't see my camera settings well enough to set it for flash. Flash can only reach about 20 feet or less, but it would have helped.

Our guide explains  the candles tradition. You send them off with a prayer for yourself, or a loved one who has died.

We silently make our prayer.

Then set them afloat in the sacred water.

A beautiful view from our boat.

As we get closer to shore, we can see the priests and people celebrating in what is their special ritual.

As we climb the stairs on our way out, we find other tourists like us taking pictures of the crowd. The priests, with the help of their apprentices, offer prayers, light the candles with flowers then ring great bells. Someone from our group once commented, "...its their religion, kind of a shame that this has become a tourist attraction."
But, as Ranvir told us, this goes on every day, every night. 365 days a year. It is a never-ending ritual, celebrating dying. With the hope to be reincarnated on a higher plain, a new life.

CHICKEN COOP AND VISIT WITH DAO SANG.

On Saturday and Sunday past, Doug, Virginia, Cedric and a helper, Mark Peel, built a chicken coop. Mark on the left, Doug in middle and Cedric  up top.


Meet the chickens, a white leghorn, red mirren mix and a barred rock red mirren mix. Two out of three, Blanche, Della and Cora another leg/mirren is out of sight.

Virginia helped me build feeders that do not spill grain on the ground. No waste.


Two of these will keep three chickens fed for about 3 weeks. The watering tank on the left, showing one nipple will last almost as long. The lay 1 and 1/2 doz. eggs a week on average.

The roof and door are not on yet, but we teased Doug about his taj mahal design. It is a pretty fancy coop that I will paint with enamel later. So far, having chickens is fun. Organic eggs in a store are about $4.50 a dozen. Calculated costs on-line for purchased organic mash, or GMO free mix your own organic feed, run $3.36 cents a doz. A couple cents more for the mash, a bit less for mix your own.
Since that is more eggs than I can eat, I hope to find one customer who will buy one dozen a week for $4.00 to help lower the cost of  eggs. Of course, I’ll never sell enough eggs to pay for the taj mahal. But, then, it is fun to have your own live chickens. I’ve owned chickens at every house I’ve lived in since 1962, except this one. But, for the many chickens I’ve raised, dozens, I’ve never kept them in a coop before. They always ran free in my city yards and my first house in Murphys. It will be interesting.


My friend Dao Sang came to visit and we spent an afternoon together. I hadn’t seen him since 2005. He has lost 40 pounds he can ill afford to lose and has been ill.  But, the first thing he did was peek in my garage to see if I was still driving my Prius. Yup!! We laughed. He needs special cars because he is 6 foot 9 and can’t fit into just any car.


Lunch at Grounds in Murphys is always a good choice. The day was balmy and beautiful. When we stand together, my head fits under his arm. I asked him why he wasn’t wearing his robes and he said, “I’m enough of a tourist attraction with my height. I only wear them when I’m teaching or at temple.” People do stare at him as he walks down the street.


We stopped and looked at the changes happening around town. And, wouldn’t you know we found a statue of Buddha in a store, for only $7,400. Yikes!  Buddha would be horrified. Anyway, sure enough, a guy in the store looked at him and said, 6′ 5? 6’7?  Dao mumbled, “6′ 9.”

I see what you mean, I told him. I lost my husband in 2000 and my dog six days later. Dao’s dog Daisey died and 6 days later he lost his mother. He remembered that about George. He and some other friends spent my first Thanksgiving with me, after George died, at the local free dinner in downtown Murphys.  So, our reminiscing had some sadness to it. In two weeks he, his two sisters and his three daughters will deliver her ashes to Sea Ranch near the Big Sur . I love the Buddhist religion. It is all about kindness, helpfulness and love, a true reflection of Dao’s personality. As Gus Dalsis, he became a Buddhist after his discharge from the Marines as a young man. He was ordained as Buddhist Monk, Dao Sang in 2004.

YONGHE GONG TIBETAN BUDDHIST LAMA TEMPLE

We visited the Yonghe Gong Tibetan Temple in Beijing, the only Tibetan Temple not destroyed by the Red Guard during the 1960′s cultural revolution.  It houses a very famous statue of Buddha made from a single, gigantic sandalwood tree and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. (My camera couldn’t get this picture. I got it on-line from worldinprint.com.)  What I did get is the many worshipers around the temple grounds who do not mind if you take their pictures during what is a rather personal,  private event. And, the beauty of the temple itself.

Like most Chinese heritage sites, there are multiple buildings and plazas. The complex is huge and mobbed. Ten percent of Chinese identify as Buddhist, but many more really are. The tradition is deeply rooted and the Chinese people want to do good deeds and enjoy a better life in the hereafter. They feared retribution during the Cultural Revolution and have only recently returned to their temples.

A detail of the roof of the main building.

The worshipers mob fire pots to light their incense bouquets, some quite large.

They touch their forehead, mouth and then bow.

During the ritual, they recite the mantra:  Mind, Word, Deeds.   The street on both sides was filled with incense stands, and we wondered about them.

Then we saw the huge bouquets of incense they use.

A pot for dousing the flames is ignored and used for offerings instead. They allow the incense to burn down to the nub.

There are many stations like this one where people contemplate their lives and pray to be better citizens and to ask for wellness and hope.

Some worshipers pass through the building behind them that houses multiple Buddha’s, some black, some gold. From Buddha’s position, just a small change in an arm or leg, comes different meanings. Some are painted black, others are bronze.Tibetan Buddha’s all face north.

This man is thankful for his son in a one child family. He comes to thank Buddha for answering his prayers for a son.

This device is something like a prayer wheel.  It has an inscription on it and people  touch it quite reverently.

In one open building sat this huge tortoise-like creature.

Its mouth was filled with offerings for the monks, and maintenance of the buildings.

The monks don’t mingle much with the people. They are somewhat reclusive. This one wears a tan robe.

Another wore a saffron robe.  The color of the robe dictates different functions.

And, you are never far from the protective spirit of the lions.