Venerable Tsering Phuntsok has been a practicing Buddhist monk since entering the Palyulchoekhorling Nyingmapa Buddhist monastery in Bir, India, in 1987 at age 16. For the first 17 years he studied and practiced in the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, receiving training in meditation, Buddhist scripture and philosophy, tantric ritual, lama dancing and music. He has received many tantric empowerments and sutra teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many other High Lamas, including late H.H. Penor Rinpoche. In the last several years he has worked on health related projects for his monastery as well as overseeing his nephew and nieces. He currently makes his residence in Dharamsala, India in the foothills of the Himalayas; his home is less than a minute walk from the Temple and residence of the H. H. Dalai Lama. Currently, he facilitates cultural exchange programs between the Tibetan community and US university students who come to Dharamsala to volunteer with Lha Charitable Trust, a local social work agency devoted to improving the lives of Tibetan refugees and local Indians.

Join us at any or ALL of the events this April — I will be in conversation with Tsering on Monday, April 23 which I am most honored to do!

April 19 – 6:30pm to 7:30pm | Location: Namaste Bookshop – 2 West 14^th Street, New York, NY

The Heart Sutra Reading with Q&A, Suggested Donations $10

April 22 – 11:00am to 1:00pm | Location: Coney Island Museum – 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Congress of Curious Peoples – Panel Discussion Religion and Spectacle, Cost $30 for full day admission to Congress

April 23 – 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Location: Observatory – 543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn, NY

Fire and Smoke: A Conversation on Death and Ritual Offering with Tibetan Buddhist Monk Ven. Tsering Phunstok and Shannon Brunette, Admission: $8 Presented by Morbid Anatomy

April 25 – 7:30pm to 9:30pm | Location: The Interdependence Project, 302 Bowery 3rd Floor, Middle Buzzer, New York, NY

Wednesday Open Night Talks at IDP – The Four Thoughts: Turning the Mind towards Responsible Consumption with Ven. Tsering Phuntsok, Cost $20 | $15 for IDP Full Members | $10 for IDP Sustaining Members | $5 for IDP Endowing Members

April 23-26 Daytime Hours  | Individual Appointments Available

April 28 – 11:00am to 12:30pm | Prospect Park – Brooklyn, NY                  

 * Email Shannon at brooklynskb@gmail.com to schedule individual appointments, sign-up for park meditation to receive details and if you have any other inquiries or would like to support Ven. Tsering Phunstok’s work.  Thank you!

Please see video post above, Winds of Tsopema, India which I shot while traveling with Tsering and fellow monk Kunsang who is in the video!

Also, some photos below of a weekend journey we all took together to visit their monasteries in Bir & Tsopema::::

Week 2 in Raghurajpur:

In the 16th Century in Orissa, circular cards with exquisite paintings on them – an art called Ganjapa were very popular among the people of Ganjam; they were used to play ordinary card games. We created modern decks of 52 cards, I personally added 2 jokers along with my deck, this idea went over very well with my teacher, Rabinder Mahapatra.

As we sat under a small shelter, not surprisingly sweating in our own stillness, cows wandered by chomping on what grass they could grab and kids played a tag game with fellow artists who really wanted to sweat!

In this second week after deep bending in Odissi, multiple cold showers in a day and adjusting to sleeping in the heat under a mosquito net…I was not feeling so well. So, one morning being overwhelmed with ill feeling and faintness I took the gracious offer to visit the local doctor. This was a day I will not easily forget, the challenge of staying steady while taking in the experience left me in a state of wonder. At the local village doctor, being the foreign visitor I was ushered to the seat nearest the doctor with all to observe our check-up. I had the flu but with the cookies, tea and the medicines he would subscribe he said, ‘as you understand this is simply an ailment that will surely pass.’ The wonderful doctor was at one time a doctor in the States for the Red Cross and spoke perfect English, which was rarely the case in our village life.

After my visit it was back in the air-conditioned car (would have been refreshing had I not had a 102 fever) – we were off to the village pharmacy. Another experience worth having in your life, just off the street in the local village market was the pharmacist of choice. As I was asked to sit while we waited, I took up a little edge next to a young very petite mother and her baby of maybe 1 year. The father was near speaking with the pharmacist who soon took the baby to take his little temperature. It is common in the village to go straight to the pharmacist as the doctor is unaffordable and the line can be a long wait. My sweet fever friend blew my fever out of the water with 104 for his small body. He and I bonded over looks of empathy and my finger in his warm hand. As you might imagine the medicine was very expensive for that new family and as I paid my bill leaving very little cash in hand after which, I slipped what little remained into the hand of the boy with the black eye make-up and 104 fever. I bid sweet farewell and best wishes in the simplest Hindi I had acquired.

Now, as I wished for my bed…even if just a mat and net on the floor in 100˚/100% humidity…oh, please let me lay down now! Alas, the car turned down a road that was not mine to the beautiful home of the RIACE President. The eldest daughter of the house, who was off to her college classes shortly after I arrived, made me a cup of hot milk and brought in a traditional custard cake and Somoza to take with my medication. While chairs were brought into what must have been the master bedroom – I was told to lie down on the bed while everyone else sat around me, visiting. I relinquished, and when I finally I did the mother of the home was there ordering me in Hindi to put my head in her lap. She then rubbed a headache ointment called dragon (which I bought 3 of later in my trip) on my temples and proceeded to give me one of the most healing head massages I have ever had in my life…I am not sure it could be replicated. She was a healer, a mother and a gift! I let go of all the chatting around me and truly relished the moment. As I finally did leave to be returned to my bed where I would stay until the following day – I asked a friend and translator, Khitish Das, to please thank them and especially to tell the mother that she has magic hands. Most importantly I asked him to tell her that my mother thanks her for her kindness and taking such good care of me – she immediately blushed behind her sari which was wrapped over her head as she delicately stood in the balance of the threshold of her home.

The next day feeling better, I gave 10 rupees to our cooks to get a morning cup of hot milk…they sent a boy to the man with the cow and came back with fresh milk to boil – village life!

P.S. In the photos you will see the evening of a festival for a holiday were everyone wears a new outfit, ours being our new sari’s! You will also catch a glimpse of a brief much needed break that Stephanie and I took at a ’5 star’ hotel for 1 evening of AC, warm shower and TV…Stephanie sadly got sick shortly after me in that same week – we needed some real rest.

And I can’t forget to point out that I made a friend with a small village dog, whom I named Zuki Junior.

Week 1 | September 25 to October 1 | Odissi Dance with Guru Surrendra

As I venture into the possibility of re-living one of the most physically demanding weeks of my life, this thirty-something life, I feel excitement and desire to return. This is bewildering considering all that happened that first week in Raghurajpur.[1] If this were a story portrayed on television you might first see this…

Shannon thin and trim, strong carrying the weight of the world with ease and satisfaction. She is feeling balance, walking a middle path she has attempted to stay on in this life. There is a new sense of understanding about our bodies, our lives and mostly our adaptability as human beings to just about any situation handed to us. It is easy for her to let the sweat[2] run down her face, fill her armpits and the cradle above her ass while a drip of sweat sweetly softly runs down the center of her cheeks. At this point, wrapping herself in the cotton scarf is a blessed thing as it helps absorb and is a shield for unwanted distractions or attention. This isn’t a new human being walking in Shannon’s shoes – it is simply a process of letting go of past live distractions, fears and habits. All creature comforts have been stripped away but it is still the sweating girl she has always been – she would like to thank her mother for the extra sweat glands keeping the sweat raining down.

Then, we flash back to 6 weeks before…but before we do let’s first address today, the now flash-forward. In being months removed from the sweltering heat and cacophony of India, I realize the reality of memory, the false truths that arrive in the mind from distance and time separation from the moment. The impermanence and vulnerability of our memories gives a freedom to re-discover a past moment, to exaggerate or miss the truth of the moment. And in times of great challenge the true memory is sent into a safe place in the mind to minimize the continued suffering. Like child birth or a death of a loved one – Joan Didion coins this as the title of one of my favorite books – The Year of Magical Thinking. You may be wondering, is she comparing her first week in India to suffering of child birth or lose of a loved one, sorta – yes. I write this because moments ago I checked my daily horoscope and this is what it states:

Even if you want to impress others with your inspirational attitude and the power of your positive thoughts, remember that you don’t have to sugarcoat reality. Do what you do best; just tell the truth and let everyone respond accordingly.

 

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[1] Will I tell you the all or is it as many say to me more often than not, too much information! Also, a note to the true writers out there – my use of footnotes is not correct, I know this but I have many footnotes in my mind constantly so this is my solution – thank you for your patience.

[2] For the many who had to bear witness to this time in Shannon’s life, including herself, you will note the word sweat will be used too an extraneous degree…one flip through her journal will reveal this superfluous need to write or say sweat, sweating, sweated, sweatier, sweatiest, sweats, sweaty…

Out of 100′s of photos from that first week – this 100 made the cut!

 

Some days off…we ventured to the nearest big city, Puri, to do some necessary shopping! After a day of shopping plus our weekly evening festival with the village came our first group outing…my first Buddhist site in India.

Beginning Days | September 21 to September 24

Arriving…

Just to give you a sense of our arrival to our new home in Raghurajpur, I will share photos taken just during the first 24 hours, Friday, September 23 to Saturday, September 24…thank you to everyone in the village and surrounding villages for being the most incredible hosts. You will never experience a welcome like the one at Raghurajpur International Art & Craft Exchange (RIA/CE)!

Sweets and me!

Just as a white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon following the breath of the atmosphere – in the same way the pilgrim abandons him(her)self to the breath of the greater life that…leads him(her) beyond the farthest horizons to an aim which is already present within him(her), though yet hidden from his(her) sight.                                                                                                                               Lama Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds

Two-weeks have officially gone by since landing back into my Brooklyn life – the return on Wednesday, November 23 was just in time for a delicious Thanksgiving meal with friends. Now two-weeks of western life – iphone, internet, my small old dog, the lose of my sweet old neighbor dog, my couch, hot showers, dinners with friends, home cooked farmers market pasta, wine, cheese, meat and of course office-work life. Reverse culture shock.

Arriving Friday, September 23

 

Please join me on the journey…landing back in Orissa, India on Friday, September 23, 2011. Join me in the coming weeks and months as I reflect and meditate on the friendships and villages that have burst my heart open from Raghurajpur to Dharamsala, India…

Thank you all for coming out to celebrate & support my acceptance to Raghurajpur International Arts & Crafts Exchange! The online fundraiser continues as I approach my departure to India as well as my goal…thank you all for your generosity & encouragement!

Please check out photos below by Kelly Neal & myself!

A special thank you to Mala Desai for her dance & blessing, to Green Lotus Project for their musical talents and finally to Baluchi’s & Arthur for their sponsorship of this evening, facebook like Baluchi’s Park Slope!

Please stay tuned for photo, video and writing entries from The Raghurjapur International Art/Craft Exchange and volunteer work at Lha Charitable Trust. Travel dates for blog entries, September 21 to November 23, 2011.