Sichuan: Academics and Epicness
From the bustling chatter of an active monastery – full of presence and thoughtful life that may seem quiet at first glance but is in fact teeming with, well, aliveness – to the sleek dark lacquer chairs and tables of the large lecture hall where we spend most of our time, the cheerful student volunteers who pour cup after cup of hot water for tea, the faces of tired students and scholars at the end of another fourteen hour day of lectures and seminars, we all made this a special time and place. The cozy morning wake ups, the warm coconut milk at breakfast, cold morning walks to the temple, setting ins with tea and settling the mind to receive, negotiate, and process wisdom and intellect. Meals with the monks and nuns, their singing prayers and speedy appetites, delicious food prepared with love aplenty. The woman who scoops the rice gave me a special smile each time and said what I expect were endearing words, although I’ll never be sure. The young monk, petite and size with suc