tibetan new years resolution

write better. i must write better. last night was the tibetan new years. my resolution is to write better. well, new years resolutions are actually one of the worst ways to initiate growth. to change one's life it must be a slow and steady process if it is to be effective. i must stop using commas or semi-colons to join two sentences together to begin with.

today we climbed (further) up a mountain to a buddhist retreat center where we listened to a talk by the main teacher on the basics of buddhism. she is australian and has taught at the center for about a year, but will leave in april.

she told us that arguably in the west the greatest scientific discovery of the 21st century is brain plasticity. once it was thought that by the age of 7 most of the "self" is formed and unchangeable, this i believe until about a year ago. brain plasticity can be observed all through life even at an elderly age. however, about 25 hundred years ago this was discovered in the east with far less technology (as a philosophical idea rather than a scientific one.) habits can change, skill can grow, we all can improve. 

the main emphasis of the talk was on impermanence. it was fun to think about how we so easily intellectually accept impermanence and that we would even be embarrassed to say we were immortal. the really hard part is to accept it emotionally.

i nicknamed her "the knife." she is so good at not wasting any time or dragging on for too long. there was a short q&a after and as soon as the question being asked became clear she would respectfully cut them off. she was extremely assertive but not from an aggressive or ego source. her dialogue was simple and somehow very organizing of the many aspects of buddhism. i think she is a great (enthusiastic) teacher.

well, i could go on and on about the talk, but i won't. we have invested in a 5-day course starting on the 8th that's taught by this woman. when it ends we will go to a two day course by the dali lama. it seems like a pretty good start on buddhism in india.


it is also a good use of our time since most of the volunteering organizations seem to operate through this centralized office that is closed until the 15th we are pretty much out of luck until then. i am very keen on teaching english to monks or editing the local magazine (i don't know how good at either i will be!)