As we mentioned previously, we left our quarters in Bodh Gaya, where we’d spent the past month volunteering at a nearby school, and headed toward a new adventure, one such as we’d never experienced before. And what was this intriguing undertaking? We were about to attend a ten-day meditation retreat.

Vipassana Retreat

Bodh Gaya, being the birthplace of Buddhism, has become a hub of spiritually-minded folk, and those who are curious about photographing spiritual-minded folk and their legacy. Thus, it’s a logical location for one of the world’s centers for teaching Vipassana, a secular school of meditation that developed out of Buddhism. And since we were going to be in the neighborhood anyway, we thought why not give it a shot — particularly since it’s totally free, including room and board.

This retreat — they actually call it a course — was recommended by a friend, a fellow American whom we met during our time in Morocco, and visited with in southern India. He’d taken it and loved it, so we decided to apply online, and we were both accepted. So, when our volunteering gig was done, we loaded our belongings and ourselves into a tuk-tuk and headed to the meditation center, a few miles out of town.

Heading Across Town

There were separate facilities for men and women; the two compounds were divided by a makeshift wall that made Pyramus and Thisbe of us all, prohibiting the respective genders from even seeing each other –well, unless, say, at some point a guy should casually position himself next to a crack between partitions by the cafeteria, and then he might catch a glimpse of his wife coming out after dinner and clear his throat to get her attention or something.

Also prohibited, after the initial check-in and orientation period, was any kind of communication, even with fellow students of our own chromosome set. There was no talking, no sign language or gesturing, no note passing, no semaphore or sock puppets — we weren’t even supposed to make eye contact with each other. Additionally, all of our devices except our watches went into lockdown: our phones, computers, cameras, and so on, as well as any kind of toy, game, book, or even writing materials. They wanted absolutely nothing to distract us from our single-minded mission of navel gazing.

The rooms were suitably monastic, furnished only with a pair of reasonably comfortable bunks. We each had a roommate, at least in the beginning; but Dennis’ roommate bailed out after three days, and Kimberly’s also left before the course was finished.

Arriving – a peak inside before turning the camera off

The food was tasty, varied, vegetarian, and generally copious. The one exception to the latter was in the evening, when we didn’t get dinner as such, but just a snack: crisped rice (rather like Rice Krispies, except not sweet), warm milk to go with it if we wanted, and fruit — usually apples and bananas. In the morning and evening there was also hot tea — none was served at lunch, curiously enough, so if you wanted some to perk you up at midday, you’d have to have the foresight to bring a thermos to breakfast and take some to go. After eating we’d wash our own dishes; they were the stainless steel variety that is standard issue in India, and they can be a bit precarious to hold when you’re dishing up hot grub.

The daily routine began when we were awakened at 4:15 (yes, that’s A.M.), courtesy of a staff member ringing a bell outside our window. Then 15 minutes later we’d assemble in the assembly hall for a meditation session until 6:00, at which time we’d adjourn for breakfast. After a little break, we’d have a morning meditation session until lunch, at which time we’d be off for about 2 hours, so we had enough time to catch a nap. Then it was back for more meditation until dinner; and after another little break, there was — you guessed it — more meditation, followed by a video “discourse”. And finally we were dismissed about 9:00 to go get some shuteye.

On the final day, the ban against communication was lifted, and we were able to resume conversations that had begun 10 days earlier, and even have some new ones. And we were also able to compare notes, whereupon we learned that we had rather different perspectives on the whole event.

DENNIS’ TAKE:

“While this retreat certainly provided something of value, I feel that it could have been condensed considerably. In fact, I commented to Kimberly that the whole 10 days could have been packed into a short YouTube video. Which might be an exaggeration, but not much of one. My biggest complaint (aside from the excruciating difficulty of sitting still for so long) was the lack of instruction and guidance. It wasn’t until the fourth day that the Vipassana approach was even approached; and even then, it was rather vague. As for the 45-minute “discourse” videos we had to sit through, I found them tedious and mostly rather pointless. (I tried to skip them, but got called out and hauled before the teacher for a reprimand,) I can’t say that it was a particularly enjoyable experience, but I’m pleased I met the challenge of seeing it through to completion — and it was indeed quite a challenge for me. I’m glad I did it once, but I have a feeling that once will suffice. (I’ve been writing a much more detailed account of the proceedings, which you can read here.)”

Dennis Cam (Post Retreat)

KIMBERLY’S TAKE:

“We have both dabbled in some meditation in the past, from time to time. But nothing close to what we signed up for here. It was like being at the top of waterslide, having the bottom drop out from under you and going from 0 miles per hour to 120 in 3 seconds flat. At first, I was adverse to becoming like all of the other zombie-like humanoids wandering around, eating, sleeping and sitting in unison. I honestly did not think I would be able to sleep at night without being plugged into my devices. I didn’t know how I would survive not being able to do yoga, exercise, write down notes, take photos or a myriad of other activities. But at one point I made up my mind to jump in and just see what the experience had to offer without any preconceived judgment. Once I had that shift in perspective, I was able to enjoy it and take advantage of the full experience. After all what else was I going to do? The hardest part was just trying to find a position to sit in that didn’t cause my legs to cramp up. And that never really got any easier. Part of the process is understanding the pain and realizing it is temporary, and I get that, but it felt like the circulation would just stop in my legs and I didn’t quite get the point of causing pain. Setting the minor discomfort aside it was a rewarding experience in my book. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to unplug and experience life without a care in the world. All of our delicious meals were cooked by others for us.

Responding to Dennis’ comment about condensing the experience to a YouTube video, I disagree. Sure, the essence of what is taught could perhaps be condensed. In fact, there is an app for those who want to maintain the practice or find a center where they can experience a retreat – there are locations worldwide. But the experience in no way can be duplicated in the world of frenzy where we are faced with our day to day concerns. The calm silence, carefree atmosphere and community bonding with others can not be replicated in a book or video.

I did also struggle with the discourse videos but mostly because while they were in English it was heavily accented and very difficult to understand. And I felt for other students who were from other countries and spoke English as a second language, though they had translation devices that they could listen to for the instructions. I never got to the point that I skipped out, I just tried to listen and make sense of what was being said the best I could. After the program I suggested they provide closed captioning so more of us non-Hindi speakers could understand the recordings.

I did manage to sleep well and woke up ready to go at 4:00 am. At some point, I had a meditation experience of what can only be described as floating. Then there was the time when I was in my solo meditation room and I unintentionally slept through dinner. And even though yoga and exercise were expressly against the rules, my roommate and I worked out an arrangement to share my yoga mat and do some stretches in our room. We just didn’t talk about it.

Overall, I found the experience rewarding and recommend that everyone experience a meditation retreat or something like it at least once in their life. Looking back a year later as I write this, I can tell you that I do not regularly practice daily meditation but it is something I still find beneficial and aspire to.”

Kimberly Cam (Post Retreat)

When we resurfaced in the real world, and reattached ourselves to our gadgets and the Worldwide Web, we found to our relief that we had not missed any important messages or opportunities. This 10-day getaway had been a temporary respite from our quotidian life that did us no harm and, quite likely, even did us some good.

Birds and other backyard critters in Bodh Gaya

9/5 - 9/16/2022