Photos

Beneath the sacred Bhodi’ pilgrims and mediators come from all over the world. This is the site where, by tradition, the Buddha achieved enlightenment: the Holy of Holies for Buddhists. Buddhism has many forms of meditation and some of these differ according to the different traditions. This lama is from the Tibetan tradition and he is engaged in a Tantric form of meditation. Many lamas were doing this form, (one of many) which consists of endless rubbing multi coloured beads across the bottom of a bronze bowl.
All Buddhist meditation methods are about understanding and training and the mind. That is, attaining wisdom. They all require a concentration of the present moment, the past is gone, it is just a dream, and the future does not exist. Wisdom is found in this present moment. The mind is like a monkey, said the Buddha, and jumps here and there without discipline. Although, I do not practice these Tantric methods, I am pretty sure that this repetitious work is aimed at taming the mind and developing insight and wisdom. One nice thing about these pilgrimage centres is the way that the different schools and tradition of Buddhism interact and learn from each other.