Trees of Uttar Kannada

Dear All, 

In these difficult times I’m happy to share some recent tree pictures from around where I live.  

Please stay safe and be careful!  n

Happy Year of the Iron Rat

Wishing you a happy Losar

as our young ones debate

memorize

And venture out to Jang Kung Choe to sharpen their logic

under coconuts

and mango trees

abbots scrutinize

and young ones challenge

teachers teach

and wise ones explain

a novice learns the alphabet

to eventually know what's true

and what is not

to be worshiped

or used to worship

to propitiate

and to develop our hearts

and minds

to make our way to enlightenment

The journey continues

Permission to photograph!!!

in the Mahabodhi Temple

the image of the Buddha, created, it is said, by a celestial artist during the life of Gautama Buddha

at the place where he sat beneath the Bodhi Tree and attained enlightenment

Rinpoche reads the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment

then visits the place where the Buddha spent six years

leading a life of austerity

A young girl offered him boiled milk and rice

We need to be healthy to practice, help others...

and proceed along the middle path,

accepting life's challenges

The Buddha traveled to Rajgir

up to Vultures’ Peak, where he taught the Wisdom Sutras

on the lack of an inherently existent self

Form is empty, emptiness is form; form is none other than emptiness, emptiness is non other than form...

And on to Vaishali

Korean Buddhists chant and bow

before the Buddha’s ashes

and the stupa where relics are protected by Ashoka’s lion pillar

Then to Hampi to meet old friends...

well pampered

It is the 14th century capital of the Vijayanagar Empire

A natural spot for a picture

a family portrait

with holy elephant

holy cow

holy bull

holy monkey

holy self, the source of all our troubles!!!

And so, we follow our Master along the path to enlightenment

Happy New Year from Bodhgaya

Bodhgaya

full of hidden corners

little stupas under little bodhi trees

The Mahabodhi Temple

pilgrims

below the Bodhi Tree

offerings before the engraved mantra of compassion, Om Mani Padme Hum

And Goddess Tara, who skillfully implements compassion

Some circumambulate the temple, others prostrate before it

All seek the blessing of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment

But many are in need of sympathy...

Is anyone taking any notice???