At the Vihara ("Buddhist Monastery")

My time at the vihara was a gift of peace and connection with those who live a life of dedication and meditation.  I was given the honor once again of presenting the dishes at the meal to Bhanti, the abbot, who is now 86 but still immediately launches into perfect English when he sees me.  Monks eat their last meal of the day before noon, so we met in the dining hall about 11:00.  As a woman, I could not directly hand the dishes to Bhanti, but placed them on a cloth on the floor, where they were then handed to him by one of the monks.  Still, Bhanti's vihara is unique and "revolutionary," as my Buddhist friend, Yuli, says in having a group of young nuns studying at the Buddhist college there.  They will either return to their villages as lay women or continue there as teachers in small colleges or as spiritual guides in the viharas.  Buddhists here in Indonesia go back long before the arrival of Islam in the 14th century or so, brought by traders from India.  There are now a small minority.

The visit also brought me into contact with "Sister" Mutia, who was so helpful to me, as a friend, and even as a psychotherapist.  She immediately asked me about my well-being and saw that I had done a good deal of healing since my last few months of pain over the end of the marriage.  Her very presence is a comfort.

I also managed to get in a trip to the "Gereja Igen," the cathedral church at the center of Malang, thanks to my good friend, Pak Habib, who was always willing to "jemput," pick up and drive us everywhere.  Habib's friendship was one of the special gifts of my time in Indonesia, because, as an anthropologist, he is knowledgable about so many of the cultural and religious oddities underlying the mainstream of Islamic religious life.  He loves talking about the wayang, Hindu goddesses, rituals of various sorts from the Javanese indigenous spirituality.

So as is obvious, the life here is almost too rich to capture in simple blog form.
  Once again, I would like to resort to the book I have mentioned and use a quotation that she ends with:  "Citizens of a bounteous land, Indonesians are united, too, by an extraordinary generosity of spirit, a tolerance of difference.  They welcome strangers like me into their homes and their lives, they go out of their way to help people in trouble. . . . .Indonesia's upsides--the openness, the pragmatism, the generosity of its people, their relaxed attitude to life--are ultimately the more seductive traits, and the more important."  

In Batu and Malang

I have come back to the city of Malang and the little hill town to the north,  Batu, where the air is amazingly cool and fresh,  even cold at night.  I was here five years ago as a Fulbighter, and now wanted to come back to meet old friends.
 Before,  I lived in a gated community which could be isolated from everyday life.  Now I live with a family,  the gently invite me into their life and into speaking the language.

  Today I will go to the vihara,  monastery,  to meet my old friend, Mutia, who was such a help to me before. Mutia cannot be a nun though she looks like one,  because the monastery in the Theravada tradition.  Yuli, a budding Buddhist scholar working on her Ph.D. in Leiden, came with me here from Yogya, and told me on the 8-hour train ridethat Buddhism revived here only in the 1950s.  The vihara is one of my spiritual homes here in Indonesia, where I went for meditation and peace.
 

First class and Borobudur!

This blog post will be challenging, mainly because there is so much to convey!  I met my class for the first time Wednesday, and from the very first moment, they were welcoming to say the least.  Even after pulling "all-nighters" to finish papers from their last semester, they seemed bright, energetic, and really open to learning.  One student described what he has been learning at the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies, as being like "heaven" for him, because at least some have come from strict religious backgrounds where discussion, understanding, seeking are not in the forefront.  And the diversity of the class--from places like Aceh, Sumatra, Medan, Madura--was evident, from the islands that make up this vast and incomprehensible country.  These are only names to me because I have not been to any of these "outer islands."  But a very good book I have been reading before the trip, called Indonesia, Etc., by Elisabeth Pisano, does give a fascinating account of her tour through these islands, that make her describe this island of Java as "The Other Indonesia."  I downloaded the Kindle version after arriving, and still find it good reading.

Climbing the steps of Borobudur at the end of the procession

 Then, in the afternoon, we went to Borobudur, which you may know as one of the greatest "stupas," like Buddhist temples for holding relics, in the world, second only to Angkor Wat.  The structure itself is phenomenal, but having many villages represented in colorful performances, and a final half-dancing, half-walking procession to the  temple made the whole event even more awe-inspiring.  I was moved to be included in the groups making their way in order to say that the land and temple are too sacred, and should not be destroyed by more development of the site.  Already, many people were displaced by the restoration of this magnificent place.  If you get a chance, do look it up on the internet.  I am sensing more ecological consciousness here than five years ago; or perhaps there is more in this city than in the Dutch colonial city of Malang, where I lived before.  On the other hand, many things seem to be changing here, in small and sometimes consequential ways.

The trip to Borobudur in the CRCS van gave me a chance to get to know and actually bond with the students over the five or more hours of travel, meals, and time witnessing the performances.  I will leave my impressions for another blog, as this one is getting too long.  Their kindness is obvious from this photo of Sister Elizabeth treating me to fresh coconut.