“Being Kind”

“Be kind to all creatures; this is the true religion.”
(Siddhārtha Gautama, known as the Buddha – c. 563 BCE/480 BCE – c. 483 BCE/400 BCE)

This is a close-up of one of the statues of the Buddha inside the Tibetan temple in Sarnath which is located at 13 km away from Varanasi (Benaras).

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Happy Divali – Happy New Year

Divali, or Deepavali (in Hindi – दिवाली or दीपावली), is a major Indian festival, significant in Hinduism , Jainism and Sikhism.
Celebrated by Hindus,Jains and Sikhs across the globe, as the “Festival of Light,” where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.

The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional dīpa or deeya (earthen lamp), and fireworks. Though colloquially called Divali in North India, in South India it is called Deepavali.
Divali is celebrated for five consecutive days at the end of Hindu month of Ashwayuja (amanta).
It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals in India.
Hindus, Jains and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships.
For Hindus it is one of the most important festivals, and beginning of the year in some Hindu calendars, especially in North India.

This image was shot in Sarnath in front of Lord Buddha’s tree (which was grown from a cutting of the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya) where he met his first five disciples.

On this auspicious day of Diwali and in the coming New year may you all be blessed with success, prosperity and happiness…

Divali ki shubhkamnayen.

 
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Many Ways to Worship

“I’ve learned much from the land of many gods and many ways to worship. 
From Buddhism the power to begin to manage my mind, from Jainism the desire to make peace in all aspects of life, while Islam has taught me to desire goodness and to let go of that which cannot be controlled. 
I thank Judaism for teaching me the power of transcendence in rituals and the Sufis for affirming my ability to find answers within and reconnecting me with the power of music. 
Here’s to the Parsis for teaching me that nature must be touched lightly, and the Sikhs for the importance of spiritual strength….
And most of all, I thank Hinduism for showing me that there are millions of paths to the divine.” 
(From “Holy Cow” by Sarah Macdonald)

This is a close-up of a part of the Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath located at 13 km away from Varanasi (Benaras).
The Dhamek Stupa is said to mark the spot of a deer park (Rishipattana) where the Buddha gave the first sermon to his five disciples after attaining enlightenment, “revealing his Eightfold Path leading to nirvana”.
In its current shape, the stupa is an impressive cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters (128 feet high and 93 feet in diameter).
The basement seems to have survived from Ashoka’s structure: the stone facing is chiseled and displays delicate floral carvings of Gupta origin. 
The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and birds, as well as inscriptions in the Brāhmī script.
This picture was shot at the time of a visit of his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

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“A Guit Your” – “Shana Tova”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
(From “A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches” by Martin Luther King Jr.)

Amazing symbols gathered all together on a huge bowl in the gardens of the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum in New Delhi.
With “Om” everything begins, it is a mantra and mystical Sanskrit sound of Hindu origin sacred and important in various Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Like Ganesha who is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, he is the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom, the god of beginnings and therefore he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies.
Then the hexagram which has deep significance in most of the Dharmic and Abrahamic religions.
In Christianity it is often called the star of creation, while it is known as Najmat Dāwūd (Star of David) or Khātem Sulaymān (Seal of Solomon) in Islam and becomes the Magen David when it is recognized as the symbol of Judaism.

In many ways this picture unites us all and allows me to wish everyone, whatever your faith is, “A Guit Your”, “Shana Tova” or, in other words, a Happy New Year.
It is easier to love than to hate, and as we are at the edge of a new conflict I truly want peace to prevail.
May this year be peaceful for all of us…

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With Love, Admiration And Respect

“It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it.
But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.”
(From “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse)

This statue of Buddha is on the south side of the central tower which rises 55 metres (180 ft) of the Mahabodhi Temple (“Great Awakening Temple”) in Bodh Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar.
It is the location where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment.
The temple, a Buddhist stupa, the most sacred site in Buddhism is visited regularly by both Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims (many Hindus honor the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu).
The holy Bodhi tree is near to the temple to the western side.
According UNESCO, “the present temple is one of the earliest and most imposing structures built entirely in brick from Gupta period”.

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Several blasts in Bodhgaya

This morning on 7 July, 2013, in a terror attack, 9 bombs exploded inside the Mahabodhi temple (“Great Awakening Temple”) complex (a UNESCO World heritage site) located in Bodh-Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar which is the Buddhism’s holiest shrine.
The first blast took place inside the temple at 5:30 am, followed by eight successive explosions in the next half hour, one near the Buddha statue, one near the Mahabodhi tree and others near the Teraga monastery, injuring 5 people.
One unexploded bomb was also traced and defused.
The main temple is intact and sanitised.

This holy site is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.
The site of the Bodhi tree at Bodhigaya is, directly connected to the life of Buddha (566-486 BCE) and attained enlighment or perfect insight when he was meditating under this tree.
The Bodhi tree, which is to the west of the main temple is a direct continuation of original Bodhi tree under which Budha spent his first week after attaining enlighment.
According to the Jatakas, it forms the navel of the earth, and no other place can support the weight of the Buddha’s attainment.

The Intelligence Bureau of India may have alerted state officials of possible threats around 15 days prior to the bombing.
It happens “again” just before some elections in order to raise controversies and disputes which is exactly the opposite of Buddha’s teachings unless it is done in order to mark the Dalai Lama’s birthday who just turned 78 a few hours before those blasts…
Terrorism is not negotiable…Nothing justifies such things…What comes to the mind of those who do such things…???

This insanity is beyond words…I know this place which only inspires love, compassion and brotherhood…
(Last time I went there I took this picture at dawn before anyone came inside the complex)

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“Bouddha” by Jean Boisselier and Trinh Xuan Thuan

“May you all be happy!” is picture of a lotus flower at Bodh Gaya, in the Indian state of Bihar, the place of Gautama Buddha’s attainment of nirvana (Enlightenment).
It was selected to make the cover of “Bouddha” a book by Jean Boisselier and Trinh Xuan Thuan published by Gallimard and released the 7th May 2013.

ISBN : 9782070141579

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The Year of the Water Snake

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“Appreciate and rejoice, without any expectation.
It doesn’t matter if people are unkind to you, it doesn’t matter if people betray you, it doesn’t matter if people don’t even say ‘thank you’ to you; by appreciating everything around you, from happy experiences to sad, your life will become meaningful, full of understanding, joy, strength and fearlessness.”
(Jigme Pema Wangchen, The Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, B.1963)

This is a view from Stok palace, the current residence of the royal family of Ladakh with an amazing Hiamalyan landscape which is a poetry of nature following the Indus river through stony hills.
This picture is an opportunity to wish everyone and especially my Tibetan and Ladakhi friends Tashi Delek, Happy Losar & Happy New Year on the occasion of the upcoming Female Water Snake Year 2140…

(Tashi means auspicious and Delek means fine or well and it could be translated by “Blessings and good luck” or “May all auspicious signs come to this environment”.
The phrase is also used in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim.
Losar is the Tibetan word for “new year” which is the most important holiday in Tibet and Bhutan, it is a three-day festival that mixes sacred and secular practices (prayers, ceremonies, hanging prayer flags, sacred and folk dancing, partying).
It occurs near or on the same day as the Chinese New Year and the Mongolian New Year, but the traditions of Losar are unique to Tibet andpredates Buddhism or Indian and Chinese influences).

This year the Tibetan government in Exile has appealed to Tibetans to pray instead of party at Losar, in solidarity with Tibetans who have self-immolated. http://bit.ly/YPiCEE

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Geo histoire N°6

 

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“The Truth of Your Own Nature” is a close-up of the huge statue of Maitreya Buddha which is in a temple inside Thiksey Monastery in front of the Himalayan hills of Ladakh.

This picture was published page 58 & 59 in GEO HISTOIRE N°6
Le bouddhisme : de la naissance de Siddharta à l’exil du Dalaï-Lama.
DECEMBRE 2012 – JANVIER 2013

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Shaped by the Light

 

 

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“There is no closed figure in nature.
Every shape participates with another.
No one thing is independent of another, and one thing rhymes with another, and light gives them shape.”
(Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographe, 1908–2004)

This was shot as I was climbing the hillock leading to Shey Gompa (monastery) and Palace in a land of freezing winds among the rocks and peebles of the cold desert shaped by the light…

The palace, mostly in ruins now, was used as a summer retreat by the kings of Ladakh.
The Namgyals abandoned the place and fled to Stok on the opposite side of the Indus River when the Dogras of Jammu invaded Ladakh in 1842.

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