Left this morning on a Peramatour Bus for Lovina up north ten kilometers from the
Brahmavihara Arama, a Buddhist temple (see photo), for a Vipassana retreat that starts on Saturday and ends Friday the 18th at noon. Katrinka will pick me up with a driver then and we'll stay up there maybe for a day or two or three because it's a whole three hours away on the other side of the island and we only get that far away occasionally. Got some friends up there too. All the Suzuki lecture excerpts are already in the queue for every day through the 19th cept Sundays which is cuke day off. Katrinka will also bring my laptop so I'll catch up on email maybe that evening or the next day. Taking iPhone but don't use it for email and will have to hand it over for the duration of the retreat - sort of like checking your guns at the door or the Samurai leaving their swords outside the teahouse.
That photo is of one of the Dharma Hall, a miniature Borobudur. This field is where we do the first walking meditation at four AM (it'll be pretty cool then cause it's up a ways in the mts.) and the last one at night and anytime during the day one wishes. The first and last sitting meditations will be in the Dharma Hall and maybe it will be set aside for women during the rest of the day - though they may sit outside or in a number of other places. We're mostly on our own. No charge - just dana - whatever one wishes to contribute. - dc
