Thinking Allowed: Hinterland Spirituality

We are not in a overly religious or spiritual life phase. This became even more apparent to me the other day when Aurora divulged her fear of the finality of death. The words afterlife, reincarnation, and soul were new to her. I felt bad that we hadn't provided her with any spiritual beliefs meant to dampen the likely reality. How opportune when I discovered that there was a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. A visit couldn't hurt, especially with the lure of vegetarian lunch and gardens of enlightenment. Which brings me back to the point that our children are receiving a meager spiritual upbringing. Both Jakob and I really enjoyed our time at the Pondicherry ashram. Though to be fair, we mostly strolled through their grounds, enjoyed their private beach, and bought paper products from their factory. Anyway, determined to overcome our religious ineptitude, I convinced Jakob to join a guided meditation session. I tried to bribe Aurora into joining the meditation as well but she looked at me like I was crazy when I explained what meditation involves.

I was intrigued as to why there was a Tibetan Buddhist monastery out here so far from Tibet. In the 70s, two monks came here on a speaking tour. The locals really dug their speech and offered the monks a tract of land for free if they would stay and start a monastery retreat. They agreed. I asked Jakob if i gave him a tract of land, whether he would agree to spiritually guide people. He replied evasively that it depends where the land was, which makes me feel like no one is going to offer us land.

So how did we fare in our foray into the spiritual? The girls really like the multicolored flags lining the road and all the colorful prayer flags. They were also were enraptured by the many prayer wheels, spinning then with fervor and glee which i can only assume was spiritual in nature. Sophia even asked if we could get a prayer wheel for our home. Future monk? The garden of enlightenment was relaxing though the girls chose to focus all their contemplative powers on the empty space beneath the stupas (they found an empty Gatorade bottle which caused a great sensation.) Jakob enjoyed his guided meditation on the theme of impermanence...though it turns out he is a little too good at releasing his consciousness and dozed off. Anyhow, lesson learned on the impermanence of consciousness.

Unsurprisingly, we all enjoyed the lunch.