Earth and Space News: Thich Nhat Hanh, Stream Entering Monastery and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings

Summary: Stream Entering Monastery mindful meditations of Thich Nhat Hanh in southeast Australia perhaps actualize those around Ajanta cave wall paintings in India.

entrance to Tu Vlện Nhập Lưu -- Stream Entering Monastery, located at 221 Maria's Lane, Beaufort, west central Victoria, southeastern Australia: Stream Entering -- Nhap Luu Monastery @Nhapluumonastery, via Facebook April 9, 2012

Mindful meditations by Plum Village Tradition founder Thich Nhat Hanh for Stream Entering Monastery in southeast Australia perhaps allow an acquaintance with those anciently around Ajanta cave wall paintings in central-west India.

Tu vlen Nhap Luu (Vietnamese for Stream Entering Monastery) blends with Theravada (from Sanskrit स्थविरवाद, "elders' doctrine"), and some Mahayana (from Sanskrit महायान, "great vehicle"), communities. Five Buddhist nuns, called sisters, conducted the first Stream Entering Monastery monastic rains retreat three months after the meditation center's formal opening ceremony Feb. 1, 2010. Monastic rains retreats describe Siddhartha Gautama's (from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful" and गोतम, "light [dispels] darkness") cool- and dry-season mendicant peregrinations and rainy-season downtimes in sheltered comfort.

Resident and seasonal monastics exchanged cool- and dry-season homelessness for rainy-sesaon enjoyment of beds, food, mindful meditations around Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures, and water.

Siddhartha Gautama's monastic rains retreats favored banyan (Ficus benghalensis), bodhi (Ficus religiosa), mango (Mangifera indica), rose-apple (Syzygium jambos), sala (Shorea robusta) and simsapa (Dalbergia sissoo) forests.

Those same trees guide Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures within Sahyadri (from Sanskrit सह्याद्रि, "benevolent") Hill and Waghora (from Sanskrit व्याघ्र, "tiger") River forest caves. Hill and river-bend teak (Tectona grandis) forests hosted 1,300- to 2,300-year-old Ajanta (from Sanskrit अजित, "invincible") caves, just as Australia outback bush harbors Stream Entering Monastery. Siddhartha Gautama's (624?-544 B.C.E.?) edible, ornamental Vassavasa (from Sanskrit वर्षावास, "residence in rains") monastic rains retreat gardens inspired those in Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures.

Stream Entering Monastery nuns daily journey from their on-site White Cloud Hamlet residence with its edible, ornamental gardens past the meditation center orchard and ornamental ponds.

Kalama, Kashi, Koliya, Koshala, Licchavi, Magadha, Malla, Moriya, Shakya, Vajji and Videha peoples knew enlightened Prince Siddhartha's mindful meditations as Gautama Buddha (from Sanskrit बुद्ध, "awakened").

Chaitya (memorial monument, from Sanskrit चैत्य) halls and pradakshina (right-turning, from Sanskrit प्रदक्षिण) aisles launch sitting, walking mindful meditations of Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures. Stream Entering Monastery nuns manage gatha (from Sanskrit गाथा, "verse") mindful mental recitations apart or merged with breathing, chanting, eating, resting, sitting, walking, working mindful meditations. One gatha notes, "I have arrived, I am home. In the here, in the now I am solid, I am free. In the ultimate, I dwell."

Perhaps sangha (from Sanskrit संघ, "multitude") lay and monastic breathing, resting, sitting, walking, working mindful meditations offered Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures similar gatha silences.

Stream Entering Monastery nuns perform breathing, chanting, eating, resting, sitting, walking, working mindful meditations, with or without silent gatha mindful recitations, on 135.91 acres (55 hectares).

The Himalaya Mountains south to the Hazaribagh Hills and the River Jumna east to the Rivers Kosi and Neranjara qualified for Gautama Buddha's 45-year mindful meditations. Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures received South through East Asian artisans', merchants' and monks' mindful meditations 1,300 to 1,600 and 2,000 to 2,300 years ago. African, American, Asian, Australian and European mindful meditations sustain the nine-year-old Stream Entering Monastery meditation center's monastic rains retreats, Sunday Days of Mindfulness and working bees.

Mindful meditations iconically team elephants and tigers in Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures with Stream Entering Monastery kangaroos two hours west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Meditation Hall at Tu Vlện Nhập Lưu -- Stream Entering Monastery (also known as Plum Village Australia), established Feb. 1, 2010, by five disciples of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh: Stream Entering -- Nhap Luu Monastery @Nhapluumonastery, via Facebook Feb. 10, 2019

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

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Earth and Space News

Friday, May 24, 2019

Thich Nhat Hanh, Stream Entering Monastery and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings

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