Traveling to Poland

Riding a thirty-year old Russian train, covered in Cyrillic writing; it felt as though we had stepped back into the third world. It was midnight in Hannover; we were nineteen people, and our thirty bags. Crashed onto the train while the whistle blowed three times, impatiently.

On a completely dark platform swaying between two train cars, dusty, standing, no seat because we had sleeper cars and the bunks were too narrow, six to a car, to even admit luggage, much less adult humans. After half and hour of confusion, moved in the dark into the sitting car. Stumbled immediately upon a prone body propped across the aisle, some tired soul sleeping with head on one seat, rump blocking the aisle, and legs on seat on the other side. Holding two heavy bags I stepped high to avoid banging into the sleeper, then just quit, and banged into the person, then another, to find an empty seat. Let the sleeper bunk go, regardless of the price. Who decided we should take the train, anyway? Did we save thirty dollars per person over a flight from Hamburg to Warsaw?

Three days of Dharma Assemblies, lectures and comraderie, from Saturday, July 21st to Monday, July 23rd. Everybody in the delegation was impressed by the sincerity of the Polish friends. Bowing and repentance were the favorite Dharma-practices!

Comments

[Ven.Bibhuti Barua]

Dear Dhamma,
I am a buddhist monk in Thailand. I am very interested to visit at the monastery in poland.
kindly send me details as soon as possible.
With metta.
Dhamma