Buddhism is a religion

I only have a few days left in Nepal. That really hit me for some reason yesterday, Monday. I take a Tata Sumo back up to Kathmandu first thing Thursday morning. And then Friday it's off to Switzerland to visit Jeff, Ruthie and family.

Today Tiffany is off with one of her coworkers in a small village a few hour's bus ride from Hetauda attending a uterine prolapse workshop. So I have a relaxing day here in Hetauda... to cook and clean, walk around town a bit, hang out at the internet cafe for a while, read.

Tiffany woke me up to say goodbye around 7:00 this morning. I got up, heated up some tea, made toast--this involves frying a couple pieces of bread in butter on the gas stove. Also, heated up some water to have with my muesli. Washed all the dishes by hand. Set another big pot of water to boil. All water has to be boiled--and filtered--here. Tiffany then puts the boiled water into used one-liter plastic coke bottles. Some of these go into the refrigerator, although there is only power for about 12 hours a day so there is no guarantee that there will actually be cold water. Quite a process, but not that bad, really. Surprising how easy it can be to adjust to these minor inconveniences.

Then I sat down for a bit to read some of the book I'm currently reading, Fragrant Palm Leaves by Thich Nhat Hanh. Tiffany read this book a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I've been thinking a lot about religion in Nepal and so took her up on her suggestion that I read it, as well. He sounds like a young man. I guess he was in his mid- to late-30's when he wrote this. It's hitting the spot right now. Sometimes the right book at the right time in the right place, eh?

Another book of Tiffany's that I read a few weeks ago was Karma Cola by Gita Mehta. I read it when I was in Hetauda the first time between my time trekking with Tiffany in Langtang and my time in the Everest region. This book really helped me through a hard time here in Nepal. I'd say it was the low point of my travels here. I think it is partially that I was sick. But mainly, I think it was that I was just intellectually and emotionally overwhelmed with the fact of Nepal. The reality of being here. Hard to express just how foreign it feels. And that can be so exhausting. When everything is a potential story. Everything. And everything is a potential photo opportunity. Everything. Gita Mehta's writing helped calm my spirit. She's a bit cynical. Very intelligent. Insightful.

My second day in Nepal I went to the Swayambhunath and Boudhanath stupas in Kathmandu. This is a photo from the area around Swayambunath.

It was very beautiful there. So many people. Some tourists, but mostly Nepalis. Just being at the holy site. Just being.

In the monastery at Boudhanath there were so many exquisitely beautiful thangka paintings. Here is an example, complete with various heavens and hells.

When I was up trekking in the mountains, I saw many, many simple altars. Here is an example from a lodge in Dingboche.

And also so many mani stones and walls, prayer wheeles, chortens... and of course prayer flags absolutely everywhere. Here is an example of a small chorten with Island Peak--the 6,189 m (20,305 ft) peak I was to climb a few days later--in the background. By the way, the omnipresent mantra Om mani padme hum is inscribed in Tibetan again and again and again in these stones.

I've been in this little internet cafe for over an hour now. I walked here through the intense morning heat. Many of the locals are smart and have umbrellas--not for the potential pre-monsoon torrential downpour, but for the sun. Walked down Bhairab Road to School Road. Picked up a cold Sprite and a chocolate bar at one of the many nearly-identical small markets. I've been having cravings for the last week or so. I was fine for my first five weeks or so in Nepal. But just recently I've been craving soda and chocolate... and coffee and Mexican food! Whew. So interesting how Hetauda is set up. There is a main road, Main Road. In different sections of town there are different types of business. For example, on School Road there are all of the cell phone places. Everything is pre-pay here. No bills. There is a place where there a bunch of hardware shops. There is the part of town with all of the vegetable markets. Everything is so personal. For better and worse, right? You get that personal touch. Tiffany knows the woman she buys bananas from, for example. It is very much not corporate, right? But then again there are open sewers and there is only electricity for 12 hours a day. You hand wash all of your clothes and all of your dishes. People don't have cars. They walk. Or ride a bike. Or take a rickshaw--tones of those around. Or if they're pretty wealthy ride their motorcycle--quite the status symbol here.

So there's something that's been on my mind the whole time I've been here in Nepal. People in the US say this thing sometimes that really kind of bothers me a bit. They say, "Buddhism isn't a religion." What could that possible mean? I suppose they are saying that perhaps it is a philosophy instead. I guess that just begs the question of what is a religion. I need to do more reading and thinking on this, but it seems to me that a religion should involve a practice, a cosmology, and likely some element of belief or faith. I'm sure many people have thought and meditated long and hard on this so I'll leave it at that for now. The point, though, is that somehow the argument is that Buddhism doesn't fit whatever the working definition of a religion might be.

By the way, when I was trekking up in the Everest region, my guide, Yugal from Darjeeling, said one day out of the blue, "Buddhism isn't a religion." What!? Where did that come from!? Turns out he meant that Buddhism is not distinct from Hinduism. Of course, this is entirely different from what some of my fellow Americans are saying about Buddhism. I don't buy this either, though. I think it's pretty clear that there are large differences between Buddhism and Hinduism. Sounds a bit like saying Christianity and Judaism are one in the same.

The other thing that bothers me about the "Buddhism isn't a religion" thing is the implicit corollary, "and that is a good thing" or "and that is a strength of Buddhism" or "and that somehow makes Buddhism superior to the other major world religions." One thing to consider here is that Buddhism is not monolithic. There are many different schools, etc. Broadly, Mahayana and Theravada.

But beyond all of that, beyond all of the reading one could do on this, my experience here in Nepal just screams at me that, "No, it's not true! Buddhism is most certainly a religion!" The Buddhist people here in Nepal have a particular world view, a particular cosmology, one full of supernatural beings. They believe. I believe they have faith. The have a practice--daily, yearly, etc. How or why isn't it a religion? And why would that be a good thing? Something to meditate on.