I spend 10 days in Kopan monastery which is in the outskirts of the capital Kathmandu in Nepal. I took the introduction to Buddhism course, where we spend 8 days learning and 2 days in total silence meditating.
For the overview of the course and what the Kopan monastery stands for I advice you to check their website. Here I will be sharing some of the things I learned and that I found interesting.
It was quite an intense experience learning about Buddhism, I did not expect it to be quite so religious and dark about death and karma. The first 3 days I was wondering why I came.
After these days, the information became a bit more digestible, we learned about the causes of suffering. As according to Buddhism the goal of life is happiness.
The location is beautiful, the people are extremely friendly and the food was amazing. I would recommend this experience for sure if you have the time. You learn some very interesting tools for life.
The discussion groups were very nice, they helped you to understand and share your thoughts on the teachings better. I enjoyed the two days of silent, they helped integrate the experience.
Keep an eye out on the next posts, I will be sharing some of the things we learned during the course.
miracles of the moon ☽ 