Tue, 11 Jul 2006
Roomies
I had a shared room as I usually do for the ten day retreat. My first roommate was Aaron, who I know from previous retreats at KTD. Aaron plays in a hard core punk rock band, but shatters all of your stereotypes of what a punk rocker is like. He's very clean cut, soft spoken, and polite. And, of course, he's a dedicated Buddhist. He's a really nice guy and I like him a lot. Aaron left retreat early to go to a friend's wedding. My second roommate was Michael, the son of Michael and Margaret who are long time members of KTD. Michael was new to Buddhism and took refuge vows over the weekend. My first impression of him was that he gave off yogi vibes. No criticism intended, but I find long time Hindu practitioners have a definite vibe about them. It turned out I was right, he was a disciple of Guru Mai.
I'm glad to say there were a good number of younger practitioners at the retreat. Their presence definitely changed the energy of the retreat and made it a more lively place. I'll just mention two. There was Amy, on the kitchen staff, who loud and easy laughter could be heard through the whole residence. And Jeb, a student from Thrangu Rinpoche's center in Maine, who is a very good and serious practitioner. More tomorrow, I'm not done yet.
