Tamara Colloff-Bennett

A Buddhist Verse
In the ‘Exalted Sublime Golden Light Sutra’, there is this verse that talks about a number of impossibilities in nature:

When white lilies grow
In the Ganges’ swift currents,
When crows become red
And cuckoos turn the color of conch,
When palm fruit grows on the rose-apple tree
And on the date tree mangos form,
At that time a relic the size
Of a mustard seed will appear.

The Ganges In Varanasi
Now, it just so happens that my husband David and I saw the Ganges River this past spring as it flowed through various cities in India.

However, as you might easily conclude – never in our travels did we see ‘white lilies grow in the Ganges’ swift currents’, as the poem here proposes.

Relics The Size Of A Mustard Seed
A few weekends ago, however, we did actually see a ‘relic the size of a mustard seed’.

In fact, we saw a number of clusters of them – and it happened here in the cold summer weather of the city of Leeds rather than in the heat of India.

Sacred Objects From Buddhist Masters
We saw these relics at an exhibition called the ‘Maitreya Project Relic Tour: Sacred Relics Of The Buddha’, sponsored by the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in Leeds that was being shown in the Leeds City Museum.

The exhibition of Buddhist relics included some donated by the Dalai Lama. It was qualified as a rare collection that included relics of the Buddha and of masters from different Buddhist traditions.

Remembering Majnu-ka-Tilla
We were interested to see what these relics were. As we stood in the subdued queue of people waiting to see them, David and I spoke to one another about the Buddhists we had met in India.

We recalled in particular the lovely practitioners of the faith that we had seen in Majnu-ka-Tilla, the Tibetan enclave in Delhi where we had stayed for almost a week when we were in Delhi.

In Majnu-ka-Tilla we had stayed at Wongden House, a friendly hotel with airy rooms that looked out at the Yamuna River and the fields and huts on the riverbank.

Life In Those Alleyways And Byways
Once you leave the hotel, you go through winding, unpaved alleyways and paths where colorful prayer flags, handy Tibetan crafts, mom & pop food shops, clothing stores, phone outlets, and corner pharmacies. Even an Internet cafe or two dot the streets.

As you walk, you often pass Buddhist monks radiant in their simple vermillion robes. Everything and everyone winds down to the very wide boulevard where bicycle rickshaws and some auto-rickshaws (if you are lucky enough to find them!) transport you to the local subway station and from there you can get to the heart of Delhi.

Once in the center of Delhi, you’re back in the thick of it, of course. You can see everything from the ancient to the new in terms of transport, as this photograph of the city traffic reveals:

The Community As Our Refuge
The commercial center of the exiled Tibetan refugee community, Majnu-ka-Tilla is a quiet, peaceful area that offered us respite from such chock-a-bloc traffic and the frenetic, all-guns-blazing hubbub that is Delhi.

Wongden House also has a marvelous small and simple restaurant on its premises where we ate several times.

There one night we met some Buddhists who were passing through en route to a retreat. We asked them questions about their way of life as we ate delicious Tibetan noodle soup called ‘tenthuk’ made with vegetables, steamed dumplings called ‘momos’, and vegetables that sizzled on a huge bed of lettuce.

Visiting The Buddhist Exhibit
Cut from that experience of the Buddhist culture in Delhi this past spring back to the exhibit that we saw recently here in England.

Before entering the exhibit, we were asked to take off our shoes. After that we entered a large, dimly-lit rotunda where calming music was being piped in. The lights were low as all of us museum goers progressed forward on a narrow plush red carpet.

On one side of the queue, people sat on chairs and mats. Some assumed the lotus position as they meditated.

On the other side, a monk dressed in beautiful vermillion robes blessed people who came one by one to kneel in front of him. He placed a golden vessel on each person’s head, which we learned also contained some relics of the masters.

In the center was a large golden Buddha, golden bowls lined up in a semi-circle, and a number of exhibits in glass cases.

As we wound around the table, we also saw a copy of the Exalted Sublime Golden Light Sutra, the same book from which I chose the verse that I used to begin this article.

What Are ‘Relics’ According To Buddhists?
The highlight of the show were the relics of the Gautama Buddha and of other masters.

We discovered that ‘relics’ is the word Buddhists use to describe the bits of hard, pearlized balls of bone that are found in the sifted material that remains after a holy master is cremated.

We saw about 10 glass cases filled with delicate bowls that had about half a dozen or so or fewer of these gleaming remains.

The Two Usual Sources For ‘Pearls Of Wisdom’
And so I wonder: Is this where the term ‘pearls of wisdom’ first came from?

The usual answer about where this phrase comes from is that the phrase is considered to come from two sources.

The first source is considered to be from the Christian religion, specifically from Matthew 7:6 in which there is a reference to casting pearls (that is, the wisdom of the gospel) before swine.

The second source is from James Russell Lowell, the nineteenth-century American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat who referred to the poetry contained in the classic Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as follows:

These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred,
Each softly lucent as a rounded moon;
The diver Omar plucked them from their bed,
Fitzgerald strung them on an English thread.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is the title that the nineteenth-century writer and translator Edward FitzGerald gave to his famous translation of about 1,000 poems.

The poems were originally written in Persian and are attributed to the Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer Omar Khayyam who was born in 1048 and died in 1131.

A Possible Third Source For The Expression ‘Pearls Of Wisdom’?
After seeing these relics recently, I now wonder whether they are in fact a third source for the expression ‘pearls of wisdom’.

I asked this of a Buddhist monk who was there and she said that Buddhists believe it is only masters’ remains who yield such relics. However, I do not know what experts of cremation would say about this.

I do know this, however: Although we can use the term “pearls of wisdom” sarcastically, at its heart the expression is meant as intelligent advice, commentary, or instruction that someone imparts to others.

And does that not sound exactly like what the Buddhist teachers and masters strive to do throughout their lives?

The tiny silver- and cream-colored ‘pearls’ glittering so perfectly in their glass cases with the photographs of lovely, smiling Buddhist monks from whom they came next to them makes me think that this derivation seems like it may well be possible.

And so as the poem at the beginning of this article stated, it may well be that flowers don’t bloom in the Ganges, that crows are black and not red, that mangos certainly don’t form on date trees and the like – but we did see a good number of ‘relic[s] the size of a mustard seed’ that came from the bodies of Buddhist holy leaders.

However, whether it’s a bit of magic fluttering in the air a bit or the result of what a truly spiritual person’s remains can leave after his or her body leaves this Earth – well, that I do not know.

Memory And Travels

Memory… is the diary that we all carry with us.
Oscar Wilde

What has often been most memorable in my travels are those moments that were unplanned and unexpected, and not necessarily those places about which I have had great hopes that something wonderful would occur.

One such space in time happened last month when my husband David and I went to Devon, a county in southern England. I was expecting gorgeous countryside because Devon is always described with such a superlative.

However, I hadn’t given much of a thought in particular to Dartmoor National Park and what I would see there – but it was in fact there where something took place that has become a lasting memory.

Ponies At Dartmoor National Park
First, however, some background about the area:

Dartmoor National Park is the largest and wildest area of moorland in the UK. It is well known for its Dartmoor ponies who roam free on its land, like the three horses pictured above. In fact, the pony is also the park’s logo since it is such an important part of life on the moor.

Ponies have roamed on the moor since prehistoric times. Many other kinds of ponies have also lived on the moor, such as those from the Shetland Islands. Shetland ponies like the one pictured below adapt well to the harsh conditions on Dartmoor.

Aside from the Shetland, cross breeding also means that there are a lot of ponies living in Dartmoor who are of no particular breed.

Some History About These Dartmoor Equines
During the 1970s, an archaeological excavation came upon hoof prints providing evidence that domesticated ponies where found on Dartmoor around 3,500 years ago.

In fact, horses have been on Dartmoor for so long that an indigenous breed – the Dartmoor pony – evolved.

In the mid-1800s, Dartmoor was one of the main sources of granite in Britain. A railway was built to transport the rock, and ponies were used to haul trucks to and from the railway. By the first half of the 20th century, ponies were also used for farm work and for delivery of goods and services.

Locals, visitors, and tourists also liked to see the ponies then as they do to this day.

In Modern Times
By the middle of the 20th century, there were nearly 30,000 ponies on Dartmoor.

However, today there are fewer than 1,500 including fewer than 900 breeding mares left – which is why the Dartmoor pony breed is considered rare.

The reason for the decline is that in earlier years ponies were sold for horse meat – in Britain and then when that was no longer acceptable to the British public, in Europe.

With the rising tide of public opinion against the sale of horse meat to Europe, the number of ponies that the farmers could afford to keep declined.

A 1998 article in the Independent newspaper tells the whole story under the title The Ponies Killed By Kindness.

From Foal To Pony ‘Vital Statistics’
Some say that Darmoor ponies have the majority of their foals between April and July, others between May and August. At whatever time they are born, foals remain with their mothers for some time afterwards.

When a foal reaches maturity, it is never more than 12.2 hands (that’s 50 inches or 127 centimeters).

The colors for the breed include bay (which means that the horse has a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs), brown, black, grey, chestnut, and roan (which means that the horse has an even mixture of white and pigmented hairs that does not get gray or fade as the animal ages).

Piebalds (who are black and white) and skewbalds (who are brown and white) are crossbreds, and usually part Shetland pony.

Wild They Are Not, Though Close To It They Are
Some people mistakenly think that the ponies at Dartmoor are wild: They seem to roam as they wish; they don’t have saddles; and for the most part there are no people about.

Actually, all of the ponies are owned by local farmers, who mark the ponies to indicate their ownership and who let them out on to the Dartmoor commons to graze for most of the year. These farmers have rights to graze a certain number of sheep, cattle, and ponies on the moor.

Drifts
The ponies live out on the moor all year ’round. They spend the majority of their time in small herds of mares with young ponies and one adult stallion.

In late September and early October the local farmers get together to round up their ponies. These round-ups are called ‘drifts’.

During a drift, ponies are herded towards a small field or yard that’s easy to access. Not only people on horseback, but others using four-wheeled bikes and some on foot as well all get in on the act.

After they are herded, the ponies are separated into groups. They are checked out health-wise and treated if necessary. Those who are too old or ill or those to be sold are separated out, while the others return once again to the moor.

Out On The Moor
Intent on seeing the moors, we drove through the narrow roads that wind their way across Dartmoor.

Soon we came to a part of the moor where small clusters of the ponies with their foals were congregated on either side of the road. We parked our car and walked out gingerly on to the springy turf to try and get a closer look at the lovely creatures.

Here is a young foal that we saw at that time, cuddling up to its mom on the moor:

Visions On The Land
History, statistics and characteristics about the ponies aside, there are few things more peaceful and moving than being in the presence of these ponies as they walk and trot about, chomp down on the vegetation, snuggle against one another, and otherwise while away the time and play around at their home in Dartmoor.

The gentle mist wafting in the atmosphere during the afternoon when we were there also provided a soft and protective veil to the splash of colors and quiet sounds of these generally placid ponies and their foals.

Acknowledging Our Presence
The ponies and foals that we ‘met’ on Dartmoor quietly gave us the merest slip of a nod in a type of recognition of our presence.

We managed to get within a foot of some of them so we tried to pet them. However, they would have nothing of that: They skidaddled when they saw us get too near, and then they resumed their grazing and romping about further up a patch in that ancient and gloriously memorable setting.

A Beautiful Dignity
As we turned around from the horses to make our way back across the moor toward our parked car, we spotted this final scene:

Seeing that pony looking majestically into the haze of the horizon with another grazing peacefully and the little one looking straight ahead at us, we felt a world away from our normal urban living in that serene and tranquil setting.

So as the mist softly drizzled over all of us humans and horses, this was the peaceful memory that I was lucky to get – and to remember, whenever I wish.

Buddha’s Religious Teachings
Having adopted the life of a religious master from the age of 35 until his death in 486 B.C. at the age of 80, Buddha taught the ‘noble truths’ that the craving for pleasure and the avoidance of pain leads to existence and suffering.

To get out of this cycle, Buddha stressed, one must strive to take a middle path between indulgence and denial. He preached that to attain that desired path, one should strive to behave with correct views, intentions, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.

Buddha As The ‘Lord Of The Deer’
There are a number of different claims about where the name of Sarnath for this deer park was derived, with one of them explaining that one of Buddha’s titles is ‘Saranganath’, which means ‘Lord of the Deer’.

As the story goes, Buddha as an enlightened being took the form of a deer and offered his life to a king to take the place of the doe that the king was planning to kill. The king in turn was so moved that he created the park now known as Sarnath as a sanctuary for deer.

Sarnath
The park and the town that has grown up around it is situated 8 miles (13Km) north of the city of Varanasi in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India.

It is reached by road from Varanasi by crossing the Varuna river and traveling along the aptly named Guatam Buddha Rajpath road.

A Peaceful And Pleasant Place
After trying to deal with the constant clamor of staggering traffic in Varanasi, we were delighted to find that the road out to Sarnath becomes peaceful and pleasant.

We traveled past dusty scattered houses set on quiet lanes lined with attractive trees.

It was an enormous contrast to the city that lay only a short distance behind us.

The town of Sarnath is small and dominated by a number of temples and by the parked coaches that have delivered pilgrims here from all over the world.

There is also a very good museum devoted to Buddhist artifacts and of course there is the Deer Park where the Buddha taught.

Once inside the neatly trimmed and tranquil park, we saw many Buddhist pilgrims like these robed monks.

The Dhamek Stupa In The Deer Park
Dotted with the remains of buildings among close-cropped grassed areas, the remains of the Dhamek stupa dominates everything in the deer park.

This stupa was built about 1,500 years ago to replace the earlier stupa built by Ashoka almost 750 years before that.

The Influence of Ashoka At Sarnath
Ashoka was the emperor during the Mauryan dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC.

It was he who spread Buddhism all over the country and it was he who built the original stupa at Sarnath.

Pilgrims At This Holy Buddhist Site
The original stupa and its replacement commemorate the Buddha’s life and deeds and contains part of his remains.

Today it is visited by Buddhists from all over the world.

They come to listen to stories about the Buddha’s life, to sermons from this holy site which marks the place where the stream of his teaching first circulated, and just to be in contact with the place where the Buddha taught.

We saw many groups of such pilgrims exploring this area, like these men and women dressed in white who are walking around the base of the stupa.

Other Visitors Absorbing The Tranquility Of The Park
We also observed other visitors dressed in everyday clothing who were similarly soaking up the atmosphere about the Dhamek stupa that day.

As you can see, they are sitting with umbrellas to shield themselves from the hot rays of the sun that day:

Remains From Earlier Times
Although Sarnath is now visited by many pilgrims and other visitors these days, the park actually lay forgotten until 1883 when a British Archaeological Society team led by Sir Alexander Cunnigham, J.D. Beglar and Dr. Rajendralal Mitra meticulously excavated the site and rediscovered the Ashokan stupa beneath the Damekh stupa.

This modern, carved stone inscription stands near the stupa and reads:

“According to an inscription dated 1062 A.D. recovered from the site its old name was Dharma Chakra Stupa. It is perhaps commemorating the spot where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon. In search of the relic casket Alexander Cunningham bored a vertical shaft through its center down to the foundation level and at a depth of 91.4cm [3 feet] he found a slab with the inscription “Ye Dharma Hetu Prabhava Hetu…” written in the Brahmi script of 6th -7th A.D.

Further below he traced out a stupa made of Mauryan bricks. However, the present diameter of this solid cylindrical tower is 28.5 meters [94 feet] at the base and 33.35 meters [110 feet] in height. Its total height is 42.60 meters [140 feet] including the foundation.

The structure consists of a circular stone drum up to a height of 11.2 meters [37 feet] from the ground above which rises the cylindrical mass of brickwork about 6.0 meters [20 feet] above the base eight niches are provided in eight directions which must have contained images of the Buddha, below them runs a broad course of beautifully carved stones having geometric designs, swastika, leaf and floral patterns combined with birds and human figures.”

Building Details
Here is a detail of the carving decorating one of the buildings in the park. Close inspection showed that the stonework was covered in small patches of gold leaf arranged in patterns.

We learned that some of the gold leaf laid on the stonework is very old, dating back to the earliest buildings in the park that pre-date the stupa itself.

During our visit, we also saw groups of women rebuilding some of the brick walls of the ancient ruins in the park. All through the park, low walls indicate the outlines of the many buildings that filled the park at one time.

Deer In Sarnath Today
There is a small fenced off area at one side of the park where a group of deer were eating long, red Delhi carrots that a good number of people were feeding them at the time.

The Boy Seller
We had seen those carrots for sale on stalls and stands throughout India.

This time in Sarnath, I noticed several young boys hawking bags of these carrots which had been cut into thin, manageable strips.

I noticed that the deer were chomping down the vegetables with great relish. So I decided this time to buy a bag to feed the deer.

Cross-Cultural Sharing
I went back to the fence and started feeding the animals.

However, I saw a group of middle-aged women who were watching me and other people feeding the deer out of the corner of my eye.

They were shyly smiling at us as they also admired the animals.

Suddenly it occurred to me to share the red Delhi carrots with these visitors. So I turned and motioned to them, since I wasn’t sure they would understand English.

I got a great reception to my pantomime, and soon several sets of hands were politely thrust in my direction to receive the vegetables.

That Circle of Life
As I handed out the carrots, I received something in return – namely a row of sincerely warm smiles, meaningful eye contact with the women in question, and gentle pats of gratitude on my shoulders and arms as well.

And so it occurred to me that everyone in our little group benefited that day under the heat of the midday sun: From the boy who sold me the carrots; to myself who had the pleasure of sharing them with the women; to the women who seemed moved by interacting with me as a guest in their land – and ultimately to the gentle deer, those lovely animals who accepted the food so gratefully from all of us and made our spirits rise at the sight of their beauty.