here is an email i sent to friends while in australia. how i love the desert. how i want to go back...
i am having the most amazing time here...like indescribably a very unique time. sydney was amazing, hung out at coogee beach and walked 2.5 hours along the pacific coast my 1st day here. 2 days & many great meals later, i hopped on a plane to the dang very center of australia: uluru. at the alice springs city airport, i met a korean zen monk on a mission to present a giant spiritual painting to bob randall, a famous aborginal leader who is a traditional father of uluru, a sacred site & the biggest most beautiful natural wonder you'll ever see. here is bob: http://www.kanyini.com/
i am now writing from bob's house on restricted access land, the anungu people's community land to the east of uluru. i've been here for 3 days as their guest because the culture is so friendly & especially because i helped translate for the monk & his helpers (culturally if not language). 2 days ago, the monk, his 2 helpers, 2 europeans i met, bob's wife & other guests & i performed both aboriginal and korean buddhist sun ceremonies on a hill in the red earth during sun rise with full view of uluru. as the light shined on the big rock, i wept because of the spiritual power & the absolute beauty. we walked in circles in each other's foot steps to symbolize unity during the aboriginal ceremony. then we bowed with prayer hands towards the rising sun chanting in korean. just amazing...talk about sun salutes.
for breakfast after the sun ceremony, we had kimchee ramen soup with fermented vegetables and hot peppers at bob's house. needless to say, us koreans were the only ones who ate second helpings because eating kimchee soup at 7:30AM ain't for everyone. & yes, the koreans packed a giant tub of their own korean food with them from brisbaine, where the helpers live. the venerable monk lives in korea and smiled non-stop for 2 days...EXCEPT for when he lectured us with passion on how adolf hitler was a korean buddhist monk in his previous life. FOR REAL. he has proof of this.
you can't make this stuff up. having kimchee soup in the australian desert at 7:30AM with an aboriginal leader & a korean monk telling us that hitler was a powerful buddhist who never found his teacher in his previous life which is why he went rogue in his next life & killed so many people. we nodded and said that we understood.
the monks left & i'm still at bob & barbara's house (his american wife from connecticut). i'm still jet lagged & spent the last 2 nights "sleeping" in a swag (aussie "sleeping bag") under the stars outdoors.
i have never seen so many stars in my life.
just stunning. how could i sleep with such a display of amazement above me? between staring at the milky way, the rabbits, the crows, the magpies, the dogs and the BUGS, i've been sleeping just ok. all good - afternoon yoga nidra to the rescue.
ok, signing off for now. i've been in australia for only 6 days & am already tingly amazed. thank you, universe! photos coming soon! like, AMAZING photos.
