any backpackers carry a Kindle but I prefer to carry a book. Books provide a tactile sensation that a Kindle does not, and I enjoy discovering new books while traveling.
Guest-houses in Nepal and India often have book-exchanges, stocked with books carried by backpackers from all over the world. There’s usually a common-area where travelers chat or discuss the books we’re reading. The photo here is the stack of books I returned to a library in a Tibetan monastery. Not all books are serious: look at the blue book barely visible on the back shelf, it’s by Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’ll mention that again soon…
I bought several books in India from Depak, who for over 30 years had operated a book cart between the Tibetan University and a holy pilgrim site for several religions: Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Deepak sold books for ~ $2, which expensive for India, where salaries are commonly $1/day.
Deepak has sustained his business by choosing books valuable to his customers. He knows which books are valuable to his customers because he learns from them. For 30 years, he has discussed books, religion, and philosophy with scholars, pilgrims, professors, and travelers. His ethos is Truth Prevails.
We discussed books and life for two weeks. Before I departed, he invited me to meet his family and gave me a Buddha statue he had painted, hoping I could find space in my backpack. Today, that statue is on my bookshelf at home.
After a fun fact, I’ll summarize books I read on this trip.
A Fun Fact
If you look at the book-exchange photo, one of the authors is Douglas Adams, who wrote “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” about budget-backpacking in space using an electronic book similar to a Kindle e-reader.
The e-guide to the Galaxy, which is similar to a Kindle version of a travel guide to backpacking in remote countries, gives practical advice to travelers: “Don’t Panic.”
The photo below is Elon Musk’s convertible sports car, floating in space, looking at Earth. He had launched it into space the day I started writing this blog, and, if you look closely, the dashboard quotes the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s advice, “Don’t Panic.”
I still enjoy this fact, especially while writing about finding a copy of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal. Life if fascinating.
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
The Buddha used the Hindu concept dukkha, which is approximately translated to “suffering” from obvious causes such as death, disease, and sadness but includes includes worry, anger, disappointment, impatience, judgement, or any unrest of the mind. Dukkha is anything other than experiencing a moment for what it is. My paraphrasing of the Buddha’s final words is:
“All I’ve taught is that there is dukkha, the cause of dukkha is desire, the end of dukkha is eliminating desire, and the way to end dukkha is the middle way.
All things created by the mind are impermanent. Practice your aim with diligence.”
Sudata’s biography: Born in Germany, defected from the Nazi army in WWII, wandered internationally to avoid prosecution, became a Buddhist monk, died peacefully.
When we hear about people suffering we become upset or worry, but do not do anything. We do not even wish them happiness. We may say the words, but we do not feel compassion, or that compassion is temporary without becoming part of our lives. We experience suffering without ending the suffering of others.
Everything slides along curved space; we perceive this as gravity.
Mass bends space; the more mass, the more space bends.
Time is not uniform; it curves with space.
What we called ‘space’ we now know as space-time.
The center of the earth is younger than the surface because of gravity. We’re aging faster than satellites that are farther from Earth’s center of gravity but also moving faster and E=mc>2.
Our smart-phone’s location uses satellites, which require space-time calculations. We can measure relativity using atomic clocks on tall buildings.
Many people can quote relativity, few truly understand it.
Humankind can see black holes by detecting Hawking radiation.
Stephen Hawking explains Classic & Quantum Physics using a vocabulary of a few hundred words. He wrote these books in his wheelchair, selecting letters and words from a computer screen by twitching his cheek.
After 18 years of starting and stopping this book, I came within 40 pages of finishing it. Other people have been more persistent: 100 Years of Solitude has more than 600,000 ratings and 22,000 reviews on Goodreads.com
The Buddha said, “Let a wise man watch his thinking. The mind moves with extreme subtlety and is not noticed. It seizes whatever it desires. To watch the mind is conducive to happiness.”
Data supports their claims, and they don’t claim more than data reveals.
A modern version could analyzes actions, which aren’t less debatable than intelligence. The internet tracks our actions, and our actions have consequences that affect ourselves and others.
A lot of people have opinions about The Bell Curve.
I believe many people are reacting emotionally to a problem that our future will address statistically: how to measure, and improve, social equity in a world that will have 9 Billion people by 2050.
I carried both books, in my backpack, for months, including hiking over the Himalaya mountains with a heavy backpack, and would carry them again.
Interesting, to me
I read “Bird of Passage” in a guest house where the authors had stayed 17 years prior. I realized this as I read how much they enjoyed the owner’s cooking, while watching the same owner prepare our dinner.
The guest-house owner in the photo was a catalyst for me attending the first international conference on “Mind and Modern Science,” attended by the Dalai Lama. At that conference, I saw the Dalai Lama offer respect to Samdhong Rinpoche, the author of a book I summarized in this blog. I did not know that when I discovered his book on Tibetan Meditation.
I taught physics, study religious philosophy, and enjoy American wild-west movies: In the Himalaya Mountains, I stayed at guest house because it was decorated with physics posters, Buddhist art, and Clint Eastwood western-movie posters (in Dutch). It was the home of a Dutch physicist and his wife of twenty years, a Nepali Buddhist, and a reason I read several physics books on this trip.
Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Walpola Sri Rahula (when quoting the Buddha) use the words “relativity, space, and time” to describe concepts. Hawking and Rahula use the word “annihilation” when discussing something that ceases to exist in physical form. In other books by Einstein and Hawking they uses phrases that originated with the Buddha, 2,600 years ago. That had bothered me for years; I wouldn’t understand the root source until six months after returning from this trip and reading Einstein’s later essays and biography (I’m editing my original post with this information in August 2018, soon after reading Einstein’s essays). Einstein was influenced by the philosopher Schopenhauer who developed theories similar to Buddha’s, and Einstein would later discuss Buddha’s insights and compare them to his way of thinking. Einstein obviously influenced other physicists which may be why the words and way of speaking propagate. Plus, I believe the Buddha “saw” physics of the universe but didn’t have the words to describe them 2,600 years ago. He was too far ahead of his time, described things as best he could but admitted that words are limiting. The more I study what we know of his original words the more clear it becomes to me that he understood the conservation of matter, elements, atoms, and probably more. He created the phrase “conditioned genesis” to describe all phenomenon but only in the context of removing suffering from all humans. Today, we are just beginning to understand that all matter is a form of conditioned genesis, of particles being created and annihilated in a continuous process. As I understand more of what the Buddha taught and quantum physics I see more behind Deepak’s ethos of Truth Prevails.
Post-Script
I published this blog in February 2018. In March 2018, Stephen Hawking died at age 76, more than 50 years older than expected.
“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first”
“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit, as well as physically.”
He was able to train with astronauts in zero-gravity simulators. I’m happy every time I imagine the joy he must have experienced. Rest in Peace Professor Hawking.
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Time is valuable. Write concisely, and read what is in your best interest.
Sixty-three words that could change the world are:
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
A link to this blog is bit.ly/63words
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I’ll be off-line until late January, 2018.This is my email auto-response while backpacking in Nepal and India. There’s no reason to read it, unless you’d like to learn more about this area of the world.
6 minute read.
BOB SEGER & THE BUDDHA
I’ll arrive in Kathmandu. I don’t have plans. No hotel, no itinerary, no objective. I’ll depart from India, a couple of months later.
To prepare for not having plans, I’ve been studying the history and culture of Nepal and northern India. The topics ranged from prehistory, to Buddhism, to modern challenges of being a nuclear-capable country with 1.3 Billion people.
This is the perfect time to share Bob Seger’s 1974 song, “I’m Going To Kathmandu!”
I think I’m going to Katmandu That’s really, really where I’m going to If I ever get out of here That’s what I’m gonna do K-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu
I think that’s really where I’m going to If I ever get out of here I’m going to Katmandu
I got no kick against the west coast Warner brothers are such good hosts I raise my whiskey glass and give them a toast I’m sure they know it’s true I got no rap against the southern states Every time I’ve been there it’s been great But now I’m leaving and I can’t be late And to myself be true
That’s why I’m going to Katmandu Up to the mountain’s where I’m going to And if I ever get out of here That’s what I’m gonna do Aw, k-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu Really, really where I’m going to If I ever get out of here I’m going to Katmandu
Oh Take it…
THE BUDDHA
Buddhism is the world’s 4th-largest religion. It’s attributed to a person known as The Buddha.
The Buddha, originally known as Siddhartha Gautama, was born 2,500 years ago, approximately 500 BC. He was a prince, with a luxurious life, a family, and a son. Siddhartha Gautama led a sheltered life until he left his palace and saw four people:
After seeing these four people, Siddhartha left his life of luxury to seek the nature of suffering. He spent six years as a recluse, deprived of worldly pleasures, then meditated on the Truth and discovered the Middle Way to inner-peace and enlightenment.
The Buddha never claimed to be anything other than a human. Like other spiritual leaders throughout history, he used parables so that different people could hear something to which they relate. His teachings weren’t written down until approximately 100 years after his death, after Buddhism had developed variations.
I researched the sources of what the Buddha taught. The most shared belief is that, for 45 years, he taught other people how to extinguish suffering to obtain inner-peace.
“Suffering” is an incomplete translation of the word he used, “duhhka.” Duhhka is suffering from physical pain and sickness, loss of loved ones, and death; but duhhka also includes anxiety, stress, or becoming attached to things that make us happy but are impermanent therefore make our happiness impermanent. Freedom from duhhka allows unconditional inner-peace.
For 45 years, the Buddha taught others how to achieve enlightenment by eliminating dukkha. On his deathbed, he reiterated the core of his teachings by saying (I’m paraphrasing) “I’ve taught that there is duhhka, there is a cause of dukkha, there can be an end of dukkha, and the path to end dukkha.”
The path to end dukkha includes having compassion for others and being mindful of oneself.
In ~ 230 BC, a king named Ashoka became emperor of most of India through traditional methods of conflict resolution that persist today: war, aggression, death, dogma, and suffering. When Ashoka understood teachings of the Buddha, he changed his kingdom to practice non-violence, compassion, and tolerance. Ashoka inscribed his peaceful intentions, known as The Edicts of Ashoka, on rocks and stone structures throughout India.
I taught at an “Ashoka-U” before I had heard of Ashoka. Ashoka-U are universities that receive funding to build upon their foundations of Social Innovation. I designed and led engineering classes at The University of San Diego, a Catholic University, whose “Mission and Values” includes service to the poor. Some of my classes were held in inner-city middle schools and homeless communities. We had fun helping others, and learned practical engineering skills.
THE UPANISHADS
The Upanishads originated in northern India approximately 600-800 BC, a few hundred years before The Buddha taught in that region. To me, the Upanishads sound like poems that facilitate sharing knowledge between a teacher and student.
The Upanishads described a higher class of person who could understand the wisdom of the Upanishads; The Buddha differed in that he knew anyone could obtain enlightenment by eliminating dukkha. Common themes between what the Buddha taught and the Upanishads include non-violence, temperance, self-restraint, truthfulness, charity, non-hypocrisy, and compassion.
Many people get stuck on words, unable to see deeper concepts. The Upanishads, the Buddha, and Jesus all shared a common parable, that people who focus on words are like “the blind leading the blind.” If we look deeper than the words, all religious teachings let us see that we’re part of something greater, whether that greater thing is God, Nature, Physics, or The Tao.
In that perspective, please appreciate one of the oldest Upanishads:
The Himalayas include 50 mountains taller than 7,200 meters, which is approximately 4.5 miles high.
Like I said, they’re really big. Because of tectonic plate action, they’re still growing.
The most famous Himalayan mountain, Mount Everest, is 8,848 meters, or 5.5 miles, high. It attracts tourists from all over the world who hire guides to carry food and oxygen up the mountain for several weeks, at a cost of up to $100,000 including permits.
There are challenges with these mountains becoming tourist destinations. Trash litters trails, and over 200 corpses remain in the high trails as evidence of the risk humans face at these altitudes.
There are effects and consequences to having a region depend on tourism from wealthy foreigners. Just like happiness from temporary conditions eventually leads to dukkha, an economy that depends on external conditions is also impermanent. I’ll be aware of this when choosing where I spend my money.
Less-known trekking routes follow centuries-old walking paths that are still used for trading between villages. By trekking these routes, independently, tourists meet local people and spread tourism dollars throughout the country, rather than concentrating it with tour agencies.
Trekking for weeks at a time requires safety precautions.
I usually travel with a Frisbee. It provides more safety than weapons. I’ve witnessed combat, riots, and family reunions; I’ve never seen a bad situation escalated by throwing a Frisbee.
I’ll sample street-food and working-class restaurants as often as possible. I try to experience what average people in different countries enjoy, like a “middle path” of culinary travel.
Indian food is too diverse to summarize, but it’s characterized by flavorful spices (not always “hot” spicy) and often associated with vegetarian cooking. Many recipes have been used for thousands of years, and modern science understands that the combinations of ingredients are synergistic for a healthy lifestyle, especially for vegetarians.
Friends and I cooked our favorite Indian dishes, labeled in the photo below:
Indian food and spices are healthy, especially with ingredients like garlic, turmeric, tamarind, etc. Epicurious.com has plenty of Indian recipes.
Hundreds of languages or dialects spoken, and they have some of the world’s poorest and most densely packed cities. There’s too much going on to summarize, and the history is long and complex compared to what most of us (in the West) have experienced.
If you’d like to learn more, the BBC provides overviews:
I used BBC as a reference source, sarcastically, because of England’s history of meddling in the region. Most famously, Mahatma Gandhi led a non-violent revolt against the British that led to India’s independence. He won the Nobel Prize for Peace, and was assassinated.
Gandhi would have been influenced by the Upanishads.
India independently developed space travel and nuclear missiles, meaning they use different technology than most of the western world that shared or collaborated on this science. India borders Pakistan, which also has nuclear weapons, and the two are notoriously unfriendly towards each other, having had military confrontations at their border.
Image from CNN news, 1998, one year after India first developed nuclear technology.
India has challenges that reflect what’s happening globally. China has a similar population, and similar challenges. Combined, these populations are approximately 30% of all humans, almost 1 out of every 3 people on Earth.
YIKES!
The population is growing, and we share the same oceans, atmosphere, and resources.
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Books I read while backpacking in Nepal & India
/in Uncategorized /by jasonpartinTime is valuable. Write concisely.
/in Uncategorized /by jasonpartinI’m backpacking in Nepal & India, offline until late January, 2018
/in Uncategorized /by jasonpartin