scene with bicycle

A politician said that life is like riding a bicycle and you don't fall off unless you plan to stop pedaling. It is natural for him to say so that he was a politician. People usually think they should make all efforts to attain their goals in life. We have been educated and trained to agree with that way of thought since the birth in this world.

Life is just like a flowing river. It goes its own way and happens as it does. Actually we don't have to try to attain something valuable and worthy that is pictured in your thinking. We have been already fully fulfilled and equipped, which means no efforts are needed to become or attain something. However, there are a barrier to keep you from tasting this simple truth at this moment: thinking.

Once Buddha delivered sermon to his disciples on a hill named Gridhrakuta. Then he picked a flower and held up it silently. Most of the audience were surprised and confused, but one of his disciples smiled. At the moment Buddha's enlightenment was transmitted to his successor as the transmission of the lamp.

Buddha held up a flower.
One of his disciples smiled.

Buddha's holding up a flower about 2,500 years ago and pedaling a bicycle this moment are the same or different?

Boudhanath

In the northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, the magnificent white stupa, Boudhanath is located, which is the largest spherical stupa in Nepal and listed as UNESCO World Heritage site. It takes about half an hour by bus from Ratna bus park in the central Kathmandu. Boudhanath, shortly Boudha स्तुप like other great Buddhist stupas, is designed based on the mandala. The overview above shows a huge mandala symbolizing Buddha's enlightenment.

Buddhist monks, tourists, Tibetans and Nepalese circle the stupa clockwise each morning at sunrise while spinning Manicha, the prayer wheels or hearing Buddhist chants being played outside shops. Lots of Tibetan restaurants, stores, and monasteries are centered around it. There is no separation between the sacred and the profane.

Visitors spend enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, sitting in some of the temples and taking photos. The sounds of bells ring through the air. The devotees burn incense around the stupa, whose smell permeated the air around the stupa. 

Pilgrims sit meditating and prostrate before the stupa, and every morning offerings and prayers for the welfare of all sentient beings are performed. Scenes like dogs lazing around and sleeping idly on the ground and pigeons flocking to be fed or flying over the sky also create the peaceful atmosphere as well.

The earthquake struck Boudha and damaged deadly Boudha along with much of the country's cultural heritage. The Buddhist community in Nepal had tried best to restore Boudhanath stupa and finally reopened to the public November 22, 2016. Jaeho stopped by at Boudha last October 2017. It has been over 14 years since his last visit. There were no marks that the earthquake left in 2015 to be found. Boudha and the prayers flags hanging on it and waving in the wind show the fascinating appearance as it used to be.

The above sketches on the right and left were done in 2004.