What a day! Thanks to the wonderful planning of our program, we students were granted the opportunity to experience Taiwan not only through its capital, Taipei, but also through its other provinces, such as Taichung and Kaohsiung. That being said, our visit to Taichung was amazing. It’s always a delight to explore and reflect on the presence of traditional buildings, historical towns, markets, and more landmarks that have withstood the passage of time and now serve as living remnants of the past woven into the fabric of the modern world. During my time there today, I had the chance to […]
Today (6/4) we spent the day at Dhuram Drum Mountain. If I was saying this day wasn’t tiring, I would be lying. I think today has been one of the most exhausting days I have had so far on this trip. We started the day by getting on the bus and driving almost 1.5 hours to the monastery. When we arrived we were quickly ushered into the classroom where we learned a little background and components of this school before then heading outside to engage in some meditation. We started with walking meditation where we walked around in a circle. […]
The day started off pretty casually. I walked to Starbucks in the morning, which felt like a nice reset. There is something comforting about having a familiar routine, even in a different country. Sitting there with a drink gave me a chance to mentally prepare for the day ahead, which turned out to be one of the more modern and business-focused days of the trip. Our main activity was a visit to Studio 76, a Taiwanese film and media production company. I had not heard of it before, but by the end of our visit, I was genuinely impressed by […]
Today we visited Dharma Drum Mountain in New Taipei City. When we first arrived, we were greeted by a team of volunteers, professors, and monastics. We then began our first session with an introduction of Dharma Drum Mountain and DILA, the liberal arts school associated with the monastery. We then moved on to some guided meditation. We first participated in a seated meditation, very similar to the meditation we’ve practiced with professor Young and at some other religious sites. I found that this time, it was actually much easier to relax my mind and body than before, and when we […]