Yesterday at Nalanda, I got a picture of what is quite possibly the mangiest dog in India. It was at least the mangiest I've seen so far. I should note that the competition for mangiest dog is very fierce in India. If one were to take the mangiest dog in America and relocate it to India, it is doubtful it would place in the top million. I was surprised it was even alive.
Last night, we went back to the Mahabodhi temple. It's very nice at night. There are spotlights on the temple itself,and the rest of the are is adorned with colored lights. It was a lot like Christmas. Although they obviously don't celebrate Christmas here. But they do in Goa, and that's where we'll be for Christmas.
This morning, we went to see an exhibit of Tibetan idols from the 8th to 16th centuries. The 8th century is as old as Buddhism in Tibet, as Padmasambhava arrived in the 8th century. It was cool. They also had made a sand mandala for the exhibit. The two highest forms of art in Tibet are the mandala and the butter sculpture. Both are intended to be destroyed shortly after completion, which is somewhat sad as they are always very beautiful. But the destruction is important, as it represents the impermanence of our existence.
Well, that's it for today. We will soon catch a train to Varanasi, which is scheduled to take four hours, so it should only take five or six hours.
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