edge to produce extraordinarily deep and resonant waves of sound - through the retreat center ten minutes before most transitions (note the bells on the left of our schedule). I got the lunchtime slot, so it's possible some fellow yogis have Pavlovian feelings toward me.The bell is made, we were told, from the melted-down cartridges of US bullets gathered in Vietnam by a penitent American. It's heavy - that's a lot of bullet casings. There's something almost unbearably moving about the transformation from assisting in American killing of Vietnamese to calling (mostly) Americans to (Southeast Asian inspired) Buddhist wakefulness. Something very deep.
In case you haven't noticed, by the way, I gave a preliminary account of my experience yesterday, and have been feeding in pictures since then.
