The monastery has a herd of Zebu cows. Some of them roam around freely while three cows can’t be let out safely. Two of them are bulls. One of them was rejected by its mother and was raised by the monastics. Because he never played with other cows he is a bit different and can sometimes be dangerous. A few days ago they let the three cows out, because they had been fenced in for quite some time. While walking up the hill to go to the temple, I was warned with stories of how the little bull named Kishore could flip you over in a second. So I was watching my back closely. The cows were staying out the whole night and because they had been penned up they were full of energy and as one of the monks said “they were in a mood to play.” When the evening program ended and it became dark it was time to go back to my yurt. But who was waiting there in the breeze way. Yes Kishore. Citta Hari, one of the monastics, and I were standing there with all lights turned off when Citta Hari decided to do the cookie trick, throw some cookies in front of him and run. And so we ran hard. This probably sounds less exciting to you and outwardly this is probably one of the more exciting things going on because we try to cultivate an inner life. Kishore is the small bull. We also have dharma which is quite a lot bigger and if you see him you better pay your respects. Luckily for me he is penned up most of the time.

Apart from cows, there are also three cats walking around. Sometimes deer pay us a visit and supposedly there are mountain lions and snakes.

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