Surrounded by the material world on all sides, on all fronts. And illusion of everything that is all just the blanket of nothingness. Samsara is a cavern of darkness. Immolation for the soul. It has always been. It will always be.

Even where the Buddha once roamed the valleys, forests and highlands, there is very little of any of this that remains.

Despotic dis-settlement in the land of Kathmandu. Where there were once spiritual warriors, where they were once arcane temples of greatness, there is now nothing by tenement remains. Everything is a river of refuse. The streets lined with the decadent despotism of a life focused on nothing but the consumption of materialism. A tawdry affair has drawn out the lingering remnants of the life outside the cascading virtues of the mind and spirit.

Where there were once vast planes of heroic spirit warrior principles of forgiveness to all, there is nothing now left behind but the denigration of the soul. Honking horns, barking malnutritioned dogs lying in the streets. Every storefront is nothing but a foray into materialism, or a replication of some emblem of spirituality that beckons forth for you to purchase its likeness of a deeper mind, a deeper thought.

Denizens of decadence. These are the inhabitants of the city core of Kathmandu. Where is the spiritual essence of this place? Is it hidden behind doorways somewhere? Is there a tendril catacomb cavern where we can embark on a rescinding pathway to circumnavigate samsara and recalibrate our quest towards the divine? Are there any places beyond all of this where I can seek the truth?

Temple monuments are everywhere. The merging of Hinduism and Buddhism on the pulpits, on the parapets. On every strand of ivy weaving through the decaying rocks and stones of a temple graveyard. Where there is now nothing but the blind rush of tourism, there were once prophets in prayer. There were once enlightened creatures of the beyond-maya floating in circular equanimity around the boundaries of this Kathmandu cringe. Sleeping lions in the deathbed of the Buddha. All of the organic placement of the echoing resonance of despotic remains.

There is still a life force here. A real resonant echoing of the chambers of truth, occupied by the cerebral god-like manifestation of platforms of flesh, sitting in the exultation of greatness, of excellence of mind and spirit, on the thrones scattered around this city, everywhere. The remnants and remains of spiritual enlightenment. Placards, posters on the wall. The essence still remains. Lingering somewhere, everywhere. I know that I can feel it, all can feel it. Bursting in patterns around the despotic wasteland of what appears to be all that remains.

But there is more. There is more everywhere. Resonance clinging to the bone. The flesh of truth is nothing more than emaciated. With open perception, you can breathe life into it. You can billow up the flattened parachutes, and allow them to float you gently through the sky, through and over the valley of Kathmandu, whispering in breezes across the mountain passageways. The Annapurna Sanctuary. This is where my feet would fall.

And gazing steadfastly all around, without judgment, without expectation, the expansive eyes of the settled mind will start to see beyond the material trash cover up of the lingering remnants of truthful remains. To see with the glaring eyes of what you would perceive to be despotic denizens, would be truly just like you are, making their way through this material world while maintaining whatever level of adherence to their spiritual path that could and would remain.

Within the circle of the cluttered rumbling of the chaotic dance of this despotic wasteland, there is an echoing pattern of meandering truth making its way through and over the foot stands of these mayanic creatures. This you can swallow whole, and imbibe the breath of peace and solace, within the chaos, to march your way back to the epiphanic platform of salvation.

It is there. It is out there. It is within there. It is everywhere if you await patiently the unveiling of the core of spiritual energy that imbues and embraces it all, here in Kathmandu. It is here. Allow it to nestle you and and permit you to find the good grace of direction for this path.