I have received intangible gifts from my spiritual teachers, and I have received some tangible presents from them, too . My Cherokee teacher made me a traditional ceremonial dress with a short cape. My Buddhist teacher gave me a Thai statue of the Buddha and a metallic print of the Buddha image in the main temple at Bodhgaya in India. I still have these presents and continue to make use of the Buddhist items, though I don't use the ceremonial ensemble any more. (You can see the print and the Buddha statue in the picture that goes with this post.)

     However, there is one present--from my Hindu teacher--which has special meaning for me. It is the coral colored wool shawl I am wearing in the photo. After I left Hinduism I came to visit Swamiji's ashram on its anniversary celebration day. When I went up to greet Swamiji he was happy to see me, and he took this shawl off his shoulders and handed it to me. "You will use this when you are meditating," he said. I was very surprised by his statement, because at that time I was no longer meditating, and I thought I would never meditate again. But I was touched by his kind gesture and accepted the present.

     Once I decided that Buddhism was for me, and I went back to meditating, I began using the shawl in earnest. And so it has continued over the years. The shawl does help improve my practice. How in the world did Swamiji know that I would ultimately go back to meditating? In any case, I cherish this present most of all.