There were several reasons why I decided to visit Russia this year, despite some doubts
I am listing these in no particular order.
It seems like ancestral ties draw me back
In a time of high tensions and threat of war, I wanted to see and here the point of view of ordinary Russians
I have noted that people in the West have a decidedly skewed understanding of Russian people, their history, the relationship with my country, the USA. I hope to dispell those views and get relations more in alignment, as they were in better times in the past, notably in the 1970s.
As a practicing Zen meditator, I wanted to see what is going on in Russia in the Zen world
I wanted to visit some historical sites that are pertinent to our time
And I wanted to pay a visit to friends, both Russian and Western
I wanted to see the state generally of spirituality and meditation in Russia and to give those interested a taste of Zen practice
As it turned out, on my arrival in Moscow, and throughout my trip, I had absolutely no issues or problems with immigration or any other government authority. The only funny thing was that in Russia, if you stay in one place for more than a week, the place where you stay is supposed to register you there. Tanya, the wife of Regis, my friend, took me to the registration office. It was so busy that they rescheduled my appoint for a week.
And when I returned, they said to forget it, since I would not be in the same place for another 7 business days.
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