Vulture's Peak

             Just found these photies from the lama on my email. Wonderful! They are of Vulture's Peak where the Heart Sutra was expounded. Thanks to Blackie for taking them. Gamso (?) is the solitary monk. He's a venerable.

Tummo and the Bliss

          It starts, if I remember right, with a bit of a creepy crawly going up your back or pulling at your shoulders. Maybe that's the way one part of it goes. The other part might be the straight out white light blissy stuff you get with your eyes closed early doors. These can operate separately, but are linked in some way.
          What I mean by that is that sometimes these days you can feel a lot of force moving in your body, especially in your upper body, but there will be no bliss or not much present.
          Of course, it is difficult to describe feelings and such to folk who might have no experience of them.
           This morning the meditations were wonderful and in some ways more developed - that is, feeling different - than before. It's glorious the way the wonderful feelings emerge just by sitting quietly. It is truly wonderful.
            I'm practising this juju is the worst possible way. That is, surrounded by folk who are not in the slightest bit interested in meditation and are an encouragement to drink and carouse, to behave just like them, and they are not happy.
            I'm often not a happy bunny either. I can do the bliss, but there isn't enough progress with the afflictive emotions. I think I am generally happier than most folk, but I know I need to work hard at the analytical meditations. But one has to acknowledge that our humanity means that we will grieve and such like, and you have to accept stuff like that.
            Other sources of afflictive emotions right now are in politics. I'm trying to ignore politics. I felt so much better when my sister sent my my grandfather's birth certificate. I can get an Irish passport and stay a member of the EU whatever happens. Hurrah!!
            The photie is of Khenpo Karthar. Meeting him was a big moment, though more in retrospect. He bumped heads with me and said: I am happy to make a connection with you. What a fortunate creature, I am, I am! What a fortunate creature I am!!

Stumblebumming Towards Enlightenment is out there.

          Lovely springtime weather today and yesterday. Gorgeous.

          On the book front, I put the Stumblebumming up for free last week and it got downloaded about twenty four times. I've put it up free tomorrow as well. Be nice if someone actually gave it a nice review and some stars, but ...

          I must get another writing project on the go soon. I don't really like it as much when I'm not working on anything. But I don't have to write. Over the last five to ten years I've been able to give it up. Well, not giving up obsessions. Sharing the time with other obsessions. But I will get something on the go soon.

Holiday snaps

Back from the hightlands!

              While I was on holiday last week, the politics went ballistic. I felt a little drawn into this because I don't like Scottish people running down Scotland, saying we are too poor or too small to be able to govern ourselves. But que sera sera. I am not a floating voter. I'm going to try to keep away from all the vitriol.  

               

Belief

                    I'm reading this very interesting book at the moment by a lama who was very close to the Dalai Lama. In fact, he was only a couple of hundred yards away when he was murdered. Apparently, he was done in because of some dispute over propitiating a spirit, Dorje Shugden, which the Dalai Lama had told folk to stop propitiating.

                    Dearie me. I don't do beliefs. Folk professing beliefs cause most of the trouble in this world. Stumblebumming Towards Enlightenment is partly about cherry picking your way through Tibetan Buddhism, ignoring all the cultural appendages like guardian spirits, demons and whatnot.

                   It's a bit of a shame when someone who has done so much practise, like Lobsang Gyatso and Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche, ends up dead in such a brutal fashion.

                    I put Stumblebumming Towards Enlightenment up for free on Sunday. Although I screwed up the marketing message on the Meet Our Authors forum, eight folk downloaded it. I've put the message on the forum again and the book will be free tomorrow. Lets hope for some reviews!!

Stumblebumming Towards Enlightenment

                    I just put Are There Any Buddhists in Ecuador? onto Kindle. It's now called Stumblebumming Towards Enlightenment, the title probably being the best thing about it! To try to get it published in paper, I sent about forty random emails to folk listed on Everyone Who Is Anyone in Publishing. I don't think I got anyone to read it, which was hardly a surprise. But I told Lama Rinchen Palmo I'd try to make her some money, but books by me on Buddhism .... well, there isn't a market there, I don't suppose. Not a genre, not even a niche!! So it's been uploaded onto Kindle and will probably be available in a couple of days.

                     All the other books on my amazon book page have a cover by my daughter, but she's too busy to ask right now. I was asked by Kindle for a photie and gave them the one above. It's frost on sand.

                      Though this book might not be very interesting if you aren't interested in meditation, Buddhism and whatnot, I'm pleased that it's there. My books are a bit like milestone's to me. Sometimes they might not be all that good, but they talk to me about times in my life, whether they are semi-autobiographical or not. This one is probably a coming to terms with bereavement book.