bruno

Calling All Pioneers of Good Heart...

2012-02-07T09:45:00.000Z

To re-inspire ourselves here in Bangkok, a few days ago we went to see the long-awaited and much-anticipated movie THE LADY.

[You can view the trailer HERE ]

I cannot recommend this film highly enough!

Only two problems... Far from being disappointed by Luc Besson's treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi's life story, we were all so moved and impressed that it was hard not to cry most of the way through it. Tears of despair, tears of joy.
The other difficulty was, for ardent followers of Suu's story, that the last quarter of the movie was very unclear and seemed to end way too soon.
For example, Suu is suddenly back under house arrest without explanation. And we only really discover she is when the soldiers come to tell her she has been freed. Curiously, there is no mention of the American who swam over to her house or any of the circumstances that surrounded her being freed for the second time. The protests/revolt led by the monks is scarcely referred to... Before you know it, the credits are rolling and you're left wondering why we weren't shown the most recent chapters of Aung San Suu Kyi's epic, continuing story.
But, that said, it is a heart-rending, uplifting film.
It makes you wonder if the Future, or Destiny, or whatever you want to call it, is calling YOUR name with great purpose and urgency... Maybe we ARE being called but just don't quite hear our name... People like Suu are so uplifting that they inspire us to wonder what WE might also be doing for the benefit of others.
If you are a fan of good-hearted pioneers, then don't miss this.

On the other hand - if you yourself ARE a pioneer of Good Heart - you will also take inspiration from hearing the story of this lady too...

Her name is Krisadawan Hongladarom, and she is almost single-handedly introducing authentic Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism to Thailand through the many activities of her Thousand Stars Foundation. You can read about Kris's incredibly inspiring personal story, and the Foundation's work, HERE .

In this photo I am presenting her with a treasured image of Tara [the Tibetan Buddha of Compassion and Fearlessness, in female form]. This was on the recent occasion when Thousand Stars invited me to present the Buddha's teachings on Fearlessness at their Foundation House in Bangkok. I have posted some more photos of this event on my own FaceBook page [see link in side bar to the right].

I first heard of Kris and her work from my master Ringu Tulku Rinpoche after he had visited and taught the dharma in various places in Thailand, including [at Kris's invitation] the Foundation's centre in Bangkok and their newly emerging retreat centre in the mountains above Hua Hin to the south.
I must say I am so impressed by Kris, and the incredible depth of her vision, that I really want to support her all I can. Therefore, i have accepted another invitation to lead a weekend of workshops and exploration of the main philosophical teachings of Mahayana Buddhism as they appear in the Heart Sutra. This event will take place in the Foundation House, Bangkok, over the weekend of March 24/25.

And so it is approaching that time of year again when you are encouraged to take part in BIG BUDDHA DAY wherever you are around the world, on May 5th [Full Moon Day].

If YOU are a Pioneer of Good Heart, then why not join us by organising a Big Buddha Day 1 Hour Meditation near you. It couldn't be easier...

There is no concept for Big Buddha Day. There is no complexity whatsoever. Just encourage others to join you somewhere open and inspiring and SIT THERE for an hour.
There are no speeches or prayers. People simply approach the place mindfully at the arranged time and sit down.
The only guidelines are these:

Body Still

Speech Silent

Mind at Rest

If you are moved to organise this pure, simple gathering near you then do not hesitate to contact me directly... nuabruno@gmail.com

You will be joining an invisible network of people meditating on that day all over the world. This year, 2012 will see Big Buddha Day meditations quietly taking place on every continent, hopefully, and in many many weird and wonderful places such as private houses, public parks, beaches, office blocks, slums, deserts, snowy mountain peaks... why not be part of it too?

For more information, please check out the main website HERE and on FaceBook HERE

All you need to do is keep it simple and inform as many people as possible that you will be sitting at such a place, at such a time, for an hour, and invite them to join you. You can do as much or as little promotion and publicity as you wish. The only thing we ask is that your event is based on the principles of BODY STILL, SPEECH SILENT, MIND AT REST, and that you share photos of your event with the world via our site and on your own.

Inspired? ... Then don't waste another minute!

For the ultimate benefit of beings, get going...

New Beginnings...

2012-02-01T09:07:00.000Z

Nature teaches us every Spring just how the world is... but we seem to forget somehow, and renewal and fresh starts always appear to come as a surprise.

The first day of Spring in Ireland is a memory for me personally as I am in Asia this year and I am not there to witness the transformation for myself.
I am told the Irish winter was unexpectedly milder this year and Spring flowers are now poking their heads above soil level earlier and stronger than expected, and in great numbers... another wonderful teaching from Mother Nature...

THINGS CHANGE is the teaching we are constantly receiving from the universe but we don't believe it. We build up our own personal expectations of what is probably going to happen and then we are disappointed/surprised when time after time we are wrong...
Learning to live with Change and Uncertainty, and [on the up side] Limitless New Possibilities - this IS the meaning of life. It IS the great lesson we are here to learn and embrace to the full.

THINGS CHANGE... but how we respond is the key.

There is always the possibility of a New Beginning if we have the right frame of mind. We can respond to all of life's circumstances, good and bad, with spacious dignity, and in our own time. This is how the world is. Timely and Natural.

As well as the start of Spring, on February 1st i always think of my mother who passed away in 1987. I recall how i fell apart but also how she gave and continues to give me much more than her physical body being here could achieve. Death is transformed into Wisdom and Compassion.

Whenever i think of Mammy, i think of Daddy by comparison. Like most of his children, I feared and hated him for so many years. But when he developed Alzheimer's he changed beyond all recognition. The more i found myself able to be around him and even care for him, the more and more lovable he became. It was a real eye opener, and an even bigger heart opener. The one person who could have ruined my life turned out to be one of the major forces that turned it around.

As i sit here on the 28th Floor, looking out over Bangkok's Chao Phraya River winding its way over the horizon, my mind turns to Irish Spring Bulbs. My mind turns to frosty mornings melting into soft Spring.

Learning to respond with 'spacious dignity' seems the only sane path to follow in life. When change comes - whether wanted or unwanted - we must accept and let go. Any other path leads to suffering and madness.

FACEBOOK teaches us so much too.
At least we can learn to examine what it all means... what IS a 'friend' anyway?
Childhood friends naturally drift apart. That's OK. Some drift back together again. That's great too.

A family drifts apart - maybe for no real reason other than laziness. That's always shocking and disappointing. But it is also natural in a way too.
25 years pass by in the blink of an eye.
Then, even though you knew each other's home addresses and phone numbers at one time, something as vacuous and yet as miraculous as FaceBook pushes you in the same direction again after all that time.

Maybe someone who considers YOU their worst enemy starts appearing in the corner of your computer screen... Do you know this person? You have 27 mutual friends...
You have to wonder, How long will it be before we eventually contact each other? Are there some bridges that can not be mended?

The Buddha teaches that absolutely EVERYTHING is open to change. Impermanence and Change is the true nature of all phenomena.

Therefore, i am drawn back to the Present Moment with all its vast array of possibility. The past is gone. The future has not yet happened. There IS only Here and Now.

I imagine all the change i would like to happen in my life and in the world...

The Buddha says:

We ARE what we think...

All that we are arises with our thoughts...

With our thoughts we make the world...

Between Iraq and a Hard Place...

2011-12-18T09:06:00.000Z

After almost 9 years of occupation, today sees the full and final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
What an incredible age we are living through!

Tyrrants and despots rising and falling. The ordinary people of the world demanding freedom and democracy. The appearance of freedom and democracy in so-called modern, civilised nations finally being seen through for the impermanent, corrupt, money-grabbing sham that it truly is.

Indeed, we are living in the beginning of a dark Dark Age!

And what was the cost of the U.S. operation in Iraq?
On the face of it, it looks like it is being counted in years, lives and of course money...
9 years,
4,500 US troops dead,
10s of thousands of Iraqis dead,
and...
1TRILLION US Dollars!

Granted, Sadaam Hussein was killed, but was it worth even the life of ONE human being? For every single soldier or civilian dead, there is an extended family who will never get over the loss of their beautiful son or daughter.

As the troops unceremoniously disappear over the horizon into Kuwait - for all the world as if the policy is to try to avoid publicity - we must be mindful of looking for the truth of what has actually taken place in Iraq and elsewhere.

Iraq is not in a good place right now. Politically you could hardly claim democracy has been achieved.
Strategically, you could not say peace has been restored.
Culturally, just look at what has been lost or destroyed! And psycho-spiritually, who actually knows how long it will take for even one person to recover?

Perhaps in the future we will have a very different view of history, and a very different approach to dealing with tyrrants.
The war crimes and human rights agencies will probably judge that the murders of Sadaam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Gadaffi for that matter, were all criminal acts.

But, we must rest assured that the global Dark Age we are now entering not only WILL come to end once it has gone through its cosmic cycle, but it CAN end at any given moment IF [and only if] humanity WAKES UP and chooses to create a Heaven on Earth instead of a Hell.

We have the vast, unexplored potential to do it, if we only looked within our hearts and minds.

What we truly are is something miraculous and incredible... We are LOVE and LIGHT, manifesting temporarily in physical form for the ultimate benefit of OTHERS.

Let us SHINE, therefore, in this Dark Age!

Let us take what we are given, and turn it into Peace, Compassion and Wisdom...

Happy Holidays to you All!

May 2012 not be the end of the world, as the Mayans have predicted, but the beginning of living fully in the Present Moment - a Beautiful Moment, always pregnant with endless possibilities for good!

An Update from Bangkok

2011-11-16T11:51:00.001Z

Now that M has had his second eye done, with great success, we are back in Bangkok [BKK] to put down some temporary roots.

moved in to our new pad in bkk yesterday and had a blow out drop in party in it from 7pm til about 5am

the place is on Rama 4 Road, and is called Lumpini Park View
it is a nice big one bed condo [shared pool and gym etc] on the 28th floor with a long balcony and a fab view over the whole city and winding river below.
the other side of the building overlooks Lumpini Park [the lungs of the city]

the rent is 25,000 baht a month [about 600 euro]
but when you work it out that is LESS than staying in the Malaysia for a month
we are already interested in keeping it on all year round and sub-letting to anyone coming over who wants it

we will send/post pics once we get more settled

now the hunt for work begins in earnest
michael is going back on saturday and will work his notice out in school before coming back over at xmas
i will really miss him til he gets back and will have to resist the impulse to stay in and write all day without making any money

looks like the floods on the outskirts are slowly draining off
no water in the centre
the only prob is all the factories that supply almost EVERYTHING are under water [so are the routes that trucks would normally use to supply goods]
as a consequence, the shelves are bare in the shops and the most worrying thing for me has been trying to find drinking water to buy
hope things are more normal soon

please pass on our love to everyone who knows us

big hugs,

bruno

REJOICE! ... Sometimes Things Change for the Better - and QUICKLY!

2011-10-29T12:57:00.003+01:00

After 28 years, finally married the gorgeous M [Oct 20, 2011]

Signed the civil register at Naas with our two witnesses and a small group of family. So strange after all these years to be doing something so formal, but it was really wonderful... and surprisingly very emotional.

We invited our merry little band to lunch back in Dublin, where we spent the entire afternoon eating well, in good company, at the fine upstairs dining room in Fallon and Byrne.

Then we opened the top buttons of our shirts [and loosened our belts too] having retreated to The Long Hall Bar on George's Street for loads of pints of Guinness and a few cheeky Zambuccas!

Later that same evening... the photo of the day ! [thanks Maxine]

The following night was Party Time with lots and lots of friends and family at PantiBar on Capel Street.
Thanks to Alf for playing THE greatest music, to our good friends for sharing the finest party food and a whole shipment of Mother-of-the-Bride HATS, and to all who came along to share our enormous joy at being together 28 years, being able to legally marry, and looking forward to a wonderful future!
With family we see regularly, and those not seen for years, with friends who longed for such an occasion to simply let their hair down and boogie the night away, and those who quietly just wanted to celebrate a great love story, we were both enveloped by your love and cherishing kindness.

The next day [Saturday 22nd] we flew to Thailand for our honeymoon and to begin our new life together living half the year in South East Asia and half in Ireland.

But, most importnantly, we were going to Bangkok [BKK] so the beautiful M could finally have sight-saving eye surgery in both his eyes.

We were just about to rent a nice condo there, and have the first eye done when the surgeon dropped a bombshell... such was the potential risk of infection, all the hospitals in BKK were about to close for two weeks til the flood waters had come and gone!
She could see how crest-fallen we both were and immediately contacted her colleague in Phuket's finest private hospital.

The next morning we abandoned all our previous plans [the Buddha said 'Things change' - and man, do they EVER!] and flew down to the island paradise, had M's eyes checked yet again by another expert, and re-scheduled surgery.

Thanks to the truly great miracle of modern surgery, and the steady hands of Dr Khemawan of Bangkok Hospital Phuket, a man rapidly approaching blindness - the love of my life - can now see!

The first eye was done yesterday. The bandages came off today.
Crystal clear vision, long forgotten, now restored!

Rejoicing in a true miracle of science, and fully cognisant of the difficult nature of the half-hour surgery under minimal local anaesthetic, M actually can't wait to go through it all again on Monday for the second eye !

We both pray, from the bottom of our love-drenched hearts, that a deluge of healing flows across the face of the entire world and that all its now 7 Billion human inhabitants - and all beings everywhere - enjoy clear vision!

A Self-fulfilling Prophecy?

2011-09-05T16:17:00.000+01:00

When i was a child, i thought as a child...
I thought everyone was good, and summer would last forever.

But now i am a man, i am learning gradually the true nature of things...
I realise that everything changes, and practically nothing is as it appears.

As i was growing up, my Dad regaled me with crazy stories of our famous ancestor Gypsy Lee.

Not to be confused with Gypsy Rose Lee [the American Stripper], Urania Lee [1852 - 1933] was known as the last Queen of the Romany gypsies in Europe. She was a fiesty old bird who surveyed the countryside from the farm in Kent in England where she lived for most of her adult life.

But Gypsy Lee was more than all that, even.
Renowned for her alleged ability to foretell the future, she made her way into the houses of London's rich and famous as an entertaining after-dinner guest. She even became the favourite of the British royal family who, it is documented, hosted her for many an evening of beguiling superstitious nonsense.

Urania was perhaps most well-known for two amazing prophecies. And they both lead me to wonder, this strangely wintery autumn day, to what extent can prophecies be self-fulilling?

For example, i know i could never win the national lottery simply by intending to. But could i get a job... go live in a foreign country... or even find lasting happiness, simply by announcing and setting my mind to it?

Gypsy Lee's incredible duo of fortune-telling bulls eyes are as follows:

1. Some 50 years before the event itself, Urania told everyone the precise date and time of her own death. Of course, this transpired to the minute. She died in her own bed of old age and a touch of a cold. She was mourned at her funeral by 15,000 people from all walks of life.

2. While he was still a very young man - just out for a night of fine dining and high society partying - the then Prince of Wales [the future King of England, Edward the 8th., 1894 - 1972] was told in front of a full room of incredulous witnesses that he would fall in love with the wrong woman and that their relationship would cause him to abdicate the crown for her. Of course this is exactly what happened after his scandalous relationship with American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, came to light.
But - the prophecy continued - it would be a mistake as the relationship would not be as it appeared, and would unfortunately not last that long.

Of course the relationship between Edward and Mrs Simpson came to be feted as one of the world's greatest love stories. Their romance was regarded as an epic tale, a veritable triumph, of love conquering all.

But, as the latest and truly most wonderful Channel 4 documentary on the subject reveals, Queen Urania Lee was right all along! She hadn't, afterall, gotten the end of the prophecy wrong. Far from it!
Good old Gypsy Lee either had a true premonition of what was to come. Or else her prophecy functioned such that it actually influenced and brought about the event itself.
In a so-called golden age, which was considered to have pre-dated the vile 'modern' era of paparazzi and spin-doctors, it turns out the world's public and even the media themselves had been misled entirely in order to save face.
The sad facts of the matter now appear something like this-

Edward and Mrs Simpson lived together in Paris for all those years after his abdication pretending to be great lovers.
Their relationship was a one-sided sham. He loved her alright but she didn't love him.
Wallis Simpson was always in love with the man she had divorced for the Prince of Wales and they had all known it.
But a certain facade had to be maintained and projected in order to protect whatever vestige of integrity Edward still clung to... people were not to be allowed know that he had, in fact, given up everything for nothing... until now, that is.

If you would like to enjoy this incredibly insightful but sad documentary, and have access to it in your region, please click the link HERE

But, in conclusion, to return to the topic of self-fulfilling prophecies...

My mind wanders back to myself as a hormonal teenager, supposedly studying in the local library for my state exams.
I was admiring from afar another young man - a bit older than me - and thinking he must surely be straight, i lamented the fact that someone like me [completely out gay, and hardly a great beauty] could never be with someone like this Greek god.
But, i did prophecy - at least in my own mind - that he would be exactly the kind of man i would settle down with.
Later that same year, as if by some miracle, we actually met each other face to face and slowly fell in love.

The first time i spoke to the Gorgeous M somehow i just knew we would end up together for life.

And next month, after 28 years of us being together ... after all the ups and downs ... all the living and laughing together ... and even some wonderful relationships and passing encounters with other people along the way too ... almost three decades and two landmark law changes later, myself and the incredibly patient and wise Gorgeous M will be married!

No too much fuss or carry on.
A quiet moment in the Registrar's office.
A pint with friends.
One of our little part of the world's unsung yet perhaps greatest love stories of all time.
Just a real case of true love conquering all.
A testament to the enduring power of vision and intention ... to self-fulfilling prophecy.

In a world gone mad...

2011-08-10T13:28:00.003+01:00

In Ireland, we were shamefully yet quietly over-the-moon to hear of global warming as our weather here is generally miserable and we were all looking forward to a few more sunny days.
But - alas - it hasn't worked out that way.
So here we are... almost mid August, and we're looking out the big window at the cold wind and the rain [again].
On television, meanwhile, Sky News has looped video footage of the massive riots in Britain and all the fires and looting that goes with it. [I'm sure many Irish people are secretly regretting the sorry fact that we didn't do the same when our corrupt government and the evil bankers destroyed our lives and ruined all our futures].

But HEY ... musn't grumble, right?

A 'Carry On' movie has just started on the other channel. It is called Carry on REGARDLESS!

I've just had some toasted Irish Pride sliced pan with Flora Buttery melting all over it as a healthy option. Oh, and a mug of delicious Barry's tea...

In a world gone mad, today i offer you some pictures from our courtyard garden.

Thanks to the gorgeous M for growing these beautiful 'summer' roses. I just managed to photograph them on my phone before they blow away!

Thanks M... Love you!

Amongst White Clouds...

2011-07-28T14:46:00.000+01:00

Because of all the crimes against humanity, and crimes against Buddhism perpetrated by China in Tibet, it is FAR too easy and over-simplistic to view China as 'the enemy'.

It is true that A particular Chinese regime has done all these unspeakable things [and we must speak of them]. But today i want to consider something else...

And it is this: Truth can NEVER be entirely extinguished!

Even though we walk through this valley of tears, and the age in which we live is a Dark Age indeed, there is always Truth glimmering away [however faint]. Maybe it glimmers in a remote place, but it shines.

And this is the main point... I had always believed that the Chinese had succeeded in totally wiping out their own national form of Chinese Buddhism. But not so.
CHAN Buddhism had come directly from India and flourished within China itself. It had also given birth to the more famous Zen which took root in Japan, Korea and Viet Nam.

So, as you can imagine, I was beyond thrilled some years ago when a new Buddhist DocuFilm was released by a very young American man named Edward Burger.

The docu movie was called AMONGST WHITE CLOUDS. And that is precisely where this determined boy had to go in the most remote places to find the remnants of Chan in the caves in the lofty peaks of China's Zhongnan Mountains.
But what he found was not just a remnant. It is an authentic practice lineage that is very much alive amongst a small quasi community of hermits and retreatants dotted around the area.
Serious Chan meditation practitioners are devoting their whole lives to this path, and are reaching nothing less than Buddhahood ... full awakening to the vast present moment.

And so, a young man called Burger equipped with a video camera and basic provisions - and, at first, very rudimentary Chinese language skills - set off to China. Following urban dharma myths, keen hunches and gut instinct - and not even really knowing where the mountain range was - Edward somehow managed to rediscover and document this incredible group of practitioners. Not only is it a miracle that they exist at all, but that they had kept the authentic Chan tradition alive throughout China's turbulent past.

I will certainly be proposing Amongst White Clouds for inclusion in the first BUDDHIST FILM FESTIVAL, DUBLIN in 2012.

Someone has kindly shared the whole movie on YouTube. HERE
Of course it may not be there for long, so enjoy it all while you can [... more Buddhist wisdom??]
I just loved, loved, loved this film!

I Am

2011-07-12T14:09:00.000+01:00

just wanted to share this important documentary with you...

www.iamthedoc.com

HH Dalai takes part and replies to the central question: What is wrong with the world and what can we do about it? by saying 'First we need critical thinking, followed by action'

What happens to old news?

2011-06-23T14:28:00.001+01:00

Last night - just before falling asleep in bed - i was squinting to read the rolling Sky News 'breaking news' captions at the bottom of my tv screen.

I was disturbed to see 'Tsunami Alert in Japan as 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits off coast', but the actual news reader wasn't referring to it at all. I lay there for almost 30 minutes to see if it would eventually feature, but No. Endless old interviews with jaded politicians about the state of the world and the wars, but nothing about the Tsunami alert or the earthquake.

I have to admit - although I was thinking of the many potential victims and sending them Loving Compassion - I fell fast asleep none the wiser.

When i awoke this morning, feeling like a 'bad buddhist' and a worse human being for falling asleep, my immediate reaction was to check Sky News again to see what had happened during the night in Japan...

NOTHING! It was just as if the mini-headline had never happened! No mention whatsoever!
Over coffee i went online to see if the BBC website had anything... nothing! Nothing anywhere at all.

So now i am left with the impression that the news alert about the earthquake/tsunami was a broadcast mistake or just so unimportant that it didn't warrant a further mention...

Even if there had been no wave or no damage as a result of the quake shouldn't there be somewhere for us to get information about what actually DID happen?
Shouldn't there be some kind of 'OLD NEWS' channel where we could follow up on all those stories that seem to disappear off the face of the earth?

We seem to have generated an INSATIABLE appetite for up-to-the-minute Breaking News stories, but not much interest in what happened next or the deeper meaning behind anything.

Another night i fell asleep the same way while worrying about a similar breaking news caption that seemed to be saying how masses of ordinary Chinese people were rising up in the south of the country... I had visions of people power overthrowing despots and corrupt local government officials such as we have been witnessing all across the Arab countries. 'Finally', i thought to myself. 'Here we go!'

But, O No... NOTHING! No TV news story. No follow up. No nothing!

Then i got to thinking about all the news stories that DID make it to our TV screens and newspapers for a time but which eventually got dropped without trace after their moment in the sun... Big stories that seem to have had little or no follow up...
Couldn't our imagined and much longed-for 'OLD NEWS' channel keep us informed of all that too?

I wondered about our beloved Aung San Suu Kyi.

Where is she now?
What does she do all day?
What is going on in Burma?
Why hasn't there been an over-throw there?

... I can't believe she was simply elected leader of Burma all those years ago, imprisoned by a military junta under house-arrest for decades, then released finally before a gathering of the world's press, then... NOTHING!

In the spirit of following up... Please enjoy these interesting and inspiring reports on Aung San Suu Kyi and the current state of inertia in Burma:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13884748

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13851172

http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=aung

Khandro Tsering Chödron passes away

2011-06-19T21:53:00.000+01:00

For several years now Khandro lived with Sogyal Rinpoche and his family in Lerab Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple, in Southern France.

From the age of 16, she was the spiritual wife of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lödrö all of her adult life. And she has been revered by all who knew her as the very embodiment of the most incredible, awakened qualities that a practitioner can display.

Kandro-la passed away on Sunday May 30.

Please enjoy this video tribute to her which was made by the Rigpa community at Lerab Ling

http://vimeo.com/25125033

In Memory of Khandro Tsering Chödrön from khandrotseringchodron.org on Vimeo.

First BIG BUDDHA DAY Launched in Dublin!

2011-05-21T18:23:00.000+01:00

What a beautifully auspicious, first-ever Big Buddha Day Dublin!

The invitation was to gather and sit together in meditation for one hour by the Bandstand in Dublin's St Stephen's Green.

At 630pm there was just a handful of meditators. Although we didn't know eachother from Adam, we had individually found our way to this place and time so we smiled greetings to one another as we entered meditation quite effortlessly.

Soon - in ones and twos - other figures walked mindfully across the park towards us and gradually we were joined by more and more people.

There was something very special, very simple, and very authentic in the air. Having come to a damp Dublin park, prepared either to bake or to drown in Ireland's infamous May of Many Weathers, the heavy clouds parted right on cue and the warm sun shone through the gaps.

For sixty minutes of pure and simple joy that seemed to drift by more like sixty seconds, we sat together, the late evening sun's rays casting long shadows across the grass - the trees, benches, bandstand, sitters.

It had been a strange day in Dublin. Queen Elizabeth was setting foot on Irish soil for the very first time. Security, at a cost of 30 million euro plus, was at fever pitch. Already 3 bombs had been discovered.

Death threats abounded and there were riots brewing on O'Connell Street.

We had been informed during the day that Stephen's Green would probably be shut and - judging by the pictures on live

TV - it appeared the city centre was a ghost town with roads closed and ordinary Dubliners being corralled and herded away from most key areas of town.

I just couldn't believe my eyes when i managed to get into town - almost late myself - only to find roads had opened and the Green hadn't closed afterall.

Within minutes we were gathering and sitting: Body Still, Speech Silent, Mind at Rest.
And, as our numbers increased, it was fascinating to observe the reaction [both within myself and among the people passing through the park].

I became conscious that meditating in a public place, being observed by others, is actually a bit like 'coming out of the closet'... something very private becoming very public.

There was a kind of pride at work among us; a carefree dignity.

People seemed to stare in disbelief, but still we sat. School girls dared each other to go between us and yell but we were not bothered by them at all. Japanese tourists took photos. Nearby Spanish picnic-ers took turns joining us, arms outstretched, rejoicing in the sun's warmth. Park rangers - and then a police car - came by just to check we weren't some kind of protest. Ordinary passers by appeared to be somehow elevated merely by seeing us all simply sitting there.
Birds called out to each other. Churchbells rang. And the wind rustled every leaf for miles as the sun finally dropped down behind a tall tree in the far west.

It was 730pm and the meditators were starting to stir and move off home. One or two people who knew eachother already chatted briefly. Others smiled and wished eachother a Happy Big Buddha Day, saying See you next year before walking mindfully away.

Thank you to all those who supported us and especially to those who gathered to sit.

Very much looking forward to sitting together again next year, by the bandstand, in The Green... 630pm - 730.

Next year's BIG BUDDHA DAY will be Saturday May 5th 2012.

register for email updates with your email address on the righthand side of this page...

check out www.lotus-temple.org and www.openspacecommunity.blogspot.com for similar opportunities to gather and simply sit.

Sogyal Rinpoche teaches the Essence of Buddhism at AWAKE AMSTERDAM - a multimedia, techno gig for 21st century searchers

2011-05-14T14:42:00.000+01:00

Announcing Big Buddha Day [Dublin: TUESDAY MAY 17 2011, 630pm - 730pm Bandstand, St Stephen's Green.

2011-05-04T11:53:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

This is me launching my latest Dharma-Project: BIG BUDDHA DAY

www.bigbuddhadaydublin.blogspot.com

PLEASE HELP ME promote the idea in principle and this event in particular and join in my aspiration prayer that Big Buddha Day grows and spreads worldwide for the benefit of all beings!

Announcing Big Buddha Day Dublin: TUESDAY MAY 17 2011, 630pm - 730pm

Dear Friends,

You are cordially invited to join us and celebrate the first ever Big Buddha Day!

Often referred to as Wesak or Vesak, Big Buddha Day falls on the first Full Moon day in May and is the most important occasion in the Buddhist calendar internationally.
On this special day we celebrate the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha.

This year the May full moon rises on Tuesday May 17th.

Therefore, we are delighted to launch the first Big Buddha Day event here in Dublin, Ireland, and sincerely hope the idea grows and spreads.

Whether there are 10 people [or 10,000!] we will meet and sit together at the BANDSTAND in Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.

We will sit in meditation on the grass there, surrounded by the most beautiful flowers and trees, for one hour from 630pm to 730pm.

There will be no speeches or ritual of any kind on this occasion.
BIG BUDDHA DAY is a non-denominational event and will be totally inclusive. Therefore it is not happening in a place associated with any one particular tradition.

We will sit in meditation: Body Still, Speech Silent, Mind at Rest.

We are encouraged to develop the Buddha Mind which is naturally open, content and awake.

Our greatest aspiration will be to awaken within us infinite Peace, Compassion and Wisdom and to share that with all beings.

So please spread the word far and wide. But, most importantly, come and join us yourself!

Be prepared for all weathers and remember to bring a meditation cushion to sit on.

If you feel inspired - and are able to - you may wish to make your final approach to the grassy area beside the Bandstand by practising Mindful Walking Meditation to the spot where you would like to sit.

Thanks in advance for all your help and support.

Love and Light,
your little brother, Bruno

PS Here is a jpg of our simple poster if you want help promote Big Buddha Day Dublin
And don't forget, if you organise your own BBD event wherever you are, let me know and i can list on our main webpage too

Tibet Before the Invasion: Photos from British Museum Collection

2011-05-01T13:23:00.000+01:00

When outsiders first started to take photographs inside Tibet, the results were often not exactly what you might expect.

Instead of amazing pictures of the hidden, mysterious kingdoms of Shangrila and Shambhala, or incredible panoramic shots of Tibet's gloriously vast expanse, what the early photographers were most moved by were the faces of the Tibetan people themselves.

So distinct from their distant neighbours the Han Chinese and the Mongols, to have discovered and photographed the Tibetans at that particular moment in time was so important because it documented and recorded not only the ordinary people, but some of the greatest spiritual masters on the planet - and all just before the Red Army invaded in the 1950s and almost totally destroyed everything, forever.

The earlier, occasional arrival of foreign trekkers and their strange equipment was always viewed with distrust and fear.

Small wonder then that these pale-skinned proto-tourists and their awkward cameras were greeted by the ordinary Tibetans with the customary contorted grimaces and threatening display of tongues which is usually reserved to frighten away only the most unwanted of blood-curdling ghouls.

Many thanks to Muriel Sanchez for posting this unbelievably moving collection of photographs from the British Museum on facebook.

Please enjoy them HERE

the writing's on the wall

2011-04-26T23:34:00.001+01:00

Today, on the way home from Ikea, i passed by an amazing and quite moving piece of graffiti art.

The words are by Damien Dempsey a young singer-songwriter and the artistic concept comes from street artist Maser.
The location is the gable end of one of the two remaining, soon-to-be-demolished, tower blocks in Ballymun.

I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, in a Dublin suburb called Ballyfermot. Although our area was generally regarded as hellish to outsiders, we thought ourselves extremely fortunate not to have been born in the Ballymun flats.

These tower blocks were Ireland's only foray into the 1960s high-rise social experiment. Of course everybody thought it was the bee's knees at the time; architects won awards, builder-friends of high-ranking politicians won the contracts for construction, the inner-city slum problems were apparently solved at the stroke of a pen as the poor unfortunates became the new fortunates of the golden age - they were moved out to Ballymun, the shiney new suburb near the airport.

Click HERE to read more about Ballymun.

'Concrete Jungle Mother, Farewell to Your Stairwell Forever'

See the creation of this piece of public art here on Vimeo...

Maser / Ballymun Flats from Maser on Vimeo.

I suppose you don't have to be an Einstein to have a stab at interpreting what these now-iconic words mean.

But, we shouldn't allow the moment to pass us by without calling to mind all the amazing and wonderful people who came out of those flats [or perhaps who never left them at all... not even for a holiday!].

I am especially mindful too of the terribly tragic circumstances that befell many of the flats' inhabitants - not to mention the scumbag dealers, terror-mongers, and all the brutal money-lenders-cum-debt-collectors who also rose up, and crashed and burned there.

It really is as though the Ballymun flats actually gave birth to and mothered a whole generation of new suburban Dubliners containing all the full spectrum of humanity that springs forth from any given place.

Even the word 'stairwell' itself is completely and utterly evocative of an entire microcosm: the smell, the noise, the potential danger.

Small wonder, then, the genial author of this urban haiku wishes the place a vaguely nostalgic yet firm 'farewell FOREVER'.

Concentric Circles in North Eastern Tibet

2011-04-16T13:20:00.000+01:00

HH Dalai Lama holding St Bridgid's Cross aloft in Kildare, Ireland.

Last Wednesday i celebrated my 46th birthday in glorious company... it was the visit of HH Dalai Lama to Ireland and we managed to share an hour full of compassion and grace only metres away from His Holiness in Kildare parish church.

It was such an amazing day, i hardly knew what to write about it in my blog - so i didn't.

Now today i am moved to write about it for a very different reason altogether.

We are so privileged in the West to have such easy access to Tibetan Buddhism, the dharma, and so many visiting masters... living buddhas indeed. If you wait long enough, even HH Dalai Lama comes to see YOU!

Phuntsog

This is a photo of Phuntsog - a monk in Kirti monastery in North-Eastern Tibet [now irreversibly swallowed up into China's Sechuan Province].

In 2008, the ill-fated Tibetan protests [which i blogged about from Dharamsala] sparked a brutally violent crackdown by the Chinese inside Tibet. Soldiers opened fire directly into a large crowd in Aba the town where Kirti monastery is.
Of course, this left scars beyond imagination on the psyche of locals and monks alike.

Anger and resentment have fermented and festered in the years since then and even the young monks have taken upon themselves to plot rebellious acts of defiance against the Chinese.

One month ago, young Phuntsog walked into the small town centre carrying a photo of HH Dalai Lama [which is banned of course] and set himself on fire.

Kirti Monastery

Defaced photo of HH Dalai Lama

Phuntsog on fire, carrying picture of His Holiness

The monastery of Kirti is large and is home to around 2500 monks.
Before the occupation this region - known by Tibetans as Amdo - was always famous for breeding honest but tough people.

This was famously evident in rare TV footage during the 2008 uprising when the courageous men of Amdo were seen galloping into town on horseback, wearing traditional dress and shouting pro-Tibetan slogans and prayers for Dalai Lama.

The men went even further when they removed the Chinese flag from the post outside the town hall and raised the much loved but outlawed national flag of Tibet in its place.

Reprisals and tensions in the area, though unreported, have been on a brutally epic scale [as evidenced by sites such as freetibet.org ]

The Chinese soldiers' defacing of HH Dalai Lama's picture at Kirti Monastery, the threat that all monks between 18 and 40 years of age must be 'relocated for re-education', and more recently monks being forbidden from praying together, has all led to the present situation whereby a monk attempts public suicide in protest.

Phuntsog didn't die from burns, however.

Rather than trying to put out the flames, horrified Tibetan onlookers reported that 3 gunshots were heard and that the Chinese soldiers present beat him so badly that he died later in hospital from his terrible injuries.

This all happened a month ago and since then it is reported that another young monk at Kirti was found to have hanged himself in the monastery.

Things go from bad to worse...

I began by writing about HH Dalai Lama in Kildare and how he held aloft the powerful Irish symbol of St Bridgid's cross.
Now i am even more mindful of another Irish/Celtic symbol - the circle.
The early Irish used circles, concentric circles and spirals to depict the eternal truth.

Sometimes the truth is positive: Life is a cycle that always renews itself.

Sometimes the truth has a negative connotation: Negative forces are also very real... Hatred and violence can only lead to more negative results.

Now, bear with me a moment - if you will ...

Imagine a dot, at the centre of a circle, which is inside yet another larger circle...

The dot represents Kirti Monastery in North-Eastern Tibet and its 2500 inhabitants. They are starving because they have run out of food and supplies.

The first circle that engulfs the dot represents the Chinese army who have surrounded Kirti for weeks now, effectively cutting it off altogether.

But what of the outer circle?

The locals, the poor beleaguered Tibetans themselves, have entirely surrounded the Chinese army and forced a stalemate. The monks are under seige, the Chinese are trapped, the Tibetans are locked into a potentially fatal manoevre that cannot really have any good outcome.

Today, HH Dalai Lama made the following announcement appealing for peace and restraint on all sides:

Appeal by His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressing concern on the situation at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, northeastern Tibet

by Dalai Lama on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 5:52am

The current situation prevailing at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba in northeastern Tibet is extremely grim because of the stand-off between the Chinese military forces and the local Tibetans. The monastery, housing approximately 2,500 monks, is completely surrounded by Chinese armed forces, who at one point prevented vital food and other supplies from entering the monastic compound.

The local Tibetans fearing that this siege on Kirti Monastery is a prelude to large scale detention of the monks have surrounded the soldiers blockading the monastery and have filled the roads so as to prevent Chinese trucks and vehicles from either entering or leaving Kirti.

The local Chinese blockade of Kirti Monastery began on 16 March 2011, when a young Tibetan monk at the monastery tragically set himself on fire as a way of observing the third anniversary of the widespread peaceful protests that shook Tibet in 2008. Instead of putting out the flames, the police beat the young monk which was one of the causes of his tragic death. This act created huge resentment among the monks, which resulted in this massive blockade of Kirti Monastery.

I am very concerned that this situation if allowed to go on may become explosive with catastrophic consequences for the Tibetans in Ngaba.

In view of this I urge both the monks and the lay Tibetans of the area not to do anything that might be used as a pretext by the local authorities to massively crackdown on them.

I also strongly urge the international community, the governments around the world, and the international non-governmental organizations, to persuade the Chinese leadership to exercise restraint in handling this situation.

For the past six decades, using force as the principle means in dealing with the problems in Tibet has only deepened the grievances and resentment of the Tibetan people. I, therefore, appeal to the Chinese leadership to adopt a realistic approach and to address the genuine grievances of the Tibetans with courage and wisdom and to restrain from using force in handling this situation.

The Dalai Lama
April 15, 2011

Steve McCurry at The Gallery of Photography and Michie Sushi

2011-03-24T00:27:00.000Z

Oh My Buddha!

Who says there's nothing to do and nowhere to go in Dublin these days?!
Well... it was probably me, actually LOL!
Ya know... in my new book, Dublin is SO OVER! [A Post-Modern Travel Guide for Über-Recessionistas]

Anyway. I've changed my mind and here's the latest news-
Finally... somewhere to go by yourself maybe mid-morning and see THE most incredible colour photographs in the world, followed by somewhere to go BY YOURSELF and eat THE MOST INCREDIBLE Japanese food in Ireland for lunch afterwards:

Steve McCurry at The Gallery of Photography, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar.
http://galleryofphotography.ie/exhibitions/Steve_McCurry.html

Michie Sushi up a back lane in Ranelagh.
http://www.michiesushi.com

McCurry is an American-born photographer perhaps most famous for photo-documentaries of his travels in magazines like National Geographic.

Now, being a huge fan of all things Asian - and prompted by my good friend John - i decided to venture into Temple Bar and see this exhibition for myself.
And my God it is just fantastic!!!
The colour, the clarity and the sheer size of the larger photographs is simply breathtaking.
Here's just a taster...

I also came across some very interesting clips on YouTube of McCurry speaking about his work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ADIpgj39EY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKMuaeogys

This spectacular exhibition runs for another month. Tell everyone... But enjoy it alone.

Then - when you're intellectually and spiritually nourished - take the Luas south to Ranelagh and enjoy the short stroll to Michie Sushi.
There is a very easy-to-follow map on their website .

The walk takes you through the heart of this old 'village' suburb which is now practically in the city centre of this sprawling yawn-opolis.
After a few minutes you take a left into Chelmsford Lane. You won't believe your eyes but walk on up this laneway filled with parking garages and buildings that could only aspire to call themselves muses... walk along along past all the illegally parked cars and vans right to the end where [on your right] you will see number 11. It will probably look closed. It may even be totally empty.
But fear not, little one. You have arrived.

You'll be glad you are alone because you won't feel like chatting much. The interior is Zen meets Formica, basic chairs, no fuss menus, a Japanese girl in traditional dress politely goes through the fare with you and takes your order.
Service is 6 Star impeccable. Everything is authentic beyond fault and is cooked fresh from scratch once you've ordered it.
Produce bought early morning in local markets mixed with imported Japanese ingredients combine in a mini feast that seduces the eye and tastes so good and so fresh you may as well just weep and savour every mouthful. Who needs all that oul' guff and chatting when bliss is laid before you.
The day I went, I had a magnificent Bento Box accompanied by the best green tea, miso soup and steamed Japanese rice and - I couldn't resist it - an extra platter of assorted sushi.

No photos could do it justice so I won't bother.
Suffice it to say you would be well advised to fully clean and enliven your jaded eyes with lashings of cold water followed by that new Optrex spray jet thingy.
You'll be using those big beauties more than ever before to breath in, soak up, ravage, and devour the food long before you even take a single bite.

a new poem

2011-03-17T13:23:00.001Z

Sometimes, in the face of natural disasters and unbearable human suffering, all we can do is calm our minds ... open our hearts to others... while resting in our True Nature.

Here is a new poem intended to embody the three main aspects of the Buddha's teachings: Peace, Compassion, and Wisdom.

After that is the poster for my teacher's visit to Dublin.

The topic for the weekend teachings is particularly appropriate to the times we live in.

Please spread the word to anyone you think may be inspired.

THREE PATHS HOME

Pacify the Surface of Mind.
Transcend it altogether, quite Naturally.

Open the Heart of Compassion.
Engage with the world this way.

Rest in the Buddha Nature, your True Essence:
Natural, Open, Awake.

Click for LARGER image.

The Bodhicharya Ireland Weekend Teachings, on 9th and 10th April 2011, will be on ‘Turning Suffering and Happiness into Enlightenment’ by Dodrupchen Jigmé Tenpé Nyima (1865 – 1926), who was the third incarnation of the Dodrupchen Lineage. The talk takes place at the Hilton Hotel Kilmainham, Dublin. These teachings raise funds for Rinpoche’s charity projects. To find out more visit Bodhicharya Ireland’s blog.

Also, three evening talks will take place at Kagyu Samye Dzong. The topic will be ‘The Works of the First Karmapa‘, Düsom Khyenpa. This year is the 900th anniversary of the Karmapa lineage and to mark this, Rinpoche will be giving progressive teachings from the same text at centres throughout Europe. The evening talks at Kagyu Samye Dzong run from Wednesday 6th – Friday 8th April.

To book your place and for further information about both events please contact
Kagyu Samye Dzong, Kilmainham, tel 00353 (0)1 4537427 or email info@buddhism.ie

What Meditation Really Is? [.com]

2011-02-15T13:33:00.002Z

If i had a Euro for every time someone asked me what meditation really is... i would literally have €27.50 [LOL!]

All joking apart, it is never quite clear what the answer ought to be. Depending on who is asking the question, and why i think they are asking it, my answer varies.

Occasionally i reply O meditation is just being ... at peace, in harmony, open.
Other times, if i think the person is looking for some kind of spiritual healing, i say Meditation is about revealing and releasing ones own innate powers of self-transformation and healing. It is the process by which we discover the mind's own Natural Great Peace and then remain in that already perfect state... naturally and without effort or distraction. [Or words to that effect]

Imagine my great joy, therefore, when i found www.whatmeditationreallyis.com !

This could be the answer the all our prayers and soul-searching, i thought to myself.
If ever that person asks me again, i can point them in the direction of this very handy and informative little website!

On closer inspection of the site's actual content, my great joy turned to utter bliss as i realised that this quite trendy and cutting edge [yet über-concise and inspiring] online gem is the product of none other than Rigpa ... and therefore my very own master, Sogyal Rinpoche.

What a wonderful resource this site truly is!
There is clear guidance and all important questions about meditation are covered.

There is even a ten-part meditation course offered free of charge with video teachings from Sogyal Rinpoche as well as such luminaries as Mingyur Rinpoche and Khandro Rinpoche [to say nothing of the wonderfully skillful and artistic animations that show the inner and outer posture of 'mind and body at ease'].

So, in the open spirit of this blog, i offer my heartfelt recommendation of whatmeditationreallyis.com both to you and anyone you know who has an interest in meditation - to experts or total beginners alike.

Enjoy.

And in the meantime...

Sit like a mountain

"In the Dzogchen teachings it is said that your View and your posture should be like a mountain.

Your View is the summation of your whole understanding and insight into the nature of mind, which you bring to your meditation. So your View translates into and inspires your posture, expressing the core of your being in the way you sit.

Sit, then, as if you were a mountain, with all its unshakable, steadfast majesty. A mountain is completely relaxed and at ease with itself, however strong the winds that batter it, however thick the dark clouds that swirl around its peak.

Sitting like a mountain, let your mind rise and fly and soar."

from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
by Sogyal Rinpoche

Spring is coming [to a flowerpot near me]!

2011-02-01T12:52:00.001Z

Good morning, darlings!

Today is the 1st day of February. And in Ireland that means that Spring is here! [Well... even if it's not quite here yet it IS just around the corner]

I often feel the trick is to KNOW [deep in your heart] in the very depths of Winter that Spring will surely come again.

The above photo was taken in my garden during the recent big snow. Just as the thaw was setting in, we were gently reminded that the Buddha and the beautiful little flowers around it had merely been obscured by the snow. Just like our own Buddha Nature, the reality that lies beneath appearances had not disappeared but was merely obstructed from view. Once revealed [or even remembered] there is only one thing to do... REJOICE!

So it is with a happy heart and a knowing smile that i sit here today. Typing and looking out my windows, i rejoice!

The gorgeous square in front of our house is very very green and new leaves and buds are starting to appear once more. Even at night - when we look out across the lamplit square, hoping to catch a glimpse of the urban fox who passes through and dines al fresco on the gourmet scraps that my beautiful M leaves under the nearest tree for her - there is a feeling of freshness, newness and big changes-a-comin'.

Who knows what Change will bring?

I recently sat down to write about spiritual matters [you know... the way you do LOL!] and found myself writing the first chapter of a thriller novel instead!

After listening to the Sunday morning radio with M a few weeks ago, i emailed one of the guest speakers to congratulate him on a really inspiring discussion on the Philosophy of Religion [right up my street!]. Yesterday i got a reply from him with an invitation to guest lecture on Buddhist Philosophy at University College Dublin!

Starting to feel that tiny bit older - both myself and M - and mindful that our next birthdays bring us closer to another important chapter of our lives together [maybe living and working part-time in Asia], i open my email this morning to read a press release announcing the long-awaited first proper visit of HH Dalai Lama to the Republic of Ireland... The confirmed dates are April 13 and 14... my birthday, followed by M's birthday!

Included in the email [copied and pasted below this post] is a beautiful personal letter to the Irish people from HHDL that tantalisingly encourages us to embrace change:

Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope.

Today, also, i look out to the Eastern sun shining on our back garden and the meditation cube that we call the Zendo seems to have a golden glow that calls Oh stop writing and over-thinking everything, you over-analysing eejit! Come out here, into Nature's fresh embrace. Bear witness to the spring bulbs poking their first shoots above the soil. See how the pond shimmers and touch the sticky new leaf buds on the Japanese maples. Wrap up though. It is still cold. But breathe in the newness - right down to the bottom of your lungs. Exhale deep Love for all beings that they may soon be released from all dissatisfaction.

So it is, with a heart-mind overflowing with all the great possibilities of change, that i write briefly these reflections...

The first day of Spring is also my mother's birthday and so i have always associated this time not with the grief of her passing away when i was still quite young but with the day she was born.

Mammy passed out of her mother's womb and was loved and nurtured such that she later went on to give birth to 9 children of her own [of which i was the last]. She was such an incredible human being and spiritual teacher although she rarely left her tiny house in Ballyfermot.

If Spring is all about giving birth, loving and nurturing, then that is what i want to pray for today:

May all beings be loved and nurtured; may we be their mothers.
May they live on a planet that is cared for and cherished.
May the people of Ireland recover from this terrible economic crash.
May we have political leadership that loves and nurtures like a mother does.
May the struggling peoples across the whole Earth find the path to Peace, Compassion, and Wisdom!
May their rebellions be non-violent and spring from a 'quiet revolution of the heart' rather than a position of hatred and fear.
As they march in the streets, may they also rise up against the tyranny of Delusion and overthrow the fascist dictatorship of Attachment and Aversion ... for once and for all.
May we all, in that case, march with them and sweep this world completely clean - revealing the great truth and natural beauty of what lies beneath!

...................................
email:

Dalai Lama says ‘vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland’ in advance of April visit
Speaking in advance of an April visit to Ireland, Nobel Peace Laureate and exiled Tibetan Leader the Dalai Lama has today delivered a message to the people of Ireland in which he calls for people to demonstrate courage and hope.
“Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope.” he said in the message which can be viewed in full on the new website http://www.possibilities.ie
The Dalai Lama’s message comes ahead of his April 13th – 14th visit, which is in support of the new POSSIBILITIES 2011 social change initiative, which is being launched by 3 non-profit organisations; Children in Crossfire, SpunOut.ie, and Afri.

“It is my hope that POSSIBILITIES 2011 will open up a space of dialogue, action and reflection and strengthen the realization that vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland at this time.” said the Tibetan spiritual and political leader.

During his visit the Dalai Lama will deliver a talk entitled ‘A Call For Universal Responsibility’ at a major national Social Forum at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin on April 13th, which also includes Mary Robinson, the popular Irish music group Kila and other yet to be announced very special guests. He will then visit Kildare, in partnership with the Solas Bhríde Centre, where he will speak on ‘The Spirituality of Compassion’, before concluding his visit on Thursday April 14th with a talk entitled ‘The Power of Forgiveness’ at the University of Limerick.

His visit, which is his 3rd to the Republic of Ireland (having visited in 1973 and 1991), follows a personal invitation from Derry man Richard Moore who the Dalai Lama describes as his personal hero. In 1972, aged 10, Richard was blinded by a rubber bullet and years later he befriended the soldier who shot him. He has gone on to become a leading advocate for children through his Children in Crossfire international development organisation, of which the Dalai Lama is patron.

According to Richard, the Dalai Lama represents the type of progressive leadership that is badly needed in Ireland right now: “The Dalai Lama offers a deep wisdom to help us better understand and address the urgent and interconnected range of economic, social, political and environmental problems facing us today. He is someone respected by people from all walks of life, someone who can help us realise the real possibilities for change that exist in amongst all the tough times.”
More information on POSSIBILITIES 2011 and the Dalai Lama’s visit to Dublin, Kildare and Limerick, including ticket information, is available from www.possibilities.ie. Tickets go on sale for the POSSIBILITIES 2011 Social Forum tomorrow Wednesday February 2rd at 9am from Ticketmaster.ie and Ticketmaster outlets north and south.

http://www.possibilities.ie
ENDS

............................................................................

His Holiness The 14th The Dalai Lama’s Message to the People of Ireland (via Office of Tibet )

“I am looking forward to visiting Ireland in April to participate in a range of events organized by Children in Crossfire, Afri and SpunOut.ie. I very much look forward to speaking in Dublin, Kildare and Limerick at events which I hope will help people realise their own potential, as well as the immense possibilities that exist for realising much needed personal, social and global change. It is my hope that POSSIBILITIES 2011 will open up a space of dialogue, action and reflection and strengthen the realization that vast possibilities are available to the people of Ireland at this time.

Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope. As I have said before, I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society and it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier and fairer world.
It will be especially important to visit at a time when Ireland is facing serious turmoil, as is the world as a whole, grappling as it is with economic upheaval, climate change, and great and growing chasms between rich and poor.

I hope that my time in Ireland – in the company of my good friend and my hero Richard Moore – will contribute towards the building of a new civic and cultural force for change.”

Happy 2011

2011-01-01T18:14:00.000Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr_iavtHeKg&feature=bulletin

Merry Christmas Every One!

2010-12-18T19:19:00.000Z

In a world where the President of Sudan lodges 6 BILLION Dollars to his personal foreign bank accounts [while his people in Darfur languish in fear and starvation]...

In a world where we don't cherish or follow our wise and compassionate saints and Bodhisattvas...

We tell our children a seemingly endless compound of lies about the true nature of reality:

If you work hard in school and university you will be successful and only then will you be happy
People will admire you more if you win TV's X FACTOR than if you are simply a 'good' person
Santa is the only modern saint worth your respect as he has dedicated his life to making the whole world happy for one day per year

Between the recession and the snow, the christmas madness and the general mayhem, I really want to take this opportunity to put a smile on your face by sharing with you a short personal story from my own past.

No no no... it's not about the first time I went into a gay bar when I was a teenager!

Nor is it about the time I had my first real kiss. It was at an all-boys school, on the wrong side of the tracks in Dublin. It was with the homophobic bully who tried in vain to destroy me, but secretly longed to love me.

Rather it was an autumnal afternoon. Picture it...
My first week as an undergrad student at Trinity College Dublin.
I was overjoyed to finally have escaped the brutality of the wild western suburbs and had just stumbled across that hallowed university's Gay Society meeting rooms. The proceedings were in full swing. I'd say now - looking back on it all - that it was a blissfully liberating experience: a cross between Brideshead Revisited and Glee.

Thank Buddha I managed to capture it all on video camera!

Merry Christmas Darlings!
Every Happiness in the New Year!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46BhMIRujI

Thailand... An Excellent [but challenging] Overview of the Issues

2010-12-12T12:46:00.000Z

Aidan Hartley of Channel 4's fantastic 'Unreported World' programme has done an incredibly interesting and challenging job with last week's half-hour documentary about the unfolding situation in Thailand.

It is usually the case that we are encouraged to see the urban 'Yellow Shirt' elite as the only viable future for Thailand. But this programme presents largely the rural 'Red Shirt' case.

Granted, Hartley cleverly manages to avoid much discussion about the Red Shirts' connection to their deposed/exiled Prime Minister Thaksin. But, that said, the case he presents for the cause of the Red Shirts challenges many of our preconceptions about them.

Up to now we have been drawn into thinking of the rural majority of Thailand as the great uneducated, unwashed horde of country bumpkins who were perhaps stupidly and so easily lead astray[and bribed] by the über-corrupt Thaksin.

But the rural poor ARE the vast majority of Thailand's electorate and when they vote a certain way that must carry a certain weight, shouldn't it?
Even if we ourselves tend to disagree with their choice, isn't this the perennial question 'What on earth can you do when the majority vote the wrong way in an election'?
It is so exasperating, but this is the same obstacle we have been facing for generations here in Ireland too whereby the rural population and some urban voters habitually re-elect the Fianna Fáil party - and just look where that has lead us... endless corruption, politicians and bankers creating booms and busts, and all their crimes being above the law of the land.

But with respect to Thailand's future, it has to be said that this Channel 4 documentary can only serve to clarify confusion - even if it tends to disagree with what we previously believed. And all this in under 30 minutes of primetime viewing.

The biggest issue, as ever, is what will happen after His Majesty the King [now in his 80s] passes away? Unfortunately, that day will surely come in the near future.
This short programme excellently investigates the background of what is likely to happen thereafter.

If it is available in your particular region, you can watch this Channel 4 documentary online HERE

Nobel Shame [Again]...

2010-12-07T13:53:00.000Z

Thank God, and Buddha - and whatever other names we give to that universal force for love, justice and peace - for the Nobel Peace Prize!

Once again they have managed, despite huge international pressure, to awaken the world to what is going on in China.

This week marks two very important milestones in the long history between the Nobel Prize and the world-wide longing for peace and truth in China:

19 out of 58 countries invited have refused to send representation to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. Of course this year's prize-winner cannot be present himself.
He is currently languishing in a Chinese prison for the crime of campaigning for a multi-party democratic system in China. He was also a key figure in the student revolt that was eventually crushed at Tienanmen Square.
Shame on those countries who are de facto siding with China by boycotting the ceremony. These countries are: Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco [and of course China itself].
One doesn't have to be wise [or even intelligent] to see what is really going on here; trade, import-export agreements, greed, money, arms, aligning in case of future war... the list is endless but completely transparent. Not much has changed in the relationship between the nations of the world and China it seems. Shame, shame, shame!!

The second milestone this week is that we are celebrating the 21st Anniversary of HH Dalai Lama being awarded his Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
That particular occasion also caused considerable division and upset internationally. But at least there was a growing awareness of the plight of Tibet at that time.
Not so much nowadays, unfortunately.
Since the anti-China Olympic protests and exposés have come and gone - with little or no real negative impact on China's carry on, it has to be said - there has been a virtual news blackout on Tibet.

However, anyone with connections to Tibetan Buddhism, Amnesty International, or the Free Tibet Campaign may be aware of some of what is going on inside Tibet. But most people have no idea. It is time for us to take responsibility for our own understanding of the situation.
Searching the internet easily reveals official news updates, 'insider' reports, and all the myriad of opinion that will never make it to the 6 O'Clock evening news. The problem for a mainstream news agency is completely understandable given the current news blackout in Tibet. If journalists can't get much verifiable information out of Tibet, then what can they really report? But we must remember that there are many other ways to get information about Tibet. And there are many many more ways we can help.

However, it is true to say that things have steadily become worse and worse for Tibet since the 1950s invasion by China. This means - by definition - the situation in Tibet today is worse than EVER! And all this is still going largely unreported.

Tibetans are now far out-numbered by Hanh Chinese who have been rewarded for relocating to the region.
Tibetan Buddhism has been largely wiped out. It exists in exile mainly.
Tibetan culture is seen even by the new generation of Tibetans themselves as uncool, old-fashioned, outmoded, dead and gone.
The Tibetan language is practically outlawed. It has been superceded by Chinese as the language of the ordinary people but there are even some crazy stories of photocopy shops and printers being directed by law NOT to allow the printing of documents in the Tibetan language. The fear is that they may be anti-Chinese pamphlets or flyers inciting revolt. And since so few people understand Tibetan these days the person who is doing the printing may not realise what they facilitating.
Community leaders, monks, nuns, spiritual teachers, artists, poets and musicians are routinely rounded up, imprisoned and tortured in the much feared goulag-style Chinese prisons. These prisons are often part-staffed and run by Tibetans.
Local Chinese officials in cities, towns and villages are often Tibetan too.

The darker side of how the Chinese continue to alter the state of affairs in Tibet at such an accelerated rate is very dark indeed. The tip of the sinister iceberg may be glimpsed when we look at the case of Tibetan women.
News gathering Tibetans in Dharamsala, Northern India, regularly receive SMS text messages from inside Tibet claiming that forced sterilisation of women and aborting of phoetuses are routine and common place ... This brutal form of punishment and population control is even reported as regularly happening without anaesthetic !
'Ah but this is only 'hearsay' and may in fact be anti-Chinese propaganda', we are told. Worse still, is the awful truth that there isn't a news gathering agency in the world that could report it as the sources are anonymous and their stories are unsubstantiated.

In many ways the battle to Free Tibet has been lost.

The Tibetan culture and spiritual tradition has been suffocated inside Tibet and mainly exists in exile now. What we are most concerned with inside Tibet these days is the flagrant violation of human rights by the Chinese. In fact, these violations are widespread throughout 'mainland' China too. But they are particularly aggressive in areas of non-Hanh ethnicity.
First it happened in Manchurea.
Then Mongolia.
And now Tibet is all but gone too.

Decade after decade, century after century, China does whatever it wants.
And the world observes or ignores, but does nothing either way.

On Living Saints, Freedom, and Longing to Liberate Others...

2010-11-16T12:57:00.002Z

Oh Happy Day! Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty she's free at last!

Watching the incredible footage that emerged over recent days of Aung San Suu Kyi walking to freedom, so many things arose within me that i thought i had better take it all in, and process it a little longer before writing a single word about it.

I am developing a strong understanding that this woman had never really been imprisoned at all. Somehow - maybe due to her own spiritual awakening - she had always profoundly realised that we are all completely free to the core, already, no matter what circumstances arise.
As i watched Suu Kyi march along her garden path, there was a certain determined quality about her dignified strut that made me realise this incredible being is none other than a living saint.

As i watched her rise up from behind her garden gates and start to speak to the assembled crowd, i felt a curious mix of 'Oh Please Suu ... don't say anything too critical of the military or they'll imprison you again straight away', and 'How do you do it!? You look so amazingly fresh and calm. You seem to have no ego whatsoever and just want to work for the freedom of others!'

Ringu Tulku Rinpoché

And then this link arrived in my email ... http://www.bodhicharya.org/blog/2010/11/12/the-general-benefit-of-bodhichitta-1st-chapter-stanza-6/

It was the next installment of Ringu Tulku Rinpoché's online teachings.
Gradually all was revealed and my ponderings were completely answered.

A living saint - Buddhist or otherwise - is characterised by a deep longing to bring others to the ultimate freedom ... an end to all the suffering of the mind.

I hope you enjoy this teaching and it inspires you to greater and greater random acts of human kindness and boundless loving compassion.

Khandro Rinpoche

2010-10-30T00:49:00.001+01:00

Ever wondered if Tibetan Buddhism has enlightened FEMALE masters?

Well here is one...

Khandro Rinpoche is the reincarnation of a famous female master of the past. Therefore, though quite rare for a woman [it has to be said], she bears the highest honorific title, 'Rinpoché' ['Precious One'].

Below you can read what the extraordinary Rigpa Wiki has to say about this wonderful master - a modern woman and living buddha.

Finally, please rejoice and enjoy a very recent video teaching of Khandro Rinpoche at Lerab Ling in France when she offered a dharma talk entitled 'Compassion Versus Competition: An Essential Teaching on the Buddhist Practice of Lojong'. Many thanks, as ever, to Robert Gassler at Rigpa International.

Khandro Rinpoche

From Rigpa Wiki

Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche in Lerab Ling, October 2010

Khandro Rinpoche Tsering Paldrön (b.1967) is the daughter of Kyabjé Minling Trichen Rinpoche.
She was recognized at the age of two by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa as the reincarnation of the great dakini of Tsurphu, Khandro Ugyen Tsomo, one of the most renowned female masters of her time. The present Khandro Rinpoche holds the lineages of both the Nyingma and Kagyü traditions.
Khandro Rinpoche has received teachings and transmissions from some of the most accomplished masters of the 20th century, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Minling Trichen, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche, Tenga Rinpoche, Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
Rinpoche maintains a rigorous schedule, teaching from both the Kagyü and Nyingma traditions in the USA including Hawaii, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Greece. She has established and heads the Samten Tse Retreat Center in Mussoori, India, which is home to 30 nuns and also provides a place of study and retreat for monastics and western lay practitioners. Rinpoche is also resident teacher at the Lotus Garden Retreat Center in Virginia, USA, which she established to provide retreat practice, the study of important Buddhist texts, and visiting teachers from all lineages. Rinpoche is also actively involved with the Mindroling Monastery in Dehra Dun, India.
She also heads a variety of charitable projects that supply health care and Buddhist education for monastics and lay practitioners who work side by side in a variety of challenging settings—including a leprosy project.

Publications

This Precious Life: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment (Shambhala Publications, 2003)

Teachings Given at Rigpa Centres

Lerab Ling, 1 October 2010, 'Compassion Versus Competition: An Essential Teaching on the Buddhist Practice of Lojong'

External Links

Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche's website

Burma court hears Suu Kyi appeal [Latest news from the BBC]

2010-10-29T22:42:00.000+01:00

The Supreme Court in Burma has heard a final appeal from lawyers for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi against her house arrest.

Her current sentence is due to end on 13 November, days after the country's first election in 20 years.
It stems from an incident last year when an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
She has spent most of the time since then under some form of detention.

Lawyers for the Nobel laureate says that although they believe she will soon be released, they want to prove her innocence.

The appeal was heard by the Special Appellate Bench in the remote capital, Nay Pyi Taw. A decision is expected within two weeks. Two previous appeals have been rejected.

'Not too late'

The move comes nine days before national elections which Burma's leaders say will return the country to civilian rule but which critics say are a sham aimed at perpetuating military rule in civilian guise.
Speaking at a regional summit in Hanoi, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was not too late for a "credible, democratic transition" in Burma.

He called on the ruling generals to release all political prisoners.
"It is not too late, even now. By releasing all political prisoners, the Myanmar (Burma) authorities can help open the way for national reconciliation," he said.

Ms Suu Kyi's party, the NLD, is boycotting the polls because of election laws which it says are unfair.
Under the laws, Ms Suu Kyi and many other leading democrats are banned from participating because of convictions linked to their activism.

Opposition parties and individuals that are taking part have complained of harassment while campaigning, and say they cannot compete with the resources - media, funding, facilities - that are being made available to government-linked parties.

International observers and foreign media will not be allowed into the country for the polls.
There is speculation that Ms Suu Kyi may be freed on her released date of 13 November if the military achieves its expected result in the elections.

Watch TV Programme: HH Dalai Lama's Hero

2010-10-26T10:51:00.000+01:00

If you would like to enjoy the TV programme mentioned in the previous blogpost, please click HERE

[Note the half-hour programme is on UTV's 'Playback' service and, as such, will only be available to watch for 1 month, i.e. 28 days from today October 26]

HH Dalai Lama to Visit Ireland April 2011 !

2010-10-22T11:16:00.000+01:00

The Irish Times – Friday, October 22, 2010

Dalai Lama expected to visit Republic next year

DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent

SPIRITUAL AND political leader the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the Republic in April next year.
During his visit, he is due to take part in a series of events being planned by three Irish-based non-governmental organisations – Children in Crossfire, Afri and SpunOut.ie.

The announcement comes just days before UTV screens a documentary about Children in Crossfire founder, Richard Moore.

The Dalai Lama’s Hero is to be broadcast this Sunday at 10.15pm.

Moore was blinded at the age of 10 by a rubber bullet in his native Derry, and has since become a leading international advocate for the rights of children suffering from “the injustice of poverty”.
The Dalai Lama is now patron of Children in Crossfire, which works to protect and promote the rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.

A statement from the organisation said that it was during a visit to the Dalai Lama’s home in exile in Dharmsala, India earlier this year that he accepted the invitation to return to Ireland.
More information on the trip itinerary and programme is due to be announced on the www.dalailamaireland.com website in the coming weeks.

With his message of peace, the exiled Tibetan leader has made three separate visits to Northern Ireland, in 2000, 2005 and 2007.

The Dalai Lama paid a one-day visit to the Republic on October 11th, 1973, when he was received at Áras an Uachtaráin by then-president, the late Erskine Childers.

On a subsequent visit in March, 1991, two years after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama informally met then-president Mary Robinson, but was not officially received by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

At the time the Tibet Support Group accused the Government of being “enslaved” to trading links with China, but the department said the visit was regarded as a private one.
China criticised the government for permitting the Tibetan leader to speak in public.

http://dalailamaireland.com/

Ban Ki Moon speaks out in U.N. against all institutionalised homophobia.

2010-09-24T00:15:00.000+01:00

While checking in on fridae.com for the latest news affecting the gay world - a world i have been part of all my life, a world which in many ways has raised, shaped and nourished me - i was thoroughly heartened to read about United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon [God and Buddha bless him!] and his recent pronouncements on Gay Rights.

This was not at all widely reported elsewhere. In fact i really don't think i heard anything at all about it in the media.

What i find most surprising is that similar speeches made over recent decades about Women's Rights being Human Rights eventually received common support and even led to laws being changed [all-too-slowly, but surely nonetheless].

But as soon as even the most basic human rights of those awful homosexuals are supported at the highest levels of society the international press responds with a resounding Yeah. Whatever! Give us a call when there's something NEW to say on the matter!

But this simply isn't good enough - not good enough at all. There IS something new to be said on the matter... As long as gay people don't have equal status in EVERY respect, there will always be something new to say.

Take Ireland, for example.

I have lived here all my life. And for most of my life i have lived here openly with my partner, the gorgeous M.

Now the sad and sorry truth is that although we live in semi-detached suburbia, surrounded by quite beige but smiley lower middle-class heterosexuals they have rarely introduced themselves to us, we still don't know any of their surnames after 14 years in this particular house, and we suspect they even discouraged their kids from chatting to us.

So - finally getting to the point - i think it truly has to be said that a society where all this can still happen is a sick society indeed.

In the case of Ireland it is even worse again, i'm afraid.

We have recently passed a law to allow gays to register civil partnerships but we have not permitted them to have full equality with heterosexuals under the law.

Unfortunately, it gets even more ridiculous than that.

The homophobia that has led to such a sorry state is evidently institutionalised right from the politicians who debated, blocked and watered down the law, all the way down to the lowly gay and lesbian equality lobby group who actually lobbied for [and settled for] LESS THAN equal status for gays. Even they, it seems, didn't quite believe in full equality for gays. Is this what they now call 'internalised homophobia'?

So all this leaves us with the daunting prospect of somehow bringing about equal status by some other means.

I've always believed the old maxim that The Truth Will Set You Free.

So it is with a song in my heart and the love of a good man that i will just carry on regardless.

That's really all any of us can do. Just go on being someone's neighbour, someone else's son or brother, and maybe even someone else's Dharma teacher...

Surely to Buddha, being out and proud will eventually lead to equality ... won't it?

If you would like to read the afore-mentioned article about Ban Ki Moon on Gay Rights [and then hopefully pass it on to whoever you think might listen to its simple message]... here it is:

News

20 Sep 2010

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urges repeal of anti-gay law

by United Nations News

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on countries to abolish laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians during a panel discussion held on the sidelines of the 15th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Top United Nations officials today appealed to all countries that criminalize people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity to reform such laws and to ensure the protection of basic human rights for all.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

“No doubt deeply-rooted cultural sensitivities can be aroused when we talk about sexual orientation. Social attitudes run deep and take time to change. But cultural considerations should not stand in the way of basic human rights,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In a message to a panel discussion in Geneva on ending violence and criminal sanctions based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which was delivered by UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay, Mr. Ban noted that the responsibilities of the UN and the obligations of States are clear.

“No one, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. No one should be prosecuted for their ideas or beliefs. No one should be punished for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

In May, during a visit to Malawi, the Secretary-General called for laws criminalizing people on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity to be reformed worldwide. Such laws, he noted, fuel violence, help to legitimize homophobia and contribute to a climate of hate.

While in Malawi, he had also lauded the “courageous” decision by the country’s leader to pardon a gay couple who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison, voicing hope that the African nation will update its laws to reflect international standards.

Ms. Pillay noted in her own remarks that, despite significant progress made in a number of States, there is still no region in the world today where people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender or intersex (LGBTI) can live entirely free from discrimination or from the threat of harassment and physical attack.

“But in 78 countries, individuals still face criminal sanctions on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” she told the event, which was held on the sidelines of the 15th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

“We should be looking for ways to ensure that everyone enjoys the full protection of international human rights law, not for grounds to justify excluding certain individuals.”

She said the first priority should be decriminalization worldwide, which should be accompanied by greater efforts to counter discrimination and homophobia, including both legislative and educational initiatives.

“If we are all entitled to the full range of human rights and to equal protection of the law then, I believe, it can never be acceptable to deprive certain individuals of their rights, indeed to impose criminal sanctions on those individuals, not because they have inflicted harm on others or pose a threat to the well-being of others, but simply for being who they are, for being born with a particular sexual orientation or gender identity.

“To do so is deliberately to exclude a whole lot of people from the protection of international human rights law. It is, in short, an affront to the very principles of human rights and non-discrimination,” she stated.

How do you make a buddha?

2010-09-14T20:28:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nnkE0_BT5Y

Have you ever wondered what goes into the creation of the enormous Buddha statues we see in temples?

Here is a very short but inspiring overview of how the large Buddha was made for Rigpa's main temple at Lerab Ling in southern France.

Thanks so much to Robert Gassler for posting this video and so many others on the web.

But, above all, my heart-felt gratitude and devotion go to Sogyal Rinpoche - my spiritual father - THE master among masters, an unstoppable force of nature from whom all good things come and without whom nothing is possible.

Just look at what Rinpoche and the Rigpa sangha have achieved in Lerab Ling, Dzogchen Beara West Cork, the new Berlin Rigpa Centre, and the new Tenzin Gyatso Institute in the U.S. ... and all this, for the ultimate benefit of all beings, is just the beginning!

A Little Autumnal Haiku ... just from me to you

2010-09-13T16:33:00.004+01:00

blown this way and that

like leaves floating on my pond

may we all be free

Here's the Science bit... Mattieu Ricard on Buddhism, Neuroscience and Generating Lasting Happiness

2010-09-10T13:13:00.002+01:00

Regular readers of this blog may recall Mattieu Ricard. He is a French scientist and photographer who became a Buddhist monk and student of renowned Tibetan master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
Nowadays he translates for HH Dalai Lama and is heavily involved in exploring the scientific evidence that explains the transformation of the mind that results from following the Buddhist path to peace and compassion.

This video is a lecture he gave to students/employees at Google Tech in California about recent studies in neuroscience and the experimental evidence garnered from scanning the brains of experienced Buddhist meditators with MRI machines. [You may have seen the results in Time Magazine]

The talk is fascinating though dense. I kept wanting to pause it and contemplate what i was hearing.

An interesting aside for me personally, is that i was constantly reminded of occasions when i had encountered French Buddhists over the years.
Mattieu's full and speedy style of delivering the facts [and his own insight] is just so French!

Although he is a translator, he makes little effort to transcend his thick French accent with the result that the listener is sometimes at a loss to follow what is being said.
Furthermore, his obvious understanding, expertise and enthusiasm for this particular area drives his presentation along at a rate of knots that could leave one left behind entirely.
That said, i am in no way critical of what he is saying. Far from it!
I simply wish it was more accessible and listener-friendly.

The heady, intellectual [though often humourous] chatter-box flavour of Mattieu's presentation is highly recommended. I strongly suggest you enjoy it in bite-size pieces with ample time for reflection and processing the enormity and the importance of his conclusions...

Compassion changes the mind and physically changes the brain.

'It is almost like a natural antidote to depression'

It reduces anger and fear.

Meditation increases our attention capacity.

It boosts the immune system, reduces anxiety and stress, and increases longevity.

An all this is presented not as spiritual speculation, but as scientific fact based on empirical evidence!
Wow! This is truly amazing!
How fortunate we are to live in an era when the personal experiences and the promises of the Buddha [who lived over 2500 years ago] are being backed up by science. Perhaps now people will finally turn towards the Path - not as a religion, per se, but as the way to unlock our inner happiness for once, and for the sake of all beings.

Incidentally, [back to my tangental mini-rant about the French, sorry guys!] the memory that Ricard's presentation style evoked in me was a meditation retreat i attended at Lerab Ling in Southern France some years ago...
Because there were several hundred 'experienced' meditators in attendance - perhaps half of whom were French - Sogyal Rinpoche wisely invited us all to keep noble silence.

Now, in English, this means something like 'no talking whatsoever, just enjoy the spaciousness of the present moment and relax into the vast expanse of the Natural Mind'.
But, apparently in French it translates as 'be as neurotic as possible and talk as much as you want even though everyone else around is silent'.
The chatter reached the lofty heights of full-on conversations with smatterings of hilarious laughter and even heated debate... So much so that some disgruntled retreatants were forced to break their own silence to complain to them or just plain hush them up.
The result was far form peaceful or compassionate as the offenders retaliated by telling them to shut up and mind their own business! Oh what fun we Buddhists have together!

But, all joking aside, Mattieu's very French patter put me in mind of this presumably national trait and those days on retreat in the mountains in the sun. I recall on that occasion asking someone organising the retreat why the French were allowed to carry on like that.

The unforgettable reply came in a flash: 'They are French! What can you do?!'

Anyway, enough from me on the matter.
Enjoy disseminating the earth-shattering truth that pervades every phrase of this incredible lecture!
May it inspire you to full awakening.
And, having shared it with others, may this simple truth liberate all beings.

Insightful Interview with HH Karmapa

2010-09-08T21:02:00.000+01:00

His Holiness the Karmapa talks about how he was discovered to be the reincarnation of a revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism. In telling his story, he urges us to work on not just technology and design, but the technology and design of the heart. He is translated onstage by Tyler Dewar.

Thanks to ted.com for hosting this and so many other discussions, and to my good friend Tim for sharing this particular one with me.

HH Karmapa is one of the most incredible spiritual teachers of our age - even though he is still so young.
I had the incredible good fortune to meet him at his home in 2008 and blogged about it here at that time.

He blew me away and since the personal interview occurred on my last day in India for that trip, i always remember the profound experience that day as something which had created a thorough 'shift' in my own spiritual path thereafter.
I recall travelling non-stop, the next day, from Dharamsala to Delhi in a small plane, then from Delhi to Bangkok, and from Bangkok to Phuket ... I had no jet-lag whatsoever and quite literally felt like i had been floating on air!

my mind and heart continued to open at an accelerated rate from then on
for that - and for so much more - i am eternally grateful

i have shared this little story for the benefit of all beings

b

Wonderful quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh in the Guardian newspaper.

2010-08-29T10:49:00.002+01:00

In the current issue of Tricycle, contributing editor Andrew Cooper recounts his travels with Thich Nhat Hanh, the much beloved Vietnamese teacher, poet, peace advocate and environmentalist. Cooper’s view is unique; charged with attending Thay, as he is called, on an early visit to the United States, Cooper offers an up-close-and-personal view of a man who changed—in fact, helped to shape—Buddhism in the West. Today’s Guardian features a nice piece on Thay on the occasion of his visit to Nottingham, where he led nearly 1,000 people in walking meditation (above). Here are five outtakes:

1.
“The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilizing ourselves with over-consumption is not the way.”

2.
“We should speak more of spiritual pollution. When we sit together and listen to the sound of the [meditation] bell at this retreat, we calm our body and mind. We produce a very powerful and peaceful energy that can penetrate in every one of us. So, conversely, the same thing is true with the collective energy of fear, anger and despair. We create an atmosphere and environment that is destructive to all of us. We don’t think enough about that, we only think about the physical environment.”

3.
Thay talks about capitalism as a disease that has now spread throughout the world, carried on the winds of globalisation: “We have constructed a system we cannot control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims.”

4.
“Without collective awakening the catastrophe will come,” he warns. “Civilizations have been destroyed many times and this civilization is no different. It can be destroyed. We can think of time in terms of millions of years and life will resume little by little. The cosmos operates for us very urgently, but geological time is different.

5.
“One Buddha is not enough, we need to have many Buddhas.”

You can read the full article here.

PLEASE ENJOY THE VIDEO RECORDINGS OF THE NOTTINGHAM 2010 RETREAT

HERE [Orientation Session] and HERE [First Main Teaching with TNH]

Watch out for more videos as they arrive HERE

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche launches new 'Virtual' Study College!

2010-08-23T12:32:00.000+01:00

Traditionally in Tibet, serious students of the Buddha's teachings went to a study college called a Shedra.

Nowadays, ingenius trail-blazzers like Ringu Tulku Rinpoche [as well as offering the more traditional Shedra approach] experiment with the internet's latent potential for sharing Dharma.

In this light, Rinpoche is planning on connecting his students and friends worldwide via a new online shedra.

The intention is for RTR's students [or anyone else for that matter, who is genuinely interested] to register their aspiration to take part in the 'virtual' shedra through the bodhicharya.org website.
Then we will all be informed about how and when the teachings will be shared internationally.

The inaugural subject, providing a firm foundation for dharma students, is the BODHICHARYAVATARA [The Way of the Bodhisattva, Padmakara Edition]

Video teachings will appear online of RTR teaching and commenting on the text. There will also be an opportunity for students to interact with Rinpoche by sending questions etc via email. Students will also be in contact with eachother online, thus enabling virtual study groups for those who are not near a Bodhicharya centre.
Local centres and groups may well establish special Shedra Study Groups specifically for this purpose.

But I do know that Rinpoche is keen for anyone anywhere to have access to these teachings and to take part in this pioneering form of Shedra Study.

Recently, in Berlin - despite a very busy schedule of teachings and hospital visits due to ill health - Rinpoche somehow managed to find time to record the following video message for YouTube in order to introduce the Shedra topic and prepare the Worldwide Bodhicharya Sangha [Community] for receiving and studying dharma teachings in this way.

So, spread the word far and wide. Enjoy the YouTube clip below or [if you prefer] please click HERE

The Raoul Moat Tapes: TV Documentary on Channel 4

2010-08-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

British TV station Channel 4 broadcast an extraordinary documentary last week about Raoul Moat based on voice recordings he made of his own thoughts in recent years.

The recordings are, as we now know, an incredibly insightful glimpse of the slow decline into that paranoid delusional state which ultimately led to murder and his own tragic suicide.

I have written about the case while it was happening and on the day it all ended so disgustingly - in a field at night time, in the pouring rain, surrounded by police marksmen.

But i was particularly struck - when watching the TV documentary - how so many of the ideas i had been contemplating in my blog about Moat [and his at that time quite unknown background] were so close to the truth.

To watch the archive playback [if it is available in your region] please click HERE any time in the next 24 days.

Rigpa News: Video: Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi's Visit to Lerab Ling...

2010-08-17T20:51:00.002+01:00

Rigpa News: Video: Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi's Visit to Lerab Ling...: "The much awaited film of Yangsi Rinpoche's visit to Lerab Ling. If you are lucky enough to be in the USA and somewhere close to Colorado ..."

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's recent visit to Skellig Michael and Dzogchen Beara.

2010-07-15T16:11:00.000+01:00

Crossing Thresholds from Dzogchen Beara on Vimeo.

I was delighted to be sent the above video of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's recent visit to Ireland. I was only just blogging about it a few weeks ago so I am posting the video here for your further enjoyment and edification.

Thank you so much to Olivier Riche from Rigpa for sending it to me, and to all the many people who made and contributed to this incredibly inspiring record of this historic meeting of Tibetan Buddhism and Irish Christianity.

Skellig Michael looks so amazing and the new Spiritual Care Centre at Dzogchen Beara, West Cork has blossomed into such a peaceful and compassionate space, largely due to the life-long drive and aspiration of Sogyal Rinpoche and close disciples such as Chris Whiteside.

Congratulations and love to all involved. We rejoice in your great wisdom and compassion!

Raoul Moat...

2010-07-15T00:12:00.003+01:00

After a manhunt that went on for days, the man the police were hunting was surrounded in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night. They sat around him for hours, pointing their guns and lights at him while he just sat or lay there, utterly lost and alone in the darkness - completely drenched to the skin.
Raoul just sat there, trying to stay awake, pointing his own shotgun to his head ... a total stand-off.

This is by no means a tribute to Raoul Moat - far from it. But I have been contemplating the conditions that could possibly have lead to such a sad fruition and I simply wanted to confront the only logical conclusion I could find: given the same circumstances, causes and conditions, everyone's life could end up in that very same way.

These first two photographs were taken during the long quasi-stalemate; the police didn't want to be held responsible for causing Raoul's death by suicide, nor did they want to shoot or even wound him for fear he would react by pulling the trigger.
Moat himself didn't appear to see suicide as his only course of action; although he was threatening it all along he could so easily have shot himself hours [if not days] beforehand - but he didn't.
In the event - for whatever reason - the police blasted Moat with a taser gun [presumably to stun him]. But Raoul Moat pulled the trigger and shot himself in the head. He was declared dead on arrival at the nearest hospital. It was over.

Before Raoul was finally caught, he had attempted to kill his ex-girlfriend [presumably in revenge for splitting up with him and taking away his children]. Unfortunately, he was successful in killing her new partner, who he also alleged was working for the British police force [which in his own disturbed mind had become his arch enemy]. Finally, Moat chose a police officer who was sitting in his police car and shot him in the face, point-blank, but somehow only managed to maim and blind him instead of killing him outright, as intended.

Could it be that this exiled father of two was not, in fact, evil personified? Is there any room in the current debate for looking at ourselves honestly in that bathroom mirror and wondering Could I have gone on the rampage and done exactly the same? If I truly felt I had lost everything I loved, and my life was already over, would I be capable of going so insane with frustration and revenge?

According to the Buddha, we all just want to be happy and avoid suffering. So are we really that different to Raoul afterall?

We all begin to lose our mind, to varying degrees, especially when we don't get what we want - or worse still when we actually get precisely the very thing we were dreading the most.

The greatest problem seems to be exactly how we process whatever disappointment or disillusionment life may bring us.

Most of us manage to just get on with our lives somehow or other. But others are not so lucky.

There are so many individuals who are propelled by life further and further into deepest, darkest misery.

Maybe most of them don't actually become so depressed that they kill themselves, or so angry that they kill others. But we see them all around us nonetheless living lives of quiet desperation or barely contained rage.

When I think of Raoul Moat my heart actually goes out to him. I'm not yet completely clear if he was mad, bad

or just very sad. But I am convinced that, along with his recent victims [and the doubtless many people it will transpire he bullied, abused and brutalised during his short life], we will also come to think of Raoul as a victim too, of sorts, in all this.

I am also deeply struck by the images associated with this particular case.

Sometimes I see a madman, a savage brute!
Other times I see a young Daddy with his cherished little daughter in his strong arms.
Then I am looking at a muscle-bound thug who may well have been impossible to be around.
Or I wonder if he was the life and soul of the party and a true inspiration to his many close mates down the pub?

I also wonder - if I'm totally honest - just how impressive or attractive I might have found Moat if he had become my friend in my local bar. There is a laddish charisma that certainly exudes from the photo that was most often used of Raoul. And I am sure it was that image, combined with Moat's vigilante-style, self-determinist rampage, that has led to the otherwise inexplicable upsurge of male support for him in the media and all over the Internet.
There are so many dispossessed, disenfranchised fathers, husbands and sons who see in Raoul Moat a kindred spirit - an albeit maniacal hero who was prepared to lay down his own life for what he specifically believed in [and for men's rights in general].

But, I don't really see that aspect of him so clearly.

I see the six year old boy he once was. Some mother's son, probably the apple of her eye too. A young kid with his whole life ahead of him.

His mother must have lain awake nights envisioning the perfect future for him: schooldays filled with gentle friends, peaceful play times in the schoolyard, and no bullies or brutes; teenage years filled with fishing trips and weekends camping with mates, first pints with older boys who could be trusted, good strong advice when needed, first discos, first love; she must have wished for him an ideal home life of his own with the perfect wife and children. His mother must have hoped and prayed for it all for her precious Raoul.

Before they tasered him, and before he shot himself, the assembled crew of onlooking negotiators and police marksmen said they knew he was just about to kill himself when he declared his unconditional love for his two children and how sorry he was for all he had done.

ZEN KISS [Closing Sequence]: short film by Bruno

2010-07-10T17:11:00.000+01:00

Inspired by the spaciousness of the open, panoramic view from Dzogchen Beara in West Cork, Ireland, please enjoy the Closing Sequence of my short film ZEN KISS.

Click HERE

Dilgo Khyentse YANGSI Rinpoche live online...

2010-07-07T20:59:00.000+01:00

Many many students of Tibetan Buddhism in particular will have heard of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. I have personally been aware of his vast presence and influence on the Dharma since I first climbed up the stairs to the top floor of 12 Wicklow Street, to find the Rigpa meditation centre there.
Once you recover from the trek, the first thing you notice is that you are in a completely new realm...
Of course, by this I mean it was my first ever time in a Buddhist centre and absolutely everything was new to me.

But the one thing that profoundly strikes you when you see a Rigpa Buddhist shrine for the first time is that there are photographs of elderly, kind faces staring out at you ... into your very heart-essence... as if to say 'don't be afraid, all this is just a reflection of your own Buddha Nature... breathe... sit... open...'

These awakened beings in the photos are the masters of Sogyal Rinpoche, whose centre Rigpa is. You notice three in particular: Jamyang Khyentse Choki Lodro, Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. The third of these was a highly realised Buddhist master from Tibet who taught anybody and everybody who went to him including the Dalai Lama and unknown, ordinary people like you and me.
I have written about him here before but, as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was at one time the principle master of two of my own teachers [Sogyal Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche], I wish to draw your attention to an upcoming, free, live event online.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's Yangsi [reincarnation] is just now beginning to come out of the intensive training period of this particular lifetime and is starting to travel about and teach the Buddha-dharma again.

On Sunday July 18 2010, the intriguing Yangsi Rinpoche will visit Lerab Ling, Rigpa's main temple. Situated in the mountains of southern France, this magnificent temple will provide the perfect environment for this young Rinpoche to give a public talk.

This wonderful event will be broadcast live on the internet at 3pm French time. The video streaming is free and is available to anyone who wishes to join the celebrations.

All you have to do is simply click http://videostreaming.rigpa.org

Zen Kiss soundtrack: PRAJNA

2010-07-04T07:47:00.001+01:00

HERE is a piece called PRAJNA [which means Wisdom]. It was composed and recorded by Bruno and his ensemble The Temple of Sound especially for the closing sequence of his short film ZEN KISS.

Composed in the jacuzzi at the Iveagh gym, Prajna was inspired by the memory of the fabulous view from Dzogchen Beara in West Cork.

You will hear a full-range male voice chanting the Buddhist Mantra:

'Gaté, gaté, paragaté, parasamgaté, bodhi suaha'

[Gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore, completely awakened, yes!].

This is accompanied by orchestral strings and various Buddhist ritual instruments.

This short piece of music [and the movie itself] is dedicated with love and gratitude to three great spiritual masters - Sogyal Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche and Thich Nhat Hanh - for the benefit of all beings.

Jessye

2010-07-03T14:13:00.000+01:00

Our little dog Jessye passed away yesterday evening aged 17. She had a wonderful life here with us but actually gave us so much more in return.

They say that the true meaning of life is revealed to us in every moment, and often in the most unexpected ways, provided we are open enough to understanding it.
And just like a buddha manifesting for our benefit, Jessye taught us day after day her entire life.

The most important thing we learned from her was that human hearts are made to be open, and that love is meant to flow unconditionally and impartially.
We also learned how natural it is to let down your guard and receive unconditional love too. Just as we doted on her and really loved her, Jessye showered us with a multitude of blessings every day.
When she was well, she was so full of life it became infectious and we rejoiced in the fun and excitement of her generous spirit.
And when she was sick, our hearts naturally and effortlessly went out to care for her.
We knew then, instinctively, that the whole object of life is to broaden out the scope of that love and compassion until it embraces all beings, everywhere, without exception.

Not only little Jessye, but all the dogs we shared our lives with over the years - Benjamin, Sebastian and Georgie too - they all taught us the same life lessons over and over.
Not least of which is living proof [if proof were needed] of the essential truth of the Buddha's teachings on Impermanence and Karma:

Everything that exists is subject to change and decay, so best to rejoice in it while the going is good without clinging or fear.
Whatever actions you do will have far-reaching consequences, so the best way to be in the world is with unselfish love and courageous compassion.

Oh the wisdom you can learn from one little dog!
Although there is pain and grief right now, even that too will pass away.
We rejoice in the memory of every miraculous moment we shared - not bothered in the slightest that some people may think us quite mad...

Whether it appears in the guise of large or small packages, love is love and truth is truth.
You live and learn.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche speaks about Working With Depression

2010-07-02T00:32:00.001+01:00

Photo copyright Olivier Vin www.heymana.com

In April 2010, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche visited Dublin, Ireland.
During an interview with a student he spoke about how to use the teachings and practices of the Buddha to work with Depression.

I must say, I find it wonderful that Rinpoche has spoken about this and look forward to hearing more.
So far [since 1993] I have heard several Buddhist masters being asked to speak about depression and the responses have ranged from 'Do not think too much about it' to 'Try watching comedy movies like Laurel and Hardy'.

Please enjoy this video clip of RTR

Zen Kiss soundtrack: PRAJNA

2010-06-30T13:41:00.024+01:00

You will hear a full-range male voice chanting the Buddhist Mantra:

'Gaté, gaté, paragaté, parasamgaté, bodhi suaha'

[Gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore, completely awakened, yes!].

The Cultural Genocide of Tibet by China

2010-06-28T22:00:00.000+01:00

The British occupied and colonised Ireland for hundreds of years.
And the process by which they achieved this had already been well tried and tested elsewhere by all the ancient civilisations such as Persia, Israel, China, Greece and Rome.
Whatever the reasons behind such occupations - annexing of lands, natural resources, and creating geographically strategic buffer-zones and corridors - there are always strong, common themes.

Take the occupation of Ireland by Britain and that of Tibet by China for example.

The neighbouring super-power expands and annexes the relatively smaller sovereign state primarily in order to own more land and subjugate its people.
Next comes the systematic assimilation of the people by outlawing land ownership by locals, followed by outlawing their native religion, language, culture and customs.
If the rate of change is not fast enough, the occupying force brutally puts down any semblance of resistance while at the same time 'planting' the entire region.

In this context, to 'plant' a foreign country means that the occupiers handsomely reward those individuals from their own country who are willing to move permanently to the newly annexed state. These occupying 'planters' are encouraged to relocate to the new land by the lure of large grants of land and money from their own government.
In the case of Ireland being planted by Britain the process took several hundred years to complete. Sadly, such is the venomous zeal of the Chinese in the case of poor Tibet, the process has achieved almost total success in only 50 years!
Today in Tibet, the majority of the population is said to be Han Chinese.

The rest of the wicked process has now achieved almost total success and entirely heralds the immanent demise of Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism - as is now sadly common knowledge - exists mainly in exile, in the Indian Himalaya and in the West.

The Tibetan language has all but become a thing of the past inside Tibet. All Tibetans now seem to speak Chinese, even in remote areas.

Recently I was bemused and aghast to read how the Chinese are now clamping down on the printing and even photocopying of pages containing the Tibetan language - presumably for fear of what it might mean. The oppressors are so ignorant of the culture they are snuffing out that they do not even recognise whether a Tibetan document is an incitement to rise up against the Han or a recipe for spicy momos!
You can read this extraordinary article HERE

This brings me to most recent developments in Tibet's final hours.

Only a couple of weeks ago, a famous Tibetan Nature Conservationist [Karma Samdrup] was imprisoned for 15 years in a hellish Chinese gulag.

The charges against him were a complete and utter invention designed simply to remove him from the equation and get him out of the way.

Tragically, however, this isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. Sure isn't that the oldest trick in the book?!

More recently still, a leading singer [Tashi Dhondup] was sentenced to 15 months hard labour for singing about China's inhumanity against Tibet.
And this has lead to an unexpected purge of anyone and everyone from Tibet prepared to speak out against Chinese policy in Tibet.
Granted, among them there are some agitators who blatantly call for China to get out of Tibet and attempt to tell the truth of the Tibetan holocaust from within it.
But the Chinese have actually, this very week, taken to storming by night into the homes of Tibet's poets, artists, writers, musicians and singers. All stand accused of 'treason' against China and many will 'disappear', never to be seen again.
Please click HERE to read the latest news.

When this kind of cultural genocide actually takes place in full view of the rest of the 'civilised' world - and goes largely unchallenged or unnoticed - you know that time is well and truly up for Tibet.
Since the 1950s when China first began the occupation of Tibet we have shamefully watched from the sidelines with horror [but mostly inertia, it has to be said] and witnessed the whole thing unfold.

One Western journalist has shockingly reported that this week's Final Solution style round-up of Tibet's poets and singers was actually organised not by Chinese officials but by local Tibetan officials working as Chinese representatives. They appear to have had enough talk of Tibetan Liberation and are now silencing it for once and for all!
When this happens to a culture - oppression from within the local population itself - you can be completely certain that China's ultimate plan has succeeded and all is definitively finished. One calls to mind the 'Capos' in the Nazi death-camps - tragic local people or even prisoners who became prison officers and therefore instruments of evil themselves in order to have a better life, such as it was.

Please remember Tibet and support its people with love and compassion.
Contact them if they are to be found living in exile near where you live.

And, rather than harbour hatred against their oppressors, generate understanding and forgiveness towards them.

But, at the same time, never give up hope completely.

What China is cobbling together now by force must eventually fall apart one day.
That's not just Buddhism, it is the law of the universe.
Many many Tibetans - and their supporters - still believe it is not too late for Tibet.
They believe that Tibet may yet attain freedom from China either by political or revolutionary means.

When I look again at the case of my own country, I am reminded that Ireland only achieved independence and sovereignty after hundreds of years of political and armed struggle against the British. But even then, we did not manage to liberate the northern part of our country at all. I am not convinced that violence actually created a better future for the ordinary people.

As a Buddhist however, and therefore convinced that only bad consequences could ever come from negative actions, I am mindful that violent revolution is not the ultimate, long-term solution to anything.
However, there are those in Tibet who do believe that it is their secular right as a people to rise up and defend themselves until China withdraws.
And who are we to criticise them for wanting to rebel, especially when that is precisely the reason we are sitting at our computers right now - 'free' men and women [whatever that means], for the most part, as a direct result of one war or another?

The Banyan Deer [a short review of a short book]

2010-06-24T21:07:00.000+01:00


Courtesy of Wisdom Publications

The Jataka Tales are stories based on the previous lives of the Buddha. Sometimes about a human, but more often about an animal, the key theme in a Jataka story is that showing love and compassion is the best way to live your life - even if that means putting the welfare of others before your own... especially if that is the case.
The larger perspective for a Jataka is to show that the Buddha attained full awakening in his lifetime as Prince Siddhartha not just because of his efforts in that particular lifetime but also as a direct result of his good actions in previous lives. This is the core life-teaching on the universal law of cause and effect; our present actions [karma] have far-reaching effects on everything that exists, and especially on our own future lives.

I have been very interested in the Jataka Tales for many years now and have a keen interest in researching and re-writing them for a modern audience.

This particular little book, The Banyan Deer by Rafe Martin, is a fine example of how to re-present these classic tales for a 21st Century western audience.
The style of the writing, the pace, the economy of words, all augment a book that is already so pleasing to the eye; it is published by the non-profit, eco-conscious Wisdom Publications and beautifully illustrated by Richard Wehrman.

The story embraces many themes and is suitable for children of all ages and adults alike. The compelling narrative - short though it is - takes us gently through contemplations on hunting, meat-eating, moral government, self-sacrifice, and karma.
The Banyan Deer tells the story of a human king who is converted to non-violence and vegetarianism by the animal king of his own deer-herd. This deer-king [who is later to reincarnate as the Buddha himself] is even willing to lay down his life for his fellows, and the human king is so moved and inspired by this noble example that he frees all the creatures in his possession and completely outlaws all hunting, fishing, and the eating of other beings in his kingdom.

This little book packs a big punch and is highly recommended for all.

The illustrations are simply exquisite and highly reminiscent of those in Ellen C. Babbitt's 1912 version of the Jataka Tales.

BBC Radio Tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, June 2010

2010-06-22T09:35:00.001+01:00

Thanks to my friend Tim for sending me this link...

please click HERE

It is a timely and heart-warming tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi - known affectionately as Suu by the people who were her friends in Oxford. The radio programme uses archive of those who knew her best and those who interviewed her most recently. It is really inspiring. Enjoy!

Skellig Michael and Buddhism

2010-06-19T10:02:00.002+01:00

Skellig Michael is a rocky island off the Dingle Peninsula in south-west Ireland.

For hundreds of years, until the 12th Century, it was settled by Pre-Roman Catholic, Irish monks as a sacred place of meditation retreat and prayer for the ultimate benefit of the world's spiritual welfare.
Hanging onto the edge of the known world, this small monastery was named after the Archangel Michael who had gone into battle and defeated Satan, the embodiment of all evil. In this light, the monks who lived there used the power of prayer and meditation to subjugate the power of evil on a daily basis.
The wild, rugged environment there provided the perfect opportunity for this battle to take place and the harsh, simple life there is said to have kept the hearts and minds of the brothers pure.
These men were spiritual pioneers - representatives of the human race as it were - expertly equipped to stay in the most remote of places and face and avert the darkness at the outer limits of consciousness.
Then one day - sometime during the 12th Century - they simply left for the mainland and never returned.

Nowadays, Skellig is bit of a curiosity and, weather permitting, you can go out there for a day-trip to explore the monastic site with all its walkways cut into the rock-face, 'beehive' hermitages, and the small communal church.

The concept of evil is extremely interesting from a Buddhist perspective. It represents everything that is negative and harmful in the world - and thus in our own mindstream, as that [according to the Buddha's teaching] is where all external phenomena emanate from ultimately. Therefore it is our duty, and the focus of all our spiritual practice, to completely eradicate any trace of such negativity and so reveal our true nature in all its primordially perfect splendour.

If Evil is the opposite of God in Christianity, then Negativity is for Buddhists the opposite of our innate goodness - the Buddha Nature itself. But, for Buddhists, negativity only lies on the surface layers of the mind and can be purified and vanquished by any practitioner who is determined enough.
Negativity has many superficial manifestations, grasping attachment and angry aversion being the main culprits. Reduce and eventually eliminate those and we are almost free of the evil we often refer to as ego.
But some of our other negative traits are slightly less superficial and more difficult to totally overcome. Ignorance is a kind of disabling amnesia that, like a dense fog, prevents us from directly experiencing the purity that is our heart essence, our core being. Another key obstacle is our karma. This is the habitual tendency we have to consistently perform negative actions as if they could never produce negative consequences either for ourselves or others. The winds of karma continually blow us off course and render us almost helpless in our attempts to control our lives. Therefore, spiritual practices such as meditating and purifying are the main methods suggested by the Buddha for experiencing our true nature and overcoming the disastrous effects of ego's self-centred, mindless chaos.

Recently a Tibetan Buddhist master of some renown, asked to be taken out to Skellig Michael as he felt some affinity with the place and the practice of its former inhabitants. He intuited that the place had been extraordinarily powerful for practice and that it had created many saints.

You can read about their trip HERE

Please also enjoy the following video clips from YouTube to get some of the atmosphere of the island and its surroundings.

And for a short section of the BBC television series COAST, click HERE

Imprisoned Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi turns 65

2010-06-18T14:15:00.000+01:00

Aung San Suu Kyi, rightful democratic leader of Burma, remains - after 14 years - under house arrest by the military Junta there on the eve of her 65th birthday [June 19].

To raise awareness of her country's tragic plight, and at serious risk to her own future well-being, she has smuggled out a short note pleading with the kind-hearted people of the free world to 'please use your liberty to promote ours'.

The Guardian article about the letter HERE

Now regarded not simply as a political prisoner but also as a living Buddhist saint, the above picture shows her home in Rangoon, surrounded by a recently erected fence - the place where she languishes powerless, in anticipation and dread of this year's forthcoming elections in which she will not be free to run.

To emphasise her grave position, and yet to celebrate her unstoppable life force, The Guardian newspaper has published today a previously unseen collection of photographs.

These vibrantly poignant pictures show her as a young woman - before her eventual return to Burma - during an idyllic time in her life.

They depict a period in her life when she lived in England where she met and married the love of her life, Michael Aris [who later died in 1999, in Oxford where he had lectured for many years].

Aung San Suu Kyi's Burmese passport photo. She refused to have the English passport to which she was entitled because dual-citizenship was forbidden within Burma.

As a young woman in Oxford where she lived and met her future husband, academic Michael Aris.

Their modest wedding day at the Registry Office in Chelsea, London.

Later on at a friend's house where they had a simple Buddhist ceremony to bless their union.

A sunny afternoon in Burma, where the happy couple were finally able to introduce Aung San Suu Kyi's mother to her new grandson.

A later trip, by invitation of the Royal Family there, to the remote Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan.

Also in snowy Bhutan, Aung San Suu Kyi is pictured looking for all the world like a thirteen year old girl, dressed in over-sized Tibetan costume and mindfully finding her way along the path.

The Guardian newspaper article about these photos HERE

Michael Aris d. Oxford 1999

EMAHO! How FABULOUS!!! Fashion guru Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche discusses ... well, FASHION!

2010-06-18T10:17:00.000+01:00

Memories of Mammy on a Childhood Beach

2010-06-13T23:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, around lunchtime, myself and a visiting friend in need of some cheering up decided to go for a short drive out of the city to the coast. He had never been to Portmarnock and I had spent many summers on the beach there as a child - so off we went.

Portmarnock is a long, quiet beach just north of Dublin and my mother and I used to spend the long summer school holidays out there together in a little caravan that my father had built with his own hands in our back garden in Ballyfermot. He did it as a special wedding anniversary present for Mammy who of course was the love of his life and whose eventual passing away nearly twenty years later had caused Daddy to entirely lose his mind.

It was decided that Portmarnock was the ideal spot to semi-permanently park the caravan. It was the village where Mammy had grown up as a child and young woman. It had the perfect beach, upon which Daddy [on a day-trip out from 'dirty Dublin'] had met my mother and wooed her with the offer of a Jersey Cream biscuit and a killer 1930s movie-smile.

The beach at Portmarnock also has the most gorgeous view of Ireland's Eye, an enormous rock/small island, and the place Daddy chose to propose marriage during a romantic picnic on a large comfy blanket while As Time Goes By played on the transistor radio.

Actually the shape of its silhouette against the silvery horizon has come to be forever etched on my own mind. Having sat on that beach as a child with Mammy for what seems to have been a thousand sunny days; Ireland's Eye, being the main thing to look at out to sea, hypnotically left its imprint. As I looked out at its comforting, familiar shape yesterday with my friend-in-need-of-space-and-time by my side chatting, I recalled an afternoon in the 1970s when a beautiful, dark, young man's dead body was laid out on the beach. He and a macho mate had dared eachother to swim out to the island for a bet, and he had tragically lost everything - his friend had to drag his lifeless body back to shore [I remember how he howled his grief into the wind and vomitted pints of bottled Guinness into the sand by his best buddy's corpse].

Then a stream of memories began to flood into my mind. Many happy times featuring myself as a young boy and my mother in her early 50s.
I vividly remembered one day when Mammy took me into the water's edge to get me used to splashing about and trying to swim a bit too. I had a very clear image of lying in the shallow waves kicking my legs while Mammy pulled me along by the hands, our eyes locked in a reassuring gaze.
I remembered that there had been many many such days spent together, just the two of us in the caravan because Daddy worked in Dublin from Monday to Friday and only joined us at the weekends.
I also remembered happy night-time walks - all three of us - from the caravan, along the seafront, up to the Martello Tower, and back again to our little nest where we devoured beans on toast and cups of tea before bed-time.
I even recalled the three of us singing songs to eachother from our beds through the darkness before falling fast asleep.

Just then, while still sitting with my friend overlooking the long stretch of Portmarnock Strand before us, I suddenly realised it was June 12th.
It was my mother's anniversary and she had been dead exactly 23 years - the same number of years I had shared my life with her before she passed away in 1987.

On our way home, we drove back through Portmarnock village, now quite a built-up suburb of modern Dublin. I pointed up the little laneway off the main road to where Mammy had lived as a young girl. The old bungalow, called Suncroft, of course long gone to make way for something bigger and better with all 'mod cons'.

Then I went to pay homage at the patch of land where all the caravans used to be and although it was sad not to find any there, I rejoiced at walking across what is now a natural habitat and nature conservation zone, complete with protected birds strolling about and an outrageously festive carpet of wild flowers.

It was like the whole universe was conspiring in that one instant to celebrate my mother's life in a blissfully vibrant chorus of Happy Anniversary, Kathleen! You really knew how to love and cherish your young son ... And he you.

Thich Nhat Hanh on Engaged Buddhism / Applied Mindfulness

2010-05-14T14:59:00.000+01:00

I just rediscovered this beautifully clear interview with Thich Nhat Hanh [TNH], a precious film-clip taken from Time Magazine's online service.

In it, Thay [TNH] speaks about Buddhism's teachings on how to actually engage with conflict. Coming from his own context of the Viet Nam war, TNH draws parallels with today's crises in Burma and in Iraq.

please enjoy the clip HERE

The Yogis of Tibet Reveal Their Secrets... but why?

2010-05-13T11:58:00.001+01:00

Put very simply, a Yogi is a special kind of advanced meditator who uses particular movements of their physical body [Yoga] to bring about profound changes in the subtle-energy body.

This great transformation can actually lead to full spiritual awakening ... Enlightenment.

There are a couple of superb documentaries that include the most incredible archive footage of these 'secret' yogis.

The first and most famous of these is THE MESSAGE OF THE TIBETANS by Arnaud Desjardins. I find his commentary so inspiring and well-written, and the colour film footage which he shot himself is incredibly rare. You hardly realise the precious nature of what you are seeing as it sometimes looks like exotic holiday pictures.

The second docu-film I would recommend is called THE YOGIS OF TIBET. Both docus are easily gotten online through wisdom-books.com or amazon.com

However, the big question is WHY the great yogis of Tibet are sharing these secrets with the world at this time? Why were they kept secret in the first place? And what has happened to force the yogis to reveal their hidden treasure now?

It seems that Tibet being occupied by China, and the subsequent virtual-annihilation of its spiritual culture altogether, are strong indicators of the Dark Age in which we now live. For fear that these yogic spiritual paths to enlightenment are lost forever, the yogis themselves have decided to have themselves filmed and documented for posterity, and have reluctantly [and uncharacteristically] allowed the uninitiated and the naive the chance to witness what could possibly be the swansong of a tradition of living saints on the verge of total extinction.

HERE is the first of 3 YouTube clips from Desjardins' Message of the Tibetans.

It is at once totally alien and inexplicably familiar... the yogis, their humanity, their hidden wisdom tradition.
But, at least for me, the final sequence of shots at the end of the THIRD clip is a heart-breaking revelation. We are suddenly face-to-face, eye-to-eye, with the most famous living and now-dead yogis of Tibet ever to be caught on film.
They appear before the camera to show a glimpse of the full potential of humanity ... complete buddhahood. Through them, we glimpse the Buddha Nature that pervades all.

They stare through the lens at us - across the decades and the strange foreign continents - as if to say Wake up. Wake up, baby-buddha. You have THE most profound happiness and well-being locked up deep within your true nature. Wake up, sweetheart. In fact you are not simply a buddha-to-be. You are ALREADY completely enlightened - Perfect in every way. So, nothing much to do but reveal your true nature both to yourself and others. Then work tirelessly for the awakening of all beings.
Enlightenment can begin IN THIS VERY MOMENT, with our next breath or the next mindful movement of this strange but useful shell we call 'my body'.

BRILLIANT MOON - New Documentary About Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

2010-05-12T11:32:00.001+01:00

Many thanks to Annie for informing me about this wonderful new documentary about Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and his reincarnation.

DKR was arguably the greatest master of Tibetan Buddhism in living memory and he was also the teacher of so many of those great masters who are still living.

I never met him, but DKR has always been somehow present to me since he nurtured and moulded two of my own spiritual teachers: Sogyal Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche.

There are so many stories of him and his beautiful presence that blogs utterly fail and even incredible documentaries like this one barely scratch the surface.

Yet, even just to see his image is so uplifting and inspiring.

I was in Kathmandu a few years ago and went to visit a Tibetan monastery in the early evening, but it had already closed. Myself and two friends had gone there hoping to see inside the famous temple at Shechen Monastery. However we had left it too late and the doors were locked until next morning and there was nobody around.
As we were walking away a monk approached us and asked if we would like to see 'Rinpoche'. Of course we immediately said we would love to, not knowing which Rinpoche it was going to be [as there are so many whose names end with that Tibetan word, meaning 'Precious One']

When we climbed the stairs to the top of the temple, and were eventually welcomed into the small private meeting room, we were struck quite dumb once we realised we were meeting a very young boy. It was the reincarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche!

His English was already good and although he wasn't in the habit of meeting many foreigners [he was very much still in the process of being educated and trained], this precious young man was extremely open and chatty and curious.
He asked us questions about Ireland - the people and the climate. He even showed interest in discussing climate change.

Finally I plucked up the courage to speak unsolicited to him. I said, You must come to Ireland one day.

The little boy suddenly became quite a serious young man as he leaned forward to look me straight in the eye. Like we were now discussing something entirely different, some kind of pledge - from the heart, to the heart - he stared deep into me and simply said: Yes. I Will.

The Yangsi [reincarnation] of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche will once again begin travelling the world and teaching the buddha-dharma for the ultimate benefit of beings in 2010.

You can watch the breath-taking trailer and read some more about the documentary here

HH Dalai Lama honours Irishman

2010-05-06T23:39:00.000+01:00

HH Dalai Lama honours Irishman Richard Moore, founder of Children in Crossfire charity

As a young boy of ten in Derry, Richard Moore was struck by a rubber bullet that left him blind.

His Holiness was deeply moved when he heard how Richard had felt no anger to the soldier who fired the bullet and completely forgiven him. Amazingly, from childhood to the present day he has never allowed bitterness to control his emotions.

Richard has gone on to become the founder of Children in Crossfire that strives towards the creation of a safe environment for all children. In his citation to Richard, His Holiness says, "You are my hero; while I talk about forgiveness, you have made it part of your life. This is a wonderful model for others to follow".

Full article here.

The Sun Behind The Clouds

2010-04-07T21:03:00.000+01:00

This wonderful new documentary about Tibet will show at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin at 12 noon on Friday April 16.

Buddhism and Ecology

2010-03-24T13:22:00.000Z

The Buddha said very little specifically about ecology. Perhaps this is because it wasn't such a big concern in his day.

But what little he did say implies quite a lot of responsibility on our part;

The Buddha, speaking to his monastic disciples, told them to be extremely mindful [when walking out and about, in nature] of the effect they are having on the environment. He said they should not go to the toilet in any places where there will be a negative effect on the environment. In fact, he went further than that. Buddha told them to leave little or no trace wherever they walked.

Wow! What a challenge! Just those two lines speak volumes. If only we had the insight to infer their meaning and the courage to change our way of being in the world.

When we put these enigmatic moral guidelines together with the overall Buddhist tenet of INTERDEPENDENCE we reach a profoundly urgent realisation that everything we do has a far-reaching effect on everything else that exists.

Therefore, we had better get our act together and make so many crucial changes.

In this spirit, I would like to share a recent Dharma Teaching my master, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, gave in Germany on Buddhism and Ecology.

You can find it here

The Devotion of Matthieu Ricard [documentary]

2010-03-17T11:32:00.000Z

Son of a well-known French philosopher, Matthieu Ricard became one of the first Westerners to follow the path of Tibetan Buddhism to its fruition.

He found himself, as a young photographer, travelling in India where he ended up going north to Darjeeling and encountering the Tibetan community in exile.

There he quickly met, and took sanctuary in, the man who was to become his spiritual master, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Please enjoy the following video clip. It is a trailer for a fabulous documentary about Ricard's spiritual awakening as enabled by his complete devotion for his teacher.

Oprah Interviews Thich Nhat Hanh

2010-03-15T22:36:00.000Z

Oprah Winfrey has just interviewed Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh [Thay] for her magazine's March 2010 issue.

Whatever you think of her, Oprah really has her finger on the spiritual pulse of the age in which we live. She is on her own personal spiritual journey which she is undertaking very much in the public eye. She has introduced her viewers and readers to the teachings of Gary Zukov, then Eckhart Tolle, and now Thich Nhat Hanh.

You can read Oprah's interview for O MAGAZINE with Thich Nhat Hanh here.

It really is quite wonderful to see Thay teaching so clearly and so profoundly, and taking full advantage of the opportunity to reach a wide variety of people who might otherwise never have heard these teachings.

If you are interested in watching some of his Dharma talks, there is a collection of video teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh here.

Tibetans in Ireland Protest on O'Connell Street, Dublin.

2010-03-12T15:48:00.000Z

I spent Wednesday March 10th with a group of Tibetans who live in Ireland. They were protesting on Dublin's O'Connell Street in remembrance of the failed uprising in Tibet 51 years ago against the brutal Chinese occupation. That uprising led to many many people being murdered or tortured, and to many other Tibetans [including HH Dalai Lama] fleeing Tibet and becoming refugees in India.

You can read more about the Tibetan Community in Ireland here.

It struck me as particularly appropriate to bear witness to the Tibetan struggle on that particular street as we were just outside the General Post Office which was the setting for the Irish rebellion of 1916 which led to our eventual independence from Britain after 800 years of cruel occupation in which we Irish lost most of our identity, our language, religion and culture.

Almost every one of the Tibetans i met on Wednesday had a horrendous personal story of how they escaped Tibet by walking for weeks on end over the Himalayas into either Nepal or India, during which time many of their companions became seriously ill and died due to the unimaginably harsh conditions.

I was in Dharamsala, home of HH Dalai Lama, HH Karmapa, and many of the Tibetan community in exile, in March 2008 when another uprising and many protests took place both in Tibet itself and in India to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a later rebellion in Tibet.

It remains an international disgrace to think how conditions in Tibet are actually WORSE NOW than 52 years ago. I have blogged about this many times and cross-referenced my contemplations about this tragedy and my time in Dharmsala in the sidebar adjacent.

At that time in 2008 there was a Dutch film crew putting together a documentary in Tibet. And i have just come across it on youtube here

Announcing the first Dublin International Buddhist Film Festival !

2010-03-11T23:05:00.000Z

It is with great great joy that i announce the 2010 first ever Dublin International Buddhist Film Festival!

It has long been a dream to be part of organising such an event and after trying hard for a few years to bring it about, with little or no success, an inspiration has dawned: Why not just keep it simple?

Inspired by the recent Bangkok International Buddhist Film Festival, and the elegantly simple organisational model they have adopted there, the first Buddhist Film Festival in Ireland is scheduled for September 2010.

But this festival project is not only about finally getting something going in Dublin - it is also about encouraging Buddhists everywhere, in every little place in every corner of the globe to adopt and adapt this beautifully simple festival model and produce something [no matter how modest] for themselves.

I am hoping at least that other towns in Ireland can do it. But why not elsewhere in the world ... wherever Buddhists exist.

The idea is that [at least for the time being] Dublin will forget about trying in vain to convince The Arts Council and various cinemas to help us to have our film festival. We must, temporarily, forego our desire to screen actual film stock. We will settle for screening DVDs if it means our festival will certainly now go ahead.

The simple model we are espousing is to screen a handful of the finest Buddhist films and documentaries from around the world, ON DVD, which we can buy or rent for the occassion. Actually, we own them already as we are avid collectors.

The second, and very important, point is to establish a film 'CLUB' for the audience members to join, even if it's free or just costs something nominal like €1. This is really important because then the films are not being screened 'In Public' and we are therefore not breaking any laws.

By having a private, closed screening like this you can show whatever you like, to as many 'members' as you like, and at a minimal cost. Entrance could even be FREE OF CHARGE.

In Dublin, for example, we intend to screen to maybe 200+ people, perhaps 5 or 6 films and documentaries, over a single weekend. The festival, like any other International Film Fest., will have a curator, guest speakers, discussions etc etc. And the event will have a high profile in the press before and after. We will hopefully secure a small art-house cinema or high-tech university lecture theatre in the heart of the city. And above all festival members will be able to enjoy the whole thing FOR FREE.

So we whole-heartedly encourage Buddhist groups in other places to come together and enjoy their own film festival.

Our blog www.buddhistfilmfestival.blogspot.com may serve as a hub for any such small festivals if they wish. But, at any rate, it will keep those interested informed about how we in Dublin are progressing.

back home in ireland...

2010-03-02T15:47:00.000Z

Having arrived back home in Ireland yesterday morning, the first day of Spring, my mind is full of optimism for the future. Despite the current economic gloom, there is still a lot to look forward to.
My mind is also drawn back to review the past 3 months in Thailand...

The weather was really nice [and it was so good to avoid the bitter Irish winter entirely].
I made some new friends along the way especially in Bangkok and Phuket.
I discovered a thriving new Dharma scene for English-speaking practitioners - especially Theravada - in Bangkok called Little Bang www.littlebang.org
But the most important thing of all, perhaps, is that I continued to grow and learn more about myself and others. I have come back all the stronger for the experience.

The King of Thailand didn't pass away.
The revolution didn't happen.
And life goes on regardless, as usual.

The biggest piece of news I have to share is that I have finished writing and editing my book Buddha's Favourite Words.

It is a Dharma daily reader, full of contemplations on the very essence of the Buddha's teachings.
I am very much looking forward to publishing and sharing it, for the benefit of beings. It should be accessible and useful to beginners and more advanced students alike, both Buddhists and those who simply want to know more about the teachings of the Buddha.

I have already begun writing a collection of bed-time stories to be read to children. It will be called The Amazing Adventures of Kathleen!
The collection will be a tribute to my mother and all the childhood stories from her own life she told me. It will be a rather quaint, old-fashioned book designed for reading TO children at bedtime. I thought that was a better idea because then I could use more advanced and beautiful vocabulary than a child could read for themselves at that age. I suppose it's a kind of revival of the old tradition of being read to at bed-time while you snuggle up and look at the pictures.
All the stories will have a wholesome, feel-good factor. And each one is infused with a sense of goodness that makes children want to be good too.
A return to innocence, perhaps.
Stories about a nice kid in a world gone mad, certainly.
An anti-anti-hero who is so fun yet so pure ['Kathleen' is an Irish language name meaning 'purity'] that children will love her from beginning to end and maybe even want to be like her.

So that's it for now. Hope to blog some more over the coming weeks, and might even include some extracts from both books.

my last post too grumpy for ya?... Ooh, baby... Check THESE out! LoL!

2010-02-05T04:59:00.000Z

Never give in to bullies!

2010-02-03T04:32:00.000Z

When i was a small boy, my mother used to pray for the conversion of Russia and China. Nowadays, the very idea that a communist dictatorship would be in any way improved by converting to Roman Catholicism seems laughable... They're all just bullies - extremely powerful, but dangerous control freaks nonetheless.

Last week started with the communist military junta in Burma indicating that Aung San Suu Kyi would not be released from her ongoing 'house arrest' until some time in November AFTER the elections have taken place.

Then, on the same day, we had the communist party of China AND the Roman Catholic Church both making fools of themselves on the world stage yet again.

The Chinese have threatened U.S President Obama with serious repercussions if his planned meeting with HH Dalai Lama goes ahead. Who the hell do they think they are?! As if taking Tibet 50 years ago, without any opposition whatsoever, wasn't enough now the Chinese expect to dictate everything that happens in world politics including who meets who. The really sad thing is they will probably continue to get away with this kind of stunt. WE have allowed this situation to arise by not standing up to bullies in the first place. Every country is so afraid of China's nuclear and military might, and its growing economic prowess, that China appears to get whatever they want. This is nothing more complicated than an overblown bully taking other kids' lunch money unchallenged.
The Roman Catholic Church has gone largely unchallenged too, for millenia! In recent decades, Cardinal Ratzinger ran the show from behind the scenes. A German uber-conservative dogmatician, he has been behind all the RC Church's right-wing policies for as long as anyone can remember. The ultimate insult is perhaps that this rothweiler bigot received the highest possible in-house promotion when he was appointed Pope. This shameless validation has elevated him to such a high status that he can now do and say whatever he wants. If they're not careful, Pope Benedict will completely destroy the Church.

Despite Ratzinger possibly being gay himself - there have always been rumours - he now feels so confident as a bully that he has decided to interfere in British politics too. The UK is in the process of ratifying an 'Equal Status' Law and one of the many consequences will be that homosexuals can nolonger be discriminated or even spoken out against by any sub-section of society. This means that the RC Church could soon be prosecuted for its homophobic and hateful incitements. The Pope has sounded the battle cry by urging all priests to speak out against the new legislation with 'missionary zeal'. What a tragic world they must inhabit. How sad is the bully who kicks out at REAL authority when it finally steps in. Pres. Obama recently announced that he was going to overturn the vile legislation against gays in the US military. However, i don't see Herr Ratzinger going up against that particular might... Is that because the US military and its woeful foreign policy of late is an even bigger bully than the Church? Or, is it because the Pope knows he cannot control the American RC priests fully and might be hard pressed to get them to speak out and preach the 'party line' on anything conservative these days?

Dictatorships are soon to be a thing of the past whether they are military, political or so-called religious. If we can just stand up to them for a few decades more we will have our just rewards soon enough. The world is changing. People nolonger believe in IDEOLOGIES. We nolonger blindly follow leaders and their half-baked, self-serving dogmas.

Although the planet may be dying, people are just beginning to wake up to the truth about things. We may actually manage to avert the global crisis of climate change, but one thing is for sure... all venomous, bullying dictators beware! Hear this, you nearly-extinct dinosaurs! Your days are numbered! Pretty soon both you and the shameful, secretive regime you serve and protect will simply disappear forever!

Update letter regarding Thich Nhat Hanh's monastics inside VietNam

2009-12-17T17:51:00.000Z

Plum Village, Dec 15, 2009

Dear friends
Please forgive me for disturbing you during this holy season of family and homecoming. But our Bat
Nha monks and nuns are now in a position not unlike Mary and her baby Jesus -- they do not know
where to take shelter, to practice and be together in safety. For more than three years, our 379
monastics lived and practiced undisturbed in our Bat Nha (Prajna) Monastery in Vietnam, on land owned by Abbot Thich Duc Nghi and offered to us. Since then, many buildings including a huge Meditation Hall, four nuns' residences and three monks' residences were built using thousands of contributions from generous donors around the world, including some of you. Despite our having plenty of evidence of our owning these buildings, under governmental pressure the Abbot Duc Nghi withdrew his support for us and ordered us to leave our own monastery. For fourteen months, our pleas for help to reverse this illegal action went unanswered.

As the situation has gone from bad to worse, our 379 very young monks and nuns have undergone a kind of baptism by fire, and have achieved a great success in training to understand, accept, and have genuine compassion for those who abuse them. Over the past several months they have been verbally assaulted over loudspeakers 24 hours a day and threatened with being bludgeoned to death. Policemen came demanding the monastics' identification every night from 7 pm to 11.30 pm, and cut off their electricity and water for three months.

Then, hired mobs arrived on the stormy night of September 27, 2009 to forcibly and violently eject 147 monks, smash doors and windows and torment the 232 nuns. They all escaped and sought shelter at Phuoc Hue temple. At Phuoc Hue, the monks and nuns continue to be harassed, and the most compassionate and elderly abbot of that temple, after much resistance, also has been violently forced to sign a letter evicting our monastics. As of December 31, 2009, these brothers and sisters will have absolutely no place to go, and in fact may be drafted by the government into the armed forces. Even if they return to their familial homes, the harassment is unlikely to cease unless and until they disrobe and abandon their monastic life completely.

NOW is the most crucial moment for our monks and nuns. Please quickly go to
www.thepetitionsite.com/6/religious-freedom-in-viet-nam , sign the petition. This is the second one, not the one you signed in August 2009. Please sign and write to five friends asking them to sign, to achieve the greatest number we could before December 31, 2009. You have come through for me, for us, many times before. I know I can count on you in this, our hour of greatest need.

With all our most heartfelt blessings and wishes of peace to you,
Sister Chan Khong

Oh Siam! Precious Thailand!

2009-12-16T09:57:00.000Z

Now that the Irish winter has well and truly taken hold, i have come to my beloved Thailand once again.
I plan on staying here until March 1st.
Having arrived on Dec 1st i spent my first 2 weeks in and around Bangkok and, thanks to some friends living there, i got to see much more of the city's nicer side than before.
I particularly enjoyed the beautiful Lumpini Park area and the wonderful apartments with vast views of the cityscape and the river.

While i was in BKK, the Thai people celebrated the birthday of His Majesty the King. Although he is quite elderly now, and has been ill in hospital for some time, the King managed to make his annual public appearance. The short event was televised to the nation and the King's short speech though very frail was very timely and direct.
He said his greatest wish for Thailand was that her peoples would become united in peace and that her politicians would serve the people's highest interests, without any corruption whatsoever.

The Red Shirts who support ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, we are told, are poised to stage a full rebellion in the New Year. Despite the fact that Thaksin is now exposed and disgraced for his corruption, and has been convicted and sentenced in absentia [because he is in exile], the majority of the electorate still support him and want his safe return to government.
So democracy, such as it is in Thailand, continues to be in a state of disintegration.

If there is a bloody revolution in the near future, only one thing could make matters even worse. The death of the King, it is said, would most likely lead to an all-out civil war here. And, although nobody wants to contemplate his passing away, His Majesty is very old and sick now and death will come sooner or later.
His rightful successor, the crowned prince, is not generally highly regarded compared to the present king who is adored by all across the board. The king is widely considered to be the only force holding the country together.

I wish only good things for Thailand but i fear the inevitable collapse may come sooner than anyone dares imagine.

My few short months here may well turn out to be far more eventful than planned.

So, i have retreated to an airy room on the 20th floor, with a calming panorama of the ocean in Phuket.

The summer here is in full bloom.
And the pleasant waves on the beach below that once brought a tsunami murmur:

'Things change, sweetheart.
Carnage, chaos, and corruption are no different.
Wait long enough and EVERYTHING comes and goes.
Whatever rises falls'.

Celebrating Collapsing Walls

2009-11-09T12:03:00.000Z

Today, leaders from all over the planet gather in Berlin to celebrate 20 years since the dismantling of the wall that separated east from west Germany.

This occasion prompts me to look deeply at the world in general to see what other walls, visible and invisible, need to come down before we can consider ourselves truly free.

In my own country, Ireland, there is one city which still has walls dividing Republican from Unionist communities. Belfast rather shamefully calls the walls 'Peace Lines'. They imagine that keeping people apart with buffer zones will eventually lead to a day when diverse communities can respectfully co-exist. I don't agree. Maybe as a short-term, temporary solution, walls may be helpful. But walls also create cultural inertia. The short-term becomes long-term and nothing much changes behind those walls. Peace remains elusive. Fear and distrust reign supreme.

There are dividing walls all over the world disguising themselves as social and economic norms. These less-visible walls are, in many cases, even longer lasting than bricks and mortar. The 'haves' and the 'have-nots' remain separate and those with all the power wish to keep it that way.

Look at China and India for example. The vast majority of the world's population live there. Their way of life illustrates my point perfectly. The economic and political reality there is based on the richer ruling class and the poorer working class remaining apart. Let's be honest, it is extremely uncomfortable to be face to face with the very people we must condemn to slave labour in order to build our own personal empire. China is building its future on this principle and India is not far behind them. And let's not forget that India still clings to the ancient caste system whose glass walls divide and stratify her enormous population into more manageable, controllable battalions of workers.

Looking at the various walls that divide us on a more global scale, we become ever-more mindful of the fakeness of borders themselves. They are man-made afterall and are usually the direct result of wars in which vast numbers of young men were forced to their deaths in the pursuit of ideals driven by fear and greed. In the early history of the human race, if life wasn't working out for you in one place, you just marched off to a better place - even as far as another continent altogether. But now, thanks to borders and confederations, human beings are nolonger free to move about and live where they need to be.

Every night on the TV news we watch Africans and Asians perish in hostile environments they cannot escape. They are not free to migrate [despite the fact their original trans-migrations first populated the entire world. We are their children!]

We don't want them or their different ways over here, dragging our struggling cocoon down the tube. We can't have people just living anywhere they want! ... Can we?
Without borders, the planet would just be reduced to utter chaos! ... Wouldn't it?

Anyway ... sorry for banging on about all this. But it's a blog ... That's what it's for!

I remember - speaking of Walls - when i was a young child my mother gave me some Wall's ice-cream on one of those scorching late summer's days we used to have in Ireland before we ruined the planet.
As i savoured the first spoonful, Mammy told me to really enjoy it because there were children all over the world who wouldn't be having any ice-cream.

Completely missing the whole point, i thought to myself -

Oh, how kind of them! Those lovely children are not having any ice-cream just so I can have some.

Yogis of Tibet

2009-10-23T12:51:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFxwaGSiNNQ

According to experts, perhaps the best thing that Tibet has to offer the world is the purity and depth of its meditation tradition. But in recent years that tradition has all but become extinct inside Tibet.

Tibetan Buddhism is undergoing a kind of flourishing in the West wherever it has taken root, thanks to certain great masters. but those masters are the last of their kind it is said.

Flourishing though it is in the West, Tibetan Buddhist meditation remains strong only at the beginner-intermediate practitioner levels. The most advanced practices have yet to emerge in the West, depending as they do on the evolution of advanced Western practitioners.
Hopefully, it is not too late and meditators in our part of the world will realise full enlightenment, thus embodying the fruition of the richest practices available within the vast tradition of Tibet.
However, inside Tibet, these particular advanced practices have all but died out due mainly to the concerted efforts of the Chinese purge of Tibet.

If the above clip whets your appetite for seeing more of that documentary, please enjoy the whole thing on googlevideo here.

I am ever mindful of the fact that these Tibetan yogis have actually broken silence about the specifics of these secret tantric practices because they are convinced that all knowledge of them may well die out with the practitioners themselves who are sharing their incredible personal stories on screen. It is a rare and precious document of a secret tradition near extinction.

4 Young Tibetans Executed by Chinese

2009-10-22T21:44:00.000+01:00

It is with a heavy heart i write of the sad news that 4 of the young Tibetans who were arrested last year by the Chinese following the uprising in Lhasa were executed two days ago on October 20.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that i was in studying at Gyuto monastery in Dharamsala last year when the riots and protests were happening both in India and, of course, in Tibet itself.

You can find those previous blog entries by searching the list of topics at the side of this page.

Not only was the original Chinese invasion of Tibet practically unreported, along with the Tibetan uprising at that time, but last year's uprising was also largely unreported. As it unfolded there was eventually a total news blackout.

The four young people who have recently been executed were, of course, not the rebellion's leaders. But they were tried and convicted as such and doubtlessly spent the last year in the harshest goulag being starved and tortured to near death.

You can read the brief statement of the Tibetan Government in Exile regarding the executions here. In fact there are two news stories you can read there by clicking on the headlines of each.

But i would simply like to pay tribute to the four by publishing three of the four names that are known at present... May they have found natural great peace and may their reincarnation be a happy one.

Those executed have been identified as:

Lobsang Gyaltsen, aged 27, born in Lhasa

Loyak, aged 25, of Tashi Khang, Shol Township, Lhasa and

Penkyi, aged 21, born in Sakya County.

The identity of the fourth person is still unknown.

Gay life in Tibet

2009-09-25T15:12:00.000+01:00

I came across the following article on fridae.com - a social networking website for gay people in Asia.

The journalist seems to claim HH Dalai Lama, and Buddhism itself, is anti-gay but i don't agree there is any evidence for that at all.

That aside, i found the article really insightful and inspiring. It reminds me of the early days for gay people in Dublin, Ireland, and the many outrageous, courageous fore-runners who paved the way for the rest of us to eventually come out of the closet.

So I send a heartfelt Tashi Delek! [Blessings of Hello] and Tukjé Ché! [Thank you for your Big Hearted love and compassion] to all my gay, bi and trans brothers and sisters inside noble Tibet.

here is the article...

gay in lhasa

by Dinah Gardner

Fridae's Beijing correspondent Dinah Gardner travels to Lhasa, Tibet and speaks to young gay and lesbian Tibetans about their lives in the city's small yet flourishing queer scene.

How gay friendly is the Dalai Lama? Well, the charismatic exiled leader of Tibet says he supports gay and lesbian rights. But only for non-Buddhists. Same-sex intercourse, he says, is simply wrong for believers of his faith. In that case, he might be a tad unhappy then, to learn that Lhasa, capital of his estranged Himalayan kingdom, now has a small yet flourishing queer scene.

Lhasa's iconic Potala Palace

It's hard to find, but the city does have a gay bar. Yeshe, a 20-something gay Tibetan who is working as a bar manager for a tourist restaurant in Lhasa, says Lanse Tian Kong (Blue Sky) is quite hidden, but "there are so many gay boys who go there, especially on Friday's and Saturday's. It's packed." To protect it, its location won't be given here.

There are also popular cruising spots in the city, says Tenzin Tsetan, a gay Tibetan from India, who runs gaytibet.blogspot.com, a blog with resources on gays and lesbians in the "autonomous region" and Tibetan communities around the world.

"As for gays in Lhasa, I think the way they meet each other is mostly through cruising," he says. "There are certain public parks and toilets where they tend to go and meet."

"It seems like there is an underground gay scene in Lhasa," he adds, "but the community is not vibrant and open and nor is there a support group."

According to a local lesbian, there are no dyke bars, and girls will rarely go to Blue Sky bar. "We meet each other through friends, or normal bars, or through the Internet," says 30-year-old Lhundrop.

Lhundrop is wearing baggy jeans and a loose blue sweater. Her hair is cut short and spiky like a typical Chinese T (tomboy).

"I make myself look like a boy because I know it's easier for girls to like me and accept me like this," she says. "Occasionally I like other butch girls but usually I like feminine girls."

It's doubly difficult for gay Tibetans since not only are they living in China, which is not big on gay rights, but according to their spiritual leader, gay sex is condemned as a sexual misconduct. Even so, some scholars say that in old Tibet, gay sexual play between monks was very common.

"Some people - the younger generation accept homosexuality, but most Tibetans cannot accept it," says Lhundrop. "I have never told my parents. They are really traditional. They don't have any experience of this, but I think if I told them they wouldn't reject me."

Whereas many closeted Chinese lesbians and gays are pressured by their families to get married, Lhundrop says her parents have given up pushing her.

"I just told them that marriages between men and women in Tibet aren't really stable these days, there is so much divorce," she smiles. "Even my parents got divorced, although they are back together now. So I use this as an excuse, I say I don't want to get married because it will only end in divorce and they accept this and don't pressure me any more."

She says she is serious about finding a "wife" later and adopting a child.

"I definitely want to settle down later with a girl." The table of her friends - a lesbian couple and a gay boy - erupts into laughter. She explains that she's a bit of a player. "I have had a lot of girlfriends - usually they last about a week."

Despite a lack of Tibetan gay role models - Tibetan-born crooner Han Hong, is rumoured to be a lesbian but has never publicly come out - Lhundrop says she knew she was a lesbian from the beginning.

"I have never had any feelings for boys, and so I've always known I'm a lesbian. I had my first girlfriend when I was 15 years old."

Tenzin says the gay community is mixed between Chinese and Tibetans, which raises another problem. The relationship between locals and Han migrants is tense. Many Tibetans resent their presence in their city.

This sour relationship is clear at the table. Yeshe says that all the money boys at the Blue Sky bar are Chinese, while Lhundrop says she's dated Chinese girls but much prefers Tibetans. "I'll never settle down with a Chinese girl," she says.

But, Dawa, a flamboyant, 25-year-old Tibetan gay man, dressed in a white pleather suit jacket and union jack loafers, says he loves his Chinese boyfriend.

One of the main problems, says Tenzin, is that there is so little visibility for gay Tibetans.

"Among the Tibetan communities both inside and outside Tibet, there is zero visibility of homosexuals although we do exist. On 9 December, two members of the Tibetan gay community, Tenzin and Jampa, both Tibetan expats living in the US went on air on a Tibetan webcasting forum and spoke openly about their lives as gays. This was the first time any Tibetan came out publicly."

In that case, what a great move it would be for Tibet's new generation of lesbians if Han, provided she really is gay of course, had the balls to come out to her public.

Viet Nam update

2009-08-30T00:26:00.000+01:00

Dear friends

A difficult, immediate situation in Vietnam, has arisen. Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnam-based Bat Nha monastery is under severe economic, violent, and governmental pressure to abandon the monastery by September 2. The cause: Two statements supporting religious freedom, a core principle of democracy. ---- see more in the links below:

Help Thich Nhat Hanh and Bat Nha

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/tell-a-friend/5355771

It would be very helpful if as many of us as possible signed the petition to help keep this beacon of hope alive, in the troubled homeland of Thich Nhat Hanh.

With loving kindness

Mindfulness Ireland

Vietnamese Buddhist Monastery Under Siege

2009-08-02T09:29:00.000+01:00

In the early 90s, I experienced a kind of spiritual blossoming while reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. It was the beginning of a life-long affair of the heart-mind with Thay, as he is known to his students. He became one of my main teachers and inspirations as the powerful beauty and transformative simplicity of the Buddha's teachings opened up to me.

Thay had been forced into exile from his beloved Viet Nam in the 60s for being a peace activist during the war. In fact he pioneered a form of Engaged Buddhism that showed how true Buddhism must always manifest as peace, compassion and wisdom ... even you are living in a war zone.

In exile, Thay lived and taught the path of peace in the United State [during the Viet Nam War] where he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King. Eventually, he settled in France where he established a community for mindful living called Plum Village.

After 40 years in exile, in 2005, the Vietnamese government invited Thich Nhat Hanh to return to his native land for the first time. It was an incredible blessing to have been able to accompany him on that trip.
By then Thay was considered to be the senior-most Buddhist teacher in the Vietnamese Zen tradition and his home coming was seen as a chance to re-introduce the living teachings of the Buddha into a country whose Communist Government was beginning to acknowledge its failings - especially in relation to its young people.

While we were there, though already quite elderly, Thay worked very hard day and night. He taught many times all over the country and I personally witnessed teachings in fields in the middle of nowhere which were attended by thousands and thousands of people.

Buddhism, it transpired, had fallen into obscurity and decay during those 40 years thanks to the Communist clampdown on religion and the emergence of a secular society consumed by its ever-increasing poverty. Although most monasteries were allowed to remain, they were government-controlled and the senior monks and nuns nolonger fulfilled their spiritual duty to their fellow monastics and to the lay people in general.

Monasteries had become relics of an ancient past, only frequented by old ladies who still wished to make offerings and light incense at the temple as a kind of ritual to make positive merit for their loved-ones. Meanwhile, meditation and the living teachings of the Buddha were rarely taught and senior monks notoriously broke their vows. When we arrived in Viet Nam they were discovered to be openly having lovers, expensive cars, alcohol and so on.

Thay's back-to-basics approach was gentle but firm. The senior monks were all invited to renew their vows - which they did. How could they refuse such a public invitation with its implied admonishment. At the same time, without exception, they offered their monasteries and temples to Thich Nhat Hanh who would continue to be their guide.

On the evening TV News, senior communist politicians declared themselves to be Buddhist and how Thay would be their inspiration for future policy-making. It was a glorious, if surprising, moment in Viet Nams's history to be part of. But, it seems, it was to be short-lived.

On June 29 this year, one of Thay's monasteries came under siege by protesters. It is impossible at present to clearly understand what it was all about, but it seems the protesters included lay people and monks affiliated to those 'established state monasteries' who do not wish to reform afterall.
Thay's senior monks have been attacked and the monastery in question - Bat Nha - is surrounded and without water or electricity. What little food the locals can spare is all the monastics have received for a month now.

You can read a fuller account of the episode here.

Although the article portrays the incident as a new form of Buddhism being ousted by the older 'etablished' form, it is really not that at all. Quite the opposite in fact. It is more like a backlash against the more mainstream, authentic teachings of the Buddha because they challenge the corrupt behaviour of the minority.

Truly Engaged Buddhism is by its very nature political. It will radically and inevitably be a great challenge to the status quo. And that is what we are seeing now.
Furthermore, the current government seems to have changed its stance on Buddhism in Viet Nam and are keeping out of the situation. Some claim they are actually behind the protest. Either way, police have not protected the monks of Bat Nha from attack and the ongoing siege.

A senior spokesperson for Thich Nhat Hanh has said that the country's young people are flocking to Thay's reformed monasteries and dharma centres in favour of the established ones [which appear to be taking too long to change their ways], and that this is the root of the current discord.

On top of that, the government [by definition] dislikes whatever they cannot control. And this is certainly the case here. Perhaps they fear they have created a situation, however positive, that is running away from them altogether and they simply cannot allow that to continue.

The teachings of the Buddha invite us to go beyond all isms and established structures whatsoever.
Ultimately it is about the boundlessness of human potential.
Unfettered people-power was never going to sit well with the government and religious establishment of Viet Nam. And this is the latest evidence ... 'too fast, too soon'.

I suppose it was to be expected afterall.
A quiet revolution of the heart and mind is a revolution nonetheless.

Champ Passes Away...

2009-07-29T10:55:00.000+01:00

Most people live their public life behind a mask. We project a picture of ourselves that we want the world to see.

'Champ' was a boy from a little town in the Thai countryside who ended up, like so many, on the streets of Bangkok.

But unlike so many others, Champ found his way in life by impersonating his idol Whitney Houston.

He dedicated his short life to bringing joy to thousands of locals and tourists alike - most famously on stage at DJ Station in Bangkok's Silom Soi 2.

Like his idol, Champ's life had many highs and lows but his incredible show usually went on regardless. Very rarely did things get so difficult for him that he couldn't perform.

Although he worked as a female artiste, he lived his ordinary life as a gay man. He was living for the immanent release of Whitney's new come back album. It would have given his life and career a new energy and direction ... songs to learn... videos, outfits and hairstyles to imitate ... a whole new show to put together for his adoring fans.
I swear, some people liked Champ more than Whitney. He has fans all around the world.

But death is real. It comes without warning. Champ suddenly went blind and deaf. He had an infection that went straight to his brain and he passed away on Saturday night, 25 July.

As I write this blog, I am imagining the many many drag-queens, lady-boys and friends who are making their way up country to Champ's faraway village to attend his funeral... they will have bought bus and train tickets they can barely afford... they will be carrying suitcases and bags filled with hats and wigs, make-up and dignified frocks.
They will descend on Champ's unsuspecting village - triumphant and unashamed of themselves, in memory of him and on his behalf.

I am also mindful that most of them - myself included - know almost nothing of the real person behind the mask: his proper name, his story, his dreams...

Man on the Moon: 40th Anniversary

2009-07-20T17:27:00.000+01:00

40 years ago today, the Americans put a man on the moon.

Due to endless rivalry between the USA and the then USSR, and possibly to divert national and international attention from America's disastrous foreign policy, enormous amounts of money were ploughed into what was called the 'space race' to land men on the moon.

The entire operation was guided and operated by NASA's huge computers back home on earth. However, today's average mobile phone has far more capacity than all those early computers put together.

Since 1969, no one has bothered to land on the moon and the space race is largely considered to have been a cosmic exercise in political 'spin' in which, of course, the USA portrayed their superior might over all other nations... more weapons of mass distraction.

Unfortunately, the mission and its publicity did not contribute in any large way to improving the lot of humanity or even Americans.

But one thing of tremendous significance was achieved ...

The astronauts saw our natural home, planet earth, in its entirety for the first time. Our little blue world, with all its land masses and oceans, was viewed through the portholes of their rocket capsule as a small, fragile refuge floating through space.

The astronauts themselves and many people who recall seeing the first colour pictures of the earth report how moving and transformative the experience was. A fundamental shift was beginning to occur in the consciousness of human beings.

We began to see not only how majestic and fragile our planet is, but how borders, skin-colour, money - any differences whatsoever - disappear utterly the broader your view becomes.

The Living Matrix

2009-06-23T22:31:00.000+01:00

This is a new film documentary that is deeply rooted in the very latest findings of cutting-edge scientific research. Not surprisingly, but rather thrillingly, The Living Matrix confirms some of the Buddha's discoveries made over 2500 years ago.

When the Buddha became enlightened - ie fully awakened to the true nature of reality - central to his revelatory experience was that it is the mind that creates the body [and not the other way round]. The Buddha's actual words were:

'We are what we think. With our thoughts, we make the world'

Perhaps the most astonishingly revolutionary aspect of this ultimate truth is that consciousness [pure awareness] is constantly creating all phenomena. The 'reality' perceived by any one individual has been created by them. Each one of us, therefore, is capable of creating heaven or hell on earth. This holds true for both inside and outside the individual's body; we create our own body, our health, our world.

The Living Matrix film is primarily concerned with those emerging scientific discoveries that speak primarily about the human body and how its health and well-being emanate directly from the mind itself. Therefore, the most effective healing the body could ever experience is not related to medicine, it posits, but to the pure intention of the mind itself.

Of course the Buddha went much further in his voyage of personal discovery, and science will no doubt catch up eventually. The Buddha's awakening enabled him to experience how the mind has created everything that is - and the mind has created each phenomenon in a subtle web of inter-connectedness [inter-being] with everything else. Furthermore, the Buddha found there is no separation whatsoever between the consciousness of one being and another. Because of their common essence, known as the Buddha Nature, all beings are one.

Meanwhile back at the cosmic ranch, I must say The Living Matrix movie is quite exquisite, if a bit dense in science. But then it has to be really, doesn't it, if it is to be truly convincing as a bona fide piece of scientific discovery.

I strongly recommend this documentary if it shows anywhere near you. It will probably be somewhere quite underground for now. You may only hear about it by word of mouth. I saw it tonight in a small room, in a small-ish hotel, in Dublin. I heard about it from a friend online and might just as easily not have made the effort to go see it. I'm so glad I did.

My heart-felt prayer tonight is this...

May all beings awaken to the limitless power of their true nature.
May we all unleash the immeasurable forces of healing, wisdom and compassion,
And bring about the greatest of all transformations both for ourselves and others.

Please enjoy the official movie website here for more detail and scientific background,

And the movie trailer -

here

Tulku

2009-06-18T15:07:00.001+01:00

This is Gesar Mukpo. He is a young film-maker living in Nova Scotia.
When Gesar was young, he was recognised as the reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist master. Since then he has spent his life exploring and trying to unravel what exactly that means.
Despite being the son of a very famous Tibetan master, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was one of the first to settle in exile in the West, Gesar's path has not been a particularly easy one.

This is Gesar's previous 'self'. Along with the title of being a tulku usually comes an inherited monastery, students and duties to fulfill. However, Gesar has found it difficult to relate to all this. Just imagine how you or I would feel if we were in his shoes.

He has made a film documentary about the whole tulku phenomenon as a creative way to explore and share the experience. In it, Gesar includes clips of his own master the elusive Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and finds other tulkus who, like himself, were born in the West and have had various reactions to the challenge.

The documentary, entitled TULKU, has only been shown once so far, in May 2009, at a film festival in Canada. It cannot as yet be viewed or bought but it is tipped to be a smash at the renowned Sundance Film Festival.

For the moment we will just have to enjoy a brief glimpse of it by way of the trailer which can found here