Friday, September 27, 2013

Tathāgata considering. Tathāgata is a word the Buddha of the Pali Canon uses when referring to himself. Tathāgata is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata) or "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata), San Mateo, California, USA

Yellow house with blue tarp roof cover, white trimmed windows and door, sunny day, Dutch colonial style, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Dagchen Rinpoche leading Sakya Lamdre, masters of ceremony assisting him in the blessing of the gold and silver vase of nectar, Shri Hevajra Empowerment into practice end of the initation, Tharlam Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal

A monk folds and rolls a khata (ritual scarf) on a cushion, wearing an initation cord on his left arm, maroon robes, tea cup, khata rolls, Tharlam Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal

Dagchen Rinpoche closing the Hevajra mandala with a gold vajra, Shri Hevajra Empowerment into practice end of the initation, Tharlam Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Cloud cover opens, the silver steel jet city, from Highway 5, skyscrapers, steel, concrete, Seattle, Washington, USA

The Union of the Sun and Moon, Song of the Vajra, tantra shows which experience a person undergoes in the intermediate state, the bardo, after passing away, to stabilize awareness during the bardo of dying, Mexican Tile, Guadalajara, Mexico

Unborn, yet continuing without interruption,
neither coming nor going, omnipresent,
Supreme Dharma,
unchangeable space, without definition,
spontaneously self-liberating--
perfectly unobstructed state--
manifest from the very beginning,
self-created, without location,
with nothing negative to reject,
and nothing positive to accept,
infinite expanse, penetrating everywhere,
immense, and without limits, without ties,
with nothing even to dissolve
or to be liberated from,
manifest beyond space and time,
existing from the beginning,
immense ying inner space,
radiant through clarity
like the Sun and the Moon,
self-perfected,
indestructible like a Vajra,
stable as a mountain,
pure as a lotus,
strong as a lion,
incomparable pleasure beyond all limits,
illumination, equanimity,
peak of the Dharma,
light of the Universe,
perfect from the beginning.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_the_Sun_and_Moon

Two Palms Hotel, Cambria, California, USA

While the two Palms hotel in Cambria California does not look all that fancy from the outside - the rooms are big enough and the beds exceptionally nice. People friendly and not fake and through several owners over the years others report the conditions remain good over time.

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Childhood photo makes the memory, jolly bird bell, kitchen brick, Seattle, Washington, USA

Guru Dagchen Rinpoche on his throne teaching at Sakya Lamdre, traditional silk robes, pecha, Sashu Hat (of the Sakya tradition), murals of the Buddha's life, Tharlam Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal

When the day was perfect, a light breeze, sunny, just perfect moments one after another, when the humidity was like Thailand in the early spring, along the fresh sea, fragrance clean, then did they come.

Their sign, upon reflection, were the butterflies and dragonflies less restless, alighting and watching wings beating like breaths.

Sometimes you could see the leaves all turn up and wave together in happiness like they were cheering them on. The birds stood out right before their arrival … but this was something a little difficult to notice if you weren’t watching for it or knew to expect them.
Nothing seemed far away and there was a feeling of suchness … if you weren’t looking you couldn’t tell where and when they arrived – it was like they were always there.

You could say all that.

Whether they walked up or rode in a conveyance even their clothes presented a rhythm of beauty in the way, ribbons, sashes, and hems laughed and played.

And the quality of their arrival was that suddenly the immediate surroundings slowly came into clearer and clearer focus. Time slowed down so each moment was sheltered in the present. As if their arrival shepherded the presence itself.

There was nothing it was like. But perhaps the sound of a bell.

If you were capable of feeling it when close to them, there was the felling on not just being with them but that there was no distance between yourself and them.