#2 Alaska Addendum: MORE LIGHT

 So the Anchorage Sangha Meditation group got back to me and I zoomed in there for a wonderful sit and practice as well.  There were six of us and the group took me back to Tibetan sittings of many years ago.  It has been 30 years since I recited these prayers, and I felt a distinct LACK of time in between then and now, as well as a sense of not having distance from the members.   The group cycles through Shamata (calm abiding),  Tong Len/Bodhicitta (loving kindness) and the Heart Sutra.  Details are in the link above.

I especially enjoyed Padmasambhava's Seven Line Prayer.   I remembered how drawn I was to the mysticism (Dzogchen for instance)  in the Tibetan tradition.  But it is in all Buddhist traditions.  Take for example the Theravadan Vissudhimaga, which reads like a book of spells.  For that matter, sit still for ten days and watch your moorings disappear in place of deeper supports. 

Their teacher manages several Nyingmapa  (one of several Tibetan Buddhist schools) centers and a retreat center in the US as well as a monastery in Tibet.  One of Khentrul Lödro Thayé Rinpoche's teachers was Phuntsok Rinpoche, so I looked him up, and read about the sad case of Larang Gar, a once beautiful city of monks, nuns and lay persons, bulldozed in half by the Chinese Government as they continue their campaign of genocide against the Tibetan people.   Our own government, with it's habit of picking only on smaller and weaker governments, has yet to stand up to China (although we have helped with immigration of Tibetans).  

I laughed with the group when I asked if their teacher liked Alaska because I knew what they would say "Oh yes he does it reminds him of Tibet.".   Everyone was very sweet and they asked me about Massachusetts and how we were all doing with Covid.   The spirit knows no distance.   Through ardent practice, we reach through the veil of space and time, and bring back pure water for ourselves, and for others. 

Consider a donation to the International Campaign for Tibet: https://savetibet.org/