a land of Tibet

We're resting at the Jakhyung Rito Pendeling! It's a rather small temple and our Footprint Tibet handbook indicates that there are only three monks in residence but there are some wondrous images to look upon! I didn't mention the paintings of Amitabha or Opame as he is known in Tibet who is one of the meditation Buddhas and one of the Buddhas of the five families. I don't know what this means yet though! Anyway, he is depicted as red in color and holds a lotus. There's also another mural of Tara Dolma. I still have yet to mention the Buddha in the poem from a few weeks back! Anyway, much of it must have escaped the Chinese invasion of the earlier part of the twentieth century, the arrival of the PLA in the 1940's and the Cultural Revolution that followed in the 1960's perhaps because of Tara Dolma and all the other guardian deities here! Actually the mandalas and other sacred work have a calming effect on the mind even when the observer isn't familiar with the subjects being shown. I've had this experience when looking at some of them actually. Because the minds which composed and created them were developed in this way this calm energy emanates from the completed works. Very shamanic! As we know well the deities can often interact with human beings through images that have been created of them. Once it is said there was a monk in Bodh Gaya in India that often reviled the system of deity practice as being nonsense. That is until the day he was swept into a flooding river. Facing imminent death he remembered that there was a deity called Tara Dolma . He began calling her name repeatedly as the current tore him along dashing him against floating trees and debris. Suddenly a big sandalwood statue of Tara floated up to him and began to speak. 'Why after you've slandered me and the rest of the deities do you now call upon me again and again as though you were practicing a mantra? Isn't this unseemly for a follower of Lord Buddha?' The statue then floated off. Anyway he desperately swam after the statue of Tara, reached it, and finally reached shore naked, battered and completely exhausted. Needless to say he spent the remainder of that incarnation promoting the Mahayana system, especially Tara Dolma of course! There's a lot more to add but as usual two as one we'll add to the notes later beautiful one!


	Through My Eyes * We're resting at the Jakhyung Rito Pendeling! It's a rather small temple and our Footprint Tibet handbook indicates that there are only three monks in residence but there are some wondrous images to look upon! I didn't mention the paintings of Amitabha or Opame as he is known in Tibet who is one of the meditation Buddhas and one of the Buddhas of the five families. I don't know what this means yet though! Anyway, he is depicted as red in color and holds a lotus. There's also another mural of Tara Dolma. I still have yet to mention the Buddha in the poem from a few weeks back! Anyway, much of it must have escaped the Chinese invasion of the earlier part of the twentieth century, the arrival of the PLA in the 1940's and the Cultural Revolution that followed in the 1960's perhaps because of Tara Dolma and all the other guardian deities here! Actually the mandalas and other sacred work have a calming effect on the mind even when the observer isn't familiar with the subjects being shown. I've had this experience when looking at some of them actually. Because the minds which composed and created them were developed in this way this calm energy emanates from the completed works. Very shamanic! As we know well the deities can often interact with human beings through images that have been created of them. Once it is said there was a monk in Bodh Gaya in India that often reviled the system of deity practice as being nonsense. That is until the day he was swept into a flooding river. Facing imminent death he remembered that there was a deity called Tara Dolma . He began calling her name repeatedly as the current tore him along dashing him against floating trees and debris. Suddenly a big sandalwood statue of Tara floated up to him and began to speak. 'Why after you've slandered me and the rest of the deities do you now call upon me again and again as though you were practicing a mantra? Isn't this unseemly for a follower of Lord Buddha?' The statue then floated off. Anyway he desperately swam after the statue of Tara, reached it, and finally reached shore naked, battered and completely exhausted. Needless to say he spent the remainder of that incarnation promoting the Mahayana system, especially Tara Dolma of course! There's a lot more to add but as usual two as one we'll add to the notes later beautiful one! * courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions. The information for the sketches is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje. ( please click here to return to my spinning for you!)