Well it was to say probably one of the most interesting weeks i've had in quite some time. Not that year has brought enough of them!
Some of you know that the weekend before i left, my friend and teacher Robin was hospitalized and passed away that tuesday. i was able to spend my evenings at the ccu with him and feel very fortunate to have been able to do so when so many of his close friends and senior students were on their retreats. not the greatest way to start a retreat....
And then... I meant to leave Friday night, when things, as they do; somehow fall apart. this time literally... apparently when i had my tires rotated they didn't tighten down the lug nuts. I got to dempster rd. in chicago when my car was vibrating so badly i couldn't stay on the road! My luck, there was a Midas auto center at the end of the ramp. the next morning i was informed that the front drivers side tire was on the verge of falling off (two bolts were already off) and the right side would have shortly followed. They had no idea how i was able to make it all the way to chicago, much less up and off the ramp at 60mph.) All's well, i talked to the guys who did my tires, and there will be some wheeling and dealing this week. After that - the drive there and back was perfect.
Retreat was great! We had a good time this year, although it did resemble a MASH episode. It was jungle hot, averaging around 100 with oppressive humidity, and it rained like hell or the sun beat down. Since half of us (75) were tenting it made for some stressful days at first. especially after sitting in talks throughout the days. We got some time to blow off steam... we first celebrated a 61st birthday party for a senior student at Rinpoche's pool, which turned into alot of people either getting teary eyed or telling bad jokes at the mic. then there was the signing of 'for he's a jolly good fellow.' Which turned into buddhist nuns with water guns, which turned into people throwing each other - cake and all into the pool. and yes, i did end up going in. The next morning we had a wedding for two of our sangha members. it was more of a blessing ceremony, as there is no such thing as marriage in buddhism. (rinpoche's words... just birth and death, the stuff in betwn just makes things complicated.) i have to admit the choice in the music, played over the sound system (lionel ritchie, queen, etc..) made for some stifled laughter and lots of blissful giggling by all. rinpoche is a very patient being indeed. this was followed by a huge reception with lots of food (the cheese plates died in the heat before they ever got to the tables) and lots of dancing in the mid-day sauna to neil diamond. by afternoon, we all had heat stroke. ah, yeah...
we did study, this year's focus was a more tibetian physiology and we did get a really nice meditation practice to do. the biggest thing for me this year was receiving the transmission for ngndro mediation practices. which for all intents and purposes is going to keep yours truly very, very busy for the next few years. it's a practice which all tibetian students are required to do to continue training with their teacher. they're basically sets of mediation to clean your brain of all the emotional junk that gets stored up there. rinpoche has done this practice three times already. (good god what i've i signed on for!)
oh, and the silo! yes, just like MASH, not only did we eat yummy (vegan) food (by weds i was dying for a nice piece of gouda) in a tent at the base of the mountains, but we almost had explosions too! there is an old silo on the land from the farm that was built in the 30's. It's unused and will be in the way when the new shrine is built for 2009. there are a lot of people who have been trying to save it, and then there are those of us who just like watching things explode (or implode depending on the day of the week.) with over 100 people around and the silo being right in the midst of everything, they decided to hold off until after retreat to take it down.
sometimes peace sucks ass. i really was looking forward to watching something blow up against the calm scenery of lotus gardens. juxtaposition at it's finest.
so instead i went up into the mountains, which i didn't get to do last year. me and the bug had a blast whipping around all the rolling corners. the exploring was fantastic! at one point through i started out hiking a thought to myself, i have no epi-pen, no bear bell, or pepper spray and my cel isn't getting a good signal - and this is a big place. so i stayed on the more popular trails and got to climb over harley bikers huffing up the trailhead instead. however, i now have most excellent motivation to finally get the motorcycle license. i am going to ride that again next year!
Some of you know that the weekend before i left, my friend and teacher Robin was hospitalized and passed away that tuesday. i was able to spend my evenings at the ccu with him and feel very fortunate to have been able to do so when so many of his close friends and senior students were on their retreats. not the greatest way to start a retreat....
And then... I meant to leave Friday night, when things, as they do; somehow fall apart. this time literally... apparently when i had my tires rotated they didn't tighten down the lug nuts. I got to dempster rd. in chicago when my car was vibrating so badly i couldn't stay on the road! My luck, there was a Midas auto center at the end of the ramp. the next morning i was informed that the front drivers side tire was on the verge of falling off (two bolts were already off) and the right side would have shortly followed. They had no idea how i was able to make it all the way to chicago, much less up and off the ramp at 60mph.) All's well, i talked to the guys who did my tires, and there will be some wheeling and dealing this week. After that - the drive there and back was perfect.
Retreat was great! We had a good time this year, although it did resemble a MASH episode. It was jungle hot, averaging around 100 with oppressive humidity, and it rained like hell or the sun beat down. Since half of us (75) were tenting it made for some stressful days at first. especially after sitting in talks throughout the days. We got some time to blow off steam... we first celebrated a 61st birthday party for a senior student at Rinpoche's pool, which turned into alot of people either getting teary eyed or telling bad jokes at the mic. then there was the signing of 'for he's a jolly good fellow.' Which turned into buddhist nuns with water guns, which turned into people throwing each other - cake and all into the pool. and yes, i did end up going in. The next morning we had a wedding for two of our sangha members. it was more of a blessing ceremony, as there is no such thing as marriage in buddhism. (rinpoche's words... just birth and death, the stuff in betwn just makes things complicated.) i have to admit the choice in the music, played over the sound system (lionel ritchie, queen, etc..) made for some stifled laughter and lots of blissful giggling by all. rinpoche is a very patient being indeed. this was followed by a huge reception with lots of food (the cheese plates died in the heat before they ever got to the tables) and lots of dancing in the mid-day sauna to neil diamond. by afternoon, we all had heat stroke. ah, yeah...
we did study, this year's focus was a more tibetian physiology and we did get a really nice meditation practice to do. the biggest thing for me this year was receiving the transmission for ngndro mediation practices. which for all intents and purposes is going to keep yours truly very, very busy for the next few years. it's a practice which all tibetian students are required to do to continue training with their teacher. they're basically sets of mediation to clean your brain of all the emotional junk that gets stored up there. rinpoche has done this practice three times already. (good god what i've i signed on for!)
oh, and the silo! yes, just like MASH, not only did we eat yummy (vegan) food (by weds i was dying for a nice piece of gouda) in a tent at the base of the mountains, but we almost had explosions too! there is an old silo on the land from the farm that was built in the 30's. It's unused and will be in the way when the new shrine is built for 2009. there are a lot of people who have been trying to save it, and then there are those of us who just like watching things explode (or implode depending on the day of the week.) with over 100 people around and the silo being right in the midst of everything, they decided to hold off until after retreat to take it down.
sometimes peace sucks ass. i really was looking forward to watching something blow up against the calm scenery of lotus gardens. juxtaposition at it's finest.
so instead i went up into the mountains, which i didn't get to do last year. me and the bug had a blast whipping around all the rolling corners. the exploring was fantastic! at one point through i started out hiking a thought to myself, i have no epi-pen, no bear bell, or pepper spray and my cel isn't getting a good signal - and this is a big place. so i stayed on the more popular trails and got to climb over harley bikers huffing up the trailhead instead. however, i now have most excellent motivation to finally get the motorcycle license. i am going to ride that again next year!
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
doncarlos:
Hey i am going up to Milwaukee for a couple of days in a couple of weeks ... work related, but do SG's in Milwaukee hang in a particular place ????? The best to you.. 
robby:
hey pw . i am doing well . i think we connected on YourSpace, but can't remember at the moment . still looking for more freetime, but it's all good . we'll be in spain in a month, so i'm stoked about that ! more soon .