Took a wonderful trip to Scotland in September - to enjoy Edinburgh, stay with some dear cousins and have a short retreat at the oldest Tibetan monastery in the West: what to say about my visit to Samye Ling? So full of mixed memories of my twenties, when I lived nearby and used to visit, and also so rich in the present moment. The Scottish borders are wide rolling spaces, purple with heather at that time of year and damp smelling as always. The first glimpse of the monastery is a shock - surrounded by fields of sheep, a gold swooping roof appears with dragons on the guttering. It was the first Tibetan one built in the West and copying traditional style with a huge gompa (prayer hall) painted with powerful images on every surface and a thousand buddhas gleaming at the front. Quite a few Western monastics - always a thrill to see robed figures moving through the dawn mists. The gardens, stupa and pond with Nagarjuna emerging with texts were all impressive and full of energy. The co-founder Akong Rinpoche is committed to charitable work and has established a great foundation to help the Tibetan, Nepali and South African situations - see www.rokpa.com . So overall I had a wonderful three days - time to study, relax and walk down by the gentle river where I met a Scottish bodhisattva.
Since then I have spent a month in France working at Dechen Choling - The Place of Great Bliss. see www.dechencholing.org Beautiful countryside and my first true autumn for nine years (the trees in NZ are evergreen). The course brought together sixty folk from all over Europe: Greece, England, Spain, Germany, Holland, Poland, Czech republic, Sweden... and Ukraine. I was pretty busy coordinating for the first two weeks (luckily working with a fantastically efficient German woman who I really liked, and plenty of excellent staff!) but then had more time to study and socialise with the diverse European community.
I am now back in England where it is getting dark and cold as I remember November should be (It's springtime in NZ). I am having a few mellow days with my parents before heading onwards to the East - arriving in New Delhi on Diwali New Moon! After a bout of deep terror - "what on earth am I doing travelling on my own, no home, no future...?" I am now looking forward to the next stage in the journey. Flying on the 8th.
