Technical Difficulties and the Road to Damascus

I am having a little trouble w/ my laptop so I am writing to you all from a place called cyber connections, which just edged out the cyber dharma cafe as a place to get on line. I am going to attempt to make a series of posts today to catch back up. This post along with the 3rd and 4th practices of the Bodhisattva were actually written on 29 Jun, the 5th and 6th practices on the 30th and the 7th practice on 1 July. So now that I'm back some quick thoughts on how we portray religions.

29 Jun 09
As one of my assigned texts I am reading "The Words of My Perfect Teacher" by Patrul Rinpoche, and it is a great overview of Tibetan Buddhism. This book fills in a number of literary, historical, mythological and cultural pieces that I was unaware of through purely academic exposure. I thought I came to Nepal with a basic understanding of Buddhism. I have taken classes both on the undergraduate and graduate level, read traditional texts and even practiced Mindfulness meditation on a daily basis. I know very, very little. Watching how a tradition takes life in people and practice is simply stunning, and until one has been exposed to that experience one cannot say that he/she has even the vaguest idea of what the tradition is about. (For instance, Tibetan Buddhism comes with its own system of penance complete with confession and a rosary!) Differences really start to break down as the foreign becomes familiar and the other becomes a friend.
So I watched a film called Milarepa last night with folks from the school and monastery. Milarepa is a highly regarded being in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. His story is one of how a black magician, guilty of mass murder, becomes a bodhisattva. Since today is the feast day of St Peter and St Paul I can't help but recall Saul's conversion to Paul. It appears that in at least a couple of traditions people find solace in knowing the vilest of us still have a shot at redemption.