Damp Holiday Weekend ...

A warm and sunny Saturday, perfect for the first of the Autumn Agricultural Shows in Weardale, turns wet and chilly for Sunday ... though early walk avoids the rain and produces abundance from the fields and hedgerows ... mushrooms, blackberries, meadowsweet, dandelion greens and narrow leaf plantain ... plus a well exercised organism, ready for some writing in the dry, with the first electrically assisted heating since May retrieved from the cupboard ...

Thoughts wander to warmer climes, of course ... first to Tavira, then maybe some pilgrimming ...

Up at Chapel Show, an encounter with Ben ... who lives near enough but for some reason we only connect annually at the Shows ... Aloe Vera is his thing, along with non-duality and intense dialogue ensues, including information on author of The Field, Lynne McTaggart's latest book, The Power of Eight ... duly ordered along with The Field, which regularly appears on shelves in the various iterations of the Place to Be library, only to wander off in search of new readers to inspire ...

This morning's inspiration comes via the Brockwood e-bulletin and a video of Terence Stamp, speaking at the Centre,  better known here for his dastardly character, Sgt. Troy, despoiling the fragrant Bathsheba Everdene, played by the equally fragrant Julie Christie, before getting his come uppance from Farmer Boldwood, leaving the field clear for the patient and faithful Gabriel Oak to deliver the immortal line: "When you look up, there shall I be; when I look up, there shall you be."

Meanwhile, Stamp is eighty and transformed into a sage, having been befriended by Krishnamurti. .. his book, "The Ocean Fell into the Drop",  joins yesterday's pair coming via Hive, the ethical alternative, which contributes to the independent bookshop of your choice for each sale ...

....which leads to the general observation that the only real power we pawns in the capitalist game hold is in our spending ... and whilst buying less stuff is a clear route to individual liberation, as well as helping the poor abused planet, these corporate behemoths depend for their very survival on selling stuff ... if we have to buy, maybe we can exercise some ethical choices ...

Tomorrow forecast for return of Sun, handy for long stroll down Dale with September Wheels to Meals programmes ... maybe a little foraging on the way ...

Cake ...

Sugar is currently public health enemy number one according to our dear old NHS, supported by the Taoist view too ... and to add some balance to yesterday's post, Western health systems do pay some attention to prevention ... however the money available to promote health messages ... stop smoking, cut down on sugar, exercise more, is miniscule in comparison to the dark side ...

Meanwhile, cake is becoming more and more popular, with afternoon tea making a comeback ... despite cake typically containing lots of sugar, along with butter at best and dodgier fats at worst ... some time ago a spoof television programme called Brass Eye created a dangerous new street drug ravaging deprived communities, persuading a gullible Tory MP to make a statement on the highly addictive substance, called ... cake ... prescience or coincidence?

Another NHS initiative aims to tackle the high rate of bowel cancer, with freely available testing of males between the ages of 60 and 74 ... letters arrive unrequested to partake in the programme, though early diagnosis of cancers are a double edged sword ... whilst early intervention may help, premature knowledge may compromise the immune system, influenced as it is by the mind, along with diet and other factors, leading to unintended consequences ... and it seems that men over 74 are not less likely to contract the disease, just of an age when the investment is deemed superfluous perhaps ... though, to reassure those seeking the screening, older men may request it, they just won't invite you annually as before ... misguided use of scarce resources?
Perhaps another example of logical steps starting from a false premise leading to apparently logical but not always wise conclusions ...

And to be clear and avoid hypocrisy, cake in particular and sugar in general are still a challenge to the addictive personality embedded in the brain of your blogger ... tobacco, a previous problem, is long gone, thanks partly to public health programmes making smoking difficult, partly persistent nagging from the editor in his erstwhile role in public health, partly a trick of the mind, which planted an ache in the back suggestive of lung cancer, prompting swift cessation of the habit ... subsequent x-ray showed no signs of such a thing, by which time any thought of resuming the disgusting activity was banished ... unlike friends still identifying as alcoholics 30 years after their last drink ...

Other aspects of the Taoist approach leave previous projections of increasing longevity in the UK looking dubious, as the Standard American Diet spreads here and elsewhere in the world and environmental pollution increases with "smart" phones ubiquitous ... microwave ovens appearing to replace traditional ones as cooking from ingredients shifts to heating up ready meals ...

An outing across the hills to Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery with friends offers light relief and the chance to practise patience, as the chosen lunch location, the Tibetan Tea Room, closes from 12.30 to 1.30 ... for their lunch break ... possibly one of the very few cafes in the world to follow such a timetable ... also one of the very few to welcome a coach party inside to eat their sandwiches while waiting to order a cup of tea ... tasty spinach and ricotta pasties provide a light late lunch ... cake available but avoided for one day at least ...

Three other Treasures ...

Previous posts looked at Three Treasures of Tao (or Dao): Compassion, Simplicity, Patience ... current reading offers a different trio, from Taoist teaching on health: the Human Body, Temple of Life; Energy, the Force of Life; Spirit, governor of Life ... when Spirit leads the way, the body follows, energy flows, a healthy and long life ensues ... balance is key ... in the Chinese traditional health system the physician is retained by the family and paid a monthly fee as long as all family members are healthy ... the doctor, thus incentivised, advises his "patients" on preventive measures to support the Temple, prescribes beneficial herbs to maintain balance and strengthen the energy systems, suggests environmental factors to adjust ... in case of illness in the family, payment ceases until the patient's health is restored. .. leaving aside, for now, tricky questions of detail, the general idea is the opposite to the Western model, where doctors are consulted by ill people, their symptoms addressed and suppressed, often with chemical preparations with their own side effects, requiring another drug, with its own side effects ... all creating a cocktail along with environmental factors unaddressed, ingestion of toxic food and drink, polluted air and so on. When the drugs don't do the trick, surgery may follow, itself often counterproductive and disturbing the body's balance ...

Apologies to any medical folks offended by the caricature, but it seems to hold a fundamental truth ... first and foremost the need for the "patient" to take responsibility for their own health wherever possible ... nurturing the Spirit, encouraging the Energy, exercising the organism, ingesting healthy food in moderate quantities ... all stating the bleeding obvious, of course, but somehow the power is handed over, or maybe stolen, by purveyors of passing pleasures, poisonous produce ... with the evidence all around of avoidable illness ... 

Psychology offers some insights ... a field with its own polarity, practitioners from the dark side employed to persuade people to purchase and consume rubbish, our psyches hijacked through hypnosis, the Spirit suppressed by the gods of Mammon ... psychologists of the light side, meanwhile, mostly work to pick up the pieces, restore the fractured entity, intent on self destruction, though not always paying attention to the the root cause, the existential crisis of the Spirit suppressed ... and returning to the Western allopathic model, drugs to suppress symptoms too often prescribed, leading to a lifetime of dependency and profits for the powerful pharmaceutical companies ...

Interestingly, Daniel Reid's "Guarding the three Treasures" suggests an excess of Joy is best avoided ... tempering the previous enthusiasm for the Land of Joy ... though the book's twin emphasis on longevity alongside good health is not necessarily subscribed to here ...  incorporating reincarnation into current delusion, along with the promises of karma, means a perfect acceptance of Life and Death, endorsed by the profound experience in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar ...

Meanwhile, in Stanhope, Summer edges towards Autumn, as welcome rain greens the fields and restores the river ... early walks set up the day, blackberry abundance supplements breakfast porridge,  field mushrooms reward the early walker, whilst more exotic species in the woods await ... community engagement is enough as balance is established between introspection and interbeing ... the house becomes familiar, patiently awaiting promised attention ... friends sense imminent departure, though feet are not yet itching for adventure ... October perhaps ...

Born Again ...

A week of pondering the Land of Joy, reading Lama Yeshe, following threads, leads to the fascinating story of Osel Hita Torres, son of two erstwhile Spanish hippies and followers of Lama Yeshe ... the next step requires readers to suspend conditioned filters of perception preventing reincarnation as a thing ... since Osel was recognised by his parents and endorsed by the Dalai Lama as Lama Yeshe reincarnated ... giving the baby quite a burden as he was whisked off to Sera monastery to become and fulfil what others saw as his destiny... a life he felt increasingly uncomfortable with, estranged from his Spanish family, until, aged 18, he rejected the life laid out for him and set out to create an authentic life for himself ... whilst this caused ripples in the FPMT, it perhaps points to its tolerance and suggests that any cultish tendencies were tempered, when his decision to become a film maker was accepted and his new life supported with financial subscriptions from followers ... thus reconciled, he is a trustee of FPMT and gives talks, though declines to accept the title "Lama", literally "Teacher", since he feels unqualified for the task ... presumably the veil is tightly drawn and the previous life, whilst accepted conceptually, is not to carry on seamlessly as was assumed by those who maybe should have known better ... the parallels with the story of the historical Buddha have been pointed out, though Osel himself is not carried away with it ... whilst recognising the Dalai Lama, from his personal perspective, as a fully enlightened one ... whatever that means ...

Land of Joy

Well, the retreat centre at Greenhaugh Hall, near Bellingham and not far from the current border with Scotland, lived up to its name over the weekend, what with the peaceful ambience, warm, dry weather, gentle teachings and friendly company ... a good opportunity to connect with like-minded folks from diverse backgrounds, exploring the very rich culture, philosophy and religion of Tibetan Buddhism ... the organisation behind this Place to Be is the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, with a world-wide membership ...  Land of Joy Retreat Centre is only three years old, the Victorian house and grounds, with walled garden, lily pond and over forty acres of woodland having been purchased through many donations, including one very substantial inheritance from a nun in the organisation ... the FPMT turns out to be a tolerant set-up, with a Tibetan flavour adopted by the mostly western supporters ... the key photos on display have the Dalai Lama in prime position, with his deceased student Lama Yeshe, referred to fondly as "Lama", and his living student Zopa Rinpoche, the current spiritual guiding light, in equal second place ... which reassuringly excludes the possibility of the tendentious New Kadampa cult, whose followers are active around Durham and Darlington ... readers interested in the controversy can investigate further and indeed it's a fascinating window on the world of organised religion in general and Mahayana Buddhism in particular ... its root seemingly the invocation of a dodgy deity, advised against by HHDL, and upheld by the NK cult leader ... subsequent behaviour of the rebellious guru and his deluded disciples appearing to embody the characteristics of Sugden, the dark deity, activities allegedly funded by the Chinese government, not content with having invaded Tibet and assumed political control, wanting to undermine HHDL's influence around the world ... economic and political sanctions often applied to governments according HH head of state status ... assassination plots spoken of, so far unsuccessful ... which is quite amazing and suggestive of powerful protection in place, though not necessarily from Sugden ... in an interesting parallel, a friend recently dabbled in the dark side by invoking Kali, a Hindu deity, with dramatic consequences ... on a psychological level we may benefit from confronting our dark side at some time, but it is an exercise best used cautiously, and if magic is involved, best left to magicians ...

Meanwhile, back at Land of Joy, trust in the universe is practised with a generosity model challenging the scarcity schema common in samsara ... the whole weekend offered without charge, bed, board, teachings, books, all of it ... guests given the opportunity to decide how much, if anything, they feel like offering ... a beautiful opportunity to practise abundance thinking and challenge our own relationships with the root of all evil. .. the place is run by volunteers, who say that the books are balancing nicely so far ... long may it flourish! 

As for the border with Scotland, that may become contentious again as the shall we shan't we drama plays out ... Scots much in favour of EU membership and many proposing reviving the independence from England referendum along with the DUK wide tide for another vote once the full implications of the current process are clearer ... latest political speculation suggesting a new party of the centre with the single issue of calling the divorce off attracting voters at a widely predicted General Election ... the crucifixion of the saintly J.C. is underway ... all very devious and polarising. .. keeping our minds in samsara and our lives less than joyful ...

The Buddhist path, which has many paths, continues to intrigue, and frequencies align more or less with folks drawn to them ... including those with early conditioning from Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism as well as the mainstream myth, albeit weakened, of Christianity,  with its own different paths ... however the point of the retreat from the daily life in Stanhope, already mostly a retreat, was not to join any path, but to connect with other human beings seeking truth ... plus some entertainment ... and joy, of course ...