Surrounded by Light
Surrounded by Love
Never abandoned
Never alone
Each soul precious unto itself.
BUDDHAFEST 2012
Held in Arlington, VA, Buddhafest (June 14-17) is billed as a festival of heart and mind. Activities will include the screening of movies, discussions, meditations, and music. Reading through the descriptions of the movies was both exciting (there are some great and unique offerings here) and sad (because I’m not going to be there).
So what will you see if you’re able to go?
The festival opens with Connected. In this age of the internet, what does it mean to be connected? How does it affect us? Is it a good or bad thing? It seems to ask the cutting edge questions we’re all pondering and wondering about. It sounds like this film would make a great jumping off point for discussion with friends and family.
In Buddha’s Lost Children, we journey to Thailand and follow a dedicated monk in his quest to help neglected boys become novices.
The Sufi word for “breath of life” is Baraka. This movie is described as a cinematic guided meditation and may best be experienced rather than written about.
When the Iron Bird Flies follows the path of Tibetan Buddhism from its secluded origins into mainstream western culture and asks if those ancient teachings can help us find happiness in a modern world.
The life and journey of His Holiness 17th Gyalwa Karmapa is outlined in Bodhisattva. The Karmapa is an important Tibetan Buddhist leader who is viewed as the most likely interim successor to the Dalai Lama.
The movie Ram Dass- Fierce Guru is a tribute to the noted spiritual teacher and author of the influential book Be Here Now. The movie follows Ram Dass’ journey after a massive stroke.
Filed under Event
MT. EVEREST 2012- END OF SEASON
I continue to read reports coming from the Everest region. There have been approximately 316 summits so far and ten confirmed deaths. News stories over last weekend were grim and surely upsetting to anyone on the mountain. The majority of teams have completed their climbs, but some of the most experienced teams will make their bids soon.
The weather appears to be cooperating and another summit opportunity has opened up. With the jet stream parallel to the mountains and with moisture holding to the south, conditions are favorable to climb. The remaining teams on the south, are at high camps and today and tomorrow will push for the summit. Traffic will be lighter than over the weekend and no bottlenecks are expected. Winds are expected to increase on Sunday.
On May 19th, Ngim Chhamji Sherpa (age 16) became the youngest female to summit. She was accompanied by her father, a three time summiter and others on her team.
Filed under Event
MT. EVEREST CLIMBING SEASON 2012- Race to Summit
I’ve been reading reports coming from Mt. Everest especially those from the south side. There is a summit window this weekend (May 19-20), and if the weather holds, many of the teams may try for the top.
The main problem right now is that the lines at the summit have not been fixed. Sherpas from several of the teams will combine their energies to get this done hopefully by May 17-18th. Fixed lines aid safety, but climbers can proceed without them.
A Chilean team seems to be moving aggressively to summit without the lines in place. One long term weather forecast indicates that this weekend may be the only feasible summit window. Some climbers may feel this is their only chance to summit this season and go for it. If the weather holds, some estimate 300 climbers may summit from the north and south.
Last season (2011), 525 climbers summited Everest bringing the total number of climbers to get to the top to 3425. Most will recall that it was Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who were credited as the first to summit Everest back in 1953.
Filed under Event
MT. EVEREST 2012 CLIMBING SEASON
This year’s climbing season is well under way and I thought the connection of Base Camp in Into the Land of Snows was more than enough for an excursion into what’s currently happening on the mountain.
Ever wonder what it might cost to sign on to one of these teams to summit Everest? A quick search revealed that for around $50,000 you too could take up this challenge. That’s a bit much for most of us, but there’s no reason we can’t live vicariously.
There are three routes from which teams will try to reach the top of the world. They are the South Col, NE Ridge, and West Ridge. By far, the South Col is the most commercial and most popular. From the south, two teams have called it quits, but most of the remaining 30 international teams on the mountain have reached Camp 3 and await the summit push. The 300 climbers (and about 400 Sherpas) are waiting for a five day weather window to allow them the summit push. With the weather being so unpredictable, it is often the case that climbers will get the go ahead and start the push, only to be called back again. This can be a frustrating and anxious time. In the meantime, the teams are resting and a summit push may be possible around May 21. Ropes have been fixed in the South Col and winds are expected to remain calm until the weekend.
This is such an exciting time on the mountain and I think we’ll check back in a few weeks to see how things are going. An internet search will help you to find blogs and websites that carry daily updates though.
Filed under Event
THE LINE BETWEEN FACT & FICTION
Since the release of INTO THE LAND OF SNOWS, there have been some questions concerning what’s real and not real in the book. From the perspective of this being a book whose main theme concerns defining that very line, it’s a somewhat amusing question. I concern myself with it because I’ve heard some people dismiss the book as fantasy. But that’s not the whole story.
The book is set in the magical Himalayas surrounded by a rich cultural tradition. In such a place, my job as author was relatively easy. I chose concepts and ideas already present there to create a story around an American teenager. I made up very little.
Now as to the facts.
- Locations– The map at the beginning of the book accurately depicts the placement of real locations Blake would visit along his route, had Blake actually gone there. But the careful reader will notice that about half way through the book Blake continues his journey, but the map stops. This is because Blake has left the material reality of our world. An alternate reality opens up for him to fully experience the magic and potential for enlightenment.
- Mallory& Irvine– The story of these climbers disappearing into legend while on the Third Step is true. The camera Mallory carried that day is still missing. We don’t know (for sure) who summited Everest first, although Hillary is officially credited with it.
- Yetis– These animals/beings remain a mystery. Sherpa culture recognizes different kinds of yetis. I took great liberty with the Tantric yidam concept.
- Baian-Kara-Ula Mountains- There are legends of star people and an origination story. As late as the 1950s, stories of the Chinese gathering evidence in the region exist.
- Chakra points- There are many different systems. Tibetans usually depict 5 while Indian schools generally have 7. Research by Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama revealed the heart chakra produced a measurable physical light.
- Singing Bowls- Are used for healing.
- Lung-gom-pa/Tumo/Yidam- Are Tantric practices.
- Birds- The sneaky placement of rare birds in the region was my invention and homage to His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, who loved birds.
Filed under Story behind ITLS
MONKS’ BRAINS ARE DIFFERENT
With the Mind & Life Institute kicking off its international symposia in Denver today, I thought it might be interesting to look back on some of the work this group and others who study contemplative traditions have found. A member of one of my yahoo groups recently posted an article from the Wall Street Journal (How Thinking Can Change the Brain, Jan. 2007) which helped remind me of some of the discoveries in the last few decades dealing with the emerging field of neuroscience called neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is the godsend that allows the brain to change its structure and function in response to experience including thinking. Nowadays we take this as a given. But once upon a time, not very long ago, the Dalai Lama asked a bunch of scientists if the mind might be able to affect the brain (the actual material entity). A brain surgeon told His Holiness that was impossible. Such downward causation from the mental to the physical was not possible. Don’t you just love science! So wrong- but this would take a series of experiments to knock the surgeon on his butt. You can find those and read about them, but my real interest is in the monks and what they can tell us. So let’s fast forward.
Since the 1990s Tibetan monks have been studied to see if their contemplative practice or mental training produces lasting changes in the brain. The monks were wired to record brain wave activity while entering a state of contemplation focusing on compassion and loving kindness. Gamma signals began rising and kept rising. Even between sessions, the monks’ gamma waves remained high. The more hours of meditation training achieved, the stronger and more lasting the gamma signal. It supplied Prof. Davidson at UCSF with the evidence he’d been seeking. Mental training can produce enduring brain traits. So the conclusion for me, is that we should try to keep an open mind about things and not jump to conclusions about what we think the world is or how we think it should behave. We know far less than we think we do, and arrogance and close mindedness will not be allies in the quest for truth (or Truth, if you like).
Filed under Buddhism
BOYS DON’T READ
I’ve written books for boys and books for girls at both the middle grade and young adult (YA) levels. My recently released novel is geared toward teenage boys, although all my reviewers have all been adult women. LOL! This highlights the difficulty of connecting with boy readers.
If you are the parent of a boy you’re probably already aware of my title’s phrase. Boys don’t read (of course, girls do). If you’re a boy, you might even identify with it. In a 2005 article by the Washington Post called “Why Johnny Won’t Read,” the phrase was equated to a gender identity marker. Although a few years old, the article still rings true. Boys by the high school level have thrown in the towel on reading. Studies have long tracked the gender differences in reading, but in the last few years the gulf has widened significantly. The article cites 59% of girls reading and only 43% of boys reading.
The article blames market and educational trends that seem to stymie boys’ interest in reading starting in elementary school. Curriculum books with strong male characters, especially the kind my husband and brothers read, are gone. Forget those biographies that inspired generations. It appears that educators and publishers are not interested in masculine stereotypes or in the masculine point of view. In middle school and beyond, the current offerings center on problem novels (dealing with issues like drugs, bullying, divorce, etc.) and multicultural perspectives. Neither seems to re-engage boys in reading. By high school many boys have given up. It’s just not worth the work!
As a writer following changing publishing market trends for over a decade, there are some things I think the average American has no idea of. Children’s publishing has always been overwhelmingly female. That includes writers, agents, editors, and publishers. At every level, it is difficult to find a man in this business. Publishers scream for more books for boys and continue to ignore them when offered. There are lots of frustrated writers who can’t sell their boy books. So boys have fewer books and give up on reading. Publishers know boys don’t read, so they don’t produce books for boys. Catch 22 thing here.
It’s not totally hopeless. More studies on what boys need and want to support their continued reading may help. Books that allow a strong male perspective, more adventure, more sports, more SF and fantasy, along with graphic novels may help bridge the preference gap. And if you’ve been to a bookstore and strolled through the YA section, you’ve probably noticed the absence of boys hanging out in front of all those pink covers. We need to make the YA section appeal to both genders.
Anyone interested in helping a boy become a lifelong reader, is encouraged to visit www.boysread.org and www.guysread.com.
Filed under Reading
How This Book Came Into the World
Several years ago I had a particularly bad year. My father died, my son was hospitalized, and I came face to face with my own health crisis. All in one year. My illness effectively took me out of the world and focused my attention inward. I returned to basics and found my interest in Buddhism waiting for me. Silent, I think, since at least my teenage years.
I began taking classes offered in faraway Dharamsala, India. Thanks to the internet, I was able to study with a master who had fled Chinese-occupied Tibet to follow His Holiness, the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959. Listening to Geshe Sonam Rinchen’s patient lectures aided my understanding of Tibetan Buddhism. That along with my friendship with a young monk in India helped me to process and write, Into the Land of Snows. The novel explores many of the themes I was exposed to as I learned Eastern concepts.
The process of the inward journey continues for me. Living in the material world is not easy. I know the majority of readers will read the book as an adventure in a foreign land, but I hope the book finds a few fellow travelers. No one has to go anywhere to go within.
Filed under Story behind ITLS
Location, Location, Location- Why Nepal and Not Tibet?
Location. It’s important in real estate and it can be crucial in a story. Some readers might ask since I used the term ‘Land of Snows’ in my title, why didn’t I set the novel in Tibet. It’s a good question. Why Nepal and not Tibet?
From the perspective of a climbing story, either location would have worked. We’re still talking Mt. Everest and the Himalayas. It would have been possible to send Blake to the north side to be around fewer climbers who would assault the mountain in a more technically difficult ascent. North, and from The Land of Snows (Tibet) was not impossible, but fairly improbable.
But the heart of the story concerns a teenager whose whole perception of reality was about to be challenged. I would have loved taking him into Tibet to experience centuries -old monasteries and traditions. To meet its culture and be enfolded in it. Ideally, this is where Blake should encounter magic and mystery, and I considered it. However, Chinese occupation of Tibet has been in full force since 1959. Tibetans have lived under religious intolerance and persecution for fifty plus years. Monasteries have been destroyed, learned masters have fled, and every year more and more Tibetans leave their homeland. The Chinese have a strong presence in monastic communities. Merely possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama is illegal and punishable. This was not the right place to send a teenager looking for truth. I had to look for The Land of Snows somewhere else.
Nepal became that somewhere else. Placing Blake on the south side of Everest naturally plunked him down in Sherpa lands. With the Sherpas, Blake found a safe haven to explore Tibetan Buddhism without the heritage of Chinese repression ongoing in Tibet. Here Blake could freely experience magic and mystery. Into the Land of Snows recognizes the current political and religious situation inside Tibet today and at the same time, I yearn to take Blake north in the future. What might he find in the decades ahead?
Filed under Story behind ITLS
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