Back home for a month... To rest, recharge, rethink...see things from a different angle... try to find some balance...
Especially the past few months in Kyoto, I felt suffocated, unable to make even the smallest movement out of the routine, nothing new happened, at least nothing new of importance, I felt stuck, unable to think, that's why after some musing I made the decision to go back home for a month (going back to Kyoto on the 5th of October)...
I need to rethink things very seriously, I need to drag myself out of the standstill, recharge, somehow see ahead...
Tuesday 21 September 2010
explanation about the changed blog alias
I assume some explanation is needed (and somewhat belated) as to my changed alias, i.e. the name I currently use to sign my posts "Chodrol", which in case someone has noticed is different from my previous blog alias "Jataka" which I decided to change.
Actually I have posted previously about the name Chödröl in my post about my last July trip to Tibet, here.
As I explained there the name was given to me by two Tibetan Buddhist nuns in the remote Tibetan town of Sakya. For the past 9 years I have very much existed with a different than my given name, most notably during my 8 year stay in China, when only a handful of people even asked me what my real name was and for whom I will perhaps always remain remembered with my Chinese name.
As I am trying to "move on" with my life and cut the ties with China as much as possible, or at least gain some healthy distance, I think that the latest name/alias given to me by the two nuns in Sakya last year is not too bad to take a step towards distancing myself from the 8 "Chinese years"...
Of course, the name/alias is merely coincidental. I have no claim to posses any divine knowledge or wisdom. The only resemblance to the White Tara is my very pale skin and my interest in the Buddhist teaching. I guess that (mainly the skin) caused the nuns (unprompted) to come up with this name...?! Any other resemblance is merely circumstantial. I "claim" this alias merely because it was gratiously given to me. I gratefully accept it. And as i already said I hope it can turn the wheel for me and change the road-block I find myself in.
I'm very far from possessing any of the qualities of the Bodhisattva or the Buddha. Perhaps the only similarity is that I am awakened enough to know that there is much to be learned and to question and doubt the existing explanations?! And I travel looking, looking breathlessly...
Actually I have posted previously about the name Chödröl in my post about my last July trip to Tibet, here.
As I explained there the name was given to me by two Tibetan Buddhist nuns in the remote Tibetan town of Sakya. For the past 9 years I have very much existed with a different than my given name, most notably during my 8 year stay in China, when only a handful of people even asked me what my real name was and for whom I will perhaps always remain remembered with my Chinese name.
As I am trying to "move on" with my life and cut the ties with China as much as possible, or at least gain some healthy distance, I think that the latest name/alias given to me by the two nuns in Sakya last year is not too bad to take a step towards distancing myself from the 8 "Chinese years"...
Of course, the name/alias is merely coincidental. I have no claim to posses any divine knowledge or wisdom. The only resemblance to the White Tara is my very pale skin and my interest in the Buddhist teaching. I guess that (mainly the skin) caused the nuns (unprompted) to come up with this name...?! Any other resemblance is merely circumstantial. I "claim" this alias merely because it was gratiously given to me. I gratefully accept it. And as i already said I hope it can turn the wheel for me and change the road-block I find myself in.
I'm very far from possessing any of the qualities of the Bodhisattva or the Buddha. Perhaps the only similarity is that I am awakened enough to know that there is much to be learned and to question and doubt the existing explanations?! And I travel looking, looking breathlessly...
photo is from the big pagoda in Gyantse, Tibet
Friday 3 September 2010
Kyoto in Spring 2
It has again been months since my last post. A season has changed actually and it is Summer now. I've been meaning to post and give a link to a second Spring in Kyoto album with photos, but I have failed to do so until now. I am meanwhile compiling and uploading a Summer in Kyoto album which hopefully I will post not after months but sooner, although frankly I haven't done much visiting of temples and taking pictures for the past 3 or so months...I had plans to visit (and re-visit) gardens and temples but I didn't make it happen...The weather has been horrid actually, first a rainy season in July, followed by stiffling heat in August...I completely failed to see the gardens with the July blooming hydrangea, wisteria and irises. I meant to, even planned it, but for many reasons failed to make it happen...So unfortunatelly part of the seasonal beauty of Kyoto in Summer has not been "documented" in pictures...
So until I compile the album of the current season (i.e. Summer), meanwhile here is a link to a somewhat belated Spring in Kyoto continued web album...
Again the photos are taken with my mobile phone's camera (I'm doing more or less the same pictures with my film camera of course, and one day they may also see the light in a future photo exhibition perhaps...), so the image quality is not good and the limitations of the very simple camera of the phone (no zoom or anything actually...) are not giving much more than an idea...
But that's what these photos are meant as really, ideas, feelings, angles as I see them...
Hopefully they can still carry a bit of the feeling I have of Kyoto.
So here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto 2
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOru1aT4iu3xlQE&feat=directlink#
As always comments and feedback are most welcome...
So until I compile the album of the current season (i.e. Summer), meanwhile here is a link to a somewhat belated Spring in Kyoto continued web album...
Again the photos are taken with my mobile phone's camera (I'm doing more or less the same pictures with my film camera of course, and one day they may also see the light in a future photo exhibition perhaps...), so the image quality is not good and the limitations of the very simple camera of the phone (no zoom or anything actually...) are not giving much more than an idea...
But that's what these photos are meant as really, ideas, feelings, angles as I see them...
Hopefully they can still carry a bit of the feeling I have of Kyoto.
So here is the link:
Spring in Kyoto 2
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/d.karmapolice/SpringInKyoto2?authkey=Gv1sRgCOru1aT4iu3xlQE&feat=directlink#
As always comments and feedback are most welcome...
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