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...


photo is from the big pagoda in Gyantse, Tibet

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