We are still in Buddha Gaya – I have been reluctant to go until we have completed a few important projects.

It is now very hot and almost impossible to do anything in the mid day – thinking becomes exhausting and even reading seems an effort. The computer gets so hot it starts to malfunction. The earth burns ones feet and the air is hot and dry.

But by some miracle we have managed to do quite a lot of work around Nissoka’s huts; piling up a lot of rubble dirt and sand to create a bigger rainy-season island for the huts, and erecting a reed roofed veranda and a reed wall to give privacy to the back garden. We also cleaned up after the builders who made quite a mess of the place. They put down new concrete floors and replaced the badly made straw roofs with red concrete tiles. Nissoka’s corner of the land is starting to come together. It looks quite nice and is becoming much more livable. Despite the heat everything is fresh green.

We are still here at the Secret Jewel in Buddha Gaya, Manish Krishna and I. In a couple of days we are finally off to beloved Katmandu.

I've been here three months - since the end of the big Glasgow pilgrimage, first resting up then attacking a mountain of work. The fun part has been building new Pilgrimage websites and learning more about web-construction. It was cold when we arrived in Jan but now it is HOT. Lucky me - I can drink the water

We have also done a lot of work around the huts - they are becoming nice place to stay, slowly slowly.

I've got another big year ahead - including the Conventions of the Western Buddhist Order in Norfolk UK, visiting Bhante and returning to NZ for a month.

.

Hi,

I'm back.

We have just completed the fourth "Urgyen Sangharakshita:Teachers of the Present" pilgrimage that leads into Padma's Sikkimese Hiddenland.

Tashiding;

Thongwa Rangdol

and

Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche's golden chorten

Now I'm heading for Kathmandu and the Dhardo Rinpoche:Nepal Mandala pilgrimage.

This is the door of the Ratnaketu Mahavihara in Kathmandu

Wisdom

The Vultures Peak
Where the Buddha sat
And brought forth Wisdom

A page of Perfect Wisdom
Tibetan - Gold ink

What Wisdom looks like in Tibet

What Wisdom looks like in Japan

Chinese Hui Neng rips up Wisdom
Japan

Hommage to the Perfection of Wisdom

namo arya prajnaparamita

This is the oldest printed book.
It's called the Diamond Cutter and is about Prajnaparamita.

China 868 CE

The Heart Sutra, another book on Perfect Wisdom

worlds within
Prajnaparamita portrayed in a Prajnaparamita palm leaf text.

Thank you Edward Conze.
The man who translated the entire Prajanparamita litrature.

Eberhart (Edward) Julius Dietrich Conze (1904 - 1979) was born in London of mixed German, French, and NetherlandsDutch ancestry.

Prajnaparamita

Mother of Awakening
Prajnaparamita

Prajnaparamita means Transdental Wisdom

Once upon a time they worshiped Wisdom in Afghanistan

Transendental Wisdom

Dharmachari Sagaravajra, photographer, sculptor, wanderer, Kiwi, friend and renaissance man, beside the image of Prajnaparamita he created at Rivendel.

Eighty Yesterday - Twenty Five Today

Namo Kyabje Rinpoche Urgyen Sangharakshita

Eighty years ago yesterday Bhante was born.
Twenty five years ago today Bhante gave me, and us, the sadhana of Prajnaparamita.

White Tara blessing Bhante

om tare tutare ture bhante ayur punya jnana pustim kuru svaha

Nepalese
Prajnaparamita with Svayambhu and Naga

Prajnaparamita

Bhante speaking in Patan, Nepal, during the visit of the sacred relics of the Buddha's two chief disciples, and the transition from the Rana to the Royal rule. Nepal is the main place where Prajnaparamita is worshiped.

Happy Birthday Bhante

Tooting Rinpoche
80 Today

It seems amazing that someone can live so long. And such a life, so good, so kind, and so conscious. And so much of it. Thank you very much indeed. May we be forever inseparable. And may you live a long and healthy life.

PILGRIMAGE

The Buddha

We are going on pilgrimage...

...to worship the ground he walked on...

... because we have glimpsed the truth he upheld....

The Beginning of Something Big

The Buddha was not always a big strong man...

Once he was a little baby.


Your Blogger warns you.
"Beware lots of baby photos follow"

Mayadevi and Her Son

From Ajanta

Mayadevi; the mother of the Buddha

Tibetan
Mayadevi gave birth under a tree

Thai
Brahma holds the baby Buddha.

Tibetan

The Buddha appears as a white elephant at the moment of conception.

Gandaravan
The Buddha was born from the side of Mayadevi, who died shortly after.

The Little Buddha

Not exactly High Art

The Buddha's First Steps

Thai

Modern Indian

Chinese

Indian

Mayadevi's Dream

The Buddha's mother Mayadevi dreamt of a white elephant entering her womb on the night that she concieved the bodhisattva.

Here are some images I found on the web.