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Homage to the Muses

I am desperately trying to remember an idea that I had earlier. It was so vivid, so good, that I was certain that I will remember it for years to come. A few hours later — nothing. Not a single shred of memory apart from the fact that it was good and important.  Where do our thoughts come from? Are they stored somewhere, and we just put our hands down, grab one by the neck and take it to the surface of our mind? No? Do we produce them? I guess that is the answer of most. ‘It is my thought! I built it myself’?  ‘Out of what’, I would ask. I always had the feeling that the thoughts do not belong to me. It always feels rather magical to have an idea and most of the time I don’t feel happy receiving the credit for it. I feel like a fraud, like a pretender.  People in older times were somehow humbler. They believed in the existence of the Muses, and I find this very agreeable. How wonderfully humble that idea is! I produce something, but only if I am inspired by the gods. So ‘...
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News from Nangchen


This is a report from Kunga Gyaltsen, a friend of mine, who is at the moment in Tibet with Lama Karma Thinley Rinpoche and I thought that his story might be of interest for you. Here it is:

'Today KTR made the long journey over some very high passes (4,700 metres), to visit his birthplace.
Rinpoche was born in the Bongsar Palace at a place called Yeyang Sumdo, in the high mountain grasslands of Nangchen, Kham.


The palace no longer exists, and the Bongsar family have recently erected a large stupa there to mark the spot. 




Behind and above the palace there was a retreat centre, for monks, nuns and family members to do long retreats. This has recently been restored by Beru Khyentse Rinpoche.

The highest and most powerful mountain on the ancient Bongsar lands is the Jowo Menpa Tsesum, the three-peaked Lord of Medicines. It is famous for the many medicinal herbs that grow on its slopes. 



This picture shows the stupa built on the very place where KTR was born. His birth was marked by a white rainbow appearing above the house. In the background is the Jowo Mountain in all its glory.







The altitude of this place is about 4,000 metres!


KTRs neice Onyo, handing out the tsampa and yoghurt.




























Our picnic was in a carpet of edelweiss.

Close to the site of Rinpoche's birth is an inconspicuous hillside, behind him in this picture. This is the site of the monastery called Sharyak Dorje Ling. It was the monastery that belonged to Rinpoche's previous Sakya incarnation, Beru Kunrig. It had already fallen into disuse in the 1950s. Rinpoche plans to build a small commemorative stupa here.




The road passes through a long narrow gorge. This roadside shrine has been recently installed by locals. The Mani wheels are water driven. The images are carved into the rock and painted.


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