Okay, “Enlightenment or bust” might be a bit dramatic, but…

"Dang Zang" is an empty name. The blog has to do with the dharma; material related to Buddhist teachings (Tibetan style in particular, Kagyu in even more particular), meditation, gurus and lamas be they genuine or flaky, books and events. I do have a more personal blog, Pica Pica, and a site for my work.

Oh yes, it's by Alex Wilding

Archive

  • What’s holding Britain down isn’t benefits. It’s low pay 17/06/2013
    This article in the Guardian, in which Zoe Williams gives us some of David Schweickart’s thinking, is one of the most thoughtful contributions to the economy debate I’ve seen for a while. Repeat after me 7 times in fast succession: The way to make work pay is to pay for the work at a rate that makes the Read more... What’s holding Britain down isn’t benefits […]
  • Deer deer, that was a surprise 21/05/2013
    So there I was setting out with the dogs for a walk this morning, like nearly every morning, when there was a rustling and a movement in the bushes. Then out she came, maybe 10 or 15 m in front of us, what I take to be a female deer. She crossed the road and sprang Read more... Deer deer, that was a surprise […]
  • The Thatcher funeral 15/04/2013
    I am a free citizen of the United Kingdom. The police have no business whatsoever telling me whether and when to stand to attention, sit, wave, smile, salute, two-finger salute, hiss or boo. And they certainly have no business at all telling me which way I should face. This has nothing to do with “respect for the Read more... The Thatcher funeral […]
  • Had you noticed? 29/03/2013
    Probably a relatively low proportion of the people that I know would have voted for the Tories at the last election, although, given the train-wreck that Labour had become, I could understand the temptation. So perhaps I am preaching to the converted. The thing is, that Polly Toynbee, always well worth reading, has summarised with frightening clarity how Rea […]
Friday May 31st, 2013. Posted by Alex W:

Dalai acceptable as arbitrator in Karmapa dispute

How odd. It’s in the Times of India

A flash in the pan, or is there something going on?

Thursday March 21st, 2013. Posted by Alex W:

Old colour film of Tibet

This has been around for a couple of years, but I only just came across it. It’s really rather good, if you like this kind of thing:

The Lost World of Tibet

Wednesday January 30th, 2013. Posted by Alex W:

A Losar card for the virtual mantlepiece

Year of Snake 2013 email card

Thursday January 3rd, 2013. Posted by Alex W:

Ringu Tulku’s Heartfelt Prayers for the New Year 2013

In this misty morning
Under the Bodhi tree
We all sit close together
And pray for universal well-being.

My mind goes to my loved ones
Who have passed away.
I never cease to miss them.
May they find their way to peace.

My mind also goes to those Tibetans
Who have burnt themselves alive
Without hatred and violence
Calling for justice in Tibet.

I do not know if it helps Tibet
But I need to support them
As I am still a human being
And they have so much trust in humanity.

I pray that there will be kindness
In each and every heart
And we are all able to express that
Without fear of any kind.

May the Year of 2013
Be a year of new beginnings.
May we act with wisdom
And may we think with compassion.

Ringu Tulku

http://www.bodhicharya.org/

Saturday December 1st, 2012. Posted by Alex W:

A key figure passes on

I had heard that Sherab Palden Beru, the enormously important and influential traditional painter living at Samye Ling was unwell. Some give his age as 101, although Wikipedia says he was born in 1915.

I met him just once in relatively early days in Birmingham – that would have been mid-seventies – but I could not say that I knew him, just that I knew of him and of the tremendous respect in which he was held, both as a painter and as a person.

 

(Picture taken from Samye Ling – I hope that’s OK?)

The news has now broken that he has passed on. He had done such valuable work. May his path take him straight to meet Guru Rinpoche and the other teachers whose images he tended.

 

Thursday November 8th, 2012. Posted by Alex W:

Gratitude to Trungpa

I was doing my regular practice this morning, for which I use a moderately extensive text that was translated by a group of Trungpa’s students, and with his close guidance. No doubt, given time and greater knowledge, tiny faults could be found in it, but it has been wonderfully well done. The work that Trungpa and his students put into it has been extraordinarily helpful to me, and I am grateful for it.

I felt like writing about this because I have from time to time received flak for failing to be convinced or impressed by a lot of Trungpa’s behaviour. Never having met him, I’m not sure why that should be a problem, as I never had a personal relationship with him. But that does not stop me from being grateful to him for some of the work that he did.

Devotion to the lama – “seeing the lama as Buddha” – is an important aspect of Vajrayana Buddhist practice. There are some people who seem to understand this to mean that we have to invest our lama with something like papal infallibility in all matters. This is sometimes taken to the extent that whenever the lama says or does something that, by all normal standards, is entirely wrong, an effort is made to somehow see this as a “skilful means”, a “test”, or as something that will, in some mysterious way that is understood only by the omniscient lama, work out for the best.

In these times, as we increasingly become aware of all kinds of abuse perpetrated by all kinds of authority figures, the dangers of this simple interpretation must be very obvious. It’s also, I think, completely unnecessary.

One can have devotion to one’s lama, see him (or indeed her) as an embodiment of the Buddha, and still recognise that he or she is capable of simple mistakes, of misunderstandings, and may even have moral failings. I don’t mean to suggest that someone who is muddled, stupid and wicked makes a good lama. Nevertheless, to demand that the lama be perfect in every word and deed, or that the student perverts their own intelligence to pretend that the lama is perfect in every single word and deed, is a recipe for, at best, a completely fake relationship.

Friday November 2nd, 2012. Posted by Alex W:

Prayer for All Souls to be born in Amitabha’s pure realm

Living in a rural area of a strongly Roman Catholic country, I’ve just been strongly reminded of the traditions of this time of year. Halloween is not celebrated very much here, but All Saints Day, November 1, is taken as a holiday. Even more to the point, today, November 2, is All Souls Day.

I don’t think there is any particularly useful way of aligning the Christian belief relating to saints, souls and purgatory to Buddhist belief, but making prayers for the rebirth of those departed, particularly for rebirth in Amitabha’s pure land, is of course a regular Buddhist practice.

On my morning walk with the dogs I passed the village cemetery, which is receiving a high number of visits and being decked out with plenty of flowers today. It struck me as a nice idea to “resonate” with those wishes by reciting the prayer for rebirth in Dewachen (Sukhavati) many times today. Perhaps it could become a Western Buddhist tradition – what do you think?

(You can right-click to download this image if you don’t already have this text.)