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

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  • The annual festival – postcript
    It happened. It went on very late. More than 300 people, many of whom came from all over Italy because, for instance, their grandmother came from here. I fluffed one line, but my little turn went down well enough – the cheer from the piazza demanded that I take a bow and flourish my hat […]
  • Our annual festival – preparation
    The village is a-buzz with excitement and activity! There is a connecting together of electric cables; a welding of steel trestles; a burning-off of the dirt on grilles; a setting up of lights; a preparation of beer dispensers… For tomorrow, our village has its annual festival! I too am making a small contribution. I shall […]
  • Nick and Sam’s post-wedding bash
    Nick and Sam got married in America, so had their post-wedding bash in Bristol […]
  • Comment on Wikileaks
    A good comment on the Wikileaks release of papers about Afghanistan at http://www.truth-out.org/national-insecurity-afraid-truth61841 […]
  • Festival of Hunger and Thirst
    Filatiera, festival […]
  • About the place
    How nice it is here! […]
  • Filling in
    I rather doubt if I will ever have time (and I doubt if you would be interested) to describe the whole process of getting here, so here are just a few pictures to give an impression. First of all, here is the container being filled up in Sydney with the possessions, some of which are […]
  • Hunting dogs
    What to say? There are hunting dogs here. […]
  • Greyhound transport
    Be very sure the greyhound has room if the journey is at all long […]
  • Landed and connected
    Arrived in Tuscany and connected to the net! […]
Tuesday March 17th, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Stupa with wow factor!

It’s time to be cheerful. I came across this picture of a stupa in, I think, eastern Tibet:

Wow!

2 comments to Stupa with wow factor!

  • Madeline McKeever

    what’s a stupa?

  • Alex

    Stupas, also known as chortens, are “the” Buddhist monument, particularly but not exclusively in the Tibetan field. Part reliquary, part cosmic diagram, the square base is earth, on that the “sphere” (or blob) of water, the cone of fire, bow of air and finally the quivering flame of space.
    More often they are either plain white or have more sober decoration than this one. Sometimes you see rows of eight outside a temple. Usually they are smaller than this one, too!
    Kathmandu has two particularly well known ones. The most photographable is Swyambhu, which has copper rings on the cone and overlooks the city from a great height. The other, actually considered more sacred and larger is at Baudha. Read about them at http://tinyurl.com/dmuamp.
    Didn’t I ever give you a copy of Benchen and Back? There is a stupa on the front.

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