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! […]
Monday February 2nd, 2009. Posted by Alex:

Namkhai Norbu

The famous Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is in Australia, and started his tour with a week-end “transmission” in Sydney – I won’t go into details here, but if you are interested they have an effective web presence. I’ve had a few of his books for many years, but this was the first time I saw him or took teachings. I’m impressed, both by himself and by the organization.

But one thing was quite bizarre, though entirely personal. If you had known him, you might see a certain resemblance, surprisingly enough, to my father. In the flesh, in the right light and at the right distance – I was sitting a little off-centre at a distance of perhaps twelve paces – the resemblance is uncanny. For about half the time it seemed like my father was up there, having somehow grown a grey pigtail, acquired the accent of a Mafioso and gained a profound knowledge of dzogchen which he was now imparting. I don’t want to suggest anything mystical by this – but it did feel weird!