Dang Zang

I run three blogs. None of them is wildly active. Some of the posts have received a few comments – thanks for the interest!

Until now I simply had a system in which unknown posters have to have their first post approved by me. Once I have approved a post from you, you are then able to post without further checks. This works automatically, it’s simple and easy.  So far I’ve only had one human idiot whose posts I rejected.

It’s the non-human idiots that are the problem; every day I have to mark a large number of spam posts as such, and then delete them. It is to be believed that the vast majority of these – perhaps all – are machine-generated: spambots! I’ve therefore just added a “captcha” system. Most readers will be familiar with this kind of thing – you have to recognize an oddly written sequence of letters or numbers, perhaps a word. This is very hard to program a machine to do, so mostly only humans will get past.

I think I have set it so that it is only if you are an unknown user that this will appear. Like the freedom to add messages without me having to check them that known users, with a history of at least one approved comment, already have, it’s only the first time that you should have to face this small hurdle. If you have any problems with it – please let me know!

I remain uncertain about “Biff Painter“.

I half expected him to ignore my query, but I got a clearish answer:

I first learned Gtumo as a Daoist inner heat practice from Li, Long Dao of Sichuan then later from Lama Trangu Rinpoche the Tibetan version of Gtumo practice, Medicine Buddha meditations and Mantra and Chod Ritual. This took place in various locations beginning with his visit to my school many, many years ago. I am afraid I was a very poor student.

And we see that he really did meet Thrangu Rinpoche once at least:

I have a fondness for pictures of decay and dereliction. I found this on the net (it was not attributed, so I can’t pass that on), and it combines two of my favourite topics: decay and dharma.

John Davies has a way of finding both interesting and funny things on the net. He forwarded me the link for site that calls itself The Gompa.

Now although I’m tagging this with charlatans, I’m not at the moment saying that’s what this guy is – to be honest, I haven’t even read his site properly. But if one is tempted to come to a snap judgement…

This was my favourite picture, which is the illustration for “Tibetan Snake Boxing” in which “the main focus is on fighting while kneeling, sitting, rolling or lying on the ground. The Snake Boxer, through tumbling, rolling, leaping and coiling, controls the balance of his opponent by striking or locking vulnerable pressure points with devastating effectiveness.”

On second thoughts, I am willing to class him as a charlatan. What do you think?

… the one who has taught in England since the late 60s, my first teacher, and from Benchen if not the “Benchen Chime Rinpoche” (rather the Radha Lama of Benchen, at the risk of labouring the point), Dave Lawson is again responisible for this picture. In fact I think it was taken on the same occasion as the HH Dalai Lama picture I posted recently.

Home monastery of Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, Tenga Rinpoche and Chime Rinpoche. Looks a bit more spruce than when I was there in ’92!

Benchen 2005

The picture was sent out as a digital new-year card from Marpa House a year ago – thanks!

I was chanting away this evening: bop, bop, bop on the drum – ting, ting, ting on the bell, when suddenly something fell into my lap, and the bell went silent. Yes, the thread had broken. Is it an omen? Am I going to die soon? Win the lottery?