icarusancalion

If the Academy Awards were given to Vietnamese...

Monday night, my friend Ani Dorje was chant master for the nightly puja.

You see, anyone who has troubles can write in prayer book (at the temple and online) to request prayers. These are read aloud at the beginning of the practice.

The American prayers usually go:

"... for Angela Jessup*, who was in a car accident, swift recovery ... deer hit on River Road yesterday ... for the lost tabby cat "Bells" whose photo has been up for a week, may he be found and safe ... end of war in Syria ... end of all war everywhere ... all sentient beings have excellent health ... Joseph Achebe, find a job quickly ... Richard Wang, do well on his SATs ... Vivian, age six, who has leukemia ... cats Taffy, Junior, Rothy, and Callie, good health and stop fighting ... end of global warming and use of renewable energy...."

It's a varied list, ranging from the world-encompassing prayers, to many who have died or who are ill, all the way down to bugs accidentally swatted and the little problems that affect us all.

However, Chinese (and Tibetan) New Year is a little different. The pilgrims have come! The altars are aglow with red glass candles (they buy the red and the green ones, never the white) brought by visiting Buddhists from all over the world. They bring their kids, circle the stupas (pic of stupa) and murmur amongst each other in Asian languages I try to guess. (Thai? Burmese? Vietnamese?)

After a slew of visitors Monday, Ani Dorje opened the list.

And paused.

"Um. There are a lot of names. And ... ulp ... a lot of Vietnamese." *deep breath* "Okay, here goes--

"Nguyen Phat Tuang, good job, make lots of money ... okay, we have a name, city and year of birth," she smiled, "presumably so we get the right person-- Vyen Twung Twip ... Ggyu Nyanem, good job, make lots of money ... Twing Twang Twung, good health, long life ... Nwoo Gna Nyit, good school, make lots of money, good health...."



* = obviously I'm making up all these names

I'm painting the temple prayer room.

The color is a turquoise-y green. My painting team consists of me, my friend Mike, and sometimes John* can spare an hour.

I don't trust anyone else, because the paint is green, and spilled green paint, green paint splatters, or simple mistakes in green would be bad. Really bad. The three of us are meticulous, if rather busy. We have two to four hours a week we can spare.

To paint a 40' x 40' room.

Ani Dorje volunteered to help us in April. I thought "Surely we'll be done by then..." but realized, no, no, we probably won't.

The one green corner we've done looks really good though.

:D



P.S. In sad news, John and his boyfriend Chris' dog passed away suddenly this week. Her name was "Sarah Basset" (she was a basset hound). I think all pets should have a last name.

Dalai Lama: Live webcast from Sarnath India right now!

He's teaching on compassion and the Bodhisattva's Guide:


Translations available in English, Chinese, Korean, and other languages available

Cool! I just discovered Tulku Sang-Ngag Rinpoche is teaching online right now. Pop by if you like:

http://www.tara.org/programs-and-events/live-webcast/

Oh! He's teaching about stupas.



OH! He's also teaching about relics. ^..^

Jetsunma always knows the right thing to say. I like to swing by her Twitter when I'm puzzling over something. The advice I need is always right there.

It's not always the advice I want of course.

Q: "Which bed should I get? Should I shop for a bed now or wait? I really do want a new boyfriend and..."

A: "Making wishing prayers to return in a form in which you can benefit beings purifies the mind of desire."

(Huffs a sigh.)

She's never predictable though.

Q: "What do I do about the cute guy whose nun!mom just grilled me?"

A: "You MIGHT be compatible. *Links to Chinese astrological signs, revealing we're exactly 12 years apart.*"

Awk!

I wonder about the appropriateness of using a Buddhist Lama as a kind of Magic 8-Ball, but it does seem to work, lol!

This is actually quite cool.

Nectar is pouring out of Jetsunma's Long Life Stupa.

By rights, any stuff coming out of a stupa should smell terrible. It should come from air getting the offerings (rice and whatnot) inside the stupa.

For approximately the last 5 years, a precious substance has been “leaking” from the face of the throne portion or section of Jetsunma’s long life stupa in the KPC stupa park located in Poolesville, MD. As mentioned in previous blog posts, many Buddhist Teachers and Lamas, including His Holiness Penor Rinpoche commented on this miraculous event, indicating that the liquid emanating is nectar, and is an auspicious sign. His instructions at that time were to not be concerned with repairing the stupa. Since his passing in 2009, the cracks forming on the throne section of the stupa have increased, and elongated, causing concern regarding the ordinary structure of the stupa.

Virtue creates a sweet scent. ( No, really. I've encountered this. )

Perhaps then I shouldn't be surprised that what should be putrid pours out as a golden colored sweet nectar. And smells like cookies fresh from the oven, or berry pie.

But we've had to finally do some repairs.

About that thing with the cute guy and his mother the nun grilling me....

Well, let's back up a bit.

J.'s a nice guy. I noticed he'd gotten rid of the beard (it had looked good on him, but I hate beards). He said he'd lost some weight. I said I'd never noticed the weight, which made him blush. Honestly, he's an attractive guy all around.

I asked him to help me with a painting project, he said sure thing, and let me know his schedule was wiiiiiide open.

It had been a tough week: his girlfriend had been cheating on him with her ex, she was pregnant and it wasn't clear if the baby was his (I'm wondering about those birth control recalls, because that's two women I know who -- ooops! -- got pregnant this year).

On top of it, he'd just lost his job, was forced to sublet his apartment, and so had temporarily moved in with his mom (who's a nun). He was feeling pretty low. "I'm thirty-three years old and living with my mom. I feel like a total loser."

I explained my own situation with WG in 2009, that I'd found myself in a similar situation. At age 42. These are tough times.

Cue the "no way you're over forty, you look younger than me" conversation, which is waaaay more fun than the previous version "no way you're twenty-five, you don't look old enough to work here."

That out of the way, we talked for a while about cheating boyfriends/girlfriends, the economy, what it's like being a kid at the temple and then coming back as an adult, his rough times down in Florida, his brother, my own surprise of first seeing him in 2009, quote, "Who's that solid-looking guy -- oh, wow, that's J.? I remember him from when he was eight years old." That was the edited version. I didn't say that I had really thought, Wow, not my usual type, but definitely good-looking--oh my god, that's J.?? I feel rather naughty now, hee.

We decided to start the painting project the following week. Well, the supplies I'd ordered didn't arrive in time, so it got postponed a few more days.

Then I bumped into his mom, the nun, outside the grocery store. I apologized for getting ticked off at her about her pressuring me to change the time of my Tibetan class (we had a difference of opinion about the value of Tibetan for new people). She said it was nothing. That settled, I asked the natural, "Oh, hey, how's J. doing?"

Big. Mistake. I wish I'd asked about the weather.

She tells me that things are looking up, he really enjoyed working with me on the project (it hadn't started yet) but he'd found a new job right away.

"Oh, that's great," I said, really happy to hear it, with a snap of my fingers that I'd moved too slow.

Then she tells me, "And J. said, '[Icarus] is soooo pretty!' She looks younger than me." Ah, someone else was doing a little editing I see. That much was fun.

( But then it spiraled into weird. )

At the end of the conversation as I stared at her, wide-eyed, she was all satisfied, "Oh good, just friends then."

O_____________O

( Aside from her being an over-protective mom, she's a nun, and that comes with a particular world view. )

So that should be as weird as it will get, right?

Nope. To ice the cake-of-weird, J.'s ex-girlfriend friended me on Facebook the following week. She and I had met, I think, once. J. introduced her, "Hi, this is my gf." I said hi, nice to meet you. And that's it. She's friended seventeen people at the temple, mostly monks and nuns, and she friends me why?

WTF is going on in J.'s world?

Here it is, teaching now:



Broadcasting live with Ustream

It's Ani Dorje's birthday today!

If you have the yen, you can go wish her a good one on Facebook (she'll be charmed). (She and Electric Android are the only two people who've shortened Icarus to "Icky!")

Remember how I mentioned how startled I was to see the spunky Dorje, who could run a homestead, possibly two, stagger while helping me move a table?

She's 69.

No way! I told her. Yes way! said she.

No wonder she needed a break.

Yesterday I visited the temple for the first time since I first noticed the stained glass was missing.

Stepped inside to check it out. After all, a few of you wanted photos of the 18th century glass. I noticed the new foyer design ... prayer book dead center, good idea ... new benches for people to take their shoes off, very attractive ... offering candles just outside the Dharma room ... good balanced layout...

... but no stained glass windows.

In fact, the clear glass is now permanently framed in place. Looks less cheap than it did without the frame, but it's way too bright and pulls the eye upward, up the stairs, away from the more attractive (and important) parts of the temple.

What?

What?

I've since learned that a) John took the stained glass inside, so they're safe, and b) no one has any clue why the clear glass windows are framed in and there's no sign of the stained glass. Ani Dorje suggests perhaps we could hang the under-no-circumstances-would-you-ever-want-to-drop-them windows from the ceiling.

*facepalm* Arrrrrrgh.


ETA: Aha! The stained glass in need of extensive repair. We need someone who knows how to do stained glass. Any ideas, guys?