My latest visit to the Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, outside of Bloomington IN, turned out to be even more chill than anticipated. Rather than working on any project of mine, I just recharged by relishing others’ great artistry. As one does…
A few trees were beginning to change color. In many places, the Center grounds were carpeted with acorns; there was also a constant, slow rainfall of them on and around my yurt cabin. I captured a 20-minute field recording of rain and acorns falling, of which I hope to make some good use. (I also, fortunately, discovered a forgotten recording on my phone from last year’s visit, to which I’ll give some attention soon.)
A new roof was being installed on the temple building all week. Some of the old wood had gone bad, so a team of resident monks was burning it. Brother Tenpa, always friendly and welcoming, came over to say Hello, remembering me from the past several years (he features in my 2022 visit report). He was also one of the monks participating in a two-hour, 108 Lamp Puja on Saturday morning. It’s always nice to see these good people.
There are more of those cool lotus-flower speakers around the grounds now, and on most of them can be heard a monk sing/chanting various sutras.
Reading: Moonlight Shadows
I moved closer to completing fiction cycles by Banana Yoshimoto (The Lake (my favorite) and Moshi Moshi) and Umberto Eco (The Island of the Day Before). As with Sam Shepard two years ago, these choices turned out to be a little incongruous with the vibe here, compared to the more contemplative Bashō and Hermann Hesse, but… anyway…
Yoshimoto-san, the most compassionate writer of character I’ve ever encountered, still has not been awarded her well-deserved laureate. And is Eco not the King of Grand Entertainments? Can we ever begin to imagine a more erudite Court Jester?
Music: The Spiral of Time’s Fire Burns On
Some new favorites joined the classics this time. The playlist was dominated by several Tibetan Bells albums; Tibetan Buddhist chants; Prayers to the Protector; Heart of Perfect Wisdom; Om Namaha Shivaya II; and wonderful longform works from Robert Rich (The Long Tail of the Quiet Gong and May We Find Our Way) and Steve Roach (To the Threshold of Silence, The Surface Below, and The Current Above).
I also heard Yungchen Llamo, Kongar-Ool Ondar, the Gyuto Monks, and Enrique Ugalde (as both Uger-Khan and Soriah).
One Tibetan Bells piece, “Field of Souls” from Yamantaka (with Mickey Hart), reminded me so strongly of a piece from Well of Souls (the conclusion of “The Gathering”) that I just had to hear that Steve Roach/vidnaObmana masterpiece next. I daresay it will always stand as one of the greatest ambient/electronic releases ever.
I couldn’t resist capping this visit with one of my great favorites, a full play of Brother Roach’s magnum opus Mystic Chords and Sacred Spaces. Another one for the ages.
Films: Are You Watching Closely?
After too many years since my last viewing, I returned to The Prestige (2006), Christopher Nolan’s magical mystery with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine and Rebecca Hall heading a stellar cast. David Bowie, as Nikola Tesla, fully owns the screen in his brief scenes.
I’ve read Christopher Guest’s novel, and I may want to revisit that, too, along with checking out some of his other work. We’ll see if time allows…
The Deep Blue Sea (2011) features the luminous Rachel Weisz, one of my favorite actresses (with outstanding support from Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale), breathing new vigor into Terence Rattigan’s 1952 masterpiece play.
Photos: Details in Detailing
I gathered a good selection, finally waking up to some of the cool details, inside and out.
Mythos and Ethos: Time Shakes Its Cosmic Thing
Walking the grounds and the Meditation Path has always been a relaxing pleasure, but during my Path passage on this visit’s last day, I realized that it had to be the final one. As I approach a seventh decade, it’s become sufficiently more hazardous, with more downed trees, acorns turning slopes into slides, and the trail closely skirting two steep drops at the ravine’s edge. I have the feeling that to keep it safe needs more maintenance time than the staff can spare, so the unavoidable degradation has already hit critical mass – for me, anyway.
It’s one more reminder of how temporary all of this is. Nothing to be melancholy about, though, as that reminder is itself a gift. The world is, the world is what it is…
gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
Heart Sutra (Mahāyāna Buddhism)