Hello me Dears and me Ducks,
I hope you are all well and happy. I'm sorry to hear about the dreadful summer you've been having in Blighty. I hope it stops raining soon!
I have had a fairly busy time of it since my last email.
We had our Canada day celebrations in Pleasant Bay. These went very well, including a BBQ and ice cream then a free trip to the Whale interpretive centre. We lost the softball game 24 to 14 to the fire-crew. I got one run - one more than generally expected.
The lobster release was a success and we had a film crew on hand (and on board) making a documentary/arthouse type flick - the life cycle of the lobster as an alagory for the wheel of life. I'm sure you get the picture. They did too. Apparently, Lena, the director was a rather attractive young woman and some of the younger monks and laymen fell deeply under her spell, can't say I noticed myself.
We had a visit from Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a young and charismatic Tibetan lama. An interesting young guy, speaks good English. Scientists have measured his brain activity while doing maitri meditation and find his brain 100's of % more active than the average mother thinking of her child and even 100's of % more active than your average meditator. He gave a couple of good down to earth talks about meditation and Bodhicitta. He's very funny. His book is also very readable. He did two - three year retreats before hes was 17 years old!
Before he arrived here I was working with a team preparing the lodgings for him and his attendant lama. This was great fun, working with a Californian called Yeshe and a Brit. mitra called Ian. We had much fun and did lots of cleaning and ironing. I had never ironed king size sheets before and doubt if I ever will again. It made quite a pleasant change from our usual schedule, pleasant though that is.
A couple of weekends ago a few of us took a three hour hike to a beach called Pollits Cove. A beautiful local beauty spot with rivers and wild flower meadows. It was a bit drizzly on the way there, but a good fun hike. After a couple of hours with a camp fire on the beach we headed back. The sky really opened. Three hours hard hiking with minimal waterproofs. We were all truly soaked. I fell off the path at one point and got rather muddy. It got to the point we were walking through rivers rather than around them. We couldn't get any more wet if we'd been swimming fully dressed. When I got back I emptied half a pint of water from each boot. My digital camera was in a similar condition and is no longer talking to me.
Last weekend I hiked two hours into Pleasant Bay with Ian to go Whale watching. We had about 8 people from the Abbey meet us there (they drove!). It was a lovely sunny day and I got a bit of a tan despite the factor 30. The boat ride was very choppy, but I managed to hold onto lunch (just). We saw many Whales, incuding some babies and some pre-baby frolliking amongst the adults (whales not retreatants). Following on from this we had a nice restaurant dinner (only my second plate of chips in 5 and a half months!) and a trip to the beach for a swim. A great day out.
It sounds like I'm always out and about swimming and going for walks. There is some truth in this. But there is also six days a week of meditation, chanting, meetings, meditation, silent periods, meditation, study and more chanting. Not to mention getting up at 5.30 in the morning to clean the shrine with a feather duster. I thought I'd include this here just in case I was loosing the sympathy vote.
We have just had two feast days in recent succession - first, the celebration of Dharma day and then the opening of the three year retreat. At the latter event we released a batch of 13 pale but generally hearty tantricas into the feint Cape Bretton sunshine after their 10 months of captivity (12-14 hours practice per day!) confined to one small house and garden (they sleep sitting up in boxes and spend a lot of time making tormas and shaking darmaru drums and ringing vajra bells). Writing this, I am beginning to see parallels with the Lobster Release! We removed the 4 painted seals (tantric symbols, not whiskered mammals) from the retreat gates to the sound of Tibetan trumpets. There was much offering of torma, waving of vajras and vajra bells and chanting. The opening ceremony took about 40 minutes in the comically heavy rain, which we all endured in our robes. We were all soaked to the skin (again!). Quite funny really, the rain was very warm. There then followed about two and a half hours of communal sadhana and ritual feasting. I got to drink some rather bitter dark green "amrita" from a real human skull cup. A brandy would have been more appropriate under the circumstances. We all quietly steamed as our clothes dried out. I also got some cake and chocolate, so it was all worthwhile in the end.
The last couple of weeks have been noticeably different due to the addition of in-house retreatants. They join our schedule for between 7 and 14 days. They arrive in batches on Tuesdays and Fridays. You just get to remember their names and start to generate some sense of connection and their gone! Just a note of thanks on the chalk board "Thanks for the warm hospitality - look us up if you pass through Boulder, Colorado. Love, The Heuns" . It's like watching a movie on fast forward and shows that my sense of time here is getting seriously warped.
The weather is fairly damp this week. Part of the road got washed away (a hole as deep as a person) - thunder, lightning and very sticky 30 degree days and 26 degree nights. Not the best time of year for wearing poly-cotton robes. Something in silk next time I think. It's also earwig season and I found two in my matchbox when lighting my shrine this morning.
Love to All,
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