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Posted on 06.18.08 by Emily
What’s tree-fitty? Loch Ness Monster: $3.50 Global Climate Crisis: 350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth. Where are we now? About 385. Learn more, connect with others and take action at the newly relaunched 350.org founded by Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy (one of the most compelling and inspiring books I am reading right now.)
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Posted on 06.16.08 by Emily
Today you can see this photo I took of Robert Thurman standing in front of Mt. Kailash in the San Francisco Chronicle, accompanying a great interview with Robert by David Ian Miller, “Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman on Why the Dalai Lama Matters,” about his new book, Why the Dalai Lama Matters. In the picture, Robert stands near the Tarboche flagpole at the outset of our kora (circumambulation) around Mt Kailash. Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Bön traditions all revere Mt Kailash as the axis mundi - the center of the world. From it flows 4 major rivers that feed Asia: the Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej and Karnali. Thousands of pilgrims arrive each May and June, but this year China has delayed the pilgrimage season and limited the number of participants, restricting all foreign visitors during the Olympic torch relay in that region. After four days trekking around the mountain and reaching an altitude of 18,600 ft, we arrived back here in time for the Saga Dawa festival, celebrating the birth and enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha.
On this occasion, the flag pole, wrapped in prayer flags, is raised by poles, ropes and trucks.
A perfectly upright flagpole signifies a good year for Tibet.
Musicians play throughout the festival. Thermoses of yak butter tea keep throats in singing and horn-blowing condition at dry high-altitudes on the Tibetan plateau.
Then, at the moment the flagpole is raised, thousands of windhorses (colorful squares of paper printed with prayers for happiness) fill the air and fly towards the peak.
Saga Dawa occurs each year on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month. This year, Tibetans will celebrate Saga Dawa on June 18, 2008 — may the pole stand upright and usher in a good year for Tibet! An excerpt from the SF Chronicle interview:
To learn more:
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Posted on 03.22.08 by Emily
A group of Chinese writers and scholars has issued a thoughtful 12-point petition about the situation in Tibet urging the government to have direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama. I received this originally via email through World Tibet News, an excellent e-mail list that delivers on its name, and see it posted on China Digital Times, along with the original Chinese language version:
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Posted on 03.20.08 by Emily
In Greek mythology, Iris is a goddess who unites sky and sea as a rainbow and unites heaven and earth as a messenger of the Olympian gods. In Tibet, Iris Reticulata is the most glorious flower growing wild on the plateau. At over 14,000 ft above sea level, Iris wastes no energy shooting up stems. Instead, it spreads out its violet and gold treasures as soon as it emerges through the ground. But Tibet has not seen much “Harmony” in almost sixty years of Chinese occupation. In the words of The Dalai Lama, “genuine harmony must come from the heart, it cannot come from the barrel of a gun.” With six million Tibetans and 1.3 billion Chinese, it’s easy to feel hopeless about the Tibetan plight. But the Tibetan right to automony is a winning cause, and with the whole world watching, Tibet and friends outnumber China 5 to 1. If you’d like to count with Tibet and the whole world, sign the petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao, requesting restraint and respect for human rights and to open meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. In the words of Mohandas Gandhi, another wise leader through nonviolence,”Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.” Or in other words… better to be an Iris than a Cassandra.
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Posted on 03.16.08 by Emily
What a delight to receive this picture from Waveplace showing the new owner of the OLPC laptop I donated last month. Here’s a movie of the kids’ first experiences with laptops. Looks like a beautiful group of students and teachers (and fresh green classrooms). Hope you have fun and enjoy learning with your new computers! Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program.
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Posted on 03.15.08 by Emily
Oprah’s online book club event with Eckhart Tolle for A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is truly wonderful. You can watch it on her site, download (video, audio and transcript) or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. The most exciting part is the use of Skype, allowing people from all over the world to participate in the live event using video chat. Whether you’re interested in the topic, technology or both, it’s worth registering (free) to see how it works and check out the extended materials. In the amazing TED Talk above, Dr. Jill Taylor (author of My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey) reaches the insights Oprah and Eckhart discuss through a stroke. As a neuroanatomist, she was able to observe her own stroke from the inside out. She uses a real human brain as a prop, showing how differently the left and right hemispheres experience the world, outlining an anatomy of enlightenment and “circuitry of peace.” Her talk highlighted for me how we are literally out of balance individually and collectively. “Modern” education focuses almost solely on the left brain and undervalues development of the right side. We need to develop the whole thing and use everything we’ve got. Bring back arts, music and movement and add in meditation. (Of course, if you use more than 5% of your brain, you don’t want to be on Earth anymore…)
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Posted on 03.12.08 by Emily
Just returned from a delightful talk with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Bokara Legendre at the Rubin Museum of Art (filmed for her series on LinkTV, so surely you can see it soon too). It was too dark in there to take notes, but he read a couple of poems I love, so I’m sharing them here with you. Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are, Coming to Our Senses, Full Catastrophe Living, and Arriving at Your Own Door, opened the conversation with a gorgeous poem from which the title of his latest book came: Love After Love
The time will come and say, sit here. Eat. all your life, whom you ignored the photographs, the desperate notes, — Derek Wolcott The second poem Kabat-Zinn used was by a poet from whom the name of yours truly was inspired. (Thanks Mom and Dad): Me from Myself — to banish –
Had I Art – Impregnable my Fortress Unto All Heart – But since Myself — assault Me – And since We’re mutual Monarch — Emily Dickinson During the discussion, he defined meditation as “attention in service of self-understanding and liberation.” He also used “awarenessing” as a verb in places where you might expect to hear “thinking” instead. Both he and Bokara somehow started to blame technology for accelerating time, to which I respectfully disagree. Oddly enough, my brother gave me a book on just that topic this week, The Mayan Code, which asserts that time acceleration is a manifestation of the acceleration of consciousness. So perhaps it’s Jon Kabat-Zinn and Bokara who are responsible for this phenomenon through talks like these! Your thoughts (and awarenesses) welcome, of course.
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Posted on 03.12.08 by Emily
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Posted on 03.05.08 by Emily
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Posted on 03.04.08 by Emily
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