Comments on: Seeing the wood for the trees

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:13:45 +0000

Do you know anything more of Ram Bomjon? [ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/nepal/1504634/They-cant-believe-its-Buddha.html ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:12:05 +0000

Sorry, I don’t know.
PS I recently read and enjoyed a novel about Nepal (and Buddhism) by an English lady now living in Kathmandu : A Place Beneath the Pipal Tree by Greta Rana.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:18:02 +0000

Do you know if the Mantra tree at Kum-bum East Tibet still exists?
[ http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/buddhism/mantratree.htm ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:52:50 +0000

Not sure either but Buddhism has many sects, as do other religions, and Tibetan Buddhism is a variety of Mahayana Buddhism. Wiki says ‘The institution of the Dalai Lama has become, over the centuries, a central focus of Tibetan cultural identity; “a symbolic embodiment of the Tibetan national character.” Today, the Dalai Lama and the office of the Dalai Lama have become focal points in their struggle towards independence and, more urgently, cultural survival. The Dalai Lama is regarded as the principal incarnation of Chenrezig (referred to as Avalokiteshvara in India), the bodhisattva of compassion and patron deity of Tibet. In that role the Dalai Lama has chosen to use peace and compassion in his treatment of his own people and his oppressors. In this sense the Dalai Lama is the embodiment of an ideal of Tibetan values and a cornerstone of Tibetan identity and culture’.
Tibet is not a great place for forests but it certainly had sacred trees.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:34:33 +0000

The Bodhisattva vows are very interesting.[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vows ] Not sure if it is quite the same as the reincarnation of the Lama or Durga.[ http://www.tibettravel.info/tibetan-buddhism/confirmation-of-reincarnation.html ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:20:32 +0000

Buddhism took the idea of re-incarnation from Hinduism but gave it a new twist with the bodhisattva idea that individuals can reach nirvana and then decide to return to earth to help others. And Buddhism was always associated with forests.

By: christine

christine — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:58:08 +0000

I was aware that the Dai Lama was considered a reincarnation of a previous Lama, however I was not aware of a prepubescent girl being a reincarnation of the Hindu deity Durga …[ http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/nepal/ ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:08:10 +0000

The Law of Manu (the Manusmṛti – which could have been written any time between 200 BCE and 200 CE) advises that says ‘When a man sees wrinkles on his skin and his hairs turn grey, and looks at the son of his son, he should retire into the forest… entrusting his wife to his son, or taking her with him’. When seeing woods like this, I am tempted to live in the woods. But it would be more practical in India (with a shelter or cave for the monsoon season) than in the winter woods of northern Europe – which may be an environmental explanation for the hermit lifestyle having developed in the east and migrated north and west.

By: Robert Hagedorn

Robert Hagedorn — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:20:07 +0000

Eden garden sex?
The lyrics stink.
But the scandal’s about evidence.
So forget about lyrics that stink.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 05:39:06 +0000

I love bluebells and the photograph captures the ‘magic moment’when every aspect of the forest is light and beautiful. But the concept of the Garden of Eden was, I suspect, more to do with the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society than with a pleasure garden in any modern sense. I always feel bad about placing socio-economic interpretations on the Bible but Darwin rules and one can’t get away from the fact that the text of the Bible was inscribed at a specific place at a specific point in time. ‘Is nothing sacred?’ one has to ask oneself.