Ra Eighth Day!

Monday 9:15 a.m.
I've never been down to the Samye Ling for longer than seven days before. I'm so pleased to still be here. Everything about the meditations slowly but surely gets better and better! The last hour spent meditating with the lama in the temple was just superb. The hour flashed by in much, much bliss!

The Bliss Of Inner Fire is such a fantastic book if you're interested in meditation. I'm so convinced by these Tibetans, and you can tell reading it just how dangerous these jujus could be if you were a joe like me. But I don't care!! Let's go mad! Let's go on fire! See if I care! Anyway, that's for some other joe. Reading this stuff again gives me so much more confidence in the lama. I think he wanted to continue doing this stuff for 20 years, but his big brother said 12 was enough and he had to come out and help the flatheids. I assume by that time he'd developed massive compassion. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine a bigger bummer.

Having re-read it, I think I understand this practising with a kamamudra stuff now. Anyway, even being crap at these meditations, I'm having more bliss than you could shake a stick at. The first meditation this morning was just superb!

I sat meditating in the temple all yesterday evening. The spooky guy was there. I think we've met before. I had my back to a pillar last night though ... just in case he jumped on me and I had to beat the shit out of him, which I surely could. Not a good place to spill blood, I shouldn't think.

It's sunny just now. It was sunny yesterday for a wee bit. What a fortunate creature I am, I am! What a fortunate creature I am! Another full day of meditations lie ahead. Yippee!!!

2:20 p.m.
What a difference a week makes! I was just loving being there this morning. You're concerned with your sore legs, or how long you've got to be there, or anything like that. It was a surprise when it finished, and you think: Oh, that's a bit of a shame! And I thought for a while that I might get some kind of inner heat experience while I'm here. There's been heat and warmth arising now and again for ages, but nothing has happened to compare with the rising heat I had on April 6th, 2003. It's that kind of mind funging experience you're looking for really.

It's great to have all your anxieties disappearing.

Sometimes nasty vicious thoughts of the old ultra-violence still arise. At the moment they're arising without much emotional appendages, and they're sometimes a wee big vague. Before you might sometimes feel your body tense and your breathing come up short.

They'll be back, Hotboy! I know that, Jack. We spring from a warrior race of radge, murderous basturns!

A good if somewhat improbable way of thinking of thoughts arising, which distances you from them, and stops you reacting to them so much is to think that thoughts sometimes occur because of movements of the winds through your subtle body. It's blockages getting knocked away. Funnily enough, when these occur during meditation times, right afterwards a big blast of ra bliss arises. How odd!

Of course, if you're on the ball, thoughts arise in mind, abide in mind, and decline in mind ... like the mountains, rivers, clouds and me.

I was sitting at what I thought was a "silent" table at lunchtime (brilliant food here!), but it turned out to be not so silent. This old woman came and sat nearly across from me. Old women are feature of some Tibetan folklore. She asked me what I was reading so intently. I've got the banned book in front of me and it's wrapped in newspaper. I tell her it's just a book. She asks me what it's about. I say meditation. She asked me who wrote it. This is nearly the story about how Naropa set off to find his guru and acquire the Six Yogas. I told her it was Lama Thebten Yeshe and she said that was a Tibetan? Yes, I said. Nothing else was said. Thank fung for that! Otherwise I might have been introduced to the dungeons they haven't told us about so far!!!

The boy in the book said Je Tsongkhapa practised generation and completion stages together. Hurrah! He said he practised completion stages in the afternoon. Hurrah again! It's the afternoon and here comes more wonderful, wonderful gong bashing!

8:00p.m.
The only excuse I've got for being in here is that I'm totally knackered! This usually happens to me down here. God knows why! You wouldn't think sitting on your bum all day could be tiring, but it is. I'm always completely whacked when I leave here. It must be trying to concentrate for about ten hours a day. Just don't know. Always happens here though. Anyway, the Dom Bliss and the kiddo might be coming down here tomorrow, so that'll be nice.