Out of the Solar Cooker and Into the Frying Pan

I'm back from Mustang! A million things to say, a million things to do! Alas, I don't really have much time. In all fairness, nobody really has much time. This precious human life of ours is so short, and that's assuming we live to be nice and old and senile and lose control of our bowels and have a walker and wear depends. And that is a big, big, big assumption concerning the tincy, wincy, little, sliver of the illusion of time that is a life. At least, if you believe in reincarnation, you get an infinite number of times to get it right. I recently read it took Shakyamuni Buddha (born Siddhartha Gautama), the Buddha of our age, 550 lifetimes to attain enlightenment. If you're really interested in a story of triumph, a real feel good story, look into a little somebody named Milarepa, perhaps the most beloved individual in the history of Tibet. His life's story is recounted beautifully in the book The Life of Milarepa, translated by Andrew Quintman (a former SIT: Tibetan Studies student!). I don't want to spoil anything, but Milarepa kills 33 people and destroys an entire valley with black magic and then goes on to totally rectify his karmic misdeeds and fully realize Buddhahood in a single lifetime. How's that for a successful rehabilitation. Why did I start writing this post...oh right! Okay, first off, even though I'm "connected" to the digital world again, I'm still going to neglect the blog for a bit longer because I have three papers to write, two of which were apparently due today. Khey Garney (A characteristically Nepali response to situations beyond one's control, literally meaning 'what can one do'). They are short, so I should be able to manage. It's lunchtime, I'm not hungry. I'll leave you with a little something written by one of my SIT comrades that I feel is a lovely contribution to the human race or whoever else is on the receiving end of the bajillion electrical signals that form this blog. Enjoy.

The Frequency is Courage,
-Doug B.